Melita
& Area
The Fur Trade era ended with the closing of
Fort Desjarlais in 1856 and Fort Grant in 1861.
1856
Fort Desjarlais is burned to the ground, either by a prairie fire of
the Sioux. Some of the people who worked in the fort coninue to
live
in the region, taking up farming.
1861
Fort Grant closes.
1862
Chief Little Crow and his warriors are camped in the Turtle Mountains
in Dakota Territory. Here they are visited by Sitting Bull, a
Hunkpapa
Medicine Man.
1863
After participating in the Minnesota massacre, the outlaw Chief
Inkpaduta fled into Dakota Territory and on December 4th, 1863 he was
driven north into Canada by General Sully. He made his
headquarters in
the Turtles and from the Canadian side made repeated raids into the
United States until 1868.
The American authorities send a priest, Father Andre, to a large Sioux
camp on the Souris River (west of present day Lauder). His
mission is
to persuade this band of Sioux to return home. Father Andre
reported
that the Sioux did not seem to care whether they lived or died, but
they refused to return to the United States.
In December, 1863 about 500 Sioux crossed the border and camped on the
Assiniboine River, near St. Francois Xavier. Here they were
helped by
the Metis who had signed a Peace Treaty with the Sioux in 1861.
The
Grey Nuns, a small convent at St. Francois Xavier, established in 1859,
fed many of the children.
In the autumn of 1863, several hundred Sioux arrived in the Turtle
Mountains, along with their white prisoners. They also were in a
state
of starvation, and failing to get much help from the Canadian
Authorities they made raids into the U.S. to hunt buffalo.
1864
For the next two years until 1866 the Sioux wandered the Manitoba
Plains from Fort Garry on the east to the Souris River Plains in the
west. They did not receive any supplies from the Fort Garry
Authorities and existed only on the few buffalo left on the plains. At
times they were attacked by jealous Canadian Indians. In 1865
they
were engaged by the Cree, north of the Souris River, in the vicinity of
present day Deleau. According to a member of the Oak Lake Sioux
reserve, the battle took place in a group of sandhills to the north
east of the village and ended only when on e of the chiefs was
killed.
However, in spite of great suffering the Dakotas tried to obey the laws
of Grandmother’s country (Canada) and eventually were given small
reservations. In this regard the Canadian authorities refused to
consider Sioux claims to land ownership north of the 49th parallel and
this meant they would not receive treaty money from the Canadian
government.
1868
An International Meeting of Indians is held in the Turtle
Mountains.
The meeting was chaired by the Oglalla Chief, Crazy Horse, who pleaded
for the unification of all tribes to defeat the whites. These
pleas
were rejected and the Sioux were left alone to stem the tide of
Whiteman expansion.
1869
By this time, the Assiniboines had all migrated from the Souris.
Their
numbers greatly reduced by smallpox (the greatest epidemic was in 1838)
they followed the few remaining buffalo west. Eventually they
were
paced on reservations in the Moose Mountains and in the foothills of
the Rockies. Of the 10,000 that Alexander Henry estimated in
1806,
only a few hundred remained.
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