Gabriel Dumont

by George Woodcock

"The struggle of the Metis of the Saskatchewan River against the government of Canada culminated in the Riel Rebellion of 1885 - an event of central importance in shaping almost all of the key polarities of Canadian history. If Riel provided the intellectual inspiration for the Rebellion, it was Gabriel Dumont who provided its strategy, and arguably its soul. Dumont, a leading figure in the Metis society of hunters along the South Saskatchewan, had been president of the short-lived local government, and became "Adjutant General of the Metis people" when a Provisional Government was declared in 1885. After the defeat of the Rebellion by the Canadian militia Dumont lived for several years in the United States, and was for some time a performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In his last years he returned to his old home near Batoche (site of the final defeat of the Metis forces in 1885), where he died in 1906"--Jacket.