Collection search - [Group of men at the Hudson's Bay Company post of Fort Pitt]. Original title: Interior of Fort Pitt. Just Before the Rebellion of 1885

Described by the RECON project.
Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear, or Gros Ours in French) was a Plains Cree chief born about 1825, probably near Fort Carlton (Sask.). He signed Treaty 6 in order to obtain minimal food supplies for his people from the Canadian government. Big Bear and his supporters played a role in the overall 1885 uprising. He died January 17, 1888 on the Poundmaker Reserve (Sask.).
The North-West Rebellion (or North-West Resistance) was a five-month insurgency against the Canadian government, fought mainly by the Métis and their First Nations allies.

Title assigned by Library and Archives Canada.

Cornelius J. Soule, has been identified as photographing in Fort Pitt around this time. It is possible he is the original photographer of this photograph.

Copy negative available: C-008183

Original caption: "Interior of Fort Pitt. Just Before the Rebellion of 1885. 1. Fire Sky Thunder, 2. Sky Bird (Big Bear's Son), 3.Matoose, 4. Napasis, 5. Big Bear (Mistahimaskwa), 6. Angus McKay (H.B.Co.), 7. Dufarin (H.B.Co. Cook), 8. L. Goulet, 9. Stanley Simpson (H.B.Co.),10. Alex McDonald, 11. Rowley, 12. Corp. Sleigh, 13. Edmund, 14. Hunry Dufrain. - (Killed at Cut Knife). Copyright Ernest Brown, Edmonton."

See negative, Reference Code: R-A7516, at the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan.