The Cowboy Cavalry: The Story of the Rocky Mountain Rangers

by Gordon E. Tolton

Overview

When Native and Métis unrest escalated into the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, settlers in southern Alberta's cattle country were terrified. Three major First Nations bordered their range, and war seemed certain. In anticipation, 114 men mustered to form the Rocky Mountain Rangers, a volunteer militia charged with ensuring the safety of the open range between the Rocky Mountains and the Cypress Hills. The Rangers were a motley crew, from ex-Mounties and ex-cons to retired, high-ranking military officials and working, ranch-hand cowpokes. Membership qualifications were scant: ability to ride a horse, knowledge of the prairies, and preparedness to die.

This is their story, inextricably linked to the dissensions of the day, rife with skirmishes, corruption, jealousies, rumour, innuendo and gross media sensationalizing . . . all bound together with what author Gordon Tolton terms “a generous helping of gunpowder.” Tolton’s meticulous research reveals unexplored perspectives and little-known details. Be prepared for surprises!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781926936611
Publisher:	Heritage House
Publication date:	05/15/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Gordon E. Tolton was born and raised on a family farm in southern Alberta. A historian, re-enactor, author and raconteur, he has worked with the Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site in Lethbridge, the Riders of the Plains Commemorative Troop in Fort Macleod, the Great Canadian Plains Railway Society in Stirling, Alberta, the Lethbridge Historical Society, the Historical Society of Alberta and the United Farmers of Alberta. His interests focus on the cross-border trade of the late 1800s, the 1885 Northwest Rebellion and the history of agriculture in Alberta. Tolton lives in Coaldale, Alberta. He is the author of Cowboy Calvary, Prairie Warships: River Navigation in the Northwest Rebellion; The Buffalo Legacy and Deep Roots, Promising Future.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations 4

First Nation Names 4

Chronology 6

Map 5

Introduction: Who Were the Rocky Mountain Rangers? 8

Prologue: April 26, 1885 II

Part 1 The Frontier

Chapter 1 The Border Frontier: 1885 14

Chapter 2 The Revolutionary Louis Riel 18

Chapter 3 The Blackfoot Quandary 25

Chapter 4 The Frontiersmen Kootenai Brown William Jackson 35

Chapter 5 The Ranchers John Stewart John Herron 50

Chapter 6 Propaganda and Paranoia 66

Part 2 The Rocky Mountain Rangers

Chapter 7 The Defence of Alberta 88

Chapter 8 Roll Call: The Troops 99

Chapter 9 The March to Medicine Hat 119

Chapter 10 Dispatches from the North 130

Chapter 11 The March Home 154

Epilogue: Old Rangers Fade Away 176

Appendix: Biographies of Selected Rangers and Families 188

Notes 221

Bibliography 225

Index 232