View source for Battle of Fish Creek

{{Infobox military conflict
| image= Battle of Fish Creek.jpg
| image_size = 300
|caption=Contemporary [[lithograph]] of the Battle of Fish Creek
|conflict=Battle of Fish Creek<br><small>{{nativename|fr|Bataille de la Coulée des Tourond}}</small>
|partof=the [[North-West Rebellion]]
|date=24 April 1885
|place={{coord|52|32|22.97|N|106|9|21.47|W|display=inline,title|type:landmark}}<br>[[Fish Creek, Saskatchewan]]
|result= Metis victory; government advance temporarily halted.
|combatant1= Metis, Cree, Teton Sioux rebels 
|combatant2={{Flagicon image|Canadian Red Ensign 1868-1921.svg}} [[Canada]]
|commander1=[[Gabriel Dumont (Métis leader)|Gabriel Dumont]]
|commander2=[[Frederick Middleton]]
|strength1=280<ref name="metis">{{cite book 
|publisher = Department of Militia and Defence
|location = Ottawa
|title =Report upon the suppression of the rebellion in the North-West Territories and matters in connection therewith, in 1885: Presented to Parliament.
|page=20
|year = 1886
|url =http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1519/45.html
|last= Panet |first=Charles Eugène
}}</ref>
|strength2=900
|casualties1=11 Métis & Dakota dead<ref name="metis"/><ref>{{cite web
|url =http://www.metismuseum.ca/media/db/11980
|title=Heroes of the 1885 Northwest Resistance. Summary of those Killed.
|last=Barkwell |first=Lawrence J.
|publisher = Louis Riel Institute
|year = 2010
|access-date = 13 November 2013}}</ref><br/>18 wounded<ref name="metis"/>
|casualties2=11
 dead<ref name="casualties">{{harvp|Panet|1886|page=xi}}</ref><br/>40 wounded<ref name="casualties"/>
|notes = {{Designation list |embed=yes |designation1=NHSC |designation1_offname=Battle of Tourond's Coulee / Fish Creek National Historic Site of Canada |designation1_date=1923 }}
}}
{{Campaignbox North-West Rebellion}}
{{Location_map+
|Canada Saskatchewan|relief=yes
| width = 305
| float = right
| caption =The [[District of Saskatchewan]] in 1885 (within the black diamonds) included the central section of Saskatchewan and extended into Alberta and Manitoba.<br>The Métis conflict area is circled in black.
| places =
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Duck Lake, Saskatchewan|Duck Lake]] | lat=52.8166 | long=-106.233 | label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=right}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Battleford]] | lat=52.738| long=-108.315 | label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=bottom}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Frog Lake Massacre|Frog Lake]] | lat=53.831 | long=-110.358| label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=left}}
  {{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Battle of Fort Pitt|Fort Pitt]] | lat=53.65 | long=-109.751 | label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=right}}
  {{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=Fish Creek| lat=52.60 | long=-105.947| label_size=75 | marksize=7|mark=Locator_Dot2.gif|position=right}}
 {{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Battle of Cut Knife|Cut Knife]] | lat=52.75 | long=-109.0166| label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=left}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Battle of Batoche|Batoche]] | lat=52.755 | long=-106.116| label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=left}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Battle of Frenchman's Butte|Butte]] | lat=53.627 | long=-109.575| label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=bottom}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label=[[Battle of Loon Lake|Loon Lake]] | lat=54.04 | long=-109.0| label_size=75 | marksize=6|position=right}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan| label= | lat=52.755 | long=-106.116| label_size=75 | marksize=30|mark=Cercle noir 50%.svg|position=left}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan | lat=52 | long=-112| label_size=75 | marksize=10|mark=Diamond_sheer_black_20.png}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan | lat=55 | long=-112| label_size=75 | marksize=10|mark=Diamond_sheer_black_20.png}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan | lat=52 | long=-98| label_size=75 | marksize=10|mark=Diamond_sheer_black_20.png}}
{{Location map~|Canada Saskatchewan | lat=55 | long=-98| label_size=75 | marksize=10|mark=Diamond_sheer_black_20.png}}
 }}
The '''Battle of Fish Creek''' (also known as the '''Battle of [[Tourond's Coulee|Tourond's Coulée]]'''),<ref>{{cite press release
  |location=Ottawa
 |title=Famous 1885 Battle Site Gains New Name
 |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2007/11/famous-1885-battle-site-gains-new-name.html
 |publisher=Parks Canada
 |date=17 November 2007
 }}</ref> fought April 24, 1885 at [[Fish Creek (Saskatchewan)|Fish Creek, Saskatchewan]], was a major [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis]] victory over the Canadian forces attempting to quell [[Louis Riel]]'s [[North-West Rebellion]]. Although the reversal was not decisive enough to alter the ultimate outcome of the conflict, it was convincing enough to persuade [[Major General]] [[Frederick Middleton]] to temporarily halt his advance on [[Batoche, Saskatchewan|Batoche]], where the Métis would later make their final stand.

==Battle==
Middleton, having led his Field Force out from [[Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan|Qu'Appelle]] on April 10, was advancing upstream from [[District of Saskatchewan#Settlements|Clarke's Crossing]] along the [[South Saskatchewan River]] when scouts discovered an apparent ambush by [[Gabriel Dumont (Métis leader)|Gabriel Dumont]]'s Métis / Dakota force at Fish Creek, about {{convert|17|km|mi}} south of Batoche. Fish Creek was Métis land.<ref name=Boyden/>{{rp|p94}}

Upon learning that Middleton was marching toward Batoche, Dumont suggested to Riel the use of [[guerrilla warfare]], by blowing up train tracks to slow their progress. Riel countered that guerrilla tactics were "too much like Indian warfare".<ref name="Woodcock 1978">{{Cite book|title=Gabriel Dumont|last=Woodcock|first=George|publisher=Fitzhenry & Whiteside|year=1978|isbn=0889022399|location=Don Mills, Ontario}}</ref> Dumont also proposed to attack them by surprise at night, but after he learned that Middleton's scouts were already on the lookout, he had to scrap the idea.<ref name="Woodcock 1978"/>

On April 23, as the militia began advancing from Clarke's Crossing, {{convert|90|km|mi}} south of Batoche, Dumont took 200 men and rode out from Batoche toward Tourond's Coulée. Louis Riel accompanied them. When a (false) report arrived that the [[North-West Mounted Police]] were advancing on Batoche, Riel returned there with 50 men. Dumont stationed most of his men in the [[coulée]], where they set to work digging rifle pits. Meanwhile, Middleton had arrived at a point about {{convert|10|km|mi}} south of Fish Creek, and set up camp.<ref name=Boyden/>{{rp|p94}} Dumont took a party of twenty horsemen forward of the coulée. Their task was to seal the exit when the ambush was sprung, like a [[buffalo pound]].<ref name=Boyden>{{cite book |last1=Boyden |first1=Joseph |title=Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont |date=2010 |publisher=Penguin Canada |isbn=9780670066711 |edition=First}}</ref>{{rp|p95}} However, an inexperienced Métis soldier had forgotten Dumont's specific demand to stay away from the road as it could give the location of the Métis away. The next day, the militia were about to attempt to cross the coulée. A scout spotted the tracks of the inexperienced Métis soldier and began to follow them. The scout was coming close to Dumont and his men, and Dumont stealthily attempted to catch him. Before Dumont could catch the scout, the Métis and Canadian Militia had come into contact with each other, and it was then that the concealed Métis in the rifle pits attempted to ambush the militia. Dumont, under pressure, shot the militia's scout and returned to his men in the poplar bluff rifle pits to fight the rest of the Canadian militia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morton|first=Desmond|title=The Last War Drum: The North West Campaign of 1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jolAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA62|series=Canadian War Museum Historical Publications|volume=5|year=1972|location=Toronto|publisher=Hakkert|page=62|isbn=9780888665126}}</ref><ref name="Batoche 1985">Walter Hildebrandt (1985). "The Battle of Batoche: British Small Warfare and the Entrenched Métis". Parks Canada, Winnipeg.</ref>

The Métis pounded Middleton's men with one devastating fusillade before withdrawing into cover and restricting themselves to sniper fire in order to conserve ammunition. Their position was strategically selected and enabled a simple and effective strategy of defence.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Since the Métis were positioned in the coulée, they were restricted to shooting up towards the Canadian Militia, and many of the wounds were mainly in the upper body and head area.<ref>Carnie, L.R. (1935). Reminiscence Early Days in Battleford and With Middleton's Columns. Saskatchewan: The Herald.</ref>

With half of his force on the opposite side of the river, Middleton was unable to bring his full numbers to bear. One of his artillery batteries opened fire on the Métis to little effect, although well-fired cannonades did succeed in driving away Dumont's [[Cree]] allies before their weight could be added to the battle.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

Many of Dumont's men were fleeing the battle. Dumont stopped as many men as he could from leaving and convinced them to keep fighting. Dumont's numbers were decreasing vastly, as he had 47 of the 130 men that he began fighting with. Dumont very outnumbered, but was able to keep the Métis casualties to a minimum.<ref name="Batoche 1985"/>

Strung out along the coulée's edge, silhouetted against the sky, the militia fired a vast amount of ammunition at the resistance, succeeding mostly in showering tree branches across the ravine, but when the artillerymen pushed their guns to the coulée's edge to try to fire down at the concealed Métis, they suffered heavy casualties.{{sfnp|Beal|Macleod|1994}} The only targets the militia could clearly see were the Métis' tethered horses: they killed about 55 of them.{{sfnp|Morton|1972|pp=64-65}}

General Middleton attempted to place himself in full view of the resistance. However, a bullet tore through his fur hat, and his two aides-de-camp were both wounded by his side. The frustrated Canadians, their casualties mounting, undertook several fruitless rushes into the ravine. A few infantry regulars under Middleton's command made one charge. Another, larger one was carried out by the [[Royal Winnipeg Rifles|90th "Winnipeg" Battalion of Rifles]]. This latter advance was parried by the Métis' use of improvised barricades within the coulée. These uncoordinated advances accomplished nothing but more Canadian casualties. Middleton in a statement later on said: "[Métis] plans were well arranged beforehand and had my scouts not been well to the front we should have been attacked in the ravine and probably wiped out".<ref name="Woodcock 1978"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Mulvany|first=Charles Pelham|title=The History of the North-west Rebellion of 1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_0-Rd0Y1Q8oC&pg=PA131|year=1886|publisher=A.H. Hovey|location=Toronto|pages=131–132, 141}}</ref>

With night coming on, Middleton, distressed by the casualties he was taking, opted for retreat. At the battle's end, both sides had withdrawn from the battlefield but the Métis had inflicted greater casualties and had delayed Middleton's march on the Métis' headquarters at Batoche.{{sfnp|Beal|Macleod|1994}} Weeks later, after news reached him of the Cree victory over Colonel [[William Dillon Otter]] – to whom had been issued a [[Gatling gun]] – at [[Battle of Cut Knife|Cut Knife]], Middleton arrived at Batoche.

==Maps==
*[http://library.usask.ca/northwest/db/images/plti-.jpg Military Battlefield Map of Fish Creek]
*[http://library.usask.ca/northwest/db/images/pltv-.jpg Military Map of Fish Creek view 1]
*[http://library.usask.ca/northwest/db/images/pltiii-.jpg Military Map of Fish Creek view 2]
*[http://library.usask.ca/northwest/db/images/rpitll.jpg Military Map of Fish Creek Rifle Pits]

==Legacy==
{{quote box
| width   = 30em
| bgcolor = #c6dbf7
| align   = left
|quote=North West Rebellion - Fish Creek - While General Middleton was moving to capture Batoche his forces were attacked on the 24th April, 1885, by the Half-breeds under Gabriel Dumont from concealed rifle pits near the mouth of Fish Creek. The rebels were defeated and driven from the field. Erected 1933.|source= —National Historic Sites and Monuments Board<ref>{{cite web
  | title =Fish Creek Plaque |date=1933
 | publisher = [[Gabriel Dumont Institute]] of Native Studies and Applied Research
 | url = http://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/04283}}
</ref>}}

The site of the battle was designated a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site of Canada]] in 1923.<ref>{{CRHP|14085|Battle of Tourond's Coulee / Fish Creek|6 August 2012}}</ref>

In the spring of 2008, Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Christine Tell proclaimed in [[Duck Lake, Saskatchewan|Duck Lake]], that "the 125th commemoration, in 2010, of the 1885 Northwest Resistance is an excellent opportunity to tell the story of the prairie Métis and First Nations peoples' struggle with Government forces and how it has shaped Canada today."<ref>{{cite web
 | title = Tourism agencies to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Northwest Resistance/Rebellion
 | work = Home/About Government/News Releases/June 2008
 | publisher = Government of Saskatchewan
 | date = 7 June 2008
 | url = http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=3ceddf25-86ef-4433-86ea-cfe3cc69472d
 | access-date = 20 September 2009
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091021102620/http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=3ceddf25-86ef-4433-86ea-cfe3cc69472d
 | archive-date = 21 October 2009
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

The Battle of Fish Creek National Historic Site, now named Tourond's Coulée / Fish Creek National Historic Site, preserves the battlefield of April 24, 1885 at ''la coulée des Tourond '',  and the story of Madame Tourond's home. The National Historic site of Middleton's camp and graveyard is across the Fish Creek water body and is north west of the theatre of battle which occurred in the creek valley west of the Tourond farmhouse site.<ref>{{cite web
 |title        = Battle of Fish Creek
 |work         = National Parks and National Historic Sites of Canada
 |publisher    = Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Chief Executive Officer of Parks Canada
 |year         = 2007
 |url          = http://www.pc.gc.ca/~/media/lhn%20nhs/sk/batoche/btc-fc_e.ashx
 |access-date   = 20 September 2009
}}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of battles won by indigenous peoples of the Americas]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*"Battle of Fish Creek". National Parks and National Historic Sites of Canada. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the chief executive officer of Parks Canada. 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
*Battle of Tourond's Coulee / Fish Creek. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
* {{cite encyclopedia |first1=Bob |last1=Beal |first2=Rod |last2=Macleod |date=7 February 2006 |title=North West Rebellion |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]]|edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/north-west-rebellion/ |ref={{sfnref|Beal|Macleod|1994}} }}
*Carnie, L. R. (1935). Reminiscence Early Days In Battleford and With Middleton's Columns. Saskatchewan, ON: The Herald.
*"Famous 1885 Battle Site Gains New Name" (Press release). Ottawa: Parks Canada. 17 November 2007.
*Panet, Charles Eugène (1886). Report upon the suppression of the rebellion in the North-West Territories and matters in connection therewith, in 1885: Presented to Parliament. Ottawa: Department of Militia and Defence. p.&nbsp;20.
*Morton, Desmond (1972). The Last War Drum: The North West Campaign of 1885. Canadian War Museum Historical Publications. Volume 5. Toronto: Hakkert. p.&nbsp;62.
*Mulvany, Charles Pelham (1886). The History of the North-west Rebellion of 1885. Toronto: A.H. Hovey. pp.&nbsp;131–132, 141.
*"The Battle of Batoche: British Small Warfare and the Entrenched Métis" (PDF). The Battle of Batoche by Hildebrandt, Walter. Parks Canada, Winnipeg. 1985. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
*"Tourism agencies to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Northwest Resistance/Rebellion". Home/About Government/News Releases/June 2008. Government of Saskatchewan. 7 June 2008. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
*Woodcock, George (1978). Gabriel Dumont. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. {{ISBN|0889022399}}.

==External links==
* [http://www.westerntour.com/1885Reb/R-FishCr.htm Fish Creek battle site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110826073020/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/fish_creek_battle_of.html Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan]
* [http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1519/37.html Military Map of Fish Creek]
* Gabriel Dumont Institute [http://www.metismuseum.ca/browse/index.php/635 Fish Creek] (photographs of the battle and its aftermath)

{{Saskatchewan parks}}
{{NHSC}}

[[Category:Battles of the North-West Rebellion|Fish Creek]]
[[Category:Fish Creek No. 402, Saskatchewan]]
[[Category:April 1885 events]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Sioux|Fish Creek]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Métis|Fish Creek]]
[[Category:Royal Winnipeg Rifles]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1885|Fish Creek]]