Mudeater
Subtitle: an American buffalo hunter and the surrender of Louis Riel
By: John D. Pihach
Publisher: University of Regina Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9780889774582
Subjects: Riel Rebellion, 1885; Scouts and scouting; Wyandot Indians; Biography; Frontier and pioneer life
Description: "Born the son of a Wyandot Chief in Kansas in 1849, Irvin Mudeater was one of the last great frontiersmen of the American West. Hired to run wagon trains to Santa Fe, Mudeater fought off "Indian attacks", was caught up in the Civil War, drove a stagecoach, and lived as a plainsman on the lawless frontier. Most of all, he was a buffalo hunter--killing 126 head in just one day. In 1882, Mudeater moved to Canada, adopted the name Robert Armstrong, and portrayed himself as white. Shortly after the fall of Batoche, he played the lead role in bringing the fugitive Métis leader, Louis Riel, into custody. John D. Pihach attempts to resolve the opposing stories of Riel's surrender/capture, scrutinizes the sensational incidents in Armstrong/Mudeater's life, and, with the inclusion of Mudeater's unpublished memoir, allows this consummate storyteller to speak in his own voice."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-244) and index.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: Introduction; title: A Note on Terminology; title: Maps : U.S. Plains, circa 1870s ; Southern and Central Saskatchewan and Alberta, circa 1880s; title: Part One : The Life of Robert Armstrong; title: Chapter One. Before Robert Armstrong : identity ; Wyandot history ; Armstrong's ancestors ; Matthew Mudeater, fatehr of Robert Armstrong ; Armstrong's siblings; title: Chapter Two. Youth to 1885 : boyhood, wagon trains, and school ; adventuring in the Southwest ; moving North ; to Canada; title: Chapter Three. 1885 : the conflict; whose scout was Armstrong? ; capture or surrender? ; prior knowledge of Riel's location? ; famous deed ; how it happened ; reward for Riel's apprehension? ; after Batoche; title: Chapter Four. 1885 to 1940 : Prince Albert, Rosthern, and return to roots ; retirement in Calgary and death in California; title: Part Two. Preface to Robert Armstrong’s Memoir ; Robert Armstrong’s Memoir; title: Appendix 1. Riel’s Apprehension : Many Versions; title: General Middleton's accounts; title: Newspaper reports; title: Contemporary accounts, early histories and reminiscences, and more recent histories; title: Appendix 2. Riel’s Apprehension : Accounts by the Three Captors; title: Robert Armstrong's account; title: Tom Hourie's account; title: William Diehl's account; title: Notes; title: Bibliography; title: Index.