The Role of The Saskatchewan Herald in the Construction and Extent of the “Siege of Battleford

Abstract

This thesis examines the role played by The Saskatchewan Herald in the construction of the circumstances that led to the 1885 Siege of Battleford. Generally discussed only as a peripheral event of the North-West Rebellion, the Siege of Battleford involved approximately five hundred men, women and children who congregated within the walls of a small North-West Mounted Police fort. Terrified of the intentions of their First Nations neighbours, the ‘siege’ lasted for more than a month and ended only with the arrival of Colonel William Dillon Otter’s column of the North-West Field Force. The self-protective action taken by the citizens of the Battleford area is unique within Aboriginal conflicts of nineteenth-century North America, and is especially notable in terms of the duration of the voluntary occupation of Fort Battleford. As recent scholarship has established that the citizens of Battleford greatly exaggerated the danger of Poundmaker’s Cree and other local First Nations bands, this paper explores the circumstances surrounding the decision to occupy Fort Battleford. The pages of the local newspaper, The Saskatchewan Herald, provide valuable insight into the community of Battleford in the 1880s. By examining the Herald alongside other primary sources and theoretical works, this thesis is able to explore the significant role played by the Herald in creating the conditions that led to the Siege of Battleford. Special attention is given to the analysis of the portrayal of First Nations individuals in the print media of Battleford and beyond.