November 16, 1885: The Hanging of Louis Riel

November 16, 1885: Louis Riel is hanged, ending Canada's North-West Rebellion.

Louis David Riel was born on October 22, 1844 in the Red River Colony, Prince Rupert's Land -- now Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was a leader of the Métis people, descendants of the original European settlers of Canada and its aboriginal peoples, which Canadians call "First Nations."

He led the Red River Rebellion in 1869, and the peace he and the federal government made allowed Manitoba to enter Confederation as a Providence, earning him the title "the Father of Manitoba." But he made the mistake of ordering the execution of Irish-Canadian leader Thomas Scott in 1870, and had to flee to America.

In 1884, the Métis of Saskatchewan called on him to lead their grievances with the federal government. He led a military resistance that became known as the North-West Rebellion. It failed, he was convicted of treason, and executed at the North-West Mounted Police barracks in Regina, Saskatchewan on November 16, 1885, at age 41. He is buried at St. Boniface Cathedral in Winnipeg.

Part of the irony of his life is that he is seen as a hero less by the aboriginal population of Canada, and more by the French-speaking one. His removal from the scene guaranteed Anglophone control of Western Canada, and this has been part of the Francophone grievance with Ottawa ever since.

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November 16, 1885 was a Monday. There were no scores on this historic day: No college football games were scheduled, baseball was out of season, hockey was in its infancy, and basketball hadn't yet been invented.

July 15, 1870: The Manitoba Act Ends the Red River Rebellion

Louis Riel

July 15, 1870: The Manitoba Act passes the Parliament of Canada, ending the Red River Rebellion, and establishing the Province of Manitoba.

Louis Riel led a group of rebels of mixed French and indigenous Canadians, known as Métis. The Spanish/native equivalents in Mexico are called Mestizos. Much of central Canada was Rupert's Land, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. It was named for Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a nephew of the Company's 1st Governor, King Charles I of England.

Following Canada gaining independence through "Confederation" on July 1, 1867, though still under some control by Britain, the British Parliament authorized the sale of the Land to Canada, as the Red River Colony. But the national government at Ottawa appointed an English-speaking Governor, William McDougall, for the Colony.

That angered the French, the First Nations (indigenous peoples), and the Métis, most of whom spoke French as their first language. The Métis, led by Riel, prevented McDougall from entering the territory on October 11, 1869, beginning the Rebellion. They created a provisional government to which they invited an equal number of Anglophone representatives. Riel negotiated directly with the Canadian government to establish Manitoba, a Native name, as a Canadian Province. At Confederation, there were 5 Provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Riel's men arrested members of a pro-Canadian faction who resisted the provisional government. This included Thomas Scott, whom they tried for insubordination, convicted, and executed on March 4, 1870.

To prevent further bloodshed, Canada and the Assiniboia provisional government soon negotiated an agreement. On July 15, 1870, Parliament passed the Manitoba Act, allowing the Red River Colony to enter Confederation as the Province of Manitoba. The act also incorporated some of Riel's demands, such as the provision of separate French schools for Métis children and the protection of Catholicism.

In August 1870, Riel peacefully withdrew from Fort Garry, a former HBC trading post around which the Provincial capital of Winnipeg was built, starting in 1873. He fled to America, and the Rebellion was over. In 1885, Riel returned, and led another rebellion, the North-West Rebellion. That one ended with his capture and execution.

British Columbia became a Province on July 20, 1871; Prince Edward Island on July 1, 1873; Saskatchewan and Albert on September 1, 1905; and Newfoundland and Labrador on March 31, 1949, making for 10 Provinces.

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July 15, 1870 was a Friday. By a strange coincidence, this was also the day the last of the States that had seceded from the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America, Georgia, was readmitted to the Union. I have a separate entry for this event.

The only organized team sport in America at this point was baseball, and it was just starting the professional era. The difference between those teams that had turned pro and those that hadn't became stark. The only score I can find for this historic day involves the 1st team to openly turn pro, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who beat the Eagle Base Ball Club of Louisville, Kentucky, 39-8. That season, against pro teams, the Red Stockings went 27-6; against amateur teams, they went 40-0.