The Battle of Batoche
began on the morning of May 9th, 1885 between General Middleton's army and the Metis. Middleton had 724 officers with field artillery and a Gatling Gun, while the Metis had 300 men with old guns and little ammunition. The Metis, under the leadership of Gabriel Dumont, were well prepared with camouflaged trenches and rifle pits. General Middleton had planed to run a gunboat called the Northcote down the river hoping to surprise the Metis in crossfire. The boat was lined with sandbags a cannon and fifty riflemen aboard. The Metis spotted the boat and opened fire, this worked and the boat drifted down stream and was out of the picture. This in turn used up much of the Metis ammunition that could have been used in the rest of the battle and might have led them to a victory. Middleton's troops reached the village by mid-morning and before they opened fire priests waved white flags and crossed over to talk with General Middleton. It is believed that the priests told Middleton about the Metis shortage of ammunition. The troops then decided that siege tactics would be more useful then frontal charges. When they opened fire one person was killed and it was a fourteen-year old girl. The Metis were getting low on ammunition and by the fourth day the Metis were defeated by the troops. On May 12, 1885 the battle was over and Louis Riel was captured, a great blow to the Metis. Gabriel Dumont escaped but the rest of the provisional government was caught and charged with treason and other crimes. Riel was hung that November.