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Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 21
The First Contingent:
The North-West Mounted Police, 1873-74
by Philip Goldring
Endnotes
Introduction
1 Canada. Public Archives (hereatter cited as PAC),
MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 252, pp. 113998-4008, Morris to
Macdonald, 16 Jan. 1873.
2 This work does not pretend to given an exhaustive
account of all the stages leading up to mobilization of the force in
1874. It tries instead to offer new material or new interpretations
while picking a path through events thoroughly detailed in works
published at different times by official historians of the Mounted
Police. The first of these is John Peter Turner's The North-West
Mounted Police, 1873-1893 . . . . (Ottawa: King's Printer, 1950),
Vol. 1. More recently, the record of administrative decisions leading to
the deployment of the force has been explored in depth in the very
useful article by S.W. Horrall, "Sir John A. Macdonald and the Mounted
Police Force for the Northwest Territories," Canadian Historical
Review, Vol. 53, No. 2 (June 1972), pp. 179-200. Horrall's article
tempers some of the romantic mythology and misconceptions which have
surrounded the formation of the force and traces the successive
decisions of the Macdonald and Mackenzie cabinets from 1869 to May
1874.
The Origins of the Mounted Police Force
1 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 516. pp.
767-8, Macdonald to Captain Cameron at Pembina, 21 Dec. 1869.
2 Ibid., pp. 712-6. Macdonald to William McDougall
at Pembina, 12 Dec. 1869.
3 See S.W. Horrall, op. cit., pp. 184, 186; see also
PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers. Vol. 252A, pp. 114192-200, Morris to
Macdonald, 20 Sept. 1873; "Here . . . we are between two fires, we
[sic] have a turbulent population of English, many of them
fanatical Orangemen. & on the other hand, an exciteable half-Indian
French population."
4 PAC. MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 159, pp.
363-5, Macdonald to McMicken, 24 Oct. 1871.
5 The two following excerpts from Macdonald's
correspondence graphically illustrate his change of pace. On 16 June
1871 he wrote to Sir George E. Cartier: "There must be organized ere
long for the North West a Mounted Police. I quite agree with the views
of Cyril Graham & the Hudson's Bay authorities on that matter. With
emigrants of all nations flowing into that Country we are in constant
danger of an Indian war & that once commenced God knows where it
would end" (PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 518, pp. 929-31). The
failure of settlers to flow into the territories produced a change of
tune 15 months later, when Macdonald wrote to inform a young
office-seeker that the "government have not come to any conclusion about
a Mounted Police Force at Manitoba" (ibid., Vol. 521, p. 445, Macdonald
to the Hon. J. Patton, 17 Sept. 1872).
6 An unattached, itinerant Irish officer who
eventually became a knight, a lieutenant general and an imperial privy
councillor. For Butler's report, see the appendix to his book,
The Great Lone Land; A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the
North-West of America (London; Sampson, Low, Marston, Low and
Searle, 1872), pp. 355-86. This report is often cited by critics of
Macdonald's policy. but unjustly, for the central idea of both is the
same: increased contact between red men and white on the plains would
threaten the balance of forces which had hitherto preserved a relative
calm. Butler's report assumed that gold seekers, white settlers and
American traders would all converge on the plains and their presence,
coupled with the depletion of buffalo and the evil effects of free
trading. might ignite the latent hostility of the Indians, particularly
the Cree. Butler, assuming that white incursions were imminent, urged
the immediate creation of a magistracy and a mounted preventive force in
the territories. In fact, neither the settlers nor the gold diggers
materialized in any numbers and Macdonald postponed acting on Butler's
recommendation until the third element, the American traders, began to
pose a more serious problem. Butler had a great deal to say about the
lawlessness of the plains. but the burden of his report was that "the
wrong-doer does not appear to violate any law, because there is no law
to violate" in the territories. "I do not mean to assert that crime and
outrage are of habitual occurrence among the people of this territory .
. . but crimes of the most serious nature have been committed . . . by
persons of mixed and native blood, without any vindication of the law
being possible." Fortunately, he continued, the small population had not
yet seen any of "those conflicting interests which, in more populous and
civilized communities, tend to anarchy and disorder." These passages of
Butler's report must be read to temper the more lurid passages which are
usually quoted. See William Francis Butler, op. cit., pp. 382,
357-8.
7 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 252, pp.
113998-4008, Morris to Macdonald, 16 Jan. 1873.
8 W.L. Morton, Manitoba: The Birth of a
Province (Winnipeg; Manitoba Record Society, 1965). p. 177. No
official Hansard was published that year, but Morton's account of the
debate is drawn from a reliable newspaper account. The Act is 36 Vict.
cap. 35, "An Act Respecting the Administration of Justice, and for the
Establishment of a Police Force in the North-West Territories." As
Horrall correctly points out, the full title does not justify the
popular contraction to "The Mounted Police Act," but the statute itself
does not provide a short title and the one used is a convenient, if
imperfect, summary.
9 The very interesting Dominion Police Files for
1873 are temporarily collected at the Public Archives of Canada with the
unsorted papers of the deputy minister of justice (PAC, RG13, Acc. No.
68/263, 1873). Although much of this collection consists of letters from
the public, it also includes some of the earliest correspondence of the
force. The Mounted Police files were not separated from those of the
Dominion Police Office until 1874. For Crozier's correspondence, see
PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police Files, 1873, file 27; for
Butler, see ibid., file 93; see also ibid., file 17, J.C.
Mansfield, and file 22. J.H.C. Cox, for other matters referred to above
in the text.
10 Ibid., file 26, J.M. Walsh. and file 91, Capt.
W.D. Gordon.
11 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 518, pp.
929-31. Macdonald to Cartier, 16 June 1871.
12 S.W. Horrall, op. cit., pp. 189, 192.
13 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, file 71, McDermot and Bannantyne to H.-L. Langevin, 18 June
1873. Their reasoning is worth noting: "La Grande partie de la
population du Nord-Ouest étant d'Úrigine Française et ne parlant que le
langue française; un Chef de Police de même origine aurait l'effet de
faire comprendre à cette population que cette force ne vient pas contre
eux, mais bien plutôt pour les proteger, tandis qu'un chef d'origine
anglaise leur fera croire que c'est pour les priver de leurs droits que
le Gouvernement a monté cette police."
14 W.L. Morton, op. cit., p. 177, PAC. MG26, A1,
Macdonald Papers, Vol. 523, pp. 621-4, Macdonald to Morris, 10 Sept.
1873; PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers. Vol. 523, pp. 711-2, Macdonald to
Lord Dufferin, 29 Sept. 1873.
15 See PAC. MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 252,
pp. 114133-7, Morris to Macdonald, 2 June 1873; Manitoba. Provincial
Archives (hereafter cited as PAM). Morris Papers, Morris to Alexander
Campbell, minister of the interior, 12 June 1873.
16 There is useful personal correspondence between
Morris and Campbell on this matter; see PAC, MG27, I, C8, Morris
Papers. Campbell to Morris, 14 Aug. 1873, discussing the cabinet's
consideration of Campbell's proposal; ibid., Morris to Campbell, 27 Aug.
1873, confirms that Campbell had misunderstood Morris's request
contained in the official dispatch of 12 July; "The tenor of my dispatch
was misapprehended. I was not urging the sending of a force . . . at
once. I was dealing with the whole northwest, and indicating the
measures, I believe, the Govt. will be compelled eventually to take, and
before very long."
17 PAC, RG2, 1, Vol. 6, order in council No. 1134,
30 Aug. 1873.
18 Ottawa Daily Citizen, 28 Aug. 1873, p. 1,
col. a.
19 Montreal Witness, 28 Aug. 1873, p. 1,
col. e; Montreal Gazette, 28 Aug. 1873, p. 3, col. a; Mail
(Toronto), 28 Aug. 1873, p. 1, col. f. These three newspapers reprint
identical telegraphic reports from Ottawa.
20 Ottawa Daily Citizen, 29 Aug. 1873, p.
1, col. a.
21 Traditions persist to the effect that the news
of the Cypress Hills massacre reached Ottawa in time to influence the
government's determination to create the Mounted Police. For a
refutation of these traditions, see Appendix C.
22 Paul F. Sharp, Whoop-up Country
(Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1955), p. 68.
23 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 523, pp.
605-6, Macdonald to Dufferin, 9 Sept. 1873.
24 Ibid., pp. 621-4, Macdonald to Morris, 10 Sept.
1873.
25 Ibid., Vol. 252A, p. 114204, telegram, Morris to
Macdonald, 20 Sept. 1832. The telegram appears to have been sent in
panic, as the rambling dispatch of the same date shows that the Ontario
faction in Manitoba had disturbed the fragile racial balance of the
province by arresting FranÁois Lepine; at the same time, reports were
reaching Morris that his forthcoming treaty negotiations at the
Northwest Angle were doomed. He explained these rumours to Macdonald:
"the Riel party had sent couriers to the North West to engage the half
breeds & Indians there in a movement, & also to prevent a treaty
at the angle & that the H.B. Coy's posts & the various
Missionary stations would be plundered."
26 See for example PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263,
Dominion Police Files, 1873, file 50, Hugh Richardson to C.F. Young, 29
Sept. 1873: "Utmost dispatch requisite. First detachment goes Manitoba
early next week."
27 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 523, pp.
711-2, Macdonald to Dufferin, 24 Sept. 1873.
28 S.W. Horrall, op. cit., pp. 190-1.
29 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 523, pp.
605-6, Macdonald to Dufferin, 9 Sept. 1873.
30 See PAC, RG9, II, Militia and Defence Papers,
B1, Adjutant-General's Office, Vol. 521, p. 755, Col. Powell (acting
adjutant general) to Macdonald, 9 Sept. 1873, acknowledging Macdonald's
request by letter of the previous day: see also ibid., pp. 15-6,
Powell to Col. Laurie, deputy adjutant general, Military District No. 9
(Halifax), 18 Sept. 1873. This letter outlines the amount of assistance
the police would need. Powell concluded by saying, "As the Police Force
is to be a separate organization from the Militia, the assistance of the
Militia Staff is only required to facilitate the organization and . . .
all Expenses will here after be made a charge against the Force to be
raised."
31 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers. Vol. 523, pp.
711-2, Macdonald to Dufferin, 24 Sept. 1873.
32 Much of the adjutant general's correspondence
for September concerns the organization of the Mounted Police. The
following five letters provide an outline of the most important
activities of Powell in this matter. All are in the Militia and Defence
Papers, Adjutant-General's Office (PAC, RG9, II, 81), Vol. 521. First,
pp. 15-6, Powell to Laurie, 18 Sept. 1873; second, pp. 59-60, circular
memorandum, Powell to the eight deputy adjutants general east of the
lakehead, 23 Sept. 1873; third, p. 73, Powell to F.W. Cumberland,
manager of the Northern Railway, 25 Sept. 1873, asking for Cumberland's
price for transporting the men from Toronto to Prince Arthur's Landing
(Cumberland was asked only to quote prices: no competitive bids were
sought). Cumberland was told that the men would "go by whichever boat
may sail from Collingwood on the day any party may be ready." Fourth, p.
77, Powell to S.J. Dawson, 25 Sept. 1873, instructing him to move the
police and their supplies from Thunder Bay to Fort Garry. "The value of
the transport and subsistence of the men, also transport of stores, is
to be claimed from the Department of Militia and Defence, but in
rendering the accounts you will note that the service was performed on
account of the Police Force." Finally. see pp. 87-90 for Powell's
lengthy letter to Major D.A. McDonald, staff officer, Ottawa, 24 Sept.
1873.
33 Ibid., p. 86, Powell to W.O. Smith, telegram, 26
Sept. 1873; PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 63/263, Dominion Police Files, 1873,
file 67, Smith to Macdonald, 29 Sept. 1873. Smith's activities before
the arrival of the force may be pieced together from his telegrams to
the justice department (see PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 63/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, file 67) and his letterbook (PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, B3,
Commissioner's Records, Vol. 1).
34 PAC, RG9, II, Militia and Defence Papers, B1,
Adjutant-General's Office, Vol. 521, p. 755, Powell to Macdonald, 9
Sept. 1873.
35 John Peter Turner, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp.
95-6.
36 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, file 50 (Capt. C. Young), file 53 (William Winder), file 63
(Ephrem A. Brisebois), and file 62 (Jacob Carvell).
37 The two were Brisebois and Young; see ibid.,
file 62, and file 50, Young to Richardson, 29 Sept. 1873 (from Halifax).
There is no answer on record to either of these telegrams.
38 Ibid., file 52, Richardson to Winder at Compton,
2 Oct. 1873, and Winder to Richardson, 3 Oct. 1873.
39 Montreal Witness, 27 Sept. 1873, p. 3,
col. a.
40 Quebec Daily Mercury, 1 Oct. 1873, p. 2,
col. b.
41 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, file 63, D.A. McDonald to Powell, 8 Oct. 1873.
42 Ibid., file 62, Carvell to Richardson, 1 Oct.
1873. For Carvell's later troubles, see ibid., file 67.
43 Ibid., four telegrams to Richardson, dated 2
Oct. 1872 (from Saint John), 3 Oct. 1873 (from Danville Junction,
Maine), 4 Oct. 1873 (from Montreal) and 6 Oct. 1873 (from Toronto); also
ibid., Major McDonald to Richardson. 7 Oct. 1873 (from Collingwood).
44 Ibid., file 50.
45 Ibid., Richardson to Young, telegrams, 24 Sept.
1873 and 2 Oct. 1873.
46 Acadian Recorder (Halifax), 2 Oct. 1873,
p. 4, col. e, and 6 Oct. 1873, p, 2, col. f; see also British
Colonist (Halifax), 2 Oct. 1873, p. 3, col. a.
47 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, file 50, Young to Richardson, 9 Oct. 1873.
48 Ibid., 10 Oct. 1873.
49 Ibid., file 63, Brisebois to Richardson. Oct.
1873; "my men have been making music, singing and dancing the whole trip
up." See also J.T. Fullerton, "Toronto to Fort Garry, Scarlet
and Gold, 17th ed., Vol. 3 (July 1935), pp. 17-8. Fullerton enlisted
in Ontario but exchanged out of the force early in 1874. This article is
colourful but unreliable.
50 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's
Office, Vol. 1, file 22/74, Walsh to Richardson. 27 Oct. 1873.
51 J.T. Fullerton, op. cit., pp. 17-8; PAC, RG13,
Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police Files, 1873, tile 67, W.O. Smith to
Macdonald, telegram, 1 Nov. 1873. "Police detachments all arrived all
well am getting on rapidly with organization."
52 John Peter Turner, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 95.
53 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, file 67, W.O. Smith to Macdonald, telegram, 29 Sept. 1873; PAC,
RG18, RCMP Papers, B3, Commissioner's Office, Vol. 1, Smith to
Macdonald, 1 Nov. 1873.
54 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, no file number, W.T. Urquhart to Richardson, telegram from
Fort Garry, 17 Nov. 1873; "Dalrymple Clark Arrived." For Clark's
personality and activities at Lower Fort Garry, see PAC, MG26,
A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 346, pp. 158595-602, Clark to "My dear uncle"
(Macdonald), 14 March 1873, and ibid., pp. 158646-52. Clark to
Macdonald, 15 May 1873.
55 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, B4, Commissioner's
Office, Vol. 10, Daily Order Book, Lower Fort Garry (hereafter cited as
Daily Order Book), 13 Nov. 1873.
56 PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, file 67, W.O. Smith to Macdonald, telegram, 29 Sept. 1873.
57 Ibid., 9 Oct. 1873: PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, B3,
Commissioner's Records, Vol. 1, memorandum by Smith, 20 Oct. 1873. (For
a detailed statement of repairs and new construction at Lower Fort
Garry, see Appendix A.)
58 Ibid., Smith to Macdonald and Smith to
Richardson, 19 Nov. 1873.
59 For rent for buildings, see PAC, RG2, 2,
Vol. 45, Privy Council Records, Order No. 373; for policemen's
overindulgence at the canteen. see Daily Order Book, passim.
60 An itemized statement of buildings rented by the
government from the Hudson's Bay Company is available in an unsigned
memorandum to the justice minister, Edward Blake, in PAC, RG18, RCMP
Papers, A1, Comptroller's Office, Vol. 9, file 34. See also
ibid., D.A. Smith to minister of justice, 23 April 1874. French's
comment on living quarters is found in his report to Macdonald, ibid.,
Vol. 1, file 7. A good contemporary sketch of Lower Fort Garry as the
police headquarters is on deposit in the Ottawa Public Library: it is
useful in spite of a few minor in accuracies (see Fig. 2).
61 Manitoba, Provincial Archives. Hudson's Bay
Company Archives (hereafter cited as HBCA), B303/a/1, Lower Fort Garry
Journal, fol. 168, for example.
62 See PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1,
Comptroller's Office, Vol. 1, file 53.
The Force Takes Shape
1 The ceremony, and life at Lower Fort Garry in
general, are described in the memoirs of one of the force's best-known
recruits of 1873; see Samuel Benfield Steele, Forty Years in
Canada; Reminiscences of the Great North-West, with Some Account of his
Service in outh Africa . . ., ed. Mollie Glenn Niblett (London; H.
Jenkins, 1915). Chap. 3, passim.
2 The actual enlistment oath is set out in the act
which authorized the creation of the police (Canada. Laws, Statutes.
etc., 36 Vict. cap. 35, sect. 14). The articles of engagement are
reprinted in John Peter Turner, op. cit., Vol. 1. pp. 97-8, where he
makes the misleading claim that they were "the enlistment oath."
3 This incident is referred to by J.T. Fullerton,
op. cit., pp. 17-8.
4 Detailed correspondence on this matter may be
found in PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police Files, 1873.
See file 62 (Jacob Carvell) and file 67 (W.O. Smith); the latter
includes the letter quoted (William and Alexander Bruce to the minister
of justice, 10 Dec. 1873). The original statement of the problem is in
ibid., file 67, Smith to Macdonald, 6 Nov. 1873; a note on its
resolution is contained in a memorandum by Smith in his letterbook;
see PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, B3, Commissioner's Office, Vol.
1.
5 Ibid., W.O. Smith to Hugh Richardson, 27 Oct.
1873; ibid., Smith to Macdonald. 1 Nov. 1873; ibid., A1, Comptroller's
Office, Vol. 1, file 7-74, French to minister of justice, 7 Jan. 1874;
PAC, RG9, II, Militia and Defence Papers, B1, Adjutant-General's Office,
Vol. 52, Assistant Adjutant General Powell to D.A. McDonald. 24 Sept.
1873.
6 PAC. RG18, RCMP Papers, B3, Commissioner's Office,
Vol. 1, Smith's letterbook, Smith to Hugh Richardson, 19 Nov. 1873;
Daily Order Book, entry for 4 Feb. 1874. Specific references will be
made to the daily order book only when the date is not mentioned in the
text.
7 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's Office,
Vol. 1, file 7-74, French to minister of justice, 7 Jan. 1874;
also ibid., B3, Commissioner's Office, Vol. 1, Smith's
letterbook, Smith to Richardson, 19 Nov. 1873.
8 See Canada. Laws, Statutes, etc., 36 Vict.
cap. 35, sect. 20, which stipulates that "rules and regulations" may be
made for the force by the governor-in-council, but permitting imposition
only of "penalties, not exceeding in any case more than thirty days pay
of the offenders."
9 Daily Order Book, 17 Nov. 1873.
10 Ibid., 9 Nov. 1873.
11 J.T. Fullerton. op. cit., pp. 17-8.
12 Daily Order Book, 9 April 1874.
13 Samuel Benfield Steele. op. cit., Chap. 3,
passim, and J.T. Fullerton, op. cit., pp. 17-8.
14 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, B3, Commissioner's
Office, Vol. 1, Smith's letterbook, Smith to Walsh, 25 Oct. 1873.
15 Daily Order Book, 23 Dec. 1873.
16 Ibid., March 1874.
17 James F. Macleod (1836-94) was born on the Isle
of Skye, received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1854, and was
called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1860.
18 The honorary ranks are set out in the order in
council. Curiously, there is no rank equivalent to major. The
commissioner was entitled to rank as lieutenant colonel, the paymaster
(together with those holding the ranks of superintendent and inspector)
ranked as captains, while the veterinary surgeon, superintendents and
sub-inspectors ranked as lieutenants.
19 James Morrow Walsh (1840-1905) did not resign
his major's commission in the Prescott troop of cavalry until 1875.
20 Daily Order Book, 15 Jan., 17 Jan. and 5 April
1874. The second of these orders contains the note "SubConstable
Fitzpatrick of 'A' Division being unable to blow the Bugle returns to
his duty."
21 This trend in the Liberal government's thinking
is discussed in S.W. Horrall, op. cit., pp. 196-9.
22 Daily Order Book, 29 Dec. 1873.
23 These fines were published not on a regular
basis but whenever they were levied. Fines of a week's pay were the
average. See ibid., passim.
24 Ibid., 22 and 25 Nov. 1873.
25 Ibid., 13 Dec. 1873; "No Constable or
SubConstable is allowed to purchase Liquor in the Hudson Bay Store."
26 Ibid., 8 Jan. 1874.
27 Ibid., 19 Jan. 1874.
28 Ibid., 17 Dec. 1873 and 19 Dec. 1873.
29 Fullerton, whose work has been quoted above, was
appointed an acting constable by an order dated 21 Nov. 1873. He was
"permitted to resign his acting rank" and demoted to duty as hospital
orderly on 4 February, and was struck from the force on 24 April when he
provided a substitute. These events are not mentioned in his lively
recollections except, of course, for his promotion in November.
30 Samuel Benfield Steele, op. cit., Chap. 3.
passim.
31 S.W. Horrall, op. cit., p. 199.
32 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 346, pp.
158595-602, Clark to Macdonald, 14 March 1873.
33 Manitoban (Winnipeg), 18 April 1874.
34 Two years later, Commissioner French reported
that only 69 of the "old originals" remained in the force. PAC, RG18,
B3c, Vol. 46, p. 115, French to deputy minister of justice, 17 Dec.
1875.
35 For further notes on Dr. Young's career in
Manitoba, see Philip Goldring, The Manitoba Penitentiary and
Asylum, 1871-1886, Manuscript Report Series No. 28, Parks Canada,
1970, pp. 41-5, 48-62.
36 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's
Office, Vol. 1, file 27-74, Walsh to Dr. Young, 31 Dec. 1873, and Young
to French, 5 Feb. 1874. The report of the medical board, including the
19 detailed certificates of discharge, is in ibid., file 8-74
37 Daily Order Book, 29 April 1874.
38 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, B3, Commissioner's
Office, Vol. 1, Smith's letterbook, Smith to W.T. Urquhart, secretary of
the North-West Council, 11 Dec. 1873; PAM, Morris Papers, Morris
letterbook, Nos. 119n, 120n, Urquhart to French, 17 Dec. and 24 Dec.
1873.
39 HBCA, B303/a/1, Lower Fort Garry Post Journal,
fols. 168-70, entries for 28 Dec. 1843 and 7 Jan. 1874. The list of nine
men is in Daily Order Book, 5 Jan. 1874. Yet another account is provided
by James McKernan, "Expeditions Made in 1873," Scarlet and Gold,
2nd annual (1920), pp. 84-5. McKernan says that Macleod caught the
traders but, being unable to take them back to Manitoba, "held court
right there and let them off with a small fine." This flatly contradicts
Flett's account and although McKernan was on the patrol, his motive for
exaggerating its result 50 years later would be the same as Fullerton's
reason for lying about it. The absence of any contemporary record
(except for Flett's journal) is not conclusive though financial records
are reasonably complete and show no evidence that a fine had been
received. It the patrol had succeeded, one might expect to find some
sort of congratulation. either in the daily orders or in Morris's
correspondence. Nonetheless the reader may choose between McKernan's
agreeable account in 1920 and Flett's deflating report in 1873. But it
Macleod succeeded. even partially, why was his host at Lower Fort Garry
led to believe he had failed?
40 Extensive correspondence, affidavits and the
report of the inquiry are to be found in PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1,
Comptroller's Office, Vol. 1, file 30-74. See ibid., French to W.O.
Smith, 4 Feb. 1874; "I fear that the treatment these Constables have
received may weaken their Authority and lessen their Self Respect. It is
incumbent on me in any case to use every endeavour to obtain redress for
their grievances."
41 For the early outfitting of the force,
see ibid., B3, Commissioner's Office, Vol. 1, Smith's letterbook,
Smith to Jarvis, 4 Nov. 1873. Forage caps and serge trousers and jackets
were obtained, some from militia stores and others by purchase.
42 For details of contemporary Canadian military
uniforms, a useful source is Capt. E.J. Chambers, The Canadian
Militia and Public Works epartment: A History of the Origin and
Development of the Force (Ottawa; Mortimer Press, 1907), p. 98.
See also W.P. Bull, From Brock to Currie: The Military
Development of Canadians in General and of the Men of Peel in
Particular, 1791-1930 (Toronto; J. McLeod, 1931), p. 210. Red-coated
soldiers were not seen at Red River until the arrival of the third
volunteer force at the end of 1872. See A. Begg and W. Nursey,
Ten Years in Winnipeg (Winnipeg; Times Printing and Publishing
House, 1879), p. 72.
43 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's
Office, Vol. 1, file 7-74, French to minister of justice, 7 Jan. 1874.
The absence of any positive evidence that French's men were clothed in
scarlet strongly indicates that they were still clad in the mismatched
garments issued by Smith.
44 See S.W. Horrall, op. cit., pp. 198-9.
45 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1. Comptroller's
Office, Vol. 1, file 4-74, Macleod to French, 15 Jan. 1874. Similar
memoranda of about the same date were submitted by Young and Carvell for
"A" and "C" Divisions.
46 French to Hewitt Bernard, 17 Jan. 1874, quoted
in John Peter Turner, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 106.
47 Daily Order Book, 5 Feb. 1874.
48 PAM, Morris Papers, Morris letterbook, Morris to
David Laird, minister of the interior, 5 Feb. 1874.
49 See note 34, this chapter.
50 Breden was the first to go; see PAC,
RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's Office, Vol. 1, file 93-74.
51 The events at the camp at Dufferin are among the
best-known aspects of the force's early history; see, for
example, Samuel Benfield Steele, op. cit., Chap. 5. passim, and John
Peter Turner, op. cit., Vol. 1, Chap. 4, passim.
52 PAM, Morris Papers, telegram, French to _____,
24 April 1874: Shurtleff "should fence in some unoccupied ground . . .
and sow with oats and potatoes."
53 Manitoban (Winnipeg), 2 May and 9 May
1874.
54 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 346, pp.
158646-52, Clark to Macdonald, 15 May 1874
55 Canada. Laws, Statutes, etc., 36 Vict. cap 22,
"An Act to amend An Act respecting the administration of Justice and for
the establishment of a Police Force in the North West Territories, 26
May 1874."
56 Daily Order Book, 23-24 May 1874.
57 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's
Office, Vol. 1, file 98-74, telegram, Bernard to Clark, 7 Sept.
1874.
58 Ibid., file 127-74.
Appendix A. "An Account Submitted to the Dominion Government
by A. McArthur and Company of Winnipeg, 7th January 1874."
1 PAC, RG18, RCMP Papers, A1, Comptroller's Office,
Vol. 1, Account submitted by A. McArthur and Company of Winnipeg, 7 Jan.
1874.
Appendix B. Daily Routines.
1 Daily Order Book, 12 Nov. 1873, 5 Jan. 1874, 15
April 1874.
Appendix C. Notes on the Cypress Hills Massacre and the
Formation of the North-West Mounted Police.
1 Philip Goldring, "The Cypress Hills Massacre
— A Century's Retrospect," Saskatchewan History, Vol. 26,
No. 3 (Autumn 1973) (hereafter cited as "Cypress Hills Massacre"), pp.
81-102.
2 No official Hansard was published that year; this
excerpt is from the Scrapbook Debates collated by the National Library
of Canada from newspaper accounts of Parliamentary proceedings.
3 Canada. Laws, Statutes, etc., 36 Victoria, cap.
35, 1873.
4 Philip Goldring, "Cypress Hills Massacre," p.
100.
5 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 252, pp.
114133-7.
6 Daily Herald (Helena), 11 June 1873.
7 PAC, RG7, G6, Vol. 24, Clurn to secretary of the
interior, 8 Aug. 1873, in Thornton to Dufferin, No. 27, 21 Aug.
1873.
8 PAM, Morris Papers, items 33, 35.
9 PAC, MG27, C8, Morris Papers, Campbell to Morris,
14 Aug. 1873; ibid., Morris to Campbell, 27 Aug. 1873.
10 PAM, Morris Papers, letterbooks, Morris to
Campbell, 20 Aug. 1873.
11 Ibid., 26 Aug. 1873.
12 Ibid., 28 Aug., 3 Sept. and 8 Sept. 1873.
13 PAC, RG2, 1, Vol. 6, order in council No. 1134,
30 Aug. 1873.
14 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 246, pp.
110811-4.
15 PAC, MG27, C8, Morris Papers, Campbell to
Morris, 8 Sept. 1873.
16 PAC, RG9, II, B1, Adjutant-General's Office,
Vol. 520, Powell to Macdonald, 8 Sept. 1873.
17 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers. Vol. 523, pp.
605-6.
18 PAC, RG9, II, B1, Adjutant-General's Office,
Vol. 521, Powell to Young, 18 Sept. 1873.
19 See PAC, RG13, Acc. No. 68/263, Dominion Police
Files, 1873, file 50, Capt. Young; ibid., file 62, J. Carvell.
20 PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 252A, pp.
114195-200, 114204, Morris to Macdonald, telegram and dispatch, 20 Sept.
1873.
21 Ibid., Vol. 523, pp. 711-2; also PAC, RG13, Acc.
No. 68/263, Dominion Police Files, 1873, file 50. Richardson to Young,
telegram, 24 Sept. 1873, "Utmost dispatch requisite. First detachment
goes Manitoba early next week."
22 S.W. Horrall, op. cit., pp. 179-200.
23 Mr. Horrall remains unconvinced by the arguments
in this appendix (S.W. Horrall to J. Brathwaite, Editor, English
Publications, Research Division, National Historic Parks and Sites
Branch, pers. com., 10 Sept. 1976). For the connection between ministers
and the Ottawa Daily Citizen, see PAC, MG26, A1, Macdonald
Papers, Vol. 518, pp. 80-3. Macdonald to Morris, 21 April 1871. For the
rumours about Butler, see Montreal Witness, 28 Aug. 1873, p. 1,
col. e; Montreal Gazette, 28 Aug. 1873, p.3, col. a; Mail
(Toronto), 28 Aug. 1873, p. 1, col. f. See also PAC, MG26, A1,
Macdonald Papers, Vol. 246, pp. 110811-4, McMicken to Macdonald, 4 Sept.
1873. Other sources mentioned in this passage are discussed at greater
length in Philip Goldring, "Cypress Hills Massacre," pp. 100-2.
24 See Macdonald to Dufferin, 9 Sept. 1873, in PAC,
MG26, A1, Macdonald Papers, Vol. 523, pp. 605-6. Macdonald hoped to
attract a British military officer to command the force, and believed a
suitable man would be more easily found if the British army allowed
service as head of the N-WMP to count as part of an officer's
pensionable service.
25 Early published accounts, however, were more
equivocal than later historians' versions. See, for instance, an
article by Lieutenant Governor Morris's son, Edmund Morris, "Lieut.-Col.
Irvine and the North West Mounted Police," The Canadian Magazine
(Oct. 1911), pp. 493-503. Morris gave Macdonald full credit for planning
the force well in advance of the massacre and although he mistakenly
said his father's despatches on the Cypress Hills were dated in July,
his comment on the influence of the massacre is restrained; "This affair
quickened the organization of the force" (Edmund Morris, op. cit., p.
495).
26 PAM, Morris Papers, enclosure in David Laird to
Morris, 8 May 1875.
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