COLIN ROBERTSON, THE AVENGER
Three years of self-sacrificing effort seemed to have been wasted. The
colony of Assiniboia was no more; its site was free to wandering
redskins and greedy traders. Yet, at the very time when the colonists
were being dispersed, succour was not far off. Lord Selkirk had
received alarming news some time before, and at his solicitation Colin
Robertson had hired a band of voyageurs, and was speeding forward with
them to defend the settlement. Since 1811, when we saw him recruiting
settlers for Lord Selkirk in Scotland, Colin Robertson had been in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Having been a servant of the
Nor'westers he knew the value of Canadian canoemen in the fur trade,
and, on his advice, the Hudson's Bay Company now imitated its rival by
employing voyageurs. In temperament Colin was dour but audacious, a
common type among the men of the Outer {81} Hebrides, and he had a
grievance to avenge. He was sprung from the Robertson clan, which did
not easily forget or forgive. He still remembered his quarrel with
Crooked-armed Macdonald on the Saskatchewan. In his mind was the
goading thought that he was a cast-off servant of the North-West
Company; and he yearned for the day when he might exact retribution for
his injuries, some of them real, some fancied.
It thus happened that before the final crisis came help was well on the
way. When the party of rescuers arrived, the charred and deserted
dwellings of Colony Gardens told their wordless story. They had come
too late. It is quite possible that the newcomers had met by the way
the throng of settlers who were bound for Canada, or at least had heard
of their departure from the Red River. It is less likely that before
arriving they had learned of the destruction of the settlement. A
portion of the colonists still remained in the country, and Colin
Robertson thought that he might yet save the situation. He had done
all that Lord Selkirk had instructed him to do, and he now took further
action on his own initiative. At his command the sun-tanned voyageurs
descended to the {82} river bank and launched their light canoes on the
current. Down-stream, and northward along Lake Winnipeg, the party
travelled, until they reached the exiles' place of refuge on the Jack
river.
Robertson's resolute demeanour inspired the settlers with new courage,
and they decided to go back with him and rebuild their homes. Before
the summer was spent they were once more on the Red River. To their
surprise the plots of ground which they had sown along the banks had
suffered less than they had expected. During their absence John M'Leod
had watchfully husbanded the precious crops, and from the land he so
carefully tended fifteen hundred bushels of wheat were realized--the
first 'bumper' crop garnered within the borders of what are now the
prairie provinces of Canada. M'Leod had built fences, had cut and
stacked the matured hay, and had even engaged men to erect new
buildings and to repair some of those which had escaped utter
destruction. Near the spot where the colonists had landed in 1812 he
had selected an appropriate site and had begun to erect a large
domicile for the governor. 'It was of two stories,' wrote M'Leod in
his diary, {83} 'with main timbers of oak; a good substantial house.'
John M'Leod was a man of faith. He expected that Lord Selkirk's colony
would soon be again firmly on its feet, and he was not to be
disappointed. A fourth contingent of settlers arrived during the month
of October 1815, having left Scotland in the spring. This band
comprised upwards of ninety persons, nearly all natives of Kildonan.
These were the most energetic body of settlers so far enlisted by the
Earl of Selkirk. They experienced, of course, great disappointment on
their arrival. Instead of finding a flourishing settlement, they saw
the ruins of the habitations of their predecessors, and found that many
friends whom they hoped would greet them had been enticed or driven
away.
Along with these colonists came an important dignitary sent out by the
Hudson's Bay Company. The 'Adventurers of England trading into
Hudson's Bay' were now alarmed regarding the outlook for furs in the
interior, and the general court of their stockholders had taken a new
and important step. It was decided to appoint a resident
governor-in-chief, with power not merely over the colony of Assiniboia,
but over all the company's {84} trading-posts as well. The man chosen
to fill this office was Robert Semple, a British army captain on the
retired list. He was a man of upright character and bull-dog courage,
but he lacked the patience and diplomacy necessary for the problem with
which he had to deal. Another to arrive with the contingent was Elder
James Sutherland, who had been authorized by the Church of Scotland to
baptize and to perform the marriage ceremony.
The occupants of Fort Gibraltar viewed the replanting of the settlement
with baleful resentment. Their ranks were augmented during the autumn
by a wayfarer from the east who hung up his musket at the fort and
assumed control. This was none other than Duncan Cameron, returned
from Canada, with the plaudits of some of his fellow-partners still
ringing in his ears. To Colin Robertson the presence of Cameron at
Fort Gibraltar was not of happy augury for the settlers' welfare.
Robertson decided on prompt and radical action. In a word, he
determined to take the Nor'westers' post by surprise. His raid was
successful. The field-pieces and the property of the colonists which
had been carried away in June were recovered. {85} Cameron himself was
made a prisoner. But he was not held long. The man was a born actor
and a smooth talker. In all seeming humility he now made specious
promises of future good behaviour, and was allowed to return to his
fort.
The houses of the colonists were ranged in succession along the Red
River until they reached an elevated spot called Frog Plain. Some of
the houses appear to have been situated on Frog Plain as well. Along
the river, running north and south, was a road worn smooth by constant
traffic. The spacious residence for the governor reared by John
M'Leod, and the other buildings grouped about it, were surrounded by a
strong palisade. To the whole the name of Fort Douglas was now given.
In spite, however, of their seeming prosperity, the settlers found it
necessary to migrate for the winter to the basin of the Pembina in
order to obtain food. But again they found that the buffalo were many
miles from Fort Daer, and the insufficiently clad winterers suffered
greatly. They were disturbed, too, by frequent rumours of coming
danger. The 'New Nation,' as the half-breeds chose to call themselves,
were gathering, it was said, from every quarter, and with {86} the
breaking up of winter would descend like a scourge upon the colony.
The trouble brewing for the settlement was freely discussed among the
Nor'westers. About the middle of March 1816 Alexander Macdonell sent a
note to Duncan Cameron from Fort Qu'Appelle. 'A storm is gathering in
the north,' declared Macdonell, 'ready to burst on the rascals who
deserve it; little do they know their situation. Last year was but a
joke. The New Nation under their leaders are coming forward to clear
their native soil of intruders and assassins.' A few words written at
the same time by Cuthbert Grant show how the plans of the Bois Brules
were maturing. 'The Half-breeds of Fort des Prairies and English River
are all to be here in the spring,' he asserted; 'it is to be hoped we
shall come off with flying colours.'
Early in 1816 Governor Semple, who had been at Fort Daer, returned to
Fort Douglas. Apparently he entertained no wholesome fears of the
impending danger, for, instead of trying to conciliate his opponents,
he embittered them by new acts of aggression. In April, for the second
time, Colin Robertson, acting on the governor's instructions, captured
Fort {87} Gibraltar. Again was Duncan Cameron taken prisoner, and this
time he was held. It was decided that he should be carried to England
for trial. In charge of Colin Robertson, Cameron was sent by canoe to
York Factory. But no vessel of the Hudson's Bay Company was leaving
for England during the summer of 1816, and the prisoner was detained
until the following year. When at length he was brought to trial, it
was found impossible to convict him of any crime, and he was
discharged. Subsequently Cameron entered a suit against Lord Selkirk
for illegal detention, asking damages, and the court awarded him L3000.
Shortly after Colin Robertson had departed with his prisoner, Governor
Semple decided to dismantle Fort Gibraltar, and towards the end of May
thirty men were sent to work to tear it down. Its encircling rampart
was borne to the river and formed into a raft. Upon this the salvage
of the demolished fort--a great mass of structural material--was driven
down-stream to Fort Douglas and there utilized.
The tempest which Alexander Macdonell had presaged burst upon the
colony soon after this demolition of Fort Gibraltar. The {88}
incidents leading up to an outbreak of hostilities have been narrated
by Pierre Pambrun, a French Canadian. In April Pambrun had been
commissioned by Governor Semple to go to the Hudson's Bay fort on the
Qu'Appelle river. Hard by this was the Nor'westers' trading-post,
called Fort Qu'Appelle. Pambrun remarks upon the great number of
half-breeds who had gathered at the North-West Company's depot. Many
of them had come from a great distance. Some were from the upper
Saskatchewan; others were from Cumberland House, situated near the
mouth of the same river. Pambrun says that during the first days of
May he went eastward along with George Sutherland, a factor of the
Hudson's Bay Company on the Qu'Appelle, and a number of Sutherland's
men. The party journeyed in five boats, and had with them twenty-two
bales of furs and six hundred bags of pemmican. On May 12 they were
attacked on their way down the river by an armed force of forty-nine
Nor'westers, under the leadership of Cuthbert Grant and Peter Pangman.
All were made prisoners and conducted back to Fort Qu'Appelle, where
they were told by Alexander Macdonell that the seizure had been {89}
made because of Colin Robertson's descent upon Fort Gibraltar. After
five days' imprisonment George Sutherland and the servants of the
Hudson's Bay Company were released. This did not mean, however, any
approach of peace. Pierre Pambrun was still held in custody. Before
the close of May Macdonell caused the furs and provisions which his men
had purloined from Sutherland's party to be placed in boats, and he
began to move down the Qu'Appelle, taking Pambrun with him. A band of
Bois Brules on their horses kept pace with the boats. At the
confluence of the Qu'Appelle and the Assiniboine Macdonell made a
speech to a body of Saulteaux, and endeavoured to induce some of them
to join his expedition to the Red River. The Hudson's Bay post of
Brandon House, farther along the Assiniboine, was captured by Cuthbert
Grant, with about twenty-five men under his command, and stripped of
all its stores. Then the combined force of half-breeds, French
Canadians, and Indians, in round numbers amounting to one hundred and
twenty men, advanced to Portage la Prairie. They reached this point on
or about June 16, and proceeded to make it a stronghold. They arranged
bales of {90} pemmican to form a rude fortification and planted two
brass swivel-guns for defence. They were preparing for war, for the
Nor'westers had now resolved finally to uproot Lord Selkirk's colony
from the banks of the Red River.
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