On June 15 the White Horse Plain party left Saint-Francois-Xavier, accompanied by its missionary, the Reverend Louis Francois Richer Lafleche, grand vicar of Bishop Provencher and himself later to be famous as Bishop of Three Rivers. The party was small, numbering only two hundred carts and sixty-seven hunters, with an unknown number of women. It was led by a nephew of Cuthbert Grant, Jean Baptiste Falcon, a son of the barb of the Metis.

It seems evident that the Metis of St. Boniface and Pembina and those of Saint-Francois-Xavier were acting independently of one another, as Hind says they were in 1852. It may be conjecture that the cause of the separation was the rejection by the Metis of St. Boniface and Pembina of Grant's leadership following the troubles surrounding the Sayer trial of 1849.. But they has to plan mutual support in the attack by Sioux. It was therefore important to give them no advantage.

The rendezvous was kept safely on June 19 or 20. A general council was held, not only for the usual election of officers, but also to discuss "the route the two camps would have to follow to keep apart sufficiently from one another so as not to injure each other's hunt."

The decision was made to divide, but to move, as a single camp moved in parallel columns, along parallel routes at twenty to thirty miles from one another. The parties were to keep in touch and come to see anther's help in the event of attack by the Sioux. There was an express agreement, clearly something novel, that on no pretext would any Sioux be allowed to enter either camp.

After the council, both parties advanced out into the plains toward the southwest, veering off a little from the lands of the Sioux in so doing. According to Lacombe's account, they traveled and hunted together, or in close proximity, for some days, until perhaps June 28.

When they did separate, it does not appear whether the White Horse Plain party was to the south or north of the main party. It is natural to suppose that it would have taken the northern route, as the one less exposed to attack by the Sioux, and the rest of this narrative rest on the assumption ,which admittedly could be erroneous. The main party encountered some Sioux shortly after parting company but, according to the previous agreement with the small party, did not allow them into camp, and chased them away. The Saint-Francois-Xavier camp was warned at once.

For some days after that encounter, which must have taken place about June 30, the two parties traveled and hunted without incident.

Their parallel routes must now have been towards the land between the headwaters of the Sheyenne River and the big bend of the Souris.

The main party was traveling near the Maison du Chien, or Dog Den Butte, a well-known landmark on the outlying ridge of the Coteau de Missouri that was known as the Grand Coteau. They were on the march on Sunday, July 13, by permission of Lacombe in order that on Monday they might run some buffalo which had been reported to be near. While the camp was on the march, a small party of Sioux tried to cut off some stragglers.

The evening before, Saturday , July 12, the Saint-Francois-Xavier camp reached a spot on the Grand Coteau of the Missouri which cannot now be determined precisely. On the assumption made above that it had followed a northern route, and assuming also that the two parties had kept roughly parallel after their separation, it would be twenty to thirty miles north of the Maison du Chien.

The scouts had just topped the first "butte." and the party had just climbed to the top of the first terrace of the Coteau, when they sighted a large camp of Indians. They at once signaled a warning to the carts below. Falcon promptly ordered camp to be made on a spot that could be easily defended and sent five hunters forward with a spyglass.

These rode boldly and carelessly , Metis-fashion, to the to of the nearest high bluff. There they saw that the camp was that of a very large band of Sioux (the number of warriors is estimated in the various accounts at twenty-five hundred).These figures are no doubt greatly exaggerated , but serve to indicate how impressed all the Metis and their companions were by the size of the band.

The five scouts, having scorned concealment, now scorned any other precaution. They proceeded to ride towards the camp. At once a party of twenty Sioux rode out to meet them. When the two met, the Sioux surrounded the Metis and invited them to go the camp in a way that left no doubt that they were considered prisoners. There seemed to be nothing for it but to go peacefully . But two Metis suddenly kicked their buffalo-runners into a gallop and broke away and escaped under fire back to the carts . Three- James Whiteford, one of the three McGillis boys in the party, and one Malaterre -were held by the Sioux.

The Metis camp, when they saw the fugitives riding hard down the slope, sprang to arms. Falcon and Lafleche called the hunters together; with the boys of twelve year old, there were seventy-seven men who could handle a gun.

The Sioux who had pursued the two escaping hunters then approached the camp of the Metis and parleyed with some of them .

They insisted that they had no warlike intentions and that the three captives would be freed on the morrow. They would come the next day with the prisoners and only a small party , in the hope of receiving some presents.

With that they rode off, but Lafleche and the Metis were convinced that they were insincere and meant trouble.

They therefore began to make ready to receive an attack and, when three Sioux horsemen were seen approaching, they sent ten mounted men to meet them from observing the camp and its defenses. The customary courtesies were exchanged, but the Sioux kept at a distance and departed. The Metis were convinced that a surprise attack had been intended then and that they had foiled it.

The decision was now taken to fight without further parley, even if this meant, as they feared it did, that the three captives would be killed. It was thought better to sacrifice them and save the party than risk all.(29) While they did not know how many Sioux they faced, they knew the camp was a very large one; it seemed to them unlikely, careless as the Metis customarily were of odds in conflict with the Sioux , that they would be able to beat off the attack of hundreds of the boldest fighters on the plains.

They therefore resolved to sell their lives dearly, and if possible to hold out until succor came from the main party. The carts were placed in a circle, wheels to the center with the shafts tilted in the air.

Poles carried to make frames on which buffalo-meat was to be dried were run through the spokes to make the carts immovable. Packs, hides, saddles, and dried meat were piled between and under the carts to complete the barricade.

The purpose of the barricade of carts was not to form shelter behind which the hunters would fight. It was meant to fence in the cart-ponies and oxen and to break up the charge of the Sioux horsemen. The carts formed a corral, but gave little protection against gun-fire or arrows. For that purpose trenches were dug under the carts, and here the women and children took shelter. But the men dug trenches, or rifle pits (here one meets the rifle pits of Batoche) out in front of the barricade. There purpose was to hold the Sioux out of range of the carts and draft animals. The women and children were reasonably safe in their trenches , but if the draft animals were killed the party would perish on the plains without further attack by the Indians.

After darkness two men were sent to carry the news of the threatened attack to the main party and to ask for help. Although the camp police kept a special guard that night, Lafleche and the hunters stayed up to watch the eclipse of the moon, of which he had warned them, spread its black shadow over the silver slopes of the Coteau.

The next morning , Sunday , July 13, "having exhorted and confessed all those who presented themselves, "Lafleche celebrated Mass and distributed the sacrament "to all who desired to die well."

When these final preparations were completed, the scouts were seen to signal that the Sioux were coming. When they appeared along the crest of the Coteau, it was not few horsemen promised the night before , but an army -the whole manpower of the great Sioux camp, their war-ponies of piebald and pinto and chestnut vivid on the skyline, their gun-barrels and spear-points glinting in the fierce sunlight of the plains.

At a signal the Sioux host halted .Was it possible they did not mean to attack? The Metis had held their buffalo-runners ready in the cart circle for a sally. Now thirty of the hunters rode out to accost the Sioux and warn them to keep their distance from the camp.

The three prisoners could be seen in the midst of the Sioux. McGillis, on seeing the thirty approach, suddenly kicked his horse into a gallop and escaping his startled captors, joined the Metis band .Daring as was his action, he was in terror and besought his friends not to laugh at his being afraid. There were, he gasped, two thousand Sioux who meant to attack them.

The Metis rode up to the advance guard of the Sioux, made them some presents, and requested them to go away.

The Sioux ignored both the presents and the request. They could and would take all the camp had to yield ,and had brought out some carts to haul away the booty. They began to push forward.

The Metis at once wheeled away and rode hard for the camp. The Sioux tried to head them off , hoping to overwhelm the camp by entering with the hunters in their retreat. But they were too slow , and the hunters re-entered the carts circle, left their horse, and ran for their rifle pits.

The Sioux came charging in, hoping to brush aside the flimsy barrier of the carts and break up the circle. At their head rode a young chief, "so beautiful, "Falcon said in after years, "that my heart revolted at the necessity of killing him. "He shouted to the Sioux brave to turn away, but he rode on, the war-cry ringing from his lips. Falcon shot him off his horse, and the Metis hunters fired in volley.

Here and there a Sioux warrior whirled from his saddle and tumbled into the grass; the others pulled their ponies around and galloped back to the main body.

Inside the circle Lafleche had donned his surplice with the star at the neck, and had taken his crucifix in his hand. His tall white figure passed around the carts as he encouraged the warriors and soothed the children. All that day he prayed amid the fighting and exhorted his people from a cart rolled into the center of the circle, a prairie Joshua. He did not , he told a friend later , take a gun himself ,but he had a hatchet handy, resolved that if the Sioux reached the carts he would fight beside his Metis warriors.

A brief pause followed the first charge , but was ended almost at once. Whiteford and Malaterre were guarded by an American living with the Sioux. This man now told them to make a dash for it . He would , he said , only pretend to shoot at them. Whiteford kicked his horse , perhaps the best runner on the plains, into a gallop and rode weaving and swaying through a poplar grove, down the slope toward the camp . Malaterre , knowing his horse was too poor to carry him clear, shot at the nearest Sioux and actually hit three. He then rode for his life , but was soon brought down by a storm of balls and arrows. His body , bristling with shafts, was dismembered and his remnants waved at the Metis to terrify them. But Whiteford escaped and with true Metis bravado, he checked his flight and shot down a pursuing Sioux . Then he was welcomed wildly within the cart-circle, where he joined the defenders. His old mother , who had been weeping for a son she believed doomed , ran to see him and said "My son, if you are tired ,give me your gun and go get some sleep. Let me fire a shot at those rascals out there.

There was no time for sleep for anyone. The mass of the Sioux now closed in and surrounded the camp, as Lafleche wrote, like a waistband . Indian-fashion, they did not charge in a body . They crept forward, sniping; they made sudden dashes; now and then excited braves would come charging in on horseback, and swerve off shooting from the saddle, or under their horses necks. It was exciting, it was dangerous, but it was not the one thing that might have brought victory to the Sioux, the overwhelming of the Metis by their numbers. The Metis were therefore able to hold them off from the cart-circle, firing steadily as targets offered, themselves, offering no target themselves. Most of the Sioux bullets fell short of the cart-circle; all of their arrows did . Only occasionally did a horse rear , or an oxen bellow as a shot went home .And up the sun-scorched slope, the Sioux began to feel the bite of the telling Metis fire. Warrior after warrior, "like choice game," writes Dugas, "was offered up like a heathen priestly offering at the sacrifice. "Some of the stricken warriors turned over quietly in death, some leaped in their death throes, "strewing the yellow prairies with their heaving bodies.

The fight was too hot for them. Indians, and even the warlike Sioux, would never suffer casualties as Europeans would .It was not a matter of courage, but of the conventions of warfare .In battle the Indian saw no merit in death, however brave. The Sioux now drew back to take account of the nature of the contest they had engaged in.

Their shame grew as they viewed the small numbers of the Metis and the fragility of their defenses. Their shame turned to anger . Whooping and yelling, the infuriated warriors charged in on their straining ponies, swerving, checking, striving always to kill or stampede the stock in the corral. But their fury produced no giving-way . Lafleche still cheered his people from the cart in the cart-corral. Falcon, steady , earnest , fired with his men, and moved among them to direct their fire. With him was his sister Isabella ;when he went around the rifle pits, she took his gun and fired for him, not without effect.

The second assault failed like the first, and still the Sioux had not used their numbers to make a mass charge and overrun the gun-pits and the barricade of carts. Sullenly the Sioux began to withdraw, one by one or in small groups. The more stubborn or more daring kept up a sniping fire and tentative sallies form time to time. But after six hours all were wearied of the unrewarding battle. A chief was heard to cry :"The French have a Manitou with them. Such was the effect of Lafleche courage. And in fact not a Metis had been killed in the action, although they had lost twelve horses and four oxen. The Sioux had suffered losses they thought heavy , and now began to load their wounded into the carts they had brought to carry away the plunder of the Metis camp. They had also to regain their courage and r replenish their ammunition. A heavy thunder-storm completed their discomfiture , and it was followed by a mist which made it impossible to shoot.

Moreover , their scouts, thrown out towards the main Metis body at the Maison du Chien, had brought in reports that had to be considered . The two hunters sent on Sunday might have encountered the Sioux scouts and returned to camp towards the main party. Would they bring the main party to help of the besieged camp?..

The Metis themselves had the same question to consider. When the Sioux withdrew , the hunters rode out over the battle field, where they saw many traces of the hurt inflicted on the attackers. Eight Sioux had been killed and many wounded , as was shown by the bloodstained grass and the waters of two nearby ponds. There they found the mutilated body of the unfortunate Malaterre pierced by three balls and sixty -seven arrows. They buried him there on the prairie.

On the next day, July 14, the Sioux were expected to attack , as they had not withdrawn far but had kept raising the war-whoop around the camp during the darkness. A council was held, and the decision was taken to try and join the main party.

It was a hard decision to have to make. To have to retreat in the face of an enemy yet undefeated and in overwhelming numbers is no doubt, one of the most dangerous operations of war. The Metis planned and executed it brilliantly. Four mounted parties were sent out a mile from the line of march, one ahead, one behind, and two on the flank towards the Sioux. They were to signal any approach of the Sioux by two scouts galloping past one another on a butte, the best known of all the plains signals of the buffalo-hunters. The carts were to advance in four columns so placed that, by two wheeling quickly, a square could be formed rapidly. Then the cart-corral could be formed, the barricade stiffened with the poles, and the hunters fan out for the fight.

After an hour's march, the scouting party behind was seen to make the signal of two horsemen crossing on a butte. The Sioux, who had been shouting around the camp during the night, were in pursuit. At the signal the columns halted and wheeled into position, the ponies and oxen were taken out of the shafts, and the carts run into the circle. The Metis had learned even more vividly from the loss of stock they had suffered in the first day's fight the need to conceal their stock and hold the Sioux at a distance. The cart-ring was now formed of two lines of carts; then at three chains distance out, from the barricade of carts the hunters hastened to throw up their rifle pits well out from the cart-ring. The Sioux were perhaps less numerous and less fiery than the day before, but they closed in none the less on the cart-corral and pressed the attack for five full hours. Once again Lafleche exhorted his people to remember their faith and their ancestry; once more Falcon and Isabella aided the Metis marksmen in the heat and dust and drifting smoke.

Finally the firing slackened and war cries died away. Once more a thunder-storm was rolling up over the Coteau. A Sioux chief rode up, upraised palm out in a gesture of peace, and demanded to be allowed to enter the camp. He was told to leave quickly, if he did not wish to be left on the prairie. He replied with dignity, before retreating, that the Sioux had had enough; that they were going away; that henceforth and forever, they would never attack the Metis.

Then the whole war party, mounted and yelling a last defiance, war plumes flying and lances waving, put itself at a gallop, and charged in single file around the cart-ring, firing a last tremendous volley of gun-fire and arrows from the backs of their straining ponies. It was the heaviest volley of the two day battle. Then the cloud of horse-men streamed over the shoulder of the Coteau and vanished the rain broke in torrents.

The weary Metis thought that they must have suffered losses from the tremendous discharge but, as men ran in from the rifle pits, it was found that only three were wounded and those but slightly.

As they rejoiced, the first part of hunters from the main party, warned by the fugitives, came pounding over the prairie. They had been dispatched post-haste early that morning by Father Lacome. The main body came up later.

With the three hundred and eighteen fresh hunters of the main party were as many Saulteaux warriors. With those of the White Horse Plain camp, they numbered seven hundred men, a force sufficient to scatter the enemy. The Sioux, it was known from their increasing use of arrows, were short of ammunition as well as discouraged by their defeat. Many of the hunters demanded that they should be pursued and chastised. But Lafleche and Lacombe, with the majority of the hunters were against further fighting. Better to be merciful and complete the hunt, they decided

The Metis resumed their hunt, but first they raised on the plain a tall pole bearing a letter to the Sioux. What was in the letter no one has recorded.

In the whole adventure they had lost only the unhappy Malaterre, and in the two actions not one man, woman or child. They had lost, it was true, twelve horses and four oxen, but not enough to prevent moving over the plains The Sioux, it was reported later, had lost eighty men, besides many wounded, plus sixty-five horses. By the standards of Indian warfare, this was a heavy defeat, and in fact it ended the long warfare of the Metis and Sioux. The Metis thereafter were masters of the plains wherever they might choose to march. The action of the Grand Coteau showed that they could fight and move on the plains even in the face of superior numbers of Sioux, perhaps the most formidable warriors of all the North American plains tribes. Their conduct of the march of the cart brigade, their plains-craft, their battle tactics - from the firing from the saddle to the use of the rifle pit-were brilliant by any standard of warfare. Captain Napoleon Gay, after his service with Riel in 1870, tried to train his volunteer cavalry in the Franco-Prussian war as well as the Metis mounted riflemen were.

The battle of the Grand Coteau was perhaps the proudest memory of the Metis nation. It symbolized their highest endeavor as a people Nothing more conclusively proved their mastery of the plains by which they lived.

It stands half way between the collision at Seven Oaks and the black day at Batoche, when the Canadian militia did what the Sioux had not done and overran the Metis rifle pits. And finally it demonstrates the boundary of Canada and the United States was not a mere astronomical line, but a real boundary marked by a clash of people and cultures, the border of the park belt and the grassland, of the prairie and the plains, where the Metis of Red River continued and the old feud of the Cree and Saulteaux with the Sioux ,and helped , in the blind and primitive working of history with geography , to prepare for the different histories in western North America of Canada and the United States.

Since Grant was not at the Grand Coteau but had remained at White Horse Plain the summer to lead the old folk to Grant's Lake for the goose hunt, the with what mingled pride and regret he must have heard of the great fight which so brilliantly vindicated the fighting skills of the Metis-pride at the achievement, regret at his absence.

And how strange the this epic of Metis valor did not stir Pierre Falcon to compose another of his ballads! In many ways the Grand Coteau was the apex of the Metis nation, their supreme achievement as a people who had learned to live on and by the plains. Yet its story is little known, its actors are nameless, it was not celebrated in the songs of the Metis , nor fully celebrated in their legends.

The curious obscurity which veils the great feat of arms of the hunt of 1851 seems indeed to hang over the last years of Grant's life.

He continued to live as principal man and magistrate of Grantown.

One vivid glimpse of him and his hospitality as chief man of his settlement is given in the letters and journals of Mr. W. Kirkly of the Church Missionary Society . In December 1852 , Kirkly set out from Fort Garry to Portage la Prairie where in 1850 the Reverend Wm. Cockran had begun an Anglican mission. Kirkly stopped at White Horse Plain and described his stay as follows.

It was about seven o'clock when we reached here and finding it impossible to reach the house we had intended , we determined to remain at the first which seemed to offer means of shelter to us and our horses. Presently we came to one, occupied by a Mr. Grant, and who is a Magistrate and chief man among the Roman Catholics, and of the Plain, though we neither of us knew him; yet on being assured by our

guide the he was a very hospitable man , we made bold to call upon him. He was not in, but after waiting a short time he came, and at once gave us a cordial welcome , assuring us, as Rebecca did Abraham's servant, that there was room for us and provender for our cattle. We thankfully accepted his kind offer.

Dec. 29,1852 - We rose between five and six this morning intending to go as far as the house which we thought of reaching last night, before breakfast; but out kind host, hearing us on the move, arose and ordered the domestics to prepare breakfast for us ; and by the time we were ready a hot comfortable meal was prepared, which was very welcome before starting out in the cold.

Yet Grant, now fifty-nine years of age, was not entering on any decline of powers . He was not becoming a prematurely old man, who stayed at home from the hunt to care for the old people. In 1852 he went to the plains again, perhaps to ensure that his people did not lack his leadership if the Sioux renewed their attack . But the hunt returned in peace in August, as did the fall hunt . It was this year , it may be noted in passing , the White Horse Plain hunt went out by itself without going to the general rendezvous. It may have been because the Grand Coteau gave the assurance that they could deal with the Sioux alone ;it may be that the buffalo herds were now so far to the west that the shortest route to them was up the Assiniboine to the Souris.

Grant indeed was so active that he was thinking of resuming his old role of licensed free trader. This was partly because his fortunes needed repairing since he had lost his salary as warden of the plains, and partly because since 1849 the free trade had spread rapidly, checked only by commercial competition from the Hudson's Bay Company. Accordingly Grant addressed himself to Simpson., whom he had served so loyally for the past thirty years.

Grantown 26th May 1853

Sir Geo. Simpson

Gov. of Ruperts Land

Dear Sir;

I fear, though, I hope, without sufficient ground, that this session may be your last for coming among us .I am therefore anxious to appeal once for all , to your often tried kindness, because now the council of Ruperts Land contains hardly any of my old friends.

I have long thought, that I could promote the Company's best interests by trading again under its sanction. I was of this opinion even before the competition of the Americans had begun to show itself across the lines; and if so, how much stronger must my opinion be now, this competition has lasted so much longer, and spread so much farther than could have been at first expected. In fact , the present state of things appears to be such as to render the assistance of individuals, who can be depended on, necessary to the company ; and at the same it seems to remove the objection, which certainly had weight some years back, that the employing of middlemen would tempt others to engage in the same business without authority . If this be so in general , I flatter myself, that my services in this way might be more valuable than those of most other persons.

But to enable me to serve the Company with effect I should require the command of a little capital. I see no other way of getting this but your powerful help. I should be glad to accept a composition in lieu of an annuity the more so as very few indeed of those , who know my claims are likely after this to have any voice in the management of affairs. All things considered , I should think that seven years of my present income , say in round numbers 1,200 pounds would be a reasonable amount, to be paid in such a way as may be agreed on between us. I shall merely add that I do not wish to have the whole immediately, nor the whole in cash at all, but part in money and part in goods, as (first) L200 to be paid down in cash now. (secondly) Goods to the value of L500 at York Factory prices to be delivered this fall a York Factory .(thirdly) Goods of the Value of L500 at London prices to be sent out by the ship next year.

Hoping to see you personally soon.

I have the Honor to be

Dear Sir

your ever grateful and obliged

Humble Servant

(signed)_ Cuthbert Grant.

Grant's request was reasonable enough for his next-door neighbor Urbin Delorme , was already launched on the career that was to make him one of the chief plains traders, and a little down the river Pascal Breland was following suit. It would seem that Simpson did not agree at once, for a year later in June of 1854 they were to have met at Fort Garry to discuss Grant's affairs . But Grant's health did not allow him to leave Grantown: he suffered a fall from a horse and was not making a good recovery. Simpson wrote him no unkindly .

Cuthbert Grant ,Esq.(Grantown)

Fort Garry 29th June, 1854

My dear Sir.

I have received your letter of 26, inst.& am very sorry to learn that the impaired state of your health prevents your coming down here and that consequently I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you this season. I shall hope to have better accounts of you in the course of the autumn.

I am not prepared to give you an immediate reply to the points you have brought under my notice in reference to your salary as Warden of the Plains. The arrangement to which refer was made thirty years ago, & although I have in my mind a general recollection of the terms, it is necessary to refer to documents no in my possession here, in order to refresh my memory as to details. I shall look into the matter after my return to Canada, and communicate with you further thereon hereafter.

I am much obliged by your kind esquires after my health which I am thankful to say continues good, Wishing you speedy recovery.

I remain & c.& c.(Sd) G. Simpson

Grant did not recover .One can feel the awed hush that must have fallen over Grantown-their beloved seignior "Mr. Grant" had suffered a serious accident-and as the days went by their concern grew. Small groups stood about the open doorways of the village, and occasionally a messenger went to or from the big white house where he lay. For days this atmosphere of fearful expectancy hung heavily over the village, until the news went out on July 15 that he was dead; then anxiety gave way to sorrow.

That funeral of July 16 was long talked of around the fires of Grantown. Their friend and counselor through all the years would lead the Metis no more . He was buried with full pomp and ceremony.

The bell tolled solemnly as the long cortege filled the church. The parish record stands.

On the 16th of July 1854 our priest buried in the church of this parish along the wall of the right side body of Cuthbert Grant Esquire who died yesterday at the age of 61. He was the husband of Dame Marie MacGillis. Were present Pierre Thibert, Joseph Guilliout & Louis Gariepy and many others who did not sign.

(Signed) J.B. Thibault, Pres.

The parish accorded him its greatest honor. He was buried beneath the altar of the church he had helped to found, where his dust lay mingled with that of his seignior. With Grant died Grantown , as the name then gave way to that of the parish, Saint-Francois-Xavier.