Date Published:
April 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Poundmaker

Poundmaker (1826-1886), Indian chief, was born near Battleford, North West Territories, in 1826. In 1881, as a chief of the Cree nation, he acted as guide of the Marquis' of Lorne and his party from Battleford to Calgary, during the vice-regal tour of the North-West; and in 1885 he was persuaded by Louis Riel to take part in the second North-West Rebellion. He commanded the Indians at the skirmish of Cut Knife Creek and at Batoche. After the capture of Riel, he surrendered himself to General Middleton, was tried at Regina, and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He was released after a year's confinement; but he died shortly afterward, on July 4, 1886, while on a visit to Crowfoot, chief of the Blackfoot Indians, at Gleichen, near Calgary.

[Consult Poundmaker's biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography site]

Source : W. Stewart Wallace, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. V, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 401p., p. 150.