The following is a small, impromptu song celebrating the victory at the Battle of Frog Plains (or Seven Oaks), created by Pierre Falcon as he rode away after the battle.

Falcon lived in Manitoba, working for the Hudson's Bay Company, and was said to have been well-respected by his people.  Many of his descendants reside in communities across the region, including a prominent family group residing at the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota.

Come listen to this song of truth!
A song of the brave Bois-brule's,
Who at Frog Plain took three captives,
Strangers come to rob our country.
  
When dismounting, there to rest us,
A cry is raised the English!
They are coming to attack us,
So we hasten forth to meet them.
  
I looked upon their army,
They are motionless and downcast;
So, as honour would incline us,
We desire with them to parley.
  
But their leader, moved with anger,
Gives the word to fire upon us;
And imperiously repeats it,
Rushing on to his destruction.
  
Having seen us pass his stronghold,
He had thought to strike with terror
The Bois-brule's: ah! mistaken,
Many of his soldiers perish.
 
But a few escaped the slaughter,
Rushing from the field of battle,
Oh, to see the English fleeing!
Oh, the shouts of their pursuers!
  
Who has sung this song of triumph?
The good Pierre Falcon has composed it,
That the praise of these Bois-brules
Might be evermore recorded.

In an 1865 letter to Army Headquarters, Alfred Sully, commander of the Northwest Indian Expedition, described his travels from their temporary encampment at Devils Lake looking for renegade Dakota Sioux. During his foray, Sully and his men encountered a large group of Metis/half-breeds and his description of the meeting provides interesting information regarding how the Metis viewed their right to hunt and their right to cross the European-created “medicine line” between Canada and the United States.
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Sully mentions that after three days of travel west, only seeing a few individual Indians moving north (probably towards Turtle Mountain), they finally found tracks that they were certain were from a large group of Santee and Yanktonai Dakota. They followed the trail to the southeast, but due to a heavy rainstorm, they lost the trail somewhere between the James and Missouri Rivers. 

The soldiers eventually came upon a heavy trail of Red River cart tracks, coming from the north and going toward the Missouri. Thinking that the Metis might be a party going to trade with the Dakota, Sully sent 300 men to follow the trail. After several days, the soldiers found a huge encampment of 1,500 carts arranged in a large corral. The Metis were busy drying buffalo meat from a successful hunt and the party contained hundreds of men, women, and children, along with a resident priest and a French nobleman from Paris who had joined the hunt for an adventure. The soldiers made a show of force and searched the camp, but could find nothing contraband that could be traded to the Dakota.  
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In questioning the Metis, Sully’s men discovered that this party was from the British Possessions and had been out about two months hunting. They were asked if they had seen the American President's order about trading with the Dakota, but the hunters assured that their only purpose was to hunt so they could feed themselves. Sully spoke to the priest and head men and informed them that it was illegal to trade ammunition to the Dakota, and while they admitted that some people were trading and supplying the Dakota, they were not.  

Sully then told the Metis that they were no longer to be allowed to come across the border and were to hereafter stay in Canada, but the Metis answered that they knew and recognized no line or frontier. They stated that the half-breeds on the north and on the south of the line were all one family; they were intermarried, and that their kin lived on both sides of the line, spoke the same language, and paid no taxes because they were Indians. They informed Sully that they did not recognize the white man’s laws and that each colony and camp made their own laws, appointed their own chiefs, councilors, and police. They then handed Sully a written copy of their laws, among which he reported seeing a fine of £5 to sell ammunition to hostile Indians. The Metis then went on to explain to Sully that if they could not hunt in Dakota Territory that they would starve. They further explained that the half-breeds living in Dakota Territory also come north to hunt and trap for furs.

The Metis did inform Sully about what they knew about the Dakota movements and they also assured him that there were no hostiles east of Devil's Lake. The Santee they knew were still in the British possessions, including Chiefs Sleepy Eye and White Cloud, who were at Turtle Mountain.
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Sully also reported that his men had found a camp of half-breeds near the west end of Devil’s Lake which included twelve men with their families. They were from Pembina.  Sully’s men searched their camp, but found nothing. Although they seemed innocent, Sully wondered if they were secretly in league with the Dakota, as he couldn’t believe that such a small hunting party would dare venture out so far from home with their families and not be molested by hostile Indians.  Sully then placed the camp under guard for fear that they might inform the Dakota that the soldiers were looking for them.

The manner in which a person could hunt buffalo from horseback would seem impossible. All the action - shooting, chasing the herd, and having to reload - making it a daunting task at the very least.  The half-breed Ojibwe of the Turtle Mountains and Pembina regions were experts at hunting from horseback. and they mastered the art of doing it using the primitive flint lock guns available to them.  An 1860 description of how it was done is quite impressive:

"The gun preferred by the half-breeds is the flint lock single barrel shot gun of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Few of them will use the cap gun from the loss of time in putting on the cap. In loading [their flint locks] they pour powder from the horn which is secured around the neck into the partially closed hand, then into the barrel, throwing away the surplus; the ball which is previously put in the mouth is then put in the barrel, after shaking down the powder, and the ball is then shaken down, and gathers powder enough from being wet [with spit] to keep it in the barrel. In the meantime the horse has been pursuing a second buffalo, and as soon as he rides up, he lowers his gun and fires the gun at the same instant. There is no capping of the gun, and no use of the ramrod.  All of the Indians prefer the flint lock..."

In an attempt to stop reinforcements and supplies coming from the US side of the border to aid the Metis during the 1885 resistance, the government employed a contingent of Metis “scouts” to act as an Indigenous police force who could work with the Metis population better than non-Indigenous Canadian soldiers could. The scout force was drawn from among the men at Wood Mountain, Willow Bunch, and Moosejaw.

They were stationed between the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the United States frontier, principally in the vicinity of Willow Bunch and Wood Mountain, for the purpose of watching the boundary, as it was feared that Metis and Indians from Turtle Mountain in Dakota might attempt to send men to support the rebels.

The scouts were given specific orders as follow:

No. 1. To detain and closely examine all per sons coming from the American frontier. Arms, ammunition and explosives to be special objects of search in all baggage. All conveyances to be thoroughly searched.

No. 2. Any person, other than a known settler on Canadian soil, found carrying or found in possession of arms and ammunition or explosives to be charged under 31 Vic., Chap. 15, the information being sworn on just grounds of suspicion that the same are dangerous to the public peace.

No. 3. Suspicious characters from across the border to be charged with evasion of the customs duties, provided they have any property with them to sustain the charge. All persons who fail to give a satisfactory account of themselves are to be charged under the Vagrant Act.

No. 4. All half-breeds carrying arms and ammunition to be arrested and charged under 31 Vic., Chap. 15.

No. 5. The utmost vigilance must be exercised to prevent any crossing the border within the scouts’ limits without being subjected to inquiry.

No. 6. No such person having come into Canada is to be allowed to re-cross the border if it can be prevented. 

The Metis scouts who were employed with upholding this order included:
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Napoléon Lafournaise
Bernard Hamelin
Abraham Beauchamp
Pierre Brière
Zacharie Chartrand
François Boxer
Johnny Chartrand
Jérôme Champagne
William Houle
Louis Larocque
W. John McGillis
Hylaise Rainville
Antoine Gosselin
Joseph Gosselin
Alphonse Langer
François Lafournaise
William Berston
Louis Hamelin
Joseph Hamelin
Joseph Alaire
Alexander Houle
Théophile McGillis
Alexandre Gosselin, Sr.
André Beaudry
Jonas Hamelin Sr.
Napoléon McGillis
J.-Bte. Lafournaise
Baptiste Adams
Jérémie Adams
Narcisse Lacerte Jr.
Jonas Hamelin Jr.
Louis Decoteau
Joseph Lapointe
Andrée Gariépy
Joseph Ouelette
Elzéar Bottineau
Pierre Alary
J.-Bte. Amyot
Joseph Short
François Bottineau
Alexandre Gosselin Sr.
Jean Louis Légaré

This is a distinct class of people residing upon our frontier. They are the descendants of the early colonists of that country, by intermarriage with the Chippewa, Cree and Assiniboin Indians, and were, at a period not remote, residents upon our soil in their entire strength. When the line of the 49th parallel was marked, and the Hudson Bay Company found themselves located on our soil, the trading posts of that company were removed down the Red river about sixty miles. The half-breeds being principally in the employ of that company, and dependent upon them, were obliged to follow. This obligation arose from their inability to get the necessaries of life from other sources than from the agents of this company. This removal, I believe, was about the year 1824, when there was no communication between that point and the Mississippi river except by braving the perils of a long and difficult journey, through a wild waste of country inhabited alone by numerous hostile tribes of Indians. With this view of the case, we may well say they were compelled to leave our soil. Within the last five or six years, the settlements on the Mississippi river having extended themselves to a point within some 400 miles of Pembina; the establishment of a Fur Company post on our side of the line by Mr. Kittson, and the annual transportation, by large trains of carts, of merchandise to that country; these half-breeds have begun to return, and are fast filling up again the frontier within our borders.
 
The Hudson Bay Company has a charter which gives them the control of an immense territory, within which they reserve or appropriate entirely to themselves the fur trade. This is the only profitable business of the country, and a monopoly of it by a company must necessarily make dependents of all other inhabitants. This restriction cannot be infracted within their territories, or by their residents out of them, without a liability to imprisonment and fines. The farmer's title to his land is with the condition that he is not to engage in the fur trade. The merchant, the mechanic, the day-laborer and the hunter, are residents only upon this condition; and the entire interests of the country are thus made to center around a business that the great majority are excluded from [due to their Indian blood]. I was told on my arrival at Pembina, that the half-breed population were anxious to return to their former homes within our borders; but not having imbibed any prepossessions of the country — its appearance not being calculated to inspire them — I was incredulous until I learned that it was rather to free themselves from disadvantageous restrictions, than from preference for a locality which, according to accounts given me, is inferior to the one they now occupy. They also have a lingering fondness for the place of their birth, where reminiscences of parents and childish sports are revived by surrounding objects. 

​They furnished me with a list of the actual inhabitants of Pembina, exclusive of Indians, giving the names of heads of families, and dividing the whole into males and females, as follows: — 177 families; of these 511 are males, and 515 are females; making a total of 1026 now living at Pembina. They have about 600 carts, 300 oxen, 300 work horses, 150 horses for the chase, 1500 head of horned cattle, a few hogs, no sheep. The half-breed population on the English side is between 4000 and 5000. Of these, it is confidently expected by those living in our territory that the greater portion of them will remove to the United States. From my conversations with them, I think so myself; and I am almost certain of it, if the U. S. prohibit the half-breeds of the English territory from coming into our territories to hunt buffalo.
 
The greater portion of [the half-breeds] are descendants of the Canadian French. They speak the French language, are nearly all Catholics, with mild and gentle manners, great vivacity, generous and honest in their transactions, and disposed to be a civil and orderly community. They are hale and hearty, robust men, evidently accustomed to hardships and exposure, to which they submit cheerfully. They can hardly be called an industrious people, which is rather attributable to circumstances than disposition. I am told they commenced farming in the country, but finding no market for their produce, and having much to buy, it was necessary that they should resort to occupations that would yield them the means of purchasing the necessaries of life. At that time, the Hudson Bay Company traders were the only possessors of merchandize in the country, and would dispose of it only in a way that would promote their own trade. This was by them, employment of trappers, voyageurs, and hunters on the plains. 

​From the buffalo they get their "dried meat" and "pemmican," articles of subsistence which are almost the sole dependence of the people of that country. This always finds a ready sale for money or goods. Into these employments the people have been driven by necessity, in consequence of which they had to neglect their farms; the practice continuing, they abandoned them, and are now the victims of occupations they cannot discard, and are able to obtain from them only a bare subsistence. They now devote themselves entirely to fur hunting and the chase; by the former they command some money, and by the latter they live. They go to the plains in the spring and fall, in parties of from 300 to 500 hunters. They appoint, before going out, a captain who controls and directs their hunts, which assume rather the character of an expedition than the unregulated excursions of Indians or whites when abroad with such objects. Their families go with them, and each family has from one to ten carts. Within our territory there is no farming; the small gardens they cultivate yield so triflingly, that they are hardly worthy of notice.
 
They build log-cabins generally in the timber which they occupy in the winter, and leave in the summer. Each family has its "lodge" made of dressed buffalo skin, and when pitched, it is of a conical shape ten or fifteen feet high, and from ten to fifteen feet in diameter at its base. These have a doorway, with a buffalo skin hung over it, which is lifted for an entrance. The fires are built in the center, and the apex of the lodge has an opening through which the smoke escapes. At this opening a wing is attached, so that by giving it a certain position with reference to the wind, there is always a draft sufficient to carry off the smoke.
 
I found the Half-breeds possessing the semblance of a government. They had a council consisting of five of their principal men, in which was vested a jurisdiction relating to transactions among themselves. On the 24th of August these people had returned from their spring hunt, and about 200 of the hunters came to see me. They had appointed four men as their speakers. I told them that in virtue of their Indian extraction, those living on our side of the line were regarded as being in possession of Indian rights upon our soil; that they were on our frontiers treated with as component parts of their Indian tribes; that they either came under the Indians' laws or regulations, or formed such for themselves. I urged them to organize themselves into a band under a council or chiefs, invested with ample authority to act in their name, in all matters which might arise to affect their interests, to preserve and enforce order and harmony; that the US President would not allow them to engage in any of the difficulties among our Indians on the plains; that they were expected to live amicably with all Indian tribes, and generally to be good citizens. They told me they would return the next day when they had perfected an organization they were then arranging. My talk had taken a wide range, but not of importance enough to be even abridged. They wished to reflect and have consultations upon it. 

​The next day they returned in about the same numbers, and presented me with nine names as the committee they had selected for their government of the Half-breed population within our borders. Mr. Baptiste Wilkie, the first on the list, is the president of the committee. He is a French Half-breed, of a good character, well disposed towards the United States, and intelligent. The other eight of the council are men the most esteemed in the country, and friendly toward the United States. They say it is their wish to become agriculturists. It is their intention to make their improvements within our territory. They complain of the immense quantities of buffaloes that are killed annually and carried into the Hudson's Bay territory. They want some encouragement and aid from the United States, and they are anxious to have a military post established among them.
 
I told them that, on the subject of the English hunters killing buffalo, I had no instructions but from the facts that the Indians were making the same complaints; that Major Sumner had been ordered to the plains a few before with a military force purposely to drive back these invaders, and the Hudson's Bay Co. were so stringent in their laws about hunting in their territory, I thought it more than probable that the United States would forcibly prevent such trespasses, were they persisted in. They say that Major Sumner directed them to put up notices prohibiting that practice; that they had done so, but they were not respected. I told them they ought with safety to act upon the advice of Major Sumner, and enforce it, if need be, and our government would support them, as Major Sumner was an authorized agent and reported his acts on that frontier, and if not approved, they would have been corrected.
 
Their desire for a military post is urged on the ground alone, that it will give them a market. I told them our posts were established for the protection of the country. That if an armed force were necessary there to protect the rights of the citizens, or to support the laws of the country, it might be granted them, but that I was confident they would never get a military post among them for the sole purpose of affording a market for their surplus produce. They are beginning to be imbued with the progressiveness of the age, and expect soon, with the patronage of the government, to see their wilderness smiling in prosperity and beauty under the invigorating influences of railroads and steamboats. The matter-of-fact business of cultivating the soil and gathering about them all the comforts and enjoyments that a provident industry can bestow, is tame in their excited imaginations, and they did not listen with much satisfaction to the representations I gave them of the prosperous independence of our farmers, and how they attained it. They have nothing to sell, and in fact (in the way of produce) having nothing to live on; still they clamor for a market. 

​As the letter of the Secretary of the Interior to the President, in relation to that frontier, was sent to me with my instructions, I ventured to suggest to them that the United States contemplated opening that country for settlement. To do which it would be necessary, first, to extinguish their Indian title. That this was not determined upon; and as it was with a view of ameliorating their condition by extending to them in full the rights and privileges of citizens of the United States and the benefit of our laws and institutions, much would depend upon their wishes on the subject. The Half-breeds are delighted at such a prospect, and would readily acquiesce in reasonable treaty stipulations for the country. The Indians are more pragmatic of their high appreciation of such a blessing, though they did not seem averse to it; and I doubt not would be easily induced to consent. I threw out the suggestion that they might cogitate upon it in their musing hours, and then they will be ready to act if they should ever be called upon.
 
On the 26th of August when we left Pembina the half breeds informed me they would escort us a short distance on the road; on leaving, we fired them a parting salute from our howitzer. About seventy-five of them well-mounted and with fire-arms accompanied us two or three miles, and when about to turn back they informed me they would give us one volley, and drawing up in line with great promptitude and regularity fired one volley. Reloading almost instantly they gave two to the Governor of Minnesota, and again they gave three to the President of the United States, with a loud and prolonged cheer. I told them that we were under many obligations to them for their polite and kind attentions to us while in their country and were thankful for the testimonial they had just given us of the kind feeling they entertained towards us; that I would inform the President and Governor of the favorable estimation in which they were held and of the enthusiasm which their names inspired amongst a people living on our extreme and most isolated frontier. This ended our visit at Pembina, and left us on our way home. 

In his October 21, 1850, report to the Indian Affairs Commissioner regarding the half-breed Chippewa living in the region around Pembina, Minnesota Superintendent Alexander Ramsey made several interesting observations, including the population living in the Pembina region, their social situation, political organization, and the leadership of the community who were designated as “Chiefs” who would serve as the tantamount Metis government for the Pembina area. Ramsey wrote:

The Metis, or Half-Breeds of the Red River of the North, number eleven hundred souls, and are mostly of a mixed descent of Chippewa and Canadian French. Owing to their apparent seclusion from the world, the accounts given of them have been meagre and jejune, yet already have they laid a solid foundation for the fabric of social improvement; and, as a political community, present many interesting features for consideration. By the laws of Minnesota, they are admitted to the rights of citizenship; and, by means of annual caravans, carry on an extensive and profitable commerce with our citizens. Many of their traders during the past season have been robbed by the Pillagers, through whose territory they are compelled to pass in pursuing the trail to Saint Paul.

Chiefs of the Pembina Metis:

• Jean Baptiste Wilkie
  
• Jean Baptiste Dumont
  
• Baptiste Vallee
  
• Edward Harmon
  
• Joseph Laverdure
  
• Joseph Nolin
  
• Antoine Augure
  
• Robert Montour
  
• Baptiste Lafournaise

St. Joseph (Walhalla) is place located in northern North Dakota about 30 miles up the Pembina River. During the 1800s, St. Joe’s was a major settlement for Ojibwe and half-breed (Metis). In a way it served as a hub, with roads radiating in all directions towards various other Indian villages and half-breed settlements. One road lead direct to White Horse Plains; another road lead from St. Joe directly to a portage along the edge of the Pembina Mountains; and other less considerable roads diverge from these main roads towards Turtle Mountain, Devils Lake, and other points across the region. Early censuses showed the majority of the population as French Half-breeds, many of them originating from White Horse Plains, and all of them United States citizens once the border was established.

During the issuance of Manitoba scrip, officials from Canada visited St. Joe and St. John, North Dakota, for the purpose of making enquiry concerning a large number of persons who made applications. The officials determined that many of the people making scrip claims were generally regarded as Indians and were receiving treaty annuities as band members in Canada and the United States, but that these people were enticed to remove themselves from the bands with which they were associated, and instead make applications for grants of scrip. Many were swindled by greedy white land speculators who desired to purchase their scrip and enrich themselves at the expense of the Indians. At first the Indians sold their scrip at very low prices, having no idea of its value; and it was discovered that in many instances the white con men had executed false powers of attorney and stole the scrip, not telling the Indians what would happen to them once they had withdrawn from treaty.

The majority of these newly created “Metis” were, in fact, members of the Pembina Band or else were members of the “St. Peter's Band”, the name of the Peguis First Nation at the time.
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A good number of these people lost their status entirely after this con game and were excluded from future enrollment with the tribes, or else were forced to seek their fortunes elsewhere in Saskatchewan, Montana, and Alberta.

​One of the greatest mistakes that we see in the history of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa is the idea that there was a great division between the full-blood members of the band and those who were considered Metis, or half-breeds. History doesn’t uphold this belief. Rather, this concept seems to have arisen during the treaty-making times when government agents like Governor Ramsey sought to diminish the power of tribes like the Pembina/Turtle Mountain band by seeking to disregard anyone not full-blood from participation in government recognition of land and other rights as Indians – for the expressed purpose of weakening Indian claims and lessening the cost of purchasing land from tribes and issuing rations to those considered by the government as Indian.

The reality is that the Turtle Mountain/Pembina half-breeds (Metis) were Indians, judged by the manner in which they lived. That they were Indians is clear from the treatment they received from their fellow Indians. At essence, a half-breed was an Indian when he considers himself to be one and was accepted as an Indian by the band itself. The half-breeds involved in the life of the Tribe were considered to be and were accepted as Indians. 

​The idea that there was an appreciable difference between "half-breed" and "Indian" depended upon how a person might chose to be identified at any given time, and how he was regarded in general. In almost all ways, the half-breed (Metis) preferred the Indian way of life to that of the white man. They went to the plains to hunt buffalo rather than remain in the settlements and rely upon the civilized method of subsistence. As such, the half-breeds at Pembina were always considered by virtue of their Indian extraction as being in possession of Indian rights and as component parts of the band itself.

​Once the US/Canadian border was established, the government assertion shifted even more to negatively paint the Metis members of the band as “foreign”. Government documents began to complain about “Canadian half-breeds”. However, this distinction was a colonial concept that overlooks the reality that the Metis were the children of the Indians and they were loved by their parents.

Adapted From: Indian Claims Commission[Docket No, 113 Objections to Defendant's Requested Findings of Fact, Reply to Objections of Defendant; Objections to Docket Nos. 191-221 Proposed Findings of Fact; Objections to Docket No. 246 Proposed Findings of Fact, Reply to Docket No. 246 Objections to Docket No. 113 Proposed Findings of Fact

The relations between the Europeans and the half-breed Metis were generally amicable. Metis would serve as employees of fur posts, hired hunters, guides, and even protectors for the various explorers who ventured into the vast expanses of forests and prairies of the northern US and southern Canada.  During the 1870s, Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (aka Lord Dunraven) spent much of his leisure time hunting wild game in various parts of the world.  After hearing of the fine hunting in the American West, he decided to visit. He first arrived in 1872, and met and befriended a frontiersman named Texas Jack Omohundro, who traveled with Earl's party on various buffalo and elk hunts. In 1874, the Earl reuniting with Texas Jack on his second visit to the American west. Guided by some Montana Metis, they explored Yellowstone area, including the area that would later become Yellowstone Nation Park. He wrote about his trip in his book “Hunting in the Yellowstone or On the Trail of the Wapiti with Texas Jack in the Land of Geysers”. 
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He made a few interesting observations about the region and about how vital the Metis were to acting as guides for explorers such as himself. In discussing his route and itinerary to the west, Lord Dunraven explained:

Even though the Metis were sociable with Europeans, Lord Dunraven made it clear that their feelings were not entirely wholehearted, as few felt any measure of affinity to the white man:

"…feelings of contempt for white men [are not] confined to the pure-blooded Indian. I have never seen a half-breed that did not cleave to the savage and despise the civilized [white] race. Many children of mixed marriages cannot speak a word of English; and the half-breed, whether Scotch, American, or French, invariably prefers the society of his relations on the mother's side. Many of them, too, have had ample opportunities of understanding all the benefits of our system. But the one sentiment is almost universal. They will admit that the benefits which our advanced state of society has poured upon the human race are numerous and great. They will allow that there is much to be admired in the order of our lives; but, all the same, give them the forest and the prairie, the mountain and the vale. Let the rushing of great rivers, the wailing of the wind be their music; let their homes be the birch wigwam or skin tent; let trees, and stones, and flowers, and birds, and the forests and the wild beasts therein, be the books for them to read. The two lives are different utterly; both are good they will say, but the wild life is the best."

REFERENCE
​Earl of Dunraven, Hunting in the Yellowstone or On the Trail of the Wapiti with Texas Jack in the Land of Geysers, The Macmillan Company, 1925