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4 revisions | Angelique Fuentes at May 04, 2020 12:50 PM | |
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34Gabriel Dumont, the hero of this sketch was born at St. Boniface, Manitoba, in the year 1837, and is of French and Indian extraction. Was married at the age of 20 to a half-breed woman of the [Assinilbodine?] tribe of Indians. He has no children. In person, he is a plain, unassuming man of medium height, possessedof an iron constitution wedded to indomitable courage and physical activity. His mental qualities prove him to be a a man of suprerior character and a leader among the Indians, from whom he gained a knowledge of woodcraft that served him well during the late Northwest Rebellion. At the age of 22 he entered the employment of the Hudson Bay Company, where he remained six years as a hunter and trapper. At the expiration of his term of service he became a trader for the Canadian Indians, and amassed a comfortable share of wealth, which he invested in government lands a nd for several years devoted himself to farming and cattle raising. He first met Louois Reil at Pembina, in the year 1869, who was then making his first treaty with Canadian government. Being convinced of the justice of Reil's claims, on behalf of the Metis, he pledged his life and fortune to the cause. When the treaty of '69 was broken, Reil took possession of Fort Garry, which he held until the spring of 1870. Dumont redeemed his pledge, and was the ablest supporter that Reil called to his aid. When the last rebellion broke out, Reil again summoned Dumont to his side, who quickly responded, and was placed in command of 350 men. He proved his skill as a soldier by successfully holding Ratoche agianst the attack of 1,600 volunteers, and bears on his person numerous scars made by his enemies' bullets on that occasion. Whatever the merits of the question may be, Gabriel Dumont has shown that he was willing to sacrifice everything to secure justice for a people he believed had been wronged. The rebellious was a failure, and Gabriel Dumont is a political outlaw. But the time will come when the future historian will point to him as a man, "Sans peur et sans reproche;" as the last man to lay his arms in what he felt to be a righteous cause; as a man having the courage of his convictions, and the daring to assert them. On the collapse of the rebellion he, with his Lieutenant Dumais, fought their way out when surrounded by General Middleton's command who, with the Canadian Volunteers, have attested by public utterance to the skill and daring Dumont displayed. He was apprehended by the United States Government authorities at Fort Assiniboine, but the Department of State at Washington ordered his immediate3 release. Although an exile, he has the consolation to know that Queen Victoria and the Home Government has granted to the half-breeds almost all the rights that he so gallantly fought for. His coadjutor, the Chief Pound-maker, has been pardoned, | 34 |
