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An east wind blew in the storms of time,
Where the Métis lived on the winding river;
For on a steel rail the settlers came,
To the South Saskatchewan and the land they claimed.
Then three Métis and Gabriel
Rode like the wind to wild Montana;
And on the Sweet Grass in a church of stone
They found their savior and they took him home.
Saying, "Come Riel, we'll make a stand
Here at Batoche, beside the river;
Ah, never mind their Gatling guns,
If we lose this time we've lost forever."
Then the bullets flew and the cannons roared,
And the Métis blood flowed like a river
Into the coulees where they ran to hide.
It washed their dreams away and their spirit died.
Then a silence stole across the land,
The drums of war were gone forever,
But in the starlight on the barren plains,
The cry of Gabriel flies on the wind,
Saying, "Come Riel, we'll make a stand
Here at Batoche, beside the river;
Ah, never mind their Gatling guns,
If we lose this time we've lost forever."
Notes: The Battle of Batoche took place from May 9 to May 12, 1885, at the Métis settlement of Batoche on the South Saskatchewan River. It was the battle that ended the North-West Rebellion. On one side was Louis Riel, with a Métis and Indian force of less than 300 men. Attacking them was General Frederick Middleton, with some 900 men. The Métis took up a strong position at Batoche. Firing from rifle pits, which they had dug, they held off the larger force for three days. But Middleton's larger army had cannons and a Gatling gun (a type of machine gun). On the fourth day, the Métis were put to flight. Riel surrendered a few days later and was hanged. The Métis military commander, Gabriel Dumont, escaped to the United States.
