page_title: Battle of Cut Knife
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Cut Knife / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Battle of Cut Knife Creek, 1885. Français&#160;: De l'activité à Cut-Knife Creek.
context_page_description: The Battle of Cut Knife, fought on May 2, 1885, occurred when a flying column of mounted police, militia, and Canadian army regular army units attacked a Cree and Assiniboine teepee settlement near Battleford, Saskatchewan. First Nations fighters forced the Canadian forces to retreat, with losses on both sides.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1885, the Métis living in the District of Saskatchewan formed a provisional government under Louis Riel, taking control of the area around Batoche. Riel was in contact with First Nations people in Saskatchewan and Alberta, such as the Cree and Assiniboine. The government was concerned that the resistance would spread to First Nations across the North-West Territories.
  The Government of Canada quickly made preparations to send troops to crush the Resistance.
  Bands of Cree, assembled under the leadership of Poundmaker, went to Battleford. The purpose of the visit was to lobby the Indian agent there, Mr. Rae, for better supplies (many members of the band were starving) and to discuss the political situation. The people of Battleford and some of the settlers in the surrounding area, hearing reports of large numbers of Cree and Assiniboine leaving reserves and making their way to Battleford, feared for their safety. On the night of March 30, 1885, townspeople began to abandon the town and seek shelter in North-West Mounted Police Fort Battleford. When Poundmaker and his party reached the town, Rae refused to come out of the fort to meet with them. He kept them waiting for two days. Poundmaker's people meanwhile suffered from hunger, having been refused supplies by Rae.
  The abandoned homes and businesses were looted about this time. The identity of the looters is disputed. Some reports claimed Poundmaker's people were responsible, but one observer alleged that most of the looting had already been done by whites. Oral history accounts claim that the looting was done by Nakoda people, and that Poundmaker did his best to stop it. Either way, Poundmaker's people left the next day.
  Meanwhile, bands of Assiniboine living south of Battleford had heard about the Métis' rebellion. A small group of them killed a local farmer who had treated them harshly, and shot their Indian agent for beating a teenage girl. They then went north to Battleford to meet up with Poundmaker. a number of homes and businesses in Battleford were then looted and burned. There is some controversy as to who was responsible and as to the extent of the destruction.
  The Canadian government sent Major General Frederick Middleton to Saskatchewan to crush the Métis' rebellion. The small police force at Fort Battleford, suddenly responsible for the safety of nearly 500 civilians, called on him for reinforcements and hastily set about forming a home guard to garrison the post. Middleton detached a column under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel William Otter to relieve Battleford.
  Otter's column consisted of some 763 men from the 2nd Battalion, "Queen's Own Rifles of Canada", 'B' Battery, Regiment of Canadian Artillery, 'C' Company of the Infantry School Corps, a party of sharpshooters from the 1st Battalion Governor General's Foot Guards, a small party of North-West Mounted Police under the command of Percy Neale, and assorted teamsters. The column travelled by rail to Swift Current, setting out on the march for Battleford on April 13 and arriving on April 24. When Otter arrived, he found hundreds of civilians, white and Métis, crammed into the fort. However, Poundmaker's followers were nowhere to be found. Overjoyed at Otter's arrival, the townspeople and settlers wanted revenge on the Indians for the losses in lives and material that they had suffered. Many of Otter's troops, inexperienced militiamen, were angry that they had "missed out on a fight".
  Pressured by the townspeople and his own troops, Otter decided to take action. Despite orders from General Middleton to stay in Battleford, he wired the Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories (who was also the Indian Commissioner), Edgar Dewdney, for permission to "punish Poundmaker." Permission was granted. A garrison was left in Battleford, while he led a flying column of 392 men to attack the Cree and Assiniboine at Cut Knife Hill. His force was made up of 75 North-West Mounted Police (cavalry), several small units of Canadian army regulars, and various volunteers and militia. He carried wi
caption: Battle of Cut Knife Creek
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2002:10:25 11:03:47", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3620", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "760", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "520"}