http://globalnews.ca/news/2206968/cypress-hills-massacre-little-known-dark-point-in-canadian-history/
FORT WALSH, Sask. – One of Canada’s worst mass murders occurred in what is now a remote area of southwestern Saskatchewan, but experts say it barely registers as a footnote in Canadian history today. The silence at Fort Walsh Historical Site, 60 kilometres from the U.S. border in Cypress Hills Provincial Park, can be deafening at times.
But on June 1, 1873, an altercation erupted just two kilometres from Fort Walsh between a small band of Nakoda (Assiniboine) people and a group of American wolfers. The wolfers would poison buffalo carcasses left behind by robe traders and then harvest fur from the dead wolves and coyotes that ate the tainted meat.
A misunderstanding over missing horses, fuelled by alcohol, led to the bloody slaughter of the native people. When the dust settled, at least 23 natives – men, women and children – were killed along with one of the wolfers.
Read more here. http://globalnews.ca/news/2206968/cypress-hills-massacre-little-known-dark-point-in-canadian-history/
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hills_Massacre
The Cypress Hills Massacre[1][2][3] was a mass murder that occurred on June 1, 1873, in the Cypress Hills region of Battle Creek, North-West Territories (now in Saskatchewan). It involved a group of American bison hunters, American wolf hunters or 'wolfers', American and Canadian whisky traders, Métis cargo haulers or 'freighters', and a camp of Assiniboine people. An estimated twenty or more Natives and one wolfer died. The Cypress Hills Massacre prompted the Canadian government to accelerate the recruitment and deployment of the newly formed North-West Mounted Police to prevent further conflict.
Related Links:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cypress-hills-massacre-feature/
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| An artist's rendition of the trial at the Helena Court House after the Cypress Hills Affair, 1875 (Courtesy Hamilton Art Gallery). |
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