This confidential report prepared by the British War
Office gives vital background information to senior
authorities on the Cypress Hills Massacre. Although
the North-West Territories were officially in Canadian
hands, and had been for a number of years, the report
demonstrates that Britain still had a vested interest
in the region.
As the authority of the Hudson's Bay Company slowly
eroded across the West in the late-1860s, the region
closest to the international border became a haven
for American desperadoes seeking their fortune in
an illegal whiskey trade. All too frequently, whiskey
trading touched off terrible scenes of violence. "In
this traffic very many Indians were killed,"
reported one contemporary account, "and also
quite a number of white men."
Unfortunately, it was not until the situation got
completely out of hand in the summer of 1873 that
the federal government was forced into action. The
sudden change in policy was brought about by the massacre
of some 20 to 30 Assiniboine Indians by a group of
Montana frontiersmen in the Cypress Hills of present-day
southwestern Saskatchewan.
Although it took several months for the news to filter
back to the eastern press, when the story did break,
the country became enraged. The slaughter was seen
as a clear indication that the Canadian West was at
risk of emulating the wild frontier which existed
south of the border. American involvement in the incident
was particularly disturbing. The free movement of
Montana traders across the international border was
seen both as an infringement of Canadian sovereignty,
and as a blatant disregard for Canada's desire to
have a peaceful frontier under British law. The result
of this public concern saw the federal government
move forward with its recruitment program for the
North-West Mounted Police.
