Poundmaker: Peacekeeping Warrior of the Cree
Poundmaker in 1885
Poundmaker was a Chief of the Plains Cree, a peacekeeping warrior who fought and defeated the Canadian government at the Battle of Cut Horse Creek. He shouldered the impossible task of preventing bloodshed, of calming the young warriors of the tribes and negotiating with an expansionist government that despised him. His story is one of the great tragedies of Canadian history.
In the spring of 1885 existing tensions between the Canadian government and several of the larger indigenous nations erupted into a full-scale war. The North-West Rebellion, or the North-West Resistance, depending on who you asked, engulfed what are now the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Chief Poundmaker, a leader among the Plains Cree, was a peacekeeping warrior who sought to protect his people from starvation and violence during this difficult time. He shouldered the impossible task of preventing bloodshed, of calming the young warriors of the tribes and negotiating with an expansionist government that despised him. His story is one of the great tragedies of Canadian history.
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Poundmaker, whose name in Cree is Pitikwahanapiwiyin, was born sometime around 1842 in what is now central Saskatchewan to a Nakoda mother. His family was somewhat influential; his uncle was Chief Mistawasis, a leader of a small tribe to the north. Poundmaker earned his name from his ability to lure wild bison into pounds, a type of trap used by the Cree to kill and harvest the great beasts.
When Poundmaker was still a teenager his mother died, leaving him, his younger brother and his younger sister to be raised by the rest of his tribe. The Cree did not have orphanages, but rather expected the other families to help bring up children without parents. Still, Poundmaker’s early life was rough and bleak, and the mass extermination of the buffalo made each coming year more difficult than the last.
Poundmaker’s life was upended when Chief Crowfoot, leader of the prominent Blackfoot tribe, saw potential in the young man and adopted him as his son. Poundmaker trained extensively under Crowfoot in the art of warfare, practicing with bow and axe and learning tactics and strategy. By the time Poundmaker returned to the Cree, his skills as a fighter were well known. He leveraged his reputation as a warrior with his new status as the son of a respected chief to become a chieftain in his own right amongst the Cree, and was elected sometime in the late 1860s to lead his own small band of around 182 people.
1876 was a year of great violence between European settlers and native tribes across North America – the Battle of Little Big Horn occurred in June of that year, and was just one instance of the widespread hostilities. Hoping to prevent a similar conflict, the Native peoples of Canada met with the Canadian government to discuss the signing of the sixth major treaty between the two factions; conveniently named Treaty Six. In exchange for their land, the native tribes would receive medicine, assistance during times of famine and hardship, tools for agriculture, and education centers for the children. They were also granted the right to hunt and fish on their ancestral lands, as long as those lands were not owned by a Canadian. Poundmaker was among the Native delegates and participated in these debates. While most of the Chiefs, including Poundmaker’s uncle Chief Mistawasis, supported the Treaty, Poundmaker was among those who spoke out against it, believing it to be unfair. He pressed for a rewriting of the treaty to provide terms more favorable to the indigenous peoples, stating
“this is our land. It isn’t a piece of pemmican to be cut off and given little pieces back to us. It is ours and we will take what we want.”
However, Poundmaker was ultimately outvoted, and the native tribes signed treaty six, officially giving the Canadian government the rights to their land. Shortly after, Poundmaker and his band settled near Cut Horse Creek. For the next nine years Poundmaker and his people attempted to adapt to the loss of the buffalo. His tribe learned how to farm like the white man did, but like the white man, they found the lands north of the Great Lakes to be uncooperative to agriculture. Farming in the plains was extremely difficult, and even the most prepared European settlers failed more often than they succeeded.
As the Cree struggled the Canadian government began to increasingly abandon their obligations under Treaty Six. The medicine chests were never delivered. Tools for agriculture were often sold to incoming European settlers instead of given to the natives. Because more and more of the land was bought up by European farmers the Cree found their hunting grounds shrinking each year. And the education the Canadian government brought to the tribes was in the form of the infamous Indian boarding schools, places full of abuse and violence. Anger and open dissent spread among the tribes as they fell into destitute poverty.
The winter of 1885 was long and brutal. Winters on the northern plains were and are extreme, with temperatures well below freezing and massive, sweeping storms that originate over the waters of the great lakes. Poundmaker’s farms had failed. His people were starving. When the spring finally came and the snows finally melted, Poundmaker was forced to take his band to the nearest Canadian outpost, Fort Battleford, to request access to the emergency aid Treaty Six had promised them. As he traveled east other tribes joined him, hoping that they too would receive the help they so desperately needed. When Poundmaker finally arrived at Fort Battleford he had several thousand Cree, Nakota, Stoney, and Metis riding alongside him, of which less than a fourth were fighting men; the rest were elders, women and children.
As Poundmaker traveled towards Fort Battleford the North-West Rebellion, or North West Resistance, erupted in what is now Northern Saskatchewan and Alberta. The Metis, descendants of the French fur traders and indigenous women, had long faced discrimination and mistreatment from the Canadian government. A large number of Metis tribes banded together with a variety of disparate groups including Canadian Catholics, disillusioned settlers and a variety of First Nation tribes. Facing similar problems as the Cree – desolate weather conditions, crop failures and a general lack of supplies and medicine – they decided to rise up in open rebellion.
The fighting started around March of 1885 when Metis leader and politician Louis Riel took control of the resistance. Riel was a self- proclaimed prophet and his religious fanaticism alienated the majority of the movement. Despite that, Riel still mustered several hundred fighting men and demanded that the Canadian government to recognize the Metis as a sovereign nation. There has been a great deal already written about Louis Riel – he is often described as one of the most thoroughly researched figures in Canadian history. I might make a podcast about him later, but for now, we’ll focus on Poundmaker.
The Canadian soldiers manning Fort Battleford heard news of Louis Riel’s Rebellion, and wrongly assumed that Poundmaker and his people were part of the rebel army. The residents of the town surrounding the fort fled, and fort’s entrance was sealed. When Poundmaker arrived at the gates requesting the aid he was legally entitled to, the Indian officer refused to speak with him. Poundmaker repeatedly sent messages to the fort telling him that his intentions were peaceful and that he only wished for provisions to feed the women and children of his band. The Canadians never sent a reply, but instead called for reinforcements from the Army, falsely claiming Poundmaker was readying for an assault. For two days Poundmaker and his people waited outside the Fort, setting up camp in the field outside its borders.
As the second day ended, several dozen Nakota warriors grew impatient of Poundmaker’s peaceful approach and began looting the abandoned homes and businesses outside of Fort Battleford searching for food and directly disobeying Poundmaker’s authority. This greatly escalated the situation, and Poundmaker ordered his people to fall back to their settlement at Cut Horse Creek to avoid bloodshed.
Two months passed, and the reinforcements called by Fort Battleford arrived; 332 Canadian soldiers led by a man named Lt Colonel William Otter. Otter’s mission was, in his own words quote to “make Poundmaker pay” and “punish Poundmaker”. In Otter’s mind, Poundmaker was part of the larger North-West Resistance let by Louis Riel and should be crushed as a rebel. To further complicate things a group of Assiniboine killed their Indian agent after he severely beat a young native girl. Despite that there was no proof that Poundmaker had anything to do with the incident – he was over 50 miles away and that specific band of Assiniboine were not under his leadership – Otter placed the blame squarely on Poundmaker’s shoulders. He added this to Poundmaker’s list of crimes and used it as justification for his upcoming raid on Cut Horse Creek.
Otter roused the garrison at Fort Battleford, increasing his numbers, and when he departed the fort he had 392 men under his command. His force included 75 cavalrymen, several units of Canadian soldiers as well as around a dozen local militiamen. He also brought two seven pounder field rifles and a gatling gun. Otter’s plan was to march until sunset, rest until just before the dawn and then attack the Cree while they slept. Otter was fully aware that a large portion of Poundmaker’s band was made up of women and children; he was attempting a massacre.
Poundmaker had sensed that the Canadians might retaliate after the looting that occurred at Fort Battleford. He had moved his entire encampment to the west side of Cut Horse Creek as a precaution and set up with his warriors on a hill with a view of the surrounding area. Cree scouts patrolled the plains. As the sun set Poundmaker and around 250 warriors prepared to defend the roughly 1500 women and children that occupied the camp.
Otter’s men were spotted by the Cree scouts as they approached the creek in the dead of the night. There is no consensus on who shot first, but soon, the roar of gunfire cracked through the night air. Otter realized that fording the water while the Natives fired upon him would result in disaster, and instead set up his gatling gun on the east bank of the creek and began unloading into Poundmaker’s encampment from afar. The Cree mounted a counter assault, circling the Canadian’s position and attacking in small groups to hide their numbers.
A drawing of the Battle of Cut Horse Creek
The fighting lasted for just over six hours. As the sun rose Otter ordered a retreat; the Canadians had suffered eight dead and fourteen wounded. Five Natives died, and three more were severely injured. As Otter’s men routed, Poundmaker prevented his warriors from attacking them as they fled. He is quoted as saying “They have come here to fight us and we have defended ourselves, our women and our children. Now let them go.”
The Battle of Cut Horse Creek was one of the very few military victories that that the indigenous peoples of Canada had ever had against the Canadian government, and as such it was news worldwide. The next week the front page of the New York Times read “Defeated by the Indians: Col. Otter routed by Chief Poundmaker”.
Only three weeks later Louis Riel’s North-West Resistance was crushed, and Riel was arrested. The rest of the Canadian Army was now available to focus on the Cree, and Poundmaker understood that despite his victory he had no chance of winning a long-term war. He decided that he would turn himself as a symbolic gesture that he considered the fighting to be over.
Poundmaker’s trial lasted only two days total including the day of his arrest. The jury took less than half an hour to declare a guilty verdict. When he was given his time to speak Poundmaker said “Had I wanted war, I would not be here now. I should be on the prairie. You did not catch me. I gave myself up. I wanted peace.”
Poundmaker’s adopted father Chief Crowfoot petitioned for his release. Hoping to avoid further bloodshed, the Canadian government agreed to conduct a review of the evidence. A garrisoned officer at Fort Battleford confirmed that Poundmaker had repeatedly stated that his intentions were peaceful when he was camped outside the fort. Additionally, several of the Canadian soldiers spoke out, stating that Poundmaker had spared the lives of the fleeing soldiers at the Battle of Cut Horse Creek when he and his warriors could have shot them down as they fled.
Chief Crowfoot’s petition was successful and Poundmaker was released after serving seven months at Stoney Mountain Penitentiary in horrible conditions. He caught pneumonia at the prison, and eventually suffered from a lung hemorrhage. He died a few months after he regained his freedom in 1886.
Poundmaker’s death was emblematic of the harsh treatment the Cree received at the hands of the Canadian government. Today he is remembered as man of great strength, someone who campaigned for peace but was unafraid of battle.
His band, the Poundmaker Cree Nation, still exists. They still live near Cut Horse Creek. In 2019 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formerly exonerated Poundmaker of all crimes.
