CHAPTER VI.

THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

The Red River Expedition.-The Organization of the Force, and Start for Thunder Bay.-The Road thence to the Shebandowan Lake.-Down the Lake, and across the 'Portages' to Fort Frances.-Running the Rapids of the Winnipeg River to Fort Alexander.-The Arrival at Fort Garry.Success of the Expedition.-Return of Sir Garnet Wolseley to England. EARLY in 1870, the troubles on the Red River became of so pressing a nature that the Dominion Government, with the consent of the Home Colonial Office, determined on sending an expedition to restore the Queen's authority in that Settlement. The consensus of public opinion in the Colony pointed to Colonel Wolseley, who was exceedingly popular among all classes of the Canadians, and in an especial degree commanded the confidence of the Militia, as the fittest officer to lead a combined force of Regulars and Volunteers, and Major-General Hon. James Lindsay* accordingly nominated him to the command of the Red River Expedition. After eighteen years' service, Colonel

On the abolition of the divisional commands at Montreal and Toronto, and the withdrawal of all British troops from the Dominion to Halifax, General Lindsay had proceeded to England, and at this time held the post of Inspector-General of Reserve Forces at the Horse Guards, only returning to Canada to organize and despatch the Red River Force, and to make the necessary arrangements for handing over to the Dominion authorities the Government military buildings and matériel of war.

In writing this portion of the Memoir we are indebted to the following sources: The late Captain Huyshe's 'The Red River Expedition; to a 'Narrative' published in Blackwood's Magazine, written by Sir Garnet Wolseley himself; to the private journal of Mr. M. B. Irvine, C. B., C. M.G., in charge of the Control Department of the Expedition; to that officer's official Report on the Red River Expedition of 1870;' to Colonel Wol

Wolseley found himself entrusted with supreme command, thus, at length, being afforded the opportunity of achieving distinction for which, as an ambitious soldier, confident in his own capacity for independent command, he had long been sighing.

The Red River Territory, the inhabited portion of which, called the Red River Settlement, now forms a portion of the province of Manitoba, is a large tract lying nearly in the centre of British North America, and receives its name from the Red River. Fort Garry-which is situated close to Winnipeg, the capital, on the left bank of the Red River, where it is joined by the Assiniboine-is only sixty miles from the United States frontier, and therefore is easily accessible to citizens of the Republic desirous of fomenting troubles, or to disloyal British subjects. Owing to its geographical position, the Settlement is completely isolated from the outside world, as the nearest railway station in Canada is 900 miles distant, as 'the crow flies,' and the railway system of the United States is also some hundreds of miles to the southward. The inhabited portion, or Settlement, is merely the strip lying along the banks of the Red River, and of its affluent, the Assiniboine; its population at the beginning of 1870, exclusive of Indians, numbered about 15,000 souls, a large proportion of whom were French 'half-breeds,' as the descendants of European fathers and Indian mothers are called.

The Red River Territory had long been under the rule of

seley's Correspondence relative to the recent Expedition to the Red River Settlement, with Journal of Operations - both these latter being in the Blue Book presented to the Houses of Parliament. Also to a Lecture delivered by Captain Huyshe at the Royal United Service Institution, on the 20th of January, 1871 (which appears in No. 62, Vol. XV., of the Journal), the first part of which, treating of the origin of the expedition and organization of the force, was written by Colonel Wolseley.

* This was written nine years ago, since which vast changes have occurred in these regions.

THE DIFFICULTY ON THE RED RIVER.

187

the Hudson's Bay Company, which, in 1670, had received a charter from Charles II., granting them sovereign rights over a vast extent of country, the geographical limits of which were not clearly defined. After many years of fruitless negotiations between Canada and this great trading community, a three-cornered arrangement was arrived at, England acting as a sort of go-between, by which the vast territories, officially known as Rupert's Land, together with all territorial rights, were first transferred, on paper, to this country, and then made over, by royal proclamation, to the Confederation of the North American Provinces, which paid to the Hudson's Bay Company the sum of £300,000, the transfer to take effect from the 1st of December, 1869. It appears that in these negotiations the people of the Red River Settlement were consulted by neither the Canadian statesmen nor the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company sitting in London. They, and the French half-breeds in particular, naturally resented such cavalier treatment, and when, in 1869, the Canadian Government sent thither a surveying party, some eighteen half-breeds, under Louis Riel, compelled them to quit the country.

The Dominion Government nominated to the post of Lieutenant-Governor Mr. W. McDougall; but the people refused to acknowledge him, and, on the 24th of November, Riel took possession of Fort Garry, and assumed the Presidency of the so-called 'Republic of the North-West.' The Canadian Government then sent Mr. Donald Smith to Fort Garry as Special Commissioner, but his mission proved abortive. Riel now conducted himself with great violence, and, on the 4th of March, executed, after a sham courtmartial, a man named Thomas Scott, who formed one of a party of loyal English and Scotch half-breeds, who had attempted to effect the release of some sixty British subjects illegally confined in Fort Garry. Scott's execu

tion aroused a feeling of intense indignation throughout Canada.

In the meantime, Colonel Wolseley had prepared an able Report, in which he entered into minute details regarding the composition, equipment, and organization of the force, as well as its victualling, clothing, and transport. Equally important with the question of the organization of the Expeditionary Force, was the question of its leader; and when it was announced that Colonel Wolseley was to command, there was a chorus of approval from the Canadian public and press, and it was universally felt that the success of the expedition was already assured. It was decided that the force was to consist of 1,200 men, and that the Home Government should bear one-fourth of the charges. The Dominion Government were to raise two battalions of Militia, each of which, as in the case of the 60th Rifles, was to consist of seven companies of 50 men each, with the object of making them more handy for boat service, with 3 officers per company.

On the 4th of May, 1870, Colonel Wolseley left Montreal for Toronto to organize the column. Thence he proceeded to Collingwood, on the shores of Lake Huron, 94 miles distant from Toronto, accompanied by Mr. S. J. Dawson, the able executive officer of the Public Works Department, whose services had been placed at Colonel Wolseley's disposal by the Canadian Government.

Almost insuperable were the difficulties involved in transporting a large armed force, with all the matériel of war, a distance of 600 miles, through rivers and lakes, and over no less than 47 'portages '—a word applied to the breaks in the navigation between two lakes, or between a river and a lake -across which everything had to be 'portaged,' or carried on men's backs, a necessity which caused a most serious addition to the labours of the route, as the portages varied

THE ROUTE TO FORT GARRY.

189

in length from 20 yards to 1 mile. Of the entire distance of 600 miles, 48 only-that from Thunder Bay to Lake Shebandowan-was by land transport, over a road only partially constructed by Mr. Dawson. From Lake Shebandowan to Lake of the Woods was a distance of 310 miles by rivers and lakes, with about 17 portages, and from thence to Fort Garry was only about 100 miles in a straight line by land; but, says Wolseley, there was only a road made for about 60 miles of that distance, the unmade portion being laid out over most difficult swamps. If, therefore, the troops could not advance by that route, as was subsequently found to be the case, the only other way of reaching Manitoba was via the Winnipeg River, the navigation of which was known to be so difficult and dangerous that none but experienced guides ever attempted it. There were about 30 portages in the extra 160 miles thus added to the total length of the distance to be traversed.'

The distance to Fort Garry might thus have been shortened by 160 miles, had it been possible to adopt the former route, which struck off towards the fort from the north-west angle of the Lake of the Woods; but the wisdom of Wolseley's adopting the route by Lake Winnipeg was amply proved when, on his arrival at Fort Garry, Colonel Bolton, whom he sent to inspect the direct road to the Lake of the Woods, reported that the last 33 miles had not yet been cut, and that there were such heavy morasses and thick woods, that only a small body of men could get through.* Considering all the enormous obstacles to the transport of stores and

* There was a second route to Fort Garry, employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, who landed at York Factory in Hudson Bay, and ascended the Nelson River to Lake Winnipeg. This had been made use of in the conveyance of small bodies of troops, which, on two occasions, under Colonel Crofton and Major Seton, had been quartered at Fort Garry. But these had never exceeded a few hundred men, and the whole resources of the Hudson's Bay Company had been placed at their disposal. Again, the sea off York Factory is only free from ice about six weeks in the year, and the navigation of the Arctic Ocean is both difficult and dangerous.