MÉTIS LEADER GABRIEL DUMONT BORN
Born at Red River (now Manitoba), Dumont, a skilled tracker and hunter, spoke 6 Native languages along with Michif-French. By the 1860s, he was chief of the Métis bison hunters. In 1873, he was elected as St. Laurent Council President; re-elected in 1874. With dwindling bison herds, the Métis needed federal assistance to survive and, in 1877, Dumont sought Métis representation on the North-West Territories Council. In 1884, after Ottawa ignored Métis’ grievances, he helped return exiled Métis leader Louis Riel [see October 22] from Montana. By early 1885, the Métis took up arms against the federal government and made Gabriel their Adjutant-General. After early victories at Duck Lake and Fish Creek, the North-west Rebellion ended at the Battle of Batoche (May 1885). Riel surrendered, was tried and executed. Dumont sought exile in the U.S. and, in 1886, joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. In 1893, granted amnesty by Canada, he returned to his home at Batoche where he died on May 19, 1906.
Source: “Gabriel Dumont (1837-1906): Biography” (PDF). Virtual Museum. Retrieved 7/22/2019, http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/batoche/docs/proof_en_dumont_bio.pdf
Photo: Author unknown. Date: Pre 1906. Public Domain in Canada: Pre-1/1/1949. Public Domain in the US: Pre-1/1/1925. Public Domain elsewhere where copyright term is author’s life plus 70 years or less.