The Frog Lake Massacre was a Cree uprising during the North-West Rebellion. Led by Wandering Spirit, young Cree warriors attacked the small town near Frog Lake, Alberta on April 2, 1885.
Angered by what seemed to be unfair treaties by the Canadian government and the dwindling buffalo population, their main source of food, Big Bear and his Cree decided to rebel after the successful Métis victory at Duck Lake. They gathered all the white settlers in the area into the local church. Thomas Quinn, the town's Indian Agent, was killed after a disagreement broke out. The Cree then shot at the settlers. Nine people were killed and three were taken as captives.
The massacre prompted the Canadian government to take notice of the growing unrest in Western Canada. The rebellion was eventually put down, and Wandering Spirit, the war chief responsible for the Frog Lake Massacre, was hanged.
Read more about this topic: Wandering Spirit (chief)
Famous quotes containing the words frog, lake and/or massacre:
“An old pond—
a frog tumbles in—
the sound of water.”
—Matsuo Basho (1644–1694)
“Turn back,
back
to the lake of Delos;
lest all the song notes
pause and break
across a blood-stained throat....”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“The bourgeoisie of the whole world, which looks complacently upon the wholesale massacre after the battle, is convulsed by horror at the desecration of brick and mortar.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)