
Gabriel Dumont, Métis, 1837-1906
He is best known as the man who led the small Métis
military forces during the Northwest Resistance of 1885. Although
unable to read or write, Dumont could speak six languages and
was highly adept at the essential skills of the plains: horseback
riding and marksmanship. By the 1860s, Dumont was the leader of
a group of hunters living in the Fort Carlton area. In 1872, he
took advantage of the growing traffic on the Carlton trail and
opened a ferry across the South Saskatchewan River and a small
store upstream from Batoche. In 1873, his position as a leader
was formalized when he was elected as president of the short-lived
local government on the south branch of the Saskatchewan. In 1877
and 1878, Dumont chaired meetings which drew up petitions to the
federal government asking for representation on the Territorial
Council, farming assistance, schools, land grants, and title to
already occupied lands. Dumont was also a member of the delegation
which convinced Louis Riel to return to Canada and plead the Métis
case to the federal government. When a provisional government
was declared in 1885, Dumont was named "adjutant general
of the Métis people." He proved himself an able commander
and his tiny army experienced some success against government
forces at Duck Lake and Fish Creek. The Canadian militia, however,
proved too large and too well equipped for Dumont's army, which
collapsed on 12 May 1885 after a four day battle near Batoche.
Dumont avoided capture by escaping to the United States where,
in 1886, he accepted an offer to demonstrate his marksmanship
by performing in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. After visits
to Quebec (where he dictated his memoires in 1889) Dumont returned
to his old homestead near Batoche. He lived there quietly until
his death in 1906.