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December 8, 1869 — William ‘McDougall, the man Canada had Sent to Tule the former Hudson's Bay Company's territory of Ru pert's Land — on this date wrote out from memory minutes of a meeting he had attended at Pembina only a few days before. ‘McDougall had been stopped and kept on United States terri tory by the Red River Metis of, ‘fad tried’ tof enter The ae but they too were turned back ‘by the loyal followers of the man named Riel. ‘came desperate. He prematurely announced his own appointment as Governor and on December 1, secretly crossed the border with a few of his staff. By lantern light, he read his own forged documents to the stars and wind swept hills. He also sent north Col J. 8. Dennis, the erstwhile surveyor — with an appointment as Lieutenant and “Conservator of the Peace.” Dennis’ commis sion gave him the power to raise men, to requisition supplies, to detain or fire anyone suspected of being “disloyal.” Dennis met with some so-all- led “loyalist” native-born who promised wide-spread support even from the Metis faction. Dennis went on to occupy the Lower Fort where he enrolled men and appointed officers to recruit in the various English- speaking districts. Some of his surveyors he sent to the Portage settlement to co-ordinate matters with a ferocious group of Canadians there. There is reason to be ieve that some of these Por as is re todmen Georges “Shaman” Racette, who was believed to have great influence with the Sioux. There were at that time a great number of Sioux who had taken refuge in Rupert's Land to escape American troops anxious for revenge af ter the Minnesota troubles. Racette, it is believed, was to stir these people, to sim them and to turn them loose against the French-speaking faction. The people in St. Boniface knew this and Riel and the Com mander of his guard, the gay and dashing Captain Gay pre pared plans to defend the strong points on the French side of the river. ‘Those who made their home in the American frontier settle ment of Pembina were inclined to regard McDougall and his staff with amused contempt but their hackles were raised when they heard that Racette and the Sioux might be involved and adding fuel to the fires of their anger was the fact that Dennis had enrolled 50 of Peguis’s ‘Saulteaux in his army-in-train ing. ‘McDougall was summoned to a meeting in the office of the collector of customs at Pembina. ‘According to the report of the meeting McDougall made to the Canadian government, the American officials present did not vie any time in pre limit Joseph Devilee, the postmaster, “asked me if I did not know that Dr. Schultz had sent ‘one ‘Sherman’ with goods of 2 certain kind (guns and ammu nition) to the Sioux, and that the purpose was to use them against Riel’s party. They also told McDougall that Racette was an outlaw, that he would be hanged if he stepped on American territory, and that the Sioux would not hesitate to murder Americans. McDougall assured his Ameri can hosts that he had not auth orized use of Indians and would issue orders to this effect im mediately. The blunt talk of the American, inspired McDougall, to lose no time in writing. Just before McDougall had left the meeting place — Joseph Le May had calmly informed him that his life would not be safe for
Newspaper Details
MacGregor Herald
MacGregor, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Dec 09, 1965
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Niin J.
