Louis Riel personally singled out Major Charles Arkoll Boulton for execution. Thomas Scott was shot instead, but Boulton never lost his visceral hatred for the "rebel chief". A leader of the Canadian forces during the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70, Boulton was a seasoned veteran when Métis rose again in 1885. Recruiting his own force of mounted infantry he served in the heart of the action at Fish Creek and Batoche, witnessing scenes of massacre and horror, listening to First Nations leaders as they pleaded their cases, visiting the headquarters of the Métis, speaking with the English general Frederick Middleton. Boulton was privileged to be both participant in and observer of the drama of passion and ambition that idelibly marked the history of the Canadian West. First published in 1886, the narrative reproduced in I Fought Riel presents an incredibly vivid portrait of this important passage in the history of the West. With an insightful introduction by Heather Robertson.

There is a missing chapter in the narrative of Canada’s Indigenous peoples—the story of the Métis Nation, a new Indigenous people descended from both First Nations and Europeans Their story begins in the last decade of the eighteenth century in the Canadian North-West. Within twenty years the Métis proclaimed themselves a nation and won their first battle. Within forty years they were famous throughout North America for their military skills, their nomadic life and their buffalo hunts. The Métis Nation didn’t just drift slowly into the Canadian consciousness in the early 1800s; it burst onto the scene fully formed. The Métis were flamboyant, defiant, loud and definitely not noble savages. They were nomads with a very different way of being in the world—always on the move, very much in the moment, passionate and fierce. They were romantics and visionaries with big dreams. They battled continuously—for recognition, for their lands and for their rights and freedoms. In 1870 and 1885, led by the iconic Louis Riel, they fought back when Canada took their lands. These acts of resistance became defining moments in Canadian history, with implications that reverberate to this day: Western alienation, Indigenous rights and the French/English divide. After being defeated at the Battle of Batoche in 1885, the Métis lived in hiding for twenty years. But early in the twentieth century, they determined to hide no more and began a long, successful fight back into the Canadian consciousness. The Métis people are now recognized in Canada as a distinct Indigenous nation. Written by the great-grandniece of Louis Riel, this popular and engaging history of “forgotten people” tells the story up to the present era of national reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. 2019 marks the 175th anniversary of Louis Riel’s birthday (October 22, 1844)

"Jennifer Reid looks at the man known today as the founder of Manitoba. Not just a traditional biography, Reid examines Riel's education and religious beliefs."--[book jacket].

Fiction. Native American Studies. Louis Riel arrives at Batoche in 1884 to help the Metis fight for their lands and discovers that the rebellious outsider Josette Lavoie is a granddaughter of the famous chief Big Bear, whom he needs as an ally. But Josette learns of Riel's hidden agenda -- to establish a separate state with his new church at its head -- and refuses to help him. Only when the great Gabriel Dumont promises her that he will not let Riel fail does she agree to join the cause. In this raw wilderness on the brink of change, the lives of seven unforgettable characters converge, each one with secrets: Louis Riel and his tortured wife Marguerite; a duplicitous Catholic priest; Gabriel Dumont and his dying wife Madeleine; a Hudson's Bay Company spy; and the enigmatic Josette Lavoie. As the Dominion Army marches on Batoche, Josette and Gabriel must manage Riel's escalating religious fanaticism and a growing attraction to each other. SONG OF BATOCHE is a timeless story that traces the borderlines of faith and reason, obsession and madness, betrayal and love.

After Batoche, everything changed for the Métis people and for Canada as well, especially in Québec.