Big Bear (19 page)
Big Bear heard a powerful blizzard gathering itself around his cabin into a rising fury. He looked at Chief’s Son’s Hand, safely wrapped in a lifetime of gift cloths. He thought of the buffalo bursting from the water of Sounding Lake and running where they pleased over the prairie, of the bear whose tracks in the snow guided his family across the hills, south to the lodges of their People where the Red Deer River and the South Saskatchewan River flowed together in the great valleys below Bull’s Forehead Hill.
BIG BEAR DIED
at Poundmaker Reserve, Saskatchewan Territory, on January 17, 1888. He was buried on the snow-covered bluffs overlooking the Battle River. In August 1972, Elder John Tootoosis led me to the place. He said an Elder had shown him the grave in 1905 when he was six years old, and told him to remember.
1780s | Many Woods Cree and Saulteaux People begin to move out of the boreal forest and, over the next forty years, develop a tribal plains buffalo culture. |
1795 | The Hudson’s Bay Company builds Forts Carlton and Edmonton for trade on the North Saskatchewan River. |
1810–50 | The Horse Wars develop on the prairies between the Plains Cree–Saulteaux allies and the Blackfoot Confederacy. |
1825 | Big Bear is born at Jackfish Lake (near present-day North Battleford, Saskatchewan). |
1829 | The Hudson’s Bay Company builds Fort Pitt. |
1832–33 | Famine spreads among North Saskatchewan Plains Cree. |
1837 | Lower and Upper Canada rebellions take place. |
1838 | A smallpox epidemic breaks out among prairie People. Big Bear survives but is badly scarred. |
1838–39 | Big Bear goes on a vision quest on Bull’s Forehead Hill. |
1841 | Chief Maskepetoon, a Cree peace advocate, is baptized by Methodist Robert Rundle. |
1845–47 | Major battles take place between Plains Cree and Blackfoot; Big Bear is a leading young warrior. |
LATE | Big Bear marries Sayos. Their daughter Nowakich and son Twin Wolverine are born. |
1850–1870 | The Horse Wars intensify into the Buffalo Wars between the Plains Cree–Saulteaux allies and the Blackfoot Confederacy. |
1851 | Big Bear’s son Imasees is born. In Canada, the Baldwin-LaFontaine “Great Ministry” achieves responsible government. |
1856 | John A. Macdonald becomes joint premier of the Province of Canada. |
1864–65 | Severe measles epidemics strike the Cree. Scarlet fever breaks out among Blackfoot. |
1864 | The Charlottetown Conference begins the process of Canadian Confederation. |
1865 | Big Bear’s father, Chief Black Powder, dies. Big Bear is chosen chief of his band. |
1866 | The Iron Stone, “Old Man Buffalo,” is stolen from a hilltop near the Battle River. |
1867 | On July 1, the Confederation of four provinces creates Canada. John A. Macdonald becomes the first prime minister. |
1869 | On November 19, Canada “buys” Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company for $1.5 million. On December 8, Louis Riel declares a provisional government at Red River. |
1869–70 | Smallpox devastates the prairie People. Maskepetoon is killed by the Blackfoot. |
1870 | On May 12, Canada declares Manitoba a province. Canadian militia force Riel to flee to the United States. In October, the last, and largest, battle between Plains Cree and Blackfoot is fought on the Oldman River. |
1871 | The Plains Cree chiefs, including Big Bear, write a letter to Canada from Fort Edmonton: “We heard our lands were sold and we did not like it.…” |
1871–77 | Canada concludes seven treaties with all Aboriginal Peoples from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. |
1873 | A confrontation takes place between Big Bear and Métis Gabriel Dumont over buffalo hunting. |
1873 | Macdonald resigns due to the Pacific Scandal. Alexander Mackenzie becomes prime minister. |
1874 | The North West Mounted Police march west from Red River and build Fort Macleod on the Oldman River. |
1875 | Reverend George McDougall carries treaty messages to the prairie Cree. He reports that Big Bear is “a most troublesome fellow.” |
1875 | The North West Mounted Police build Fort Calgary on the Bow River. |
1876 | The Cree and Lieutenant-Governor Morris sign Treaty Six at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt; Big Bear, who was not invited, arrives late and refuses to sign without more consultation. |
1877 | No government official comes to discuss Treaty Six with Big Bear. The Blackfoot Confederacy signs Treaty Seven at Blackfoot Crossing. |
1878 | Big Bear tells Lieutenant-Governor Laird that he will live by the hunt for four years while he observes how Canada treats treaty People living on reserves. |
1878 | Macdonald is re-elected. He will remain prime minister and head of Indian Affairs until his death in 1891. |
1879 | The last buffalo vanish from the Canadian prairie. Macdonald names Edgar Dewdney Indian Commissioner of the North-West Territories. |
1879–82 | Big Bear’s band—grown to more than two thousand members—hunt the last buffalo in Montana. In Canada, treaty People try to learn farming, but scattered reserve life is a starvation disaster. |
1881 | Macdonald names Edgar Dewdney Lieutenant-Governor as well as Indian commissioner. |
1882 | Harassed by the U.S. Army, Big Bear’s huge band returns to Canada. On December 8, he signs his adhesion to Treaty Six at Fort Walsh. |
1883 | Big Bear’s reduced band is forced to live in the Fort Pitt-Frog Lake area. |
1884 | In June, Big Bear gives a Thirst Dance. A face-off with the police almost explodes into killing. In July, Gabriel Dumont brings Louis Riel back from Montana to Batoche. In August, Big Bear convinces the Cree chiefs to speak “with one voice” to the government. |
1884–85 | While wintering at Frog Lake, Big Bear plans negotiations with the government for one huge reserve for all the Plains People. |
1885 | On March 19, Riel declares the Métis Provisional Government of the Saskatchewan at Batoche. On March 29, the Battle of Duck Lake takes place between Métis and the North West Mounted Police. On April 2, warriors from Big Bear’s band kill nine White men at Frog Lake. On April 15, the Frog Lake Cree capture and sack Fort Pitt. On May 12, Canadian militia overrun Batoche and capture Riel; Dumont escapes. On May 28, the Cree battle Canadian militia until both retreat at Frenchman Butte. On June 3, Militia scatter the Cree into flight at Loon Lake Crossing. On July 2, Big Bear surrenders to police near Carlton. On July 20, Riel’s trial for treason begins at Regina; on August 1, he is sentenced to hang. On September 11, Big Bear goes on trial for treason-felony. He is found guilty. On September 25, Big Bear is sentenced to three years in Stony Mountain Penitentiary. On November 16, Louis Riel is hanged at Regina. On November 27, eight Aboriginal men, six from Big Bear’s band, are hanged at Battleford. |
1887 | In January, Big Bear is gravely ill; he is discharged from Stony Mountain Penitentiary and reaches the Little Pine Reserve in March. |
1888 | On January 17, Big Bear dies on the Poundmaker Reserve. |
1916 | Imasees (Little Bear) and his band are finally granted a reservation, at Rocky Boy, near Havre, Montana. |
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Ahtahkakoop
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My Cree People
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Footprints in the Dust
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The Plains Cree
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The Canadian Journal of Native Studies,
XIX, 1 (1999): 68–89.
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The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories
(Belfords, Clarke & Co., 1880; reprint, Coles, 1971).
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John Tootoosis
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