Wolseley expedition | |||||||
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Part of Red River Rebellion | |||||||
Red River Expedition at Kakabeka Falls by Frances Anne Hopkins, 1877 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Métis | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Garnet Wolseley | Louis Riel | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | No immediate casualties; at least one later killed by militia |
The Wolseley expedition was a military force authorized by Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to confront Louis Riel and the Métis in 1870, during the Red River Rebellion, at the Red River Colony in what is now the province of Manitoba. The expedition was also intended to counter American expansionist sentiments in northern border states. Leaving Toronto in May, the expedition arrived, after a three-month journey in arduous conditions, at Fort Garry on August 24.[1] This extinguished Riel's provisional government and eradicated the threat of the American expansion into western Canada.