Battle of Batoche (1885)

In 1885 Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald was determined to crush Indigenous and Métis resistance, known as the North-West rebellion. He called on Major-General Frederick Dobson Middleton, then commanding the Canadian militia, to take the field. When Middleton’s force of more than 800 men advanced on Batoche (Sask.) on 9 May, the result was a foregone conclusion. On the fourth day of the battle the pell-mell rush of militiamen cost the Canadians 30 casualties, five dead and 25 wounded, but they were eventually victorious. With the fall of Batoche and Louis Riel’s surrender on 15 May, the rebellion was over.