Part 15 (1/2)
All this while General Middleton, with his brave fellows, had beenone of the most laborious marches recorded in modern wars Perhaps the worst portion of the march was around the dismal reaches of Lake Superior I take an extract from correspondence to the Toronto _Mail_
”But the ht's, in a on, a distance of only seven miles across the ice, yet it took nearly five hours to do it
After leaving the cars the battalion paraded in line A couple of camp fires served to make the darkness visible
All the iven to reeted with cheers It was iiven for left turn, quick march We turned, obedient to the order, but thebut quick Then into the solemn darkness of the pines and he snow four feet deep, it was almost impossible to keep the track, and a misstep buried the unfortunate individual up to his neck Then it began raining, and for three mortal hours there was a continuous down pour The lake was reached at last, to the extreme pleasure of the corps The wildness of the afternoon and the rain turned the snow into slush, at every step the men sank half a foot All attempts to preserve distance were soon abandoned by the led on, arms linked, for the same purpose Now and thendiscovered by those in the rear stu over them Some actually fell asleep as they marched One brave fellow had plodded on without a h the fear of being left behind in the hospital refrained froht's ave out at last, and with a groan he fell on the snow There he lay, the pitiless rain beating on a boyish upturned face, until a passing sleigh stopped behind hi his lantern in the upturned face, said he was dead 'Not yet, old man,' was the reply of the youth, as he opened his eyes 'I'm not even a candidate for the hospital yet'”
The following description of the Great Salt Plains, as given by a _Globe_ correspondent, is also worth reproducing: ”The Great Salt Plains open out like broad, dreary one out For about thirty-five miles the trail stretches in a north-westerly course across this dismal expanse, and away to the south-west, as far as the eye can reach, nothing save s, bullrushes, and occasionally clumps ofbluffs of stunted grey s cluster along the horizon, and at one point along the trail, about midway of the plain, is found a small, solitary clu, five or six feet in width, and only three or four feet high” The objective point of Major-General Middleton's e pits sunk, and fortifications thrown up, for a grand and final encounter with our troops The line ofthe Saskatchewan's banks, but h the open prairie The position of the rebels prior to the battle was this: Du slowly before General Middleton's right colu them inforht of waiting for the troops to attack hiht; at least that is the belief of the scouts, who saw so to him all afternoon on Thursday However that_coulee_ near Fish Creek, early on Friday ly stoay behind boulders, or concealed in the dense everglades of hazel, birch, and poplar From day to day, almost from hour to hour, this veteran buffalo hunter had learned every tidings of the General's troops that keen observation ive him So when he learnt that the General hileamed with enthusiasm
”My men,” he said, as he went from covert to covert, from bluff to bluff, ”you know the work that lies before you; I need not repeat it to you Do not expose yourself, and do not fire unless you have a tolerable target” Then he arranged a systenals, chiefly lohistles and calls, by which the men would be able to knohen to advance, retire, lie close, round to another
”They will at first fall into an ambush,” he said, ”then, my men, be ni down the General if you can
Wherever an officer is in range, let him have a taste of your lead in preference to the privates” Then he lay close and watched, and listened, ave an exclamation It was in a whisper; but the silent rebels who lay there, mute as the husht trees around them, could well hear the words, ”they come!”
Let me now briefly describe the position which the rebel had chosen for himself About five miles from McIntosh's stand two bluffs, about five hundred yards apart, thickly wooded on the top Between these bluffs is a level open prairie that extends backward about a thousand yards, across which there runs a deep ravine, thickly ti of Friday, the twenty-fourth of April, General Middleton, as still on thewith his staff, well in front With him was Major Boulton's Horse, who acted as scouts As they were passing the two bluffs na out upon the prairie Major Boulton now perceived that he had fallen into an ambush At the sa and cutting spitefully through the air, there arose fro For miles over the silent prairies could these murderous yells be heard
Nor were the rebel balls fired without effect Captain Gardner fell bleeding upon the ground, and several of the men had also fallen
General Middleton, who had been some little distance in the rear was speedily apprised of the surprise, and dashi+ng on toward the rebels' hold hefor reinforcei, began to cry out: ”Show us the rebels!”
In a little while the firing beca their fore of the _coulee_, fro up Twenty of Dumont's men, with Winchesters, fired over a natural shelf or parapet protected by big boulders The colu of ”B” and ”F” Coht of the rest of the 90th, ”A” Battery, and ”C” School of Infantry The left wing, ”F” co, ca by him; Gen Middleton shouted out:
”Men of the 90th, don't bend your heads; you will soon be there; go in, and I know you'll do your duty”
Thedown, partly to avoid the shots and partly because they were running over the uneven, scrubby ground Colour-Sergeant Mitchell, of ”F” coreat coolness, and afterwards did good execution with a rifle when the troops had entered the bush ”A,” ”C,” and ”D” Companies of the 90th, with ”A” Battery and the School of Infantry, were on the right, the whole force fore half-moon around the mouth of the _coulee_ The brush was densely thick, and as rain was falling, the s in clouds a few feet off the uson was the first to fall The bandsmen came up and carried off the injured to the rear, where Dr Whiteford and other surgeons had exte laid some on camp-stretchers and some on rude beds of branches and blankets ”E” couarded the wounded and the ahly pleased with the bearing of the 90th as they pushed on, and repeatedly expressed his admiration He seemed to think, however, that the ot near the _coulee_ in skir prostrate, but soet nearer the unseen ene to their feet, and the moment they did so Dumont's men dropped them with bullets or buckshot The rebels, on the other hand, kept low They loaded, e of the ravine or behind the thicket, and then popped up for an instant and fired They had not time to take ai
Meanwhile the right wing had gone into action also Two guns of ”A” Battery, under Capt Peters, dashed up at 10:40 o'clock, and at once opened on the _coulee_ A couple of old barns far back to the right were knocked into splinters at the outset, it being supposed that rebels were concealed there; and three haystacks were bowled over and subsequently set on fire by the shells or fuses Attention was then centred on the ravine At first, however, the battery's fire had no effect, as frouns stood, the shot hizzing over it Dumont had sent thirty men to a small bluff, covered with boulder and scrub, within 450 yards of the battery, and these opened a sharp fire The battery could not fire into this bluff without running the risk of killing soht of it Several men of ”A” were struck here The rebels saw that their sharpshooters were causing confusion in this quarter, and about twenty of them ran clear from the back of the ravine past the fire of ”C”
and ”D” co fusillade on ”A” Fortunately, only a few of theot the measure of the ravine The shrapnel screeched in the air, and burst right in ay trees, and tearing up the round in patches The rebels at once saw that the gah they kept up a bold front and seldo back into new cover In doing this they rarely exposed the a few yards in the shelter of the thicket and then throwing the up only when they raised their heads and elbows to fire
The shrapnel was too an to bolt towards the other side of the ravine, where our left as peppering them This move was the first symptom of weakness they had exhibited, and Gen Middleton at once took advantage of it and ordered the whole force to close in upon the to surround theht in that way Instead of bunching all his forces on the left away from the fire of the artillery, he sent only a portion of it there to keep ourslowly as our tings closed on them Dumont was evidently on the look-out for the appearance of Col Montizaeneral advance began at 1145 a, and Major Boswell of the same corps the left When the rebels saw this a number of the for a ti over sixty yards away An old log hut and a nu old trees and brushwood between the boulders, enabled thely warm for our men for a time At this point several of the 90th ounded, and General Middleton hih his fur hat Captains Wise and Doucet, of Montreal, the General's Aide-de-camps, ounded about this tih, and bore the brunt of the general advance for soe The rebel front was soon driven back, but neither here nor at any other ti theuns, appeared to devote theood many Indians were hit, and every time one of them was struck the others near hiallantly, and the rebel fire slackened, and after a tih now and then their front riflee, while the others made their way back Captain Forrest, of the 90th, headed the advance at this point, Lieutenant Hugh J Macdonald (son of Sir John Macdonald), of this company, who had done excellent service all day, kept well up with Forrest, the two being ahead of theirin for a fair share of attention fro rebels
Macdonald was first reported as killed and then as wounded, but he was not injured, though struck on the shoulder by spent buckshot Forrest's hat was shot off At 1250 the rebels were far out of range, going towards Batoche's, and the Battle of Fish Creek was practically over
[Footnote: I a account of the battle]
During the battle, reatest bravery are recorded Private Ainsworth, of the 90th, was seen to leap upon the shoulders of a savage, who, in company with another, had endeavoured to cross the flat land and get shelter, wresting his gun and felling hi the rifle firing at and killing the other Indian While doing this, he was exposed to the fire of a score of guns, getting riddled with buck-shot and being struck with bullets
But the greatest daring and bravery were exhibited by Watson, of the Toronto School of Infantry Finding it i for the ambuscaded half-breeds, followed by a score of his comrades whom it was impossible to control The war-cries of the Indians, the huzzas of the troops, and the rattle of musketry fairly echoed for ent upon arriving on the scene Watson paid the penalty of his daring by death, while the narrow escape of many others were remarkable
The utmost bravery all the while was displayed by our troops When a man fell his comrade would pause for a moment, and say:
”I hope you are not badly hurt,” and then again look out for the eneht wounds were anxious to reht, but their officers insisted that they should be taken to the rear, and attended to by the surgeons Upon couchesfelloere placed; and e a murmur
They seemed not to be concerned for the as to hoas ”going with the boys”
General Middleton, himself a veteran soldier, expressed as I have already stated, his aded There was no bolting, even in the face of heavy fire; no shrinking, although _one ht_ had been struck by the enemy's shot or bullets Major Boulton hadfor aitself into his horse, which was killed instantly The Scouts, known as Boulton's Horse, under this brave officer, bore very gallantly their portion of the battle's brunt Half-breads and Indians had orders from their leaders to shoot down horses as well as men; and Dumont frequently said, that the mounted men were the only ones of the force of the ene Several of the horses were shot, and many of the men were riddled with buck-shot, but they bravely stood their ground In the night, when the weary were sleeping after the hard day's work, dusky for stealthily towards where slept the gallant Scouts The Guard heard a crackle, and turning, perceived three pairs of eyes glea with ferocity in the shadow of a clump of poplars