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Repository	University of Saskatchewan Special Collections
Repository Link	http://scaa.sk.ca/ourlegacy/permalink/24228
Fonds/collection	Morton Manuscripts Collection
Series/title reference	MSS C550
File/item reference	MSS_C550_1_24-p01
Physical location reference	Box 36
Copyright/terms of use	Public Domain
Title	Gabriel Dumont portrait
Description (Scope and content)	An portrait etching of Gabriel Dumont.
Date(s) of creation / publication	[1885?]
Date range	1880-1889
War	Northwest Resistance
Names	Dumont, Gabriel, 1837-1906
Geographic Coverage	Saskatchewan, Canada
Primary media	Graphic Material
Specific medium	Artwork
Dimensions	10 cm x 16 cm
Language of material	English
Historical Note	Gabriel Dumont is best known as the man who led the small Métis military forces during the Northwest Resistance. He was born in the Red River area in 1837, the son of Isidore Dumont, a Métis hunter, and Louise Laframboise. 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. These abilities made Dumont a natural leader in the large annual Buffalo hunts that were an important part of Métis culture. At the age of fourteen Dumont received his initiation in plains warfare when he took part in a Métis skirmish with a large group of Sioux at the Grand Coteau of the Missouri River.By the 1860s, Dumont was the leader of a group of hunters living in the Fort Carlton, NWT 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 created by the Métis living on the south branch of the Saskatchewan.His leadership role in the South Branch community continued. 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 memoirs in 1889) Dumont returned to his old homestead near Batoche. He lived there quietly until his death in 1906.
Other notes	Taken from Forty Years in the North-West by W.J. Carter, p. 114.
Date created	2011-01-11

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