Blood Upon Our Land Page 14
Ma-ma-kwa-se-sak: the little people who live in the caves
masinahican: book
mihkwânikwacâs: red squirrel
nichimoose: sweetheart
Otipemisiwak: they are free; they have no owners; the ones who own themselves; the independent ones
shaganappi: braided buffalo hide used as harness or rope
French Glossary
à la façon du pays: marriage in the custom of the country
bal à l’huile: dance held by lamplight
bonhomme jigueur: jigger
capot: long coat
cariole: dogsled
la danse du crochet: hook dance, also called “Drops of Brandy” or “Strip the Willow” for the songs that often accompany it
éclipse: eclipse
flèche: arrow
Mardi gras: Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent
médaille miraculeuse: a medal that honours the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary
parfleche: leather packet
le petit provisoire: provisional council created during the Resistance of 1885
piquette: homebrew
rameaux: palm fronds given out on Palm Sunday
septième: seventh daughter; one with the power of healing
tapis: small wool blanket with bells, worn by a sled dog
Acknowledgments
Every effort has been made to trace ownership of visual and written material used in this book. Errors and omissions will be corrected in subsequent updates or editions.
Cover cameo: (Detail from) Bernadita by Robert Henri (Cozaddale, Ohio, June 24, 1865 — July 12, 1929, New York, New York); oil on canvas, October 1922; 24 1/8 in. × 20 1/8 in. (61.28 cm × 51.12 cm); gift of the San Diego Wednesday Club; courtesy of San Diego Museum of Art 1926:138
Cover background: (Detail, lightened, from) The Capture of Batoche, Library and Archives Canada C-002424, MIKAN number 2837525; also used in full as image 16
Image 1: Louis Riel, Glenbow Museum NA-504-3
Image 2: Marguerite Riel, Saskatchewan Archives Board Identifier: R-D2169
Image 3: Jean-Louis and Angelique Riel, Library and Archives Canada PA-139072
Image 4: Metis children and Red River cart, Pembina area, Manitoba, Glenbow Museum NA-1406-30
Image 5: Metis dance, Pembina, Manitoba, Glenbow Museum NA-1406-23
Image 6: Buffalo hunt, Red River, Glenbow Museum NA-1406-7
Image 7: Gabriel Dumont, Red River, Alberta, Glenbow Museum NA-1063-1
Image 8: Cree men and traders at Fort Pitt, Saskatchewan, Glenbow Museum NA-1323-4
Image 9: The battle of Fish Creek, April 2, [1885], Library and Archives Canada C-001728
Image 10: Gatling gun used in Riel Rebellion, Glenbow Museum NA-1032-3
Image 11: Start of the battle of Batoche, Saskatchewan, Glenbow Museum NA-363-38
Image 12: Major-General Middleton, Saskatchewan Archives Board Identifier: R-A5524
Image 13: Steamboat “Northcote” under fire during the Riel Rebellion, Glenbow Museum NA-1353-11
Image 14: Canada – Fighting in the North West [1885], Library and Archives Canada C-097664
Image 15: C.W. Jefferys, Battle of Batoche, 1885, Library and Archives Canada C-073636
Image 17: Portrait of Poundmaker, Cree Chief, at Stony Mountain Penitentiary Glenbow Museum NA-292-3
Image 18: Batoche Cemetery (01), Saskatchewan Archives Board Identifier: R-B5405-5 (55-300-22)
Newspaper clippings from PaperofRecord.com: 7 janvier 1885 and 19 janvier 1885 (plus tard) diary entries Winnipeg Daily Times January 8, 1885; 7 février 1885 diary entry Qu’Appelle Vidette; 17 mars 1885 diary entry The Toronto World March 12, 1885; 4 avril 1885 diary entry The Toronto World March 24, 1885; 9 avril 1885 diary entry Winnipeg Daily Times March 26, 1885; 5 mai 1885 diary entry Winnipeg Daily Times April 18, 1885.
Images 19 and 20: Maps by Paul Heersink/Paperglyphs. Map data © 2000 Government of Canada with permission from Natural Resources Canada.
Thanks to Barbara Hehner for her careful checking of the manuscript, to Lawrence Barkwell of the Louis Riel Institute and author of Metis Legacy Vol. I, Metis Legacy Vol. II, La Lawng: Michif Peekishkwewin, Vols. I & II, Batoche 1885: The Militia of the Metis Liberation Movement and Women of the 1885 Resistance, for lending his expertise re Louis Riel and the Resistance. Our thanks also to Tyrone Tootoosis for checking the Cree glossary; Bruce Flamont, one of the last remaining Michif speakers, for checking the Michif terms and glossary and commenting on the manuscript; and Martine Faubert for checking the French words and glossary. Our thanks also to Dr. Bill Waiser, author of Saskatchewan: A New History and other historical books, for his helpful input.
For Bill and Kelly
About the Author
Maxine Trottier’s roots reach back to New France, where in the seventeenth century two of her ancestors were filles du roi (something she discovered while researching her book Alone in an Untamed Land). Later generations would become founding families of Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit under the command of Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. It was near Detroit that her ancestor Pierre Roy wed a native woman of the Miami nation, Marguerite Ouebankikoue; their family and descendents remained in the area and flourished.
Maxine’s Métis ancestors fought at Fort Detroit during the War of 1812. Three of her “uncles” — Alexis, Pierre and Julien Labute, the grandsons of Pierre Roy — were each captains of battalions in the 2nd Regiment of the Essex Militia at that time.
In 1803, her Métis ancestor Georges Drouillard was recruited for an American expedition, one that would cross the entire continent. Over the next three years, Drouillard acted as an interpreter and hunter for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark — the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. Guided by the Shoshone woman Sacagawea, the expedition travelled more than 13,000 kilometres from St. Charles, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean and back again. Drouillard’s ability to communicate with First Nations people using hand signs was invaluable during the journey.
Maxine is very familiar with some of the food described in this book, since her grandmother, Mary LaBute, prepared it. Fried muskrat, grandpères, bengs and galet were often part of meals at her grandparents’ home. So were sturgeon and homemade sturgeon caviar from fish that her grandfather would catch.
Her grandfather, Mark LaBute, played the fiddle, one that he made himself as a young man. The sounds of “Big John MacNeil,” “The Red River Jig” and other tunes, always accompanied by turtulage, would ring out at house parties.
Maxine has written a picture book about Louis Riel, Storm at Batoche. Her first book in the Dear Canada series, Alone in an Untamed Land, was a nominee for the Silver Birch and Hackmatack awards, and was named an OLA Best Book. Her second Dear Canada, The Death of My Country, was an Honour Book for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction. Both books are available in French (Seule au Nouveau Monde and Mon Pays à Feu et à Sang).
Maxine is the author of Terry Fox, A Story of Hope; she donated all royalties for that book to the Terry Fox Foundation. She has also written other picture books, such as Laura: A Childhood Tale of Laura Secord and the Mr. Christie’s Award Winner Claire’s Gift, as well as the Scholastic Canada Biographies series for younger readers. She won the CLA Book of the Year Award for The Tiny Kite of Eddie Wing, and was nominated for it for A Circle of Silver, her first novel. Her picture book Migrant was nominated for the Notable Books for a Global Society book award, sponsored by the IRA Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group. It was a finalist for the ReadBoston book award, as well as for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award. The New York Times named it as one of its top 10 illustrated books.
Over the years, Maxine has been an avid historical re-enactor, spending many weeks at forts and historical sites across Canada, from Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia to crewing on a tall ship (a replica of the HMS Tecumseh) on the Great Lakes. She currently resides in Newfoundland, overlooking Bonavista Bay, with its amazing sight
s of surfacing whales and looming icebergs.
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Josephine Bouvier is a fictional character created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.
Copyright © 2009 by Maxine Trottier.
Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
SCHOLASTIC and DEAR CANADA and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.
ISBN: 978-1-4431-2407-2
First eBook edition: October 2012
Also Available
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