Frémont, Donatien.

The Secretaries of Louis Riel: Louis Schmidt (1870), Henry Jackson, Philippe Garnot. Translated by Solange Lavigne. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Les Éditions Louis Riel for la Société canadienne-française de Prince Albert, c.-1885.

Donatien Frémont worked in Prince Albert and Saint-Boniface as a journalist. He had the opportunity to meet many Métis and to conduct exhaustive research which allowed him to discover unpublished documents on which he based this book. Louis Schmidt met Riel as a young teenager, was a member of the provisional government in 1869, and participated in the North-West rebellion of 1885. Honoré Jackson was a farmer in Prince Albert when he decided to join the Métis and to convert to catholicism. After the rebellion, he was committed to an asylum. Philippe Garnot, a French-Canadian from the area, identified with the Metis; he was sentenced to seven years in jail for his role in the rebellion. However, he was pardonned before he had begun to serve his time.

Friesen, Gerald.

The Canadian Prairies: A History, chapters 6-10. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.

Recognized by the Canadian Historical Association as the best book in Canadian history in 1984 (the John A. Macdonald prize), The Canadian Prairies contends that the North-West Rebellion was a "tragedy." What started as a peaceful protest resulted in a five-million-dollar war, thanks to a mixture of government neglect and parsimony and Riel's dogged determination to serve as prophet to his people. Friesen's treatment of the rebellion is noteworthy, for its perceptive discussion of Riel's role. It bluntly asserts that there was no Cree military movement in 1885, and acknowledges that the Métis communities continued to thrive after a period of dislocation and adjustment following the rebellion.

Le gibet de Regina/par un homme bien renseigné. Presented by Gilles Martel. Saint-Boniface (Manitoba), Éditions du Blé, 1985. First pub. New York, Thompson and Moreau, 1886. Original title: The Gibbet of Regina: The Truth About Riel: Sir John A. Macdonald and Cabinet Before Public Opinion, By One Who Knows. New York, Thompson and Moreau, 1886.

This book was first published in New York in 1886. It is a rather subjective analysis of the troubles of 1870 and 1885 accompanied by a series of newspaper articles carefully chosen to support its bitter and malevolent point of view. According to this study, Louis Riel was the victim of a well-orchestrated plot by the Canadian Orangists supported by the Canadian government. His only crime was that he defended the fundamental rights of his countrymen.

Giraud, Marcel.

Le métis canadien, [reissued in 1986 in two volumes as The Métis in the Canadian West]. Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1945.

One of the most exhaustive studies of the Métis at the time of its publication at the end of World War II, Le métis canadien examines the mixed-blood populations of western Canada from an ethnographic perspective. Giraud's conclusions are suspect, if not disturbing, and must be read in light of the prevailing attitudes and prejudices at the time. Successful Métis communities, according to Giraud, abandoned their wandering ways and adopted a more sedentary, agriculturally-based (ie. European) lifestyle. Those that refused to "evolve", such as the Batoche Métis, dispersed in the aftermath of the rebellion.

Hildebrandt, Walter.

The Battle of Batoche: British Small Warfare and the Entrenched Métis. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 1985.

The Battle of Batoche analyses the Canadian army's assault on the Métis stronghold at Batoche during the climatic four-day period from May 9-12, 1885. Through the use of "sequential manoeuvre" maps and contemporary photographs, Hildebrandt demonstrates how the Métis forces effectively won the first day of the battle and how the North-West Field Force overran Batoche a few days later only after a carefully orchestrated feinting action fell apart. The Battle of Batoche also provides the first detailed analysis of the strategy and tactics of the two sides during the fateful engagement. In particular, Hildebrandt explains why the Métis under Riel chose to make their stand at Batoche, instead of harassing the advancing Canadian troops, and why Major General Middleton, despite his numerical strength and superior weaponry, advanced on the Métis capital with great caution.

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