General Histories of the Campaign

There are a number of good general histories of the Northwest Campaign. Two stand out for their opposing emphases. Desmond Morton's The last war drum is an excellent general account with emphasis on the government response to insurrection and the militia's military campaign, while Bob Beal and Rod Macleod in Prairie fire stress the roles of the Métis and Indians. A more dated, but always readable, provoking and scholarly account is George F.G. Stanley's The birth of western Canada. In War in the West, by Rudy Wiebe and Bob Beale, the compilers have used contemporary accounts, newspapers and pamphlets, along with a wealth of contemporary illustrations to catch the flavour of the Campaign.

Beal, Bob; Macleod, Rod. - Prairie fire : the 1885 North-West Rebellion. - [Rev. ed.] - Toronto : McClelland & Stewart, 1994. - 384 p.

* Howard, Joseph Kinsey. - Strange empire : a narrative of the Northwest. - New York : Morrow, 1952. - 601 p. - Also published in French under the title: L'empire des Bois-Brûlés

McLean, Don. - 1885 : Metis rebellion or government conspiracy? - [S.l.] : Pemmican Publications, 1985. - 137 p

• Claims that the Conservative government forced the Métis into rebellion in order to save the Canadian Pacific Railway financially.

Morton, Desmond. - The last war drum : the North West Campaign of 1885. - Toronto : Hakkert, 1972. - 193 p. - (Canadian War Museum historical publication number 5)

Rea, J.E. - "The Hudson's Bay Company and the North-West Rebellion". - The Beaver. - Outfit 313, no. 1 (Summer 1982). - P. 43-57

Stanley, George F.G. - The birth of western Canada : a history of the Riel rebellions. - London : Longmans, Green, 1936. - 475 p.

• Reprinted, with a new introd. - Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1992.

Wiebe, Rudy; Beal, Bob, comps. - War in the West: Voices of the 1885 Rebellion. - Toronto : McClelland and Stewart, 1985. - 192 p.

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