Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 21

Whisky, Horses and Death:
The Cypress Hills Massacre and its Sequel

by Philip Goldring

Appendix B. Descriptions of the Massacre Site

Accurate physical descriptions of the massacre site in the 1870s are extremely scarce; directions were generally expressed not by points of the compass but in relation to the creek and the coulee; the Indian camp and trading posts are scantily described. Nevertheless, three useful pieces of information can be extracted from contemporary testimony. The first is a partial description of Fort Soloman; the second is an indication that Fort Soloman and the camp were on the east side of the creek; the third is Irvine's description of the site as he found it in 1875.

Description of Fort Soloman

George M. Bell testified:

I was in one of the bastions of Fort Solomon; I had been lying down, but was looking out of the port-hole when I saw the Indians stripped to fight; I then called down to Vogle, who was in the Indian room, to shut the gates; I could see him in the room; the ceiling of the Indian room is always higher than the upper floor of the bastion, and a log is cutout so that the watch-man, who is supposed to be in the bastion all the time, can see, in case there should be any trouble in the Indian room; . . . I did not see Vogle again until after the firing commenced; I then saw him in the kitchen. . . [1]

Philander Vogle testified:

I saw Bell in the bastion; he called down something about the Indians, and said to shut the gate; no one could get out of the fort except by the gate; it is fastened with a log chain; I did not see Bell go out of the fort; he could not go out unless I saw him, as I was in the Indian room or kitchen all the time and he would have to pass through the Indian room; I did not see the fight commence; I was in the kitchen when it began; the first I knew of it two or three bullets struck the house; I went to get my gun and go out of the house; I was lame; a Half-breed who lived with said 'Give me your gun; you're lame and I can use it better;' I said 'No'; I got on Solomon's bed and looked from the window; I could see the Indians firing; some of them were in the bush . . . . There was a stockade on two sides of the fort; the house was built like a letter L, and the fence makes a square; the space within the square is for a corral; I could see both the Indian camp and Fort Farwell from the window. [2]

The Locations of the Forts and Indian Camp

Testimony from all witnesses clearly established that Fort Farwell was on one side of the creek, while on the opposite side were Fort Soloman, the Indian camp and the coulee from which the white men fired. The testimony of George M. Bell clearly indicates that the camp and Fort Soloman were on opposite sides of the coulee. [3] (The evidence of Joseph Vital Turcotte that there were two coulees between the fort and the camp. [4] is muddled and can be disregarded.) The following excerpts from the testimony of Farwell and Lebombard clearly indicate that the camp and Fort Soloman were on the east side of the creek and Fort Farwell, by implication, was on the west. This testimony revolves around the death of Edward Legrace.

Lebombard testified "Legrace was shot on the east side of the river, about four o'clock in the afternoon." [5]

Farwell had testified the day before, ""When they [the whites in the Indian camp] saw the men being driven back they started across the river to help them, but before they got across, the leader, Legrace. was killed by an Indian hiding in the brush." [6]

In other words, the camp was on the east side of the river, as tradition has always claimed.

Inspector Irvine's Description

I obtained information from parties there as to the position of affairs on that occasion on the ground. I received the information from Mr. Farwell and Alexis LeBombard, the two previous witnesses. I took measurements from the information I received of the position of the parties. I heard their evidence here in Court and the measurements which I took correspond with their evidence. I made a sketch of the scene of the massacre which I now produce. On this sketch . . . . Farwell's post is distant from Solomon's five hundred and twenty four (524) feet in a straight line. Solomon's to the coulee is 158 feet and from a point on the coulee inline with Solomon's the camp is 195 feet. From the nearest point on the coulee the camp is distant 42 feet. I saw the remains of a camp and saw some human bones there. I also saw at the places indicated on the sketch the ruins of Farwell's and Solomon's posts . . . . The position of the cart referred to by the last witness LeBombard was pointed to me by him. I went to the place indicated as the camp ground and sat down on the ground there, and I could then see a man whom I had stationed where the cart is said to have been, quite plainly, and he could see me . . . . Farwell laid down in the coulee, where the Benton party had been, and I stood where his post had been and could see him plainly. [7]

Unfortunately the map referred to has disappeared; the cart was one which Lebombard claimed to have climbed onto to watch the firings. The end of Irvine's testimony indicates that the coulee had been stripped of brush, probably by the Assiniboine during the previous winter. The coulee is now (1973) lightly wooded.