page_title: Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley
section_title: Canada
hierarchical_section_title: Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley / Canada
context_page_description: Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, KP, GCB, OM, GCMG, VD, PC was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, West Africa, and Egypt, followed by a central role in modernizing the British Army in promoting efficiency. He served in Burma, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, China, Canada and widely throughout Africa—including his Ashanti campaign and the Nile Expedition against Mahdist Sudan in 1884–85. Wolseley served as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces from 1895 to 1900. His reputation for efficiency led to the late 19th century English phrase "everything's all Sir Garnet", meaning, "All is in order."
context_section_description: In November 1861, Wolseley was one of the special service officers sent to Canada in connection with the Trent incident.
  In 1862, shortly after the Battle of Antietam, Wolseley took leave from his military duties and went to investigate the American Civil War. He befriended Southern sympathizers in Maryland, who found him passage into Virginia with a blockade runner across the Potomac River.  There he met with the Generals Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson. He also provided an analysis on Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest.  The New Orleans Picayune (10 April 1892) published Wolseley's ten-page portrayal of Forrest, which condensed much of what was written about him by biographers of the time.  This work appeared in the Journal of the Southern Historical Society in the same year, and is commonly cited today.  Wolseley addressed Forrest's role at the Battle of Fort Pillow near Memphis, Tennessee in April, 1864 in which black USCT troops and white officers were alleged by some to have been slaughtered after Fort Pillow had been conquered.  Wolseley wrote, "I do not think that the fact that one-half of the small garrison of a place taken by assault was either killed or wounded evinced any very unusual bloodthirstiness on the part of the assailants."
  Wolseley returned to Canada where he became a brevet colonel on 5 June 1865 and Assistant Quartermaster-General in Canada with effect from the same date. He was actively employed the following year in the defence of Canada from Fenian raids launched from the United States.  He was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General in Canada on 1 October 1867. In 1869 his Soldiers' Pocket Book for Field Service was published, and has since run through many editions. In 1870, he successfully commanded the Red River Expedition to colonize and establish Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Territories and Manitoba.  Manitoba had entered Canadian Confederation when the Hudson's Bay Company transferred its control of western Canada to the government of the Dominion of Canada.  British and Canadian authorities ignored the pre-existing Government of Assiniboia and botched negotiations with its replacement, the Métis's rebel Provisional Government headed by Louis Riel. The campaign to put down the rebellion was made difficult by the poor communications at the time. Fort Garry (now Winnipeg), the capital of Manitoba was a small centre separated from Ontario by the rocks and forests of the Canadian Shield region.  The easiest route to Fort Garry that did not pass through the United States was through a network of rivers and lakes extending for six-hundred miles from Lake Superior, infrequently traversed by non-aboriginals, and where no supplies were obtainable. The admirable arrangements made and the careful organization of the transport reflected great credit to the commander (Wolseley), who upon his return home was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George on 22 December 1870, and a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 13 March 1871. Appointed assistant adjutant-general at the War Office in 1871 he furthered the Cardwell schemes of army reform.
caption: Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley
exif: {}