Frog Lake Incident

On this day in 1885, Cree warriors led by war leader Kapapamahchakwew attacked and killed nine officials, clergy and settlers at Frog Lake. Included in those killed was Indian Agent Thomas Quinn, remembered by historian James Daschuk as "a mean-spirited, petty little man completely lacking in compassion." One incident in particular illustrates the conditions which led to this attack in which Quinn summoned the natives around Frog Lake to the ration house in promise of food only to declare to them that it had been an April Fool's prank and they would receive nothing. This occurred during an era of real starvation and serious disease outbreaks for Cree peoples in the area. The band involved in the attack was led by Mistahi-maskwa (Big Bear) who although he was against the attack itself, he had done much to try to improve conditions for his people, making formal pleas to the federal government about unfulfilled terms of land and Treaty 6 rights that were agreed upon in 1879. Although Mistahi-maskwa cautioned against the attack, the war leader of the band, Kapapamahchakwew (Wandering Spirit) led the people in the attack which is considered a part of the Cree uprising in conjuction with the Métis uprising led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. After killing Quinn and other settlers, they took the desperately needed rations which had been withheld as well as some hostages. Two days after the killings, the church, the rectory and all the buildings of the Frog Lake settlement were burned. Kapapamahchakwew, Manchoose (Bad Arrow), Nahpase (Iron Body), Apischaskoos (Little Bear), Kitahwahken (Miserable Man), and Pahpahmekeesick (Walking the Sky) would be killed by the Canadian state for their acts of resistance in the largest mass hanging in Canada's history.