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Telegra'i denied dation tained /iETTE o ning to Bomewl comrad tbat hi tbeir c tbree ^k letter it bis "ol in reap finding " break I may ( ing tba now pr 8tatem( and ei to tfa yonr Gen. 8 23rd Fe HOUGHTON TO MIDDLETON THE COLOREL WITH VIGOR REPLIES TO THE GERERAL. LONG BUT INTERESTING Interesting Incidents of the Campaign of '85. Grave Charge Explained. Sir Fred. Middleton's con- duct towards his Second in command as seen by the latter. To the Military Editor of Tub Ga/kttk : Dkab 8ir, — Lieut.-(Ten. Sir Fred Mid- dleton having in his letter to the Toronto Telegram, dated 23rd February, fiatly denied tbat there was even a " fonn. dation of truth " in the ptatement con- tained in my letter in tbe Montreal Ga- ■AETtK of the 3rd February, " from begin- ning to end," goes on to say, " and I am somewhat surprised tbat some of my old comrades, who must have been aware of that have not interfered on behalf of tbeir old chief." Having now waited three weeks since the publication of that letter in Toronto, in order to see if any of his " old comrades " would come forward in response to this patbetic appeal, and finding none apparentlv desirous of " breaking a lance" in his favor I think, I may consider myself iustified in assum- ing that none purpose doing so. I shall now proceed to prove the truth of my statement " from beginning to end " and endeavor to show plainly and to the complete satisfaction of yonr interested readers, that in Gen. Sir F. Middleton's letter of the 23rd February he has himself completely contradicted the olfeusive statement of which I complamed, and tbe one, in fact, which drew forth my letter to which he replies. He has shown the weakness of his case by endeavoring to draw a herring across his trail ; by devoting tbe whole of the remainder of his letter (with which I am concerned, at least) to cowardly inaendos and insinuations against myself per- sonally. I repeat cowardly, because he dares not now, nor ever did dare, to make^ any accusations to my face, or openly over his signature, as he well knows I could readily relute tbem ; but he has persistently'circulated calumnies behind my back, never affording me an oppor- tunity to defend myself or clear my character from bis base imputations. As,, however, his false stnteinents about me (at which he darkly hinti again, but does not openly specify, in his letter under answer) have come to my knowledge in* directly at different times and places, aH soon as I have dealt with the main < question at issue, I purpose returning to • this subject before concluding my letter, , when I may have to refer to some mat^ 1^ 1 4 ters perhaps affectint; General Middle* ton'8 own capacity, and veracity also. • I do nut, however, intend travelling in that direction, beyond what came under the scope of my own personal observation, and ie absolutely necessary for the vindi- cation of my character, so cruelly and wantonly maligned by the General, ior a purely B^ltisli ..purpose, wiiiich h« now cutiipeis ine to expose. Now to return to the (Uiestion, whtch for the j;reater convenience of dealing with it, 1 stiall divide into two headinjis, namely : First— Was tUere actually a re- treat to the larit camp ordered by Gener- al Middleton? Was It commenced .' And was it countermanded by him for the reasons stated in my letter which ap- peared in the Montreal Gazi;iti-. on the 3rd of February. Second— Was the following statement, made by General Middleton in his "tsup- pressiouof the North- westKebellion, 1^85," true or not ? "Most, il not all, of my sen- ior oliicers were of opinion that we were not strong enough, and ought to retire to our last camp and await reinforcements. I diflered from them," etc. In regard to the first of these head- ings, 1 may remind your readers that, in support of my denial of the "second," I made a plain statement of facts to the foilowinborative BO on it ijuite of afi'airB bave not bear me ider tbat \dti quite leral Sir id up asl n of well an atlord public EH beading. ofiicerB," at borne 9 letter to rd Febru- r as I re- 1 I talked ere Lord n, who retir^ aflirmed pnaed to )uld bave ord Mel- le stiirma senior ppressioa ;bat Lord in tbe General lted(with ton), and itermined oald bave upon tbe also, bad ould Lord Bucb a ommand' i Bimplo, who bad personal re riBkinK conntrjr-r- Enslish i nobleman'H opinion liave Uvfu taken uixi tiieirs not . even eoiicited, upon bucii a uiou.eutuU8. question as was. involved in that movement, when the honor ot (.Jncada, and the safety, not only ot the whole force but altio of every settler in the Northwest territory, was at stake? And why should he hare total- ly ikfnored the opinions of such men ati (Jolonels Williams, l^traabenzie, Moiiti/ambert, (iracgett and MaoKeand, Majors Jarvis, i3oulton and Smith, and Captains I'eters and French (throwing out nivselt, of course, as worthless, fl,c- ourdin^r tu his statement), or rather, not even hdve consulted any of them (except Boulton), who were nearly all experi- enced olticers in the Canadian service, and hold important commands in the field of Batociie? Was it not enough for him to irave i^ratified bis own vanity by having appointed a viscount (a civilian^ as his chief of stalf. with the honorary rankof iieutenant-coionel — thus most un- juNtty placing him over the beads of the majirity of these otK cers — without imper- illini; the safety of the whole force en- trusted to his command by acting upon tne sole advice of an oHicer of so little experience? I venture to say that tbere was not one of the officers whom I have above mentioned that would have given him this advice, hut that all to a man would have expressed the same opinion as Major (now (Lieut-Col.) Boulton did, and counselled bim to remain where he was, even were it at the risk of losing a largH proportion of his force by so doing, which would have been as nothing com- pared with the result, which would bave been the immediate conseciuence of that sign of weakness upon tbe thousands of armed Indians who were just lying in wait, and watching to see how the "cat jumped" before making up their minds to cast in their lot with tbe "Metis." As the two statements of Lt-(ien. Sir Fred. Middletou are (|uite incompatible with one another, he should either retract that made in tbe U.S. Magazine, ao dia.- paraging and unjust to his Canadian offi- cers, and erase from whatmight be banrd February, and account fo< tbe discrepancy tite best way be can. In this matter I leave tbe choice to him and to the pihlic, theirs of determining what amount of reliance is to be placed upon the— let us call it " memory " of a gentleman eutfering fi^om such aberration, or under such "hallu- cinations " (to nse atuquoque) as pnor Sir Frederick Middleton appears to be. I shall close my case for Canadian officers with the old Latin quotation: ' Bt orimine ab uno disce omnts.' And now I come to the defence of ooiy own character from the slanderous im- putations cast upon it by the unmanly inuendos and malicious insinuations con- tained in Lieut.-Gen. Sir'Fred Middletoh'a letter now under answer. As no direct charge of any kind is made, hut every- thing possibly conceivable left open to the imagination of the readers of his let- ter it will be necessary for me in dealing with such vagueness to uive a t-light sketch of some of the incidents of tbe campaign which took place during my short stay with the N. W F. force, which covered only a period of fifty days, the greater portion of which was altogether uneventful, and at least to most of your readers would be uninteresting, Imt I shall have to bei;in at tbe very beginning in order to show what <:ave rise to the bitter feelings which General Middleton entertained towards me almost from the moment when we first met — strange to say — this very day nine years ago. When I met the General at the station at Winnipeg at 7 a.m. on the 27th of March, 1885. I reported to him that I had a for^e of fine young fellows, already assembled in tbe Drill shed, awaiting bis orders, of a little over 400 all told, nearly all of whom, particularly the cavalry and artillery (the latter consisting of about 60 officers and men, and tbe former a full troop of 35) were fairly well drilled and well up to their work, while of the remaining 300 odd (Winnipeg Rifles) with a very few exceptions all bad had at least one sea- son's drill, and tbat the whole were ready to move whenever he gave the order (120 of the rifles in fact having been des- patched to Qu'Appelle station two days previously) and provided the cash for the purciiase of the necessary horses which would be assembled' in the barrack square for his selection at 9 a.ui. To cut this short we bad all the hones, that he considered neceuary, purchased and passed the ▼ets by about 3 p.m. bat he positively refused to purchase any for the cavalry, who, he said should have horses of ttieir own (it was a city troop) and he left be* hind 35 as fine young fellows as yon could see anywhere, all fully uniformed and accoutred, and amongst whom wer*^ at least 20 of the beet shots at the ranges, because they could not afford to pur- chase their own horses, whicutbey would have been quite willing to have done could they have possibly raised the cash which was a sine tfua non in those troub* Ions times. He then engaged some young farmers from Stony Mountain, about fourteen or titteen, who supplied their own horses at a cost of $5 a day each to the Government. This force was afterwards increased at (^a'Appelle to 25 and were thenceforth iinown as •French's scouts.' iS<> much for hix fcon- omy. He also stinted the Win- nipeg Field Battery to 4 horses per gun, (9 prs) which at times, mad' it almost impossible for tht u keep up with the columr wh^ cbe roads were billy or heavy, and they were sometimes both, but always the latter. All this was contrary to my advice, and in spite of my urgent en- treaties, as I knew the road well, having been over it the previous summer, as J told him. Well, we not away that even- ing and arrived at (^"'Appelle (or rather Troy) station next morning, where I had over three hundred teams in waiting, and the work ot organizing the transport and commissariat commenced, which was ably carried out, the former by Mr. Bedson (the warden of Stony Mountain penitentiary, since deceased) and Mr. 8ecretan, and the latter by Captain Bwinford Q.M. 90th Batt. Seeing that the Ueneral was kept busy from morning till nigtit almost, with the help of his A.D.C., Capt. Wise, cyphering and de- ryphering telegrams, 1 offered to assist him, but he would not accept my assist- ance, though I told him I was well up iu that work, nor did he confide in me one single word of what he was either send- ing or receiving, which I thought rather strange at the time, I being bis second iu command ; but a few days later I found out the reason. Go the 30th, acting un- der the General's orders, I moved for- ward to Fort Qtt'Appelle with half the force, and encamped right in front ot the little village, which was supposed to be in danger of an attack from the *File Hill' tribe of Indians, who were en- camped some ten miles east of it The following morning the General rode out from Troy station to in- spect my camp, and with him came Lord Melgund, whom I nad not had the honor of meeting before, as he had only arrived at Troy that morning. After inspecting my camp the General told me to write down some orders, which I did at his dictation, as follows :— " Viscount Lord Melgund having joined the M. W. F. force will assume the rank of lieutenant- colonel " he paused for a while ap- parently thinking deeply, and then said quickly, as though a thought had just struck him. Oh, ves add this: "Lieut- Ck>l. Lord Melgund is appointed ' chief «r staff' to the Majcr-General command- ing." I paused when he came to the words " chief of staff," and he said " why don't you write it down ? " I replied, "I was just thinking, sir, how that would affect my position, to be plain with you." " Affect your position," said he rather angrily, " it does not affect your position at all, you are ' deputy adjutant general of the Northwest Field force,' and he is my ' chief of staff".* Oh ! then that is all right sir, said I, and I wrote it down, lie left the camp immediately afterwards, and I did not see him aitain until the day, but one, following (2nd Aprih, when he rode into camp aeain and intormed me that the rest of the column would be there in less than an hour, and told me to look out for a good piece of ground to encamp them on. Shortly after this, I came to report that 1 had selected a good dry spot (the snow was all melting and it was difficult to find dry ttronnd), when he said to me suddenly, —as though he had just remembered something — " Oh, Houghton, by the way, I'm sorry to say I shall have to send you back to your headquarters, as I have had a telegram from the Minister pitching into me for bringine vou away with the column, as he requires your services in Winnipeg." This I knew perfectly well could uot be true, as I had received a telegram mvself from the Minister, two days before the General's arrival in Winnipeg (25tb March) to the following I half th« Dtof the Bd to b« be 'File irere en- it Tbe ral rode to in- itb him 1 not had A he had ii(t. After 1 told me ich I did Viscount N.W. F. ntenant- rbile ap- ;hen said bad just " Lieut- 'chief nr tmrnand' le words iby don't " I was lid affect th you." B rather ' position > genera) nd he is bat is all own. lie :er wards, until tbe 'ih, when intormed would be 1 told me round to sr this, I pd a good Itini; and i;ri)nnd\ luddenly, lembered the way, send yon have had pitching with tbe ervices in ectly well iceived a ister. two rrival in following effect . " Don't wait for tbe General ; no ahead yourself and protect Qu'Appelle, and let him follow." I could not help smUmg, therefore, as I replied : " Well, that is the mo8t extraordinary and unac- countable thing I ever heard of." and 1 repeated the «ord'< of the Minister's tele- gram to him. "Can you show me that telegram ?" said he. I replied ; " Cer- tainly, Hir, as you seem to doubt my word," and 1 went to the tent of my or- derly oHlcer at onre, and asked him to hand uie the bundle of telegrams I had re(;eived from the Minister and others since the 2'Jnd March, of which 1 had given him charge on tbe 27th, to pai k with 8tationery, books, etc., which we re- quired for [use on tbe campaign. To my horror, the bundle was not there. It had been left betiind (where I afterwards found it on my return, namely on my office table, where my orderly ollicer was packing the books and ptationery, when I handed it to him.) I returned and told tbe General of tliis circumstance, to which he sneer- ingly and insultingly replied : " I thought you couldn't bnd it, and I'll believe in its existence when I see it, and no Booner." The grosnneHS of this insult staggered me for a moment, aB 1 had never anything like it put upon nae before, an nnt- imy uv/ifM, which she knew intuitively, was the one I required, and that bad she not repeated the wording of it to the clerks, and called for a chair, stating that she would sit there until they produced it, if it were to take them twenty-four hours to find it, she believed they would never have given it to her, jor some inexplic- able reamn or other. Whilst waiting, however, she was quite unexpectedly and Accidentally rewarded by the perusal of a copy of a telegram, which she hpd read before she noticed it was not addressed to me. It was to General Middleton and ran thus "Melgund will be with you and accept position of 'chief of stafl' ami 'second m rtiniiiiinifl.'" It was dated iHtawa, 'J5th March, and apparently signed by Lady Meluund. Here, then, was the " cat out of the bag." Now 1 saw through the wtiole scheme, and detf^rmined upon the spot tliat I would fold up mv temper and put It in my pockt^^, and stand any- thing sooner than allow sn(;h a plot ae this to succeed. And well it was that I had made this resolution, for from that moment nut nothing could exceed the persecution 1 had to undergo throughout the entire campaign. But, 1 anticipate. The following morning, as soon as 1 had perused my wife's letter and selected and pocketed tin parlimlnr teleqram, 1 tlirew myself ie Miniater requeHiiiiir my recall, and, hb I stated lie fore. I tiaii steeled myself to put up witli all his "insolence of office," nomur llinn. /tlini liis ijiinx' fur I tui. Notfiiiijr luore wdrth uientionin^ tran- spired after that until wb reacticd Hum- buldt, except that he never lost iin ojipor- tunity of helittliiik! me belore any jrrouj. of oflicers witii whom he mmht happen to see me talking in camo. or even in the staff mess, wliere. should lever hazard an opinion upon any Huk'ject, lie wouhl always make it a point to sit upon me, by some r\ide anrhf exprcKs. even though he misht have known thai many of the topi< s upon which I toiicli- ed were euch HH I had far better uppor- tniiities of bein^r iniurmed upon than he had. Thespecimen 1 have mven ah(>\e occurred cinirtlv helore we leit (^u'Ap- pelle, when he tirPt «ot new8 of the two uatlintis heinti on the way out. which he announced to a group of oHicern o} m tiioh I was one; and was in reply to my ex- pres^in^^ satisf'actinn, an«l sayini; tliat I tboiitfht one would be a mofit useful ad- junct to the force. He then tuned to the other otlicers, few ofwlmm I dare.»*ay ever had seen a gatlintr, and naid, vvith a .'sar- donic diuckle, "I'll tell you what I'm going to do with them, rw .piina In .-<.(l. die tlinn both on Otlr." Sorrv he was in a few weeks alterwards at Fisli Creek tliat tie had not brought one with him, as there was one of those very opportu- nities for the use of one to the ureatest advantage, when instead of leaving a handful of about fifty of the enemy in the coulee to claim a victory, as they did, and tio to this day, he might have clean- ed the whole lot out or caused them to surrender by about one minute's shower of bullets properly directed upon their position. I will not weary your readers with any more of this, but sulfice it to Hay, that I ceased to open my mouth in the mess, or anywhere in his presence, except on duty, and I performed all the duties that fell to my lot, or that he would, permit me to perform, in such a manner as to defy his criticism or cen- Hure, wtii«-h I always felt, he was cm - stanilv on the watch for an opportunity to bestow upon me. I trUHt \o»t readers willexcuHR my apparent etfotlani when I say that 1 don't believe there w as one odicer in the whole force wtio worked harder for the good and weal of the column than J did, and I think I will be borne out in thiH statement bv almost every oHicer and man of the force. I had one partner or fellow-HUfferer. and that was Major- (ieneral Laurie, who overtook tis at the edge of the Salt Plains on the lOth of April witti a view to offering tiis hervices in any capacity wlierethey could te best utili/.ed. Alttiough be reported himselt to (ieneral Middleton an hour and a half, or two hours, befi re our mess time, he (Middleton)never so much as invited him to join our meal, and be had to go to (' Sc'tiool camp to net his dinner, as w hen I told him of the terms upon which the General and 1 stood, he would not accept my invitation, and very wiselv 8<'. Still this did not prevent him from coming in for his full nhareot indignities. When Laurie asked for a m<'Unt the fol- lowing day he was told by (ien. Middle- ton to go and help himself out of a lot "f shauanappy II- B. ponies, of which the biggest, was not twelve hands' high, »o wiiilst (len. Middleton had two Uryfe Hunt- horsec, constantly ridden by his grooms, he allowed General Laurie to riile one of those mi8erat)le little bruteH, with tiitj toes nearly touching the grou> d. never so much as addressing a word to him in a wholeday's march. Laurie both tented and rode with me all the time, however, and we had our liiii in a tiuiet way, watchintr the General (Mid- dleton) mounting his J»U hands horse in the morninir and a*^ter lunch. When I say mounting. 1 mean climbing on,' with the assistance «.f two or three grooms and a crockery box. One of these horses, indeed (Sam), of which bespeaks in his 'suppression of the Northwest re- bellion,' was mine ^y ritrht, as T pur- chased him for $22r>, by private sale, for my own use, finding hira being Hd awav when the Government limit of $^7") was declared, but when we got to Troy the General appropriated him most uncern- mon'ously, claiming tiiat he tiad right to the best horse in the outfit, althonuh he well knew tbat I had purchased, him for myself, under the circumstances above- !i rflatMti. I It^t hiiu iiavH niiii (i*r p^Hi-H Hake, and Horry 1 waa at'terwanis t'orhav- \i\fi iloiiH HO, as I ant nci thankH for my );fiiero8ity, as the seiiuel proved. LaiiriH only ac^'orupanied uh tlirf^edays acruBH the Halt I'iains and then returned Iroiu Humboldt a 'saddt-r and a wiser man' than when he joined us. He(;ould no longer bro'>k siicb Hlic^htB and indit;ni- ties fr.tm a man far his junior in Her M«jesty'H servire, and wnom he held in utti-r contempt. He expressed his aym- prtthy for me at parting, and conuratn- lated me warmly for mv pluck in hold- int; on to my position under snob tryiuK circumstances. He said that the last three days had been the most humiliat- ing of his whole lite. He now resides in London at 47 Porchester terrace, and if anv one should doubt my word (for, in- deed. It does appear almost incredible), i i-eftT him to General fiaurie himself tor corroborat on of my statement. Well, to resume my narrative, at Hum- bolt I ascertained that Messrs. Bedso i and McDowell were to start ttiat evening (April 13) for I'rince Albert to communi- cate the (iuneral's position to Lt.-Col. Irvine (in command of the Northwest Mounted Police, of whom there were about 200 at that station) and instruct him to be on the north side of the Sas- katchewan, opposite to Batoche, on the morning of the 23rd ol April, to make a combined attack upon the rebels' Btront;hold there, whitdi seemed to me to be a very ^oo.! plan, and althoui{h the (General had not said a word to me about it, or confided his pro- ject to me in any way, still I determined to hel]i him throutih in every way in my power; for, in spite of tiie (ieneral's ill- treatrjent of me, I had lost none of mv interest in the success of tlie expedition or the welfare ot the force, which 1 had myself been chielly instrumental in rais- ing; and in which 1 had so many warm friends. It may seem strange to vour readers, but it is nevertheless true, that although the General knew all this time that I was second in command, not only by right of my position as D.AG. in the district in which all this trouble was oc- curring, but also by actual seniority, and must have known that had anything happened t"> him through sickness, accident, or otherwise, that 1 would have immediately assumed com- mand of the force, vet he' took the great- est pain.s to conceal from me what his plans were, or what reinforcements were expected, and, in fact, every information which w(»uld liave been useful to me in i>uch an eventuality. Still, I generally managed to keep myself pretty well pfist* ed, at least in regard to our own column, and 1 was egotistical enough to think that I could readdy have aciapted myself to the situation at any moment and car- ried on tlie campaign entirely regardless of any of his pre-conceived plans. We lay over one day at Humboldt and then resumed our march for Clarke's- Oossing. On the morning of the second day the (ienerul took an escort of Boulton's M. I. and (\ School under Major Smitti, and ma portant that be should be at Batoche on the mornioK of the 23rd, to which he re* piled that of course it was or be would not have aaid ao. I aaid: "Well, air, if you will leave things in my bands I will undertake that the teams do move to-morrow, and that you get there in time to keep your engagement." " What wnffasreniPnt? Who told you 1 bad an engagement? 1 only told you that I wished to be there at that time, and bow do you propose to get ttie teamsters to move, it the transport otticer can't do it?" This was said with the usual sneer, but, as I said before, my temper was in my pocket, and, therelure, I coolly answered him : " The transport oflicer has ro bayonets at his command, sir, but I have, with your permission, and I propose put- ting a' bayonet with a man behind it, into each team, or. if you prefer it, to marcli the teamsters as piir« rteis and put soldiers to drive the teams," adding, as I looked him full in the face, " if your appointment is a very important one, sir, such a trifle as horses woing a day or two with- outoats sbocld not be allowed to stand in the way, especially as there is every pros- pect of getting oats to-morrow niuht, or next day at furttiest, as we are now within a day's march of one ot the finest farming countries in the Northwest; and, meantime, we have plenty of hay." He replied that he would do nothing eo bar- barous, and that, as that was the only alternative, he would stay where he was until ttie oats came up. The sentiment was. 1 admit, most praiseworthy under ordinary circumstances, but a trifle out of pla<'e in that critical situation, and I am convinced was the cause of much un- necessary loss of human life, as had this engagement with Colonel Irvine been strictly kept the whole rebellion wonld have subsided into the proverbial " tempest in a teapot," and 1 have grate doubts if a shot would ever have been fired by the enemy, or rather, the unfor- tunate, misused,* ill-directed, badly-ad- vised rebels. Of course, the General immediately dispatched another courier to Prince Albert to advise Irvine that the " rendezvous was off," but as he was cap- tured on the way, and only released from the prison cellar at Batocbe on the 12th of May, poor Irvine was left entirely in the dark as to the General's movements, and althougli he was on band at the appointed time (23rJ April), and even kept hovering around I th« ▼ieinitv tor three or fonr daye, nut beiDK able to find any trace or ^et any word of General Middleton's column, be wasohlined to retire to Prince Albert to protect the citizens, wbo were in a state of mortal terror (1 mean, of coarse, the women), and there await further or> ders from the "Great Chief," which, tnouirh daily expected, never arrived. This did not save Irvine's name, how- ever, or that of the splendid force he commanded, from bein|;drapuedth*ou);h the mirv by the "Doughty Knight" in order to cover his own ettretrions blun- der. He christened them " (iophers," and although I was not there, 1 am told that when they turned out to receive bim on his 'triumphant entry' into Prince Albert, he treated them with the most supreme contempt, B(;arcely even deign- ing; to return their salute as he passed along their line. We remained at Clarke's Crossing un- til the l'3rd April, during which time I, with the assistance of Mr. King, the ferryman from Basic at oon, put up the ferry cable, and got everything into running order for the crossing of the left column for which I see the General has given credit to Capt. Haig, who on the contrary, after we had it in good running order, removed the platform and wind- lass, and then abandoned it as worthless, as it would not work. Mr. King and I, however, put it back again in its proper position and the whole ofthe left column crossed on it on the 2lBt of April. The two columns recommenced the marcb towards Batocbe on the 23rd (be> ing in sight of one another nearly all the time), and the " right," with which I re> mained, camped at Mcintosh's house about eignteen miles down the river. Here I learned from a scout in the coarse o( the evening that he bad dis- covered a large qvantity of grain in a hoBse aboat four miles from the camp and I determined upon capturing it dur- ing the night. Ascertaining from him that there was fron three to four tons of grain there, I took two waggons with twelve men of the 90tb under Captain Clarke, and an escort often men of Boul> ton's M.I., under Captain Gardner, and started from camp about 11 p.m. The house belonged to another Mcintosh (brother to the one at whose house the camp was pitched) and was on the main road to Batoohe. The night beioff bright moonlight I took the pre- caution of keeping the waggons about a quarter of a mile behind, and myself and the mounted esscort with curbs and all other rat*! ng material either removed or muffled, /ode in front at a fast walk. On nearing the bouse we went very cautious- Iv as we could see some carts drawn up at the door, which the scout informed me were not there when be had prowled around there In the dusk. When we reached the door, we saw by the mconlight that a considerable number of men had, but a very short time beiore us, be<>ii there, as their tracks were thick in the dew, which lay heavily on the ground. We also found six brand new * Red River' carts pull- ed up in line, with harness between the shafts of each. I could hardly restrain my men from giving chase, as they said that judging from the freshness of the tracks in the dew, they could not have left more than a minute or two, but I told them that by eo doing they would not only imperil the whole party un- necessarily, but would entirely defeat the object for which we had come there. Captain Haig (who accompanied me at his own request), Capt. Gardner and my- self then dismounted and went into the house, having first placed the scouts in a fan-shaped cordon around the side of the house nearest Batoohe, and about three hundred yards radius from it, with orders to fire direct- ly upon any men they might see ap- proaching, and then gallop back to us. By this time the wafgnns had arrived and Captain Clarke so disposed six of his men as to be in a position to cover their retreat iiu mediately the scouts should fire and open out in retreating to the rear ofthe bouse, when they were to dismount and take post behind the wag- gons. As soon as this was arranged we took the remaining six men into the house (on the table of which, by-tbe-bye, we found a plate of fried bacon still ({uite warm) and with the assistance of some two dozens sacks we found on the loft we soon cleared out the entire lot, which filled the waggons com- pletely with loose grain, besides after- wards filling all the sacks, which we then piled on top, making at the lowest calculation a ton and a half per waggon. This done, we strung tbe Red River carta behind the waggons and 10 contmenced our retreat in the same for- mation, with the riflemen torming a rear liaard between the A'ageons and the scouts who followed at about two hun- dred yards in rear ot them. Uur pro- gress was necessarily very slow, in con- sequence of the heavy loads in the wag- gons, and it was broad daylignt long be- fore we got back with our booty, which was just half past four o'clock or half an hour before the reveille sounded. None of us. of course, went to bed and I did not even rest as I went to give orders and see about the distribution of the grain, which was only snlficient to give about four good feeds per horse in camp, and bad, there- fore, to be carefully divided out. The six Ked River carts I handed over, with their harness, to Major Boulton for the use of his corps, and by the time this was all done I bad scarcely time to snatch a bite of bread and meat in my hand and remount my poor horse, which, however, I had taken the precaution of feeding well with grain before 1 did any- thing else. Now, when we had come to camp that evening I had told General Middleton that in riding round the environs nf the camp, as was my usual custom before dismounting, I had not- iced a very daneerons place along the river bank, which was a* sudden depres- sion, and flat at the bottom, with open timber and a fringe of thick brush on top, and I had reported to him that a nignt attack could easily be made by the enemy, using this as a means of ap- proach, and that by so doing they would emerne from the hollow in such a posi- tion as to attack us on our left rear, not being themselves visible owing to the conformation of the ground until within 500 vards ot us, and 1 had asked his permission to put a strong outpost ttiere. He simply answered me in his usual sneering tone of voice: " What rubbish you do talk. Don't yon know that Indians never attack at night?" I replied: "In the first place, sir, excuse me for reminding you that you are not fighting Indians, but half-breeds, and, in the second' placq, that even if Indians don't attack at night, that is the very time they creep to their places for at- tackine at the first break of dawn, when every man in this camp, with the excep- tion of the sentries, outposts and guards. will be in their soundest sleep, yon and I amongst the rest." " Oh ! have your way," he said, and accordingly I did' put a strong outpost there. Now wnat turned out to be the facts of the case? As we afterwards learned from one of Gabriel JJumont's reportA to Riel. subsequently taken at Batoche, they Lad actually been contemplating an attack upon us that very ' night, whether by that means of approach or not I do not know, but should judee oo, as from their perfect knowledge of the locality 1 feel sure they would tiave se- lected' it as the best. It is now nearly nine years since I read, or rather had it translated to me (it was in French), ft was flomethinsr like this (and if this should meet the eye of Dumont, I should much like to have him write me on the subject): "I contemplated making a night attack upon the enemy when en- camped at Mcintosh's house, but was deterred by the following considerations : First, because I found the enemy on the alert, and mistook, what I since fourd out to be a foraging party, tor an advance patrol ; and, secondly, because I was dis- appointed at the non-arrival of some hundred or so Indians that I expected to join me that ni^ht from Pound maker's band, but who did not arrive, so I thoueht it better to fall back to Fish ('reek, where I bad a plan to ambush them in the morning. My plans were frustrated by a fool in a buckskin coat, who, seeing a milch cow upon the prairie, rode after her and tried to drive her into the enemy's cortege, instead of which he drove her right on to me, and, seeing I was dibcovered. I fired at him in the hope that th^' shot would not be noticed, as he was alwavs firing shots himself at birds or rabbits, as my scouts Imve frequently reported. 1 unfortunately missed him, and my shot being mistaken for the signal all my men commenced tiring and exposed their position before the enemy had fallen into the trap I had laid for them." I do not for one moment pretend to say that the above is by any means verbatim, but it is about the gist of the report as trans- lated to me. Thus, it will be seen, that on this occa- sion I was, partly at least, instrumental in saving the force from a night attack which mi?ht bare been attended with most serious results. M ip, yon and have your y I did* put l^ow wnat ts of the I learned it's reportii it Batoche, tempiating ery niefit, pproach or Id jud^e GO, dge of the d have 8e> now nearly her had it French). It ind if this it. I should me on the making a ' when en- 96. bnt was iderations : emy on the efourd out ein advance J I was dis- il of some expected to und maker's so I thoneht reek, where lem in the istrated by o, seeing a rode after }r into the which he (1, seeing I .t him in lot would as alwavs r rabV)its, as reported. I nd my shot all my men )Ofled their d fallen into ," [ do not lay that the atim, but it rt as trans - m this occa> nstrumental littiht attack :ended with We luUciiujp at about the UHuai hour on the 24th (7 o'clock), and as was my custom, I remained until all had passed, iiielud* ing tiie teamp, and then rode to the head o! the column to see that all was ritsht, ant the grain only a few hours before and told him that that was the place where the enemy had evidently been in consid- erable forc^ the previous mid- night, as 1 bad seen by their tracks in the dew, and point- ing out to him the possibil- ity that some of the enemy might iie still lurking m considerable force amongst the numerous coulees with wrdclj tfie loality was beset. 1 begued of him to call a halt to allow the teams to dope up to the column. He refused to halt, so 1 giilloped bacK to the zareba, t^lline all (he teamsters as I met them to gallop up to the column as they were in a Very damierous place and might easily be cut otf by the enemy stragelintr so far from the column as they were. (Some of them did as 1 told them but others paid no attention. 1 did not halt until [ reached the spot where the zareba had been, from whiidi the last teiim was then just starting. We made him gallop, and Mr. Secretan and I lode one at each side, making every teamster put his team into a gallop as we cauirht up with him. In that way we soon over- took the column (which bad halted for a little while shortly after I left the Gen- eral, but was now aeain advancing), and formed up the teams two deep, so that they might all be under the better pro- tection of the baggage guard. It was most foitunate that they liad got into that position, for before we had gone an- other (juarter of a mile the enemy open- ed fire upon US froHi the front, and right and left front, from diflerent coulees in which they were tjoncealed, and almost immefliately afterwardM {I understand) endeavored to cut oft' tiie baggage. Of this, however, I can say nothint; of my own knowledge, for as soon as the tiring commenced the (ieneral detached two companies of the '.lOth, under Major BoBwell. to the left front attack and di- rected me to go with them and toss the rreek and dislodge a party of the rebels from a house on th** opposite side from which they were firing. As we ap- proached the creek several shots were lired at us out of the coulee but none took eflVct, and as we came to the edge of the coulee we saw several men makinsr towards Batoche, some riding and a good many running. The house was empty when we got there, but as I did not see anyone come out of it. T presume they must have done so while we were down in the coulee. I then changed direction to the right and advanced to- wards the big coulee, where I saw several men on horseback, but I was afraid to fire upon them for fear they might be our own fcouts. who were also in plain clothes, and it was too far off to distinguish them. 1 put my men in a small hollow and went forward a short diHtance myself to see what thev were. Just then a volley came up from there, evidently directeti at me. and hit one of the men lyine behind me. so 1 imme- diately ordered the men to come to the crest of tlie little ridge behind which they were lying and open tire on them. As soon as they did so the enemy all ran or rode away towards Batoche and we could see no more, though shots still con- tinued to come out ot thethicket. \bont this time I saw the General signaling me to come to him, so I moved my men across to the riglit to where be was. He then disposed them alonti the brow of the coulee. Shortly afterwards I saw a party of the 90th cross the creek in a bend and move towards the enemy. I rode down to them and, dismounting and leaving my horse behind, overtook them. Heeing the creek crossing again be- tween us and the enemy, within about 12 sixty yards of tbe latter, 1 told the men to make a rush for tbe cieek and rally there and led tbe way myself, accompan- ied by Captain Ruttan and Lieutenant Btewart. We received a volley, but with- out efftet, and belore they could reload we were safe in the creek, which bad liiiih banks, nearly sufficient to cover a man's head standing. Here 1 found that besides the two officers named and Capt. Wise, who had joined us in the rush, we had but six bayonets, which of course I did not consider sufii- cieni to continue the charge with, so 1 called to the men (who 1 knew were not far behind) to reinforce as soon as possi- ble, and we would make a charge. Whilst waiting 1 crept up the bank, and crawled towards the enemy, myselt hid- den by tbe chapparell. I got a good view of their position from the bpot which I reacbed, and saw several of them not more than sixtv yards from me. About this time the General came near the crest of the coulee and called out to me to retire as he was about to open artillery tire over our beads. I did so with great difliculty but tortunately without losing a man. Unfortunately my horse wbich had followed me into the creek could not he got out on ac- count of the high steep hanks. I knew, however, that she was safe lor the same reason, and fully calculated on getting her back later on in the day. 1 then worked round to where ttie General was and reported to bim what I had seen of tbe enemy's position, and asked him to let me call for fifty volunteers (that was about tbe number I calculated tbe enemy at) and make a bayonet charge upon them from the crest of the coulee, right behind their position, wbich 1 felt certain then, and now well know from circumstances which have since come to my knowledge, that bad I then been permitted to do so I could have easily captured the whole of them, or driven them out ot their cover. In fact, 1 have since learned that in any event of that kind they were prepared to surren- der at once. Had this charge been per- mitted I don't think there would have been any Batoche, nor indeed so many men Inst that day at Fish Creek, as this was only about 12 o'clock as nearly as 1 can now judge, and we bad a good many men wounded after that, though I don't think any were killed. Our men were formed all round tbe conlee in each a position as to prevent them gettinx out and so we remained until about half-past four when the General told me to remain on tbe ground, in charge of two companies, watching tbe coulee, while he retired the remainder of tbe force to a camping ground about a mile and a quarter away, near the Sas- katchewan, on tbe opposite bank of which the greater part of our left column still were. I was to watch until he was clear ot a certain place and then retire by signal, so as not to disturb tbe enemy in tbe coulee, or let them know we were slipping away. I did as 1 was ordered, greatly to my chargrin, however, ttie more enpecially as this ended all hope of recovering my horse. It was n<»w commencing to rain pretty heavily, but I was so over- come with fatigue and want of sleep that, having given my orders for the retreat as prescribed by the General, I lay down upon the wet graBS, beside Capt. Forrest, of the 90th, and, having directed bim to watch the retreat and awaken me at the proper time, I fell fast asleep in the pouring rain. I could not have slept more than fifteen or twent}* minutes at the outside, as, when I awoke I still saw the heads of our retiring men just disappearing over tbe ridge. I then gave the signal to my men, who retired steadily in skirmishing line, and ready to resist attack from any quarter. Just as we got to the height of land before spoken of, a lot of horsemen appeared from the coulee on -^ur (then) right rear, and were plainly seen by Captain Yo^ng and Col. Montizambert (who bad come hack to assist me), as well as by myself, the for- mer asserting positively that he had counted one hundred and twenty -five. They were about 500 yards distant and commenced jeering loudly, upon which I halted my men with tbe intention of giving them a volley, but the moment they saw tbe men face about they knew what was coming, and disappeared im- mediately into the coulee from whence they had just emerged. I then continued tbe retreat, and as I came within about 600 yards of tbe camp I passed the General, who was just putting an outpost there.and reported tbis matter to him. He deliberately told me that '* it was not th« case," and that I must be laboring under an i I 18 an ** hallacination." Fortanately Mon- tizambert and Young were not oat of earsbot, so I called tbem back to corrob- orate my statenients, but be as mucb as told all tbree of us tbat we were telling an " nntruth," asserting that it was pare and simple imagination on oar part, and adding, witb great empbasis, " And even bad it been true, yoa sboald never bave said a word about it." Tbis was satisfac^ tory ^?) to me, you may easily imasine. ile're was I, tbe second in command, re- porting so serious a matter as tbat to my '* cbief," told that I was either a liar or a foe:, to put it into plain language, and told that even had it been true I should not bave reported it to him. Well, I went on to the camp, overtaking my command and sending tbem to their different battalions (one company was of tbe lOtb and the other tbe 90th), and then went to see what sort of a posi- tion the camp occupied, and make my usual tour of inspection ot the surround* ings. My tent was being pitched, but the baggage had not yet been distributed, 80, although I was soaking wet, I could ;iet no change of clothes. When I came back it was setting dusk, and our dinner (a pretty rough one that day) was ready, so I went to tbe mess tent tirst, but was too tired to eat, so went to my tent,where I found my small dunnaee box, but no blankets. ' I could not get my boots off as I had been standin.' so long above my knees in water in the creek tbat day, and my bootjack was rolled in mv blankets, so 1 took a small eider-down quilt out of my box, and takins off my water-aoaked patrol, and substituting my great coat, which was dry, I wrapped myself in the eider-down qiiilt, and, with my saddle, with a couple of flannel snirts on it for a pillow, fell fast asleep in a moment. Be- fore lying down I bad presumed that my servant would be in shortly with my blankets, and that I would then be able to cbauKe my wet clothes, and get into them— tbe blankets. When ! awoke for the first time I was shivering, and my teeth were chattering like castanets. I jumped up and lighted a match and tflanced around tbe tent to see where my blankets were, but everything wa? just as before 1 fell asleep. I looked at my watch and found that it was now four, and on lookint; out of my tent I saw tbat tbe dawn was already quite visible. 1 turned back in despair, rolled myself again in tbe eider-down, and, miserable and cold as I was, actually tell asleep again. 1 slept until breakfast time, when I weut to tbe mess tent, but could eat nothing. I was still shivering all over, and my teeth would not stop rattlinif. Just then the fall-in for the funeral parade Bounded, and being de* termined to pay the last tribute to my brave comrades who had fallen the day before (six as well as 1 remember), I went to Dr. Codd's tent and asked him if be could give me something to brace me lip for the occasion. Seeing the state I was in he opened bis medicine chest and ix)ured me out a half a tumbler of what turned out to be brandy, and told me to drink tbat off at once and tbat I would feel better. I did so and went straiteht on parade just as the Gen- eral was at>out to commence tbe funeral service. As soon as it was over I went to the General, and telling him the facts of the case, asked his permission to go and lie down for a few hours. He re- plied, 'Oh! yes, go where you like, 1 don't want you." I tfcsn uent in search of my blankets and found that as they happened to be tbe first that came to band they bad been given to tbe wound- ed, so 1 got a few pair out of store myself, (my servant was down at thQ burial), and getting a man to help me off with my boots, I turned in and slept soundly un- til about one o'clock, when I got up quite recovered and went to tbe mess tent and ate a hearty lunch. I never beard any more or thought any more about this episode afterwards until i heard many months subsequently through a friend of mine in Winnipeg that the General had spread tbe renort broadcast that I was drunk at Fisk Creek. I heard tbe same afterwards from friends in British Columbia, and again at Ottawa and here. Under those circumstances I am not surprised if he bad " authority to send me away," and that was what he wanted nil along. But when he got it, he dared not use it be- cause he knew well tbat I could have cleared myself at once if any charge had been made against me by him on that or any other score. The General says he placed Lieut-Col. Ktraubenzee over my head as second in command, and that "lor reasons best known to myself I did not attempt to remonstrate." I regret very mucb to have to 14 ^fky, that this statement is false ffotn beginning to end. 1 my- seU wrote, at the General's dictation, tbei order referred to, and it simply ap- ppinited Lieut.-Cul. Straubeiczee to codqo Illa^d of the infantry brjaade, and at the aatnetime Lieutt-(yol. Montizainbert to ttMcoDomand of themoantckl brigade. Mow could I ever have. Imagined that h» was appointing Col*.Stra«hen/i«e 'sec-' opd.'in command'' when Col. Williams, who/ thougD perhaps a youneer man, VKftS ten years senior to hiiu. Wa.s there a subsequentty, he sureiv could not bavetdojie t^o on the day of their joint ar* rival at Fish Creek by the steamer Northcote. ; I thought that perhaps he had given that appointment to Straubenzee, because Williams had his regiment to look after, but had anything happened to the (gen- eral during the tight at Batoche, it goes without saying that I should have im- mediately assumed the command of the force by virtue of my position of deputy adjutant-general in my own district. Next to me, Williams would most un-' (ioubtedly have taken command, as the appointment of D.A.G. carries no status outfiideof his district. I think 1 have said all that is necessary to put the pub- lic in a position to judge between General Sir Fred. Middleton and me in reeard to the statements, or, rather I should say, 'insinuations," made against my char* acterbythat "ex-oflicer." Had be made any specific charge against me for either incapacity or misconduct this letter need not have been one- fourth so long, but the fact of his having attacked me in the dark, bas necessita- ted niv writing this " much too lengtihy letter," in order to guard myself at all points from his insiduous and venomous : attacks. As I have dealt' with Batpctie^ in the Deginning of this letter I will spare yonrrdadehi any further details on ttiat subject beyond mentioning the fact, thtit tbe hour actually appointed tor itne troops' meeting the Nort'hcpte at Hatocheon (he 9th of May was i8> a. m. and not 9 as stated in' the Geiieral's ofli- ciitl report of the 3l8t May, 1B85, and hence all the trouble to that boat, and all on board of ber, as well ab IM loss of beir' U8efuine8s on that occasion. She was on^ time, but the General was just an hour behind. I Could go further and prove that tbe General'it persecution of me did not cease with the rebellion, bnttbat be continued to parnie me with the atcbbst acrimony until tbe very day of his departure from' (, and dat, and all f^ ]o86 of ber She' was on. St an hour >ve that tbe id not cease e con tinned t acrimony arture from' possei^sion baf^es pre- 3t8 calculat- rtment. ' your read- fear I bave mucib upon' idd that' all r I am in a I to do eo at' tbe excep- wbicb took- i myself as icb cased I choose be-' of Lieut- ' Middleton > lieut-Col.