Louis Riel and the Fenian Raid of 1871

Abstract

Just two years ago Joseph Riel, a younger brother of Louis Riel, the famous Metis chieftain of 1869–70 and 1885, died at the old homestead of the Riel family, at St. Vital, near Winnipeg. Until his last breath Joseph Riel resided in the little white house on the east side of the Red River in which his brother had lived. It has been my privilege, on repeated occasions, to be a guest at this house, either on a friendly call or when attending one of the meetings of the Union Nationale Métisse which has been so kind as to elect me one of its honorary members. During such visits I have been allowed access by the late Joseph Riel to the papers of his brother, which he treasured as so many relics of one whom he considered a martyr. They are mostly in the handwriting of Louis Riel himself, and, naturally, throw light on certain events somewhat different from what one has been accustomed to make out from the more or less authentic and certainly biased reports of his life, which have been printed from time to time in the newspapers or in books.