Ambroise-Dydime Lépine (18 March 1840 – 8 June 1923) was a

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

politician, farmer, and military leader under the command of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

during the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his f ...

of 1869–1870. He was tried and sentenced to death for his role in the execution of Thomas Scott, but his sentence was commuted to five years exile by the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

. Ambroise appeared in the ''

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at t ...

'' at the 1889 Exposition Universelle. He died at St. Boniface Hospital on June 8, 1923, and is buried in the

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

of the

Saint Boniface Cathedral St. Boniface Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is an important building in Winnipeg, and is the principal church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, ...

next to

Early life

Ambroise-Dydime Lépine was born in St. Vital in the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

on 18 March 1840, the fifth of the six children of Jean-Baptiste Berard dit Lépine, an

engagé The ''engagé'' system of indentured servitude existed in New France, the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the French West Indies from the 18th and 19th centuries. Engagés in Canada From the 18th century, an engagé (; also spelled '' engagee' ...

of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

, and Julie Henry. Ambroise-Dydime was educated at the Collège de Saint-Boniface. Lépine married Cécile Marion in

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

on 12 January 1859 and became a farmer there on river lot 119. Their union produced 14 children.

Involvement in the Red River Rebellion

Lépine had had no political history prior to late 1869, when he returned to the Red River Colony from a freight expedition. On 30 October, he learned of plans to transfer

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

from the Hudson's Bay Company and that the resident

, led by

, were seeking to negotiate terms for their annexation. After meeting Riel, Lépine was instructed to go with 14 men to Pembina, Dakota Territory, and prevent Lieutenant Governor–Designate William McDougall from crossing the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

. On 7 December 1869, Lépine led 100 Métis to capture

John Christian Schultz Sir John Christian Schultz (January 1, 1840 – April 13, 1896) was a Manitoba politician and businessman.Richard Gwyn, Nation Maker, Vol. II: pg. 100. Vintage Canada, 2012. Print. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1871 to ...

and his Canadian Party militia at Schultz's home. On 8 January 1870, the Provisional Government of Manitoba under Riel named Lépine adjutant general of St. Boniface, whose populace elected him to a 40-man convention in the city and to head its military council. The following month, Lépine and his troops captured Charles Arkoll Boulton and his Canadian Party militia after their aborted attempt to take

Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in or near the area now known as The Forks in what is now central Winnipeg, Manitoba. Fort Garr ...

. Among the prisoners taken was Thomas Scott, an

Irish Protestant Protestantism is a Christianity, Christian community on the island of Ireland. In the 2011 census of Northern Ireland, 48% (883,768) described themselves as Protestant, which was a decline of approximately 5% from the 2001 census. In the 2011 ...

whom the Métis came to loathe. Riel ordered a

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

of Scott, which Lépine presided over. Lépine sentenced Scott to death, and Riel assented, and so Scott was

executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French , rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually re ...

on 4 March 1870. In March, there was a revolt amongst the Métis against Lépine's conduct that was ended when Riel talked down the rebels and reprimanded Lépine. When Colonel

Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 183325 March 1913) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential British generals after a series of victories in Canada, West Africa and E ...

arrived in the Red River Colony with his forces on 24 August 1870, Riel and Lépine fled to a Catholic mission in the U.S.

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

. They spent the next year making constant crossings of the border.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lepine, Ambroise-Dydime 1840 births 1923 deaths People of the Red River Rebellion People from Rupert's Land Canadian people convicted of murder Canadian prisoners sentenced to death Burials at Saint Boniface Cathedral Métis politicians People convicted of murder by Canada Prisoners sentenced to death by Canada Canadian Roman Catholics Members of the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia Canadian Métis people People from St. Vital, Winnipeg People from St. Boniface, Winnipeg

Early life

Involvement in the Red River Rebellion

See also

References

External links