In 1885, a fort was erected at the old town site 4 kilometers north of present day Yorkton, on the banks of the Little White Sand River. The fort's existence is a little known fact because it was erected overnight, so to speak, and demolished within a few years. "Fort Watson" came into existence at the height of the conflicts of the North West Rebellion. M茅tis, led by Louis Riel and angered that their many petitions for over a decadeabout land rights, status and poor living conditions were ignored, rose in armed rebellion against the Dominion Government. Indian bands and some white settlers of the northern part of what is now Saskatchewan, who had grievances of their own were also sympathetic to their cause.
In the spring of 1885, after hearing that the North West Mounted police had been in a battle with Riel's men at Duck Lake, some leaders of the York colony consulted with James Armstrong, Managing Director of the York Farmers Colonization Company who was often on location at the Dominion Lands Office in Yorkton.Soon thereafter, Armstrong consulted with Prime Minister John A. MacDonald, explaining that Indian Reserves surrounded the Yorkton settlement and, fearing the Native people might well join in the M茅tis Resistance; settlers were requesting troops for protection.
The Minister of the Militia called on Captain T. Charles Watson, a British Army veteran of Foreign Service and requested that Watson set up a military establishment at the Yorkton colony, and for this special assignment he was promoted to the rank of Major. In April of 1885, accompanied by Sgt. Major Gardiner, he set out for Winnipeg, where he procured and took over 100 stand of arms and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. On the 10th of April he left for Broadview, which was then a demarcation point on the CPR main line. There he obtained the latest news on the Rebellion and started recruiting men for his new militia.
After a difficult march across the prairie the group arrived at Yorkton on April 15, 1885. Settlers were surprised at the arrival of the Major and the array of ammunition. Not all wanted to enlist until they knew they would not be transferred to any field of battle. After 小蓝视频 reassured that they would be stationed only in Yorkton, 40 men enlisted. Major Watson proposed building a log house and stockade. Three town lots, an area of 150 feet square, were donated by the York Farmers' Colonization Company to build the fort. Settlers used their own teams and wagons to haul logs from miles around. They hurriedly erected a stockade with bastions, and within its confines, the men built a brick oven, two log houses, an outhouse, and dug a well. There were rows of tents for the Major and militia members.
Some settlers' families came to stay at the fort, and many men drove their cattle on the banks of Armstrong Lake, to be as close as possible to the fort. For the most part the First Nations people of the region did not react to this development. Records show that the people of the Little Bone Reserve, some fifteen miles south of Yorkton, came to see what was going on. OnApril 20th two members of the Little Bone Band visited the fort, and the next day the whole Band camped in the brush on the east side of the Little White Sand River. Chief Okanese, known as Chief Little Bone, held a pow-wow near the Major's tent, expressed friendly sentiments and asked for provisions. They were given tobacco, tea and pork. Later, members of the band and a number from other Reserves came for more provisions, but this time were refused and told to return to their reserves. At some point, a group from Files Hills Reserve, some fifty miles west of Yorkton had arrived at the fort. They paraded around the fort and shot off their guns in the air. The Major held his own parade of well armed volunteers and convinced them to return to their reserve. He gave them a supply of tea, flour and bacon.
Watson, whose orders were to avoid bloodshed, communicated with the Lieutenant Governor who assured him that the people of Little Bone were peaceful and lived by the hunt. But then, the Major heard that dwellings were raided, and cattle stolen.
Out of the 62 members of the Home Guard, the Major sent out a detachment of 25 men to the Native encampment at Cussed Creek, some 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Yorkton. There were rumours that some warriors were planning to go join the rebels at Duck Lake. Their numbers swelled when men from Files Hills Reserve joined the encampment. The Home Guard circled the teepee camp at dawn. John F. Reid, from the Orkney settlement and another volunteer, John Welbury, an interpreter of sorts entered the camp for a parley. Reid and Welbury read the Lieutenant Governor's Proclamation to Chief Little Bone ordering the band to their reserve; otherwise they would be treated as rebels. It was a testy time because the Warriors outnumbered the Home Guard, but the Chief complied with the order.
The Home Guard volunteers had some other encounters, some when rifles were drawn, and a few shots fired aimlessly, but at no time was anyone wounded or killed. It was another story though at battle sites such as Duck Lake and Batoche where people on both sides of the conflict were killed and wounded. It is understandable that the Yorkton settlers were living in fear. The Native people of the area were also apprehensive at times, not wanting to approach the village even to go to the store.
Years later, in 1914, T. Lovell, Archivist of the Yorkton Canadian Club did interview Chief Pee Peech of Little Bone Reserve to ask about the incidents during the Rebellion. He was told that the Little Bone Band had no intention of joining the Uprising.
Riel surrendered on May 15th. The Major dismissed from duty the Home Guard members on June 8, and returned the ammunition, the tents, etc., to a Winnipeg depot.
We know little more about the fort buildings. The whole compound was torn down within a couple years. Unfortunately, no photos of Fort Watson have been located.
Following the Uprising, the Dominion Government instituted a pass system, whereby Native people required written permission from the Indian Agent to leave the Reserve. All rifles were seized from the Little Bone band. The Home Guard volunteers received military Bounty Warrants or cash, as grants for having served those few months in the Yorkton militia.
While the fort received very little attention in Western Canadian history, there is one fact that is indeed of importance -- Fort Watson appears to be the most elaborate military installation built from the ground up during the Riel Uprising. All other sites of the Uprising took place at makeshift stockades, posts and forts that were already in existence from the days of the fur trade, or hurriedly erected blockhouses or shelters, hardly describable as fortifications. Early in the 1870s, Fort Macleod in what is now southern Alberta, and Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills range had been erected as Para-military forts for the purpose of policing those specific regions near the United States border. Fort Battleford, located north west of Saskatoon was also a Para-military fort constructed by the North West Mounted Police in 1876. However, in terms of a fort erected during an armed conflict with a militia unit attached to it and a field officer in charge, Fort Watson has the distinction of 小蓝视频 the only fort of this kind erected during the Uprising in the area now known as Saskatchewan.
Note: Louis Riel, leader of the North West Resistance movement was sentenced to hang for treason.His sentence was carried out on November 16, 1885 at the Regina jail. It is likely that his trial was the most famous and one of the most controversial in Canada's history. Indeed, should Riel have been tried for treason when he held American citizenship? Refer to an abbreviated history in the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SASKATCHEWAN.
Contact
T. Lefebvre Prince,
Historian
City of Yorkton Archives
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
[email protected]
