The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)Dent, John Charles
History
The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- Biography
In the spring of 1862 Dr. Schultz was unfortunate enough to be away from
home when the terrible Sioux massacre occurred in Minnesota, completely
cutting off connection between its frontier settlements and Fort Garry,
and spreading devastation and terror throughout the whole of the
North-West. The Doctor, after waiting some time at St. Paul, where he
had been transacting business, attempted the passage through the Indian
country by the "Crow Wing" trail, as it was called. After many days and
nights of cautious travelling, and one capture by the Indians, from
which he owed his release to his ability to convince the savages that he
was English and not American, he arrived safely at Pembina, whence he
made his way to Fort Garry. In 1864 he became the owner and editor of
the _Nor'-Wester_, the pioneer newspaper of the North-West, and laboured
hard through its columns to make the great agricultural value of the
country known. His policy was, of course, diametrically opposed to that
of the Hudson's Bay Company, and as time passed by, the hostility
between that Company and himself became very bitter and implacable. He
subsequently disposed of the _Nor'-Wester_ to Dr. Walter Robert Bown, by
whom the paper was conducted at the time of the outbreak to be presently
referred to.
In 1868 Dr. Schultz married Miss Agnes Campbell Farquharson, formerly of
Georgetown, British Guiana. He soon afterwards built the house which was
destined to become historical for the defence against Riel and his
insurrectionary force. In the autumn of 1868 he greatly extended the fur
business in which he was engaged, sending expeditions for that purpose
to the far north and west. The following autumn brought with it the
first mutterings of the Red River Rebellion, and it was seen that Dr.
Schultz was a marked man. Warning letters from Riel and other insurgents
were sent to him. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials openly
accused him of having been the means of bringing about connection with
Canada, and in the gathering of the storm there seemed to be an ominous
future for him whom many of the Canadians then in the country looked
upon as their leader, and trusted to for their defence. He was
unfortunate, too, in the situation of his residence and trading post,
which were the nearest buildings to Fort Garry, and within easy range of
the field guns which Riel afterwards planted to force the giving up of
the Canadian Government provisions. Upon the actual breaking out of the
insurrection, Dr. Schultz suffered severely, both in person and in
purse. His pecuniary losses were recompensed to him by the Government,
but the bodily privations to which he was subjected were the means of
inflicting a shock upon his constitution, the effects of which are still
to some extent perceptible. After the seizure of Fort Garry by the
insurgents, the loyal Canadians of the settlement were placed under
surveillance. About fifty of these assembled for mutual safety at Dr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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