Case Medicine Reserve School Western

Case Medicine Reserve School Western

Case Medicine Reserve School Western

The Sioux had been trading with British and Canadian traders from 1767, and had sided with them during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 to protect their interests.

Sitting Bull Enters Canada

In 1876, Sitting Bull and the Sioux crossed the Medicine Line (49th Parallel) into Canada after annihilating Custer’s army at the Little Big Horn when the U.S. government had failed to keep miners out of their reservation, driving buffalo before them with soldiers on their trail. They made camp in the Wood Mountain area in what is now southern Saskatchewan.

Inspector James Walsh

Inspector James M. Walsh, of the North West Mounted Police, rode with half a dozen men into the camp which now contained over 5,000 Sioux. He passed a large herd of horses and mules with the brand of the U.S. Army, and lodges where American scalps hung drying in the smoke, to meet with the Sioux leaders of surly warriors.