Riel Rebellion 1869-1870 The Territorial Rights Of The Hudson's Bay
Company having been transferred to Canada, a surveying party under
Colonel Dennis was sent out to Red River in 1869, and the same year
William Macdougall was appointed lieutenant-governor of Rupert's Land,
and instructed to proceed to Fort Garry and assume control. The French
half-breeds, alarmed at these proceedings, which they thought menaced
the rights to their lands, turned back the surveying parties, and
prevented
Macdougall from crossing the boundary. They formed themselves
into a provisional government, of which Louis Riel was secretary, and
later was elected president. Riel published a "Bill of Rights," and
seized Fort Garry. An ill-judged attempt on the part of some of the
loyal settlers to compel the release of certain prisoners failed, and
the leader, Major Boulton, with Thomas Scott and others, was captured.
Boulton was released, but Riel caused Scott to be shot. Intense
indignation throughout Canada was aroused by this act, and the
government at once organized an expeditionary force, under Colonel
Wolseley. The force proceeded by way of the lakes, and the Dawson route
from Fort William to Lake Winnipeg. Wolseley reached Fort Garry on Aug.
24, 1870, to find that Riel, with his lieutenants Lepine and O'Donoghue,
had fled across the border. Riel was subsequently outlawed. =Index=: (Sir Georges E. Cartier era)
Its causes, 69. (Joseph Howe era) Joseph Howe's official connection with, 227-228.
See also Riel. =Bib.=: Huyshe, Red River Expedition; Boulton,
Reminiscences of the North-West Rebellions; Bryce, Manitoba;
McArthur, Causes of the Rising in Red River Settlement (Man. Hist. and
Sc. Soc., 1882); Denison, Reminiscences of the Rebellion of 1869 and
Soldiering in Canada.