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

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...

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 people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

during the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), 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 ...

of 1869–1870. He was tried and sentenced to death for his role in the resistance regarding 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 (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm ...

. Ambroise appeared in the ''

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years in ...

'' 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, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...

of the

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

next to

Early life

Ambroise-Dydime Lépine was born in

St. Vital St. Vital (french: Saint-Vital) is a ward and neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Located in the south-central part of the city, it is bounded on the north by Carrière Avenue; on the south by the northern limit of the Rural Munici ...

in the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, 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 of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

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

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

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 to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

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

. 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 The Canadian Party was a group founded by John Christian Schultz in 1869, in the Red River Colony (which later became the Canadian province of Manitoba). It was not a political party in the modern sense but was rather a forum for local ultra- Pr ...

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 Charles Arkoll Boulton (April 17, 1841 – May 15, 1899) is noted for his role in the Red River and North-West Rebellions. Biography He was born in Cobourg, Canada West in 1841, the great-grandson of D'Arcy Boulton, and educated at Upp ...

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 at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company' ...

. Among the prisoners taken was Thomas Scott, an Irish protestant whom the Métis came to loathe. Riel ordered a

court martial A court-martial or 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 memb ...

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 ''fusil'', 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 us ...

on 4 March 1869. 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 and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, W ...

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 N ...

. 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 Canadian prisoners sentenced to death Burials at Saint Boniface Cathedral Métis politicians 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 Saint Boniface, Winnipeg

Early life

Involvement in the Red River Rebellion

See also

References

External links