The Northern Pacific farmer., 1885-04-30
middleton to tho dovernnsent:

ottawa, Ont, April 26--Following IS the
official statsttteht' Sf the engagement st Fish
Creek, Friday, made to ths Minister If militia:
Fish Creek, twenty five miles North Of
Clarkes Crossing, Northwest Territory, April
A-Lhave.had aR affair with the rebels at this
spot, on the east bank of the river. My advanced
scouts were fired upon from a Rlpf1;. but we
tt1ahaged to hold our own until the main body
arrived, when I took measures to repel the at
tack, which Was over at about 2:3O o'clock
b. ii. We have captured lot OF their ponies
and have tf1fes or four, apparently Indians and
half-breods, in coFner ef the bluffs, who have
done O great deal of mischief, being evidently
their best shots; and as l am tn"lAlng
to lose any more men in trying to take them,
have surrounded the bluff, and shall wait until
they have expended their ammunition to cap
ture them. Lord Melgund joined as soon as he
could from the other side Of the river, with the
Tenth. Royals and Winnipeg half battery, but
most Of this part Of left column is thus across,
and as it is work Of difficulty 70 cross, have
ordered the rest to follow and shall march to-
morrow With the united force on Batouchc
The troops behaved very well in this, their first
affair.
/ do not know what the loss Of the enemy
was, bt:t doubt not it was pretty severe,
though Judging frena the great advantage of
their position and mode Of fighting. it might
we'll be less than ours. I shall proceed to-
morrow after b1rynS the dead ana Sc senans
ing On this side. lose the telegraph line, but
shall keep up constant communication by way
of Clarks Crossing If possible. l regret very
much the wounding of my two aides -de-camp.
Capt Wise's horse was shot previous to his
being wounded. (SigneD
FRED MIDDLETON, Major General Command
ing the Northwest Field Force.
Clark's Crossing, April 25.-Sergeant Dal-
ton, of Boulton's troop, courier from Gen
Middleton, has just arrived here: ~ Arthur
Watson, Of the school of infantry Of Toronto,
died last night, making total of dead, to date
of seven. The wounded are all doing WE'LL and
will be removed to this place as soon as posi-
ble It has been ascertaincd to-day that the
fight on Friday was very much more disastrous
to the rebels than at first supposed. Twenty
that number of bodies were counted,
amongst whom was Gabriel Dumont,
Riers. lieutenant 1t is reported also
that Hiel was in the ravine during Fridays en-
gagement and hts returned to Batoche for
reinforcements. Four of OUR n1en TO- day went
to the edge of the ravine and captdcea six
horses and twelve head of cattle without moles-
ta:ion The cattle subsequently got away.
Ottawa, Special Telegram, April H.-The
latest news here from the Northwest is that
seven troops were killed and fifty wounded.
On the rebel side it is said that twenty FIVE
were killed. A dispatch to the government
says that the troops have got possession of the
ravne and that decisive engagement would
take place which could only last few hours:
Gabriel Dumont, Riel's lieutenant, is reported
killed and that Rlel has gonc to Batoche for
more forces. dispatch from Middleton to
Mrs. Middleton says that, owing to the dis
tance from the telegraph offices, the doings of
the next twenty four hours might not be heard
for a few days.