Battle of Frenchman's Butte

Part of the North-West Rebellion

Date	May 28, 1885
Location	53°37′38″N 109°34′33″W / 53.62722°N 109.57583°W / 53.62722; -109.57583Coordinates: 53°37′38″N 109°34′33″W / 53.62722°N 109.57583°W / 53.62722; -109.57583 Frenchman's Butte, Saskatchewan
Result	Cree victory

Belligerents

Cree

Canada

Commanders and leaders

Wandering Spirit

Thomas Bland Strange

Strength

200

400

National Historic Site of Canada

Official name

Frenchman Butte National Historic Site of Canada

Designated

1929

400

The Battle of Frenchman's Butte, fought on May 28, 1885, occurred when a force of Cree, dug in on a hillside near Frenchman's Butte, was unsuccessfully attacked by the Alberta Field Force. It was fought in what was then the District of Saskatchewan of the Northwest Territories.

A band of Cree led by war chief Wandering Spirit, living in what is now central Alberta and Saskatchewan joined the North-West Rebellion of 1885 after the Métis success at the Battle of Duck Lake. The starving band seized food and supplies from several white settlements and captured Fort Pitt, taking prisoners. Major-General Thomas Bland Strange, a retired British officer living near Calgary, raised a force of cowboys and other white settlers, added to them two units of North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), and headed north. He was reinforced by three infantry units from the east, bringing his forces to some 1,000 men. While he left some of his force to provide protection for the isolated white settlements in the area, he led several hundred troops east to Fort Pitt. The Cree burnt the fort ahead of him and retreated to the nearby hills. Over the next few days, Strange's scouts fought skirmishes with small groups of Cree and marched over Frenchman's Butte. On the night of May 27, the Cree dug in at the top of a hill east of the Butte and waited.

Early on the morning of May 28, the Cree warriors divided into two groups. Wandering Spirit, the Cree war chief, led some 200 warriors to positions in the trenches and rifle pits, while Little Poplar remained with a second group to protect the camp, some two miles away. General Strange arrived opposite the Cree position at six in the morning and opened fire with a piece of artillery. The Cree responded, opening fire on Strange's units. Some Canadian troops tried to cross the valley, but they found the bottom covered in muskeg. On top of this, there was a steep, open hillside in front of the Cree, making any frontal assault suicidal. Strange pulled his forces back and deployed them along the bottom of the valley. The two units of NWMP formed the left flank. To their right was the 65th Battalion, Mount Royal Rifles, with the Winnipeg Light Infantry Battalion in the centre, while the right flank was formed by the Alberta Mounted Rifles.

...
Wikipedia