Native Soldiers, Foreign Battlefields, 1914, p. 9

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In all, Great Britain awarded 96 Military General Service medals to Canadian Indians for the military assistance between 1793 and 1814. 22 Canadian natives also helped British troops overseas. In 1884 during the battle of Khartoum in the Sudan, the British put out a call for Canadian volunteers to help guide British soldiers up the Nile River. The soldiers were to provide some relief to the isolated men stationed there. General Lord Garnet Wolseley's group included nearly 400 Canadian boatmen - the Nile voyaguers - 56 of whom were Mohawks 23, mostly from the Kahnawake band in Quebec and 30 of who were Ojibwa from Manitoba and Northern Ontario. 24 Chief Louis Jackson of Kahnawake recommended the design for the whale boats that were used on the voyage and became a river foreman. Afterward, he wrote a book about the experiences of the Kanawake participants. Two Indians lost their lives during the perilous six month 19000km expedition. This journey turned out to be for naught. The British troops were killed two days before the rescuers arrived. Many native recruits of the First World War followed in the footsteps of their veteran ancestors. One example is Cameron Brant, Joseph Brant's great great grandson. He commanded a platoon of the 4th Canadian Infantry Battalion. The 28 year old lieutenant lost his life in 1915 near Ypres, Belgium, while leading a counterattack into the enemy's trenches. For Cameron Brant and many other participants in the First World War, pride in past family achievements may have attracted them to the service. What these men probably did not realize was that they, in turn would inspire future generations. OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS - SNIPERS & SCOUTS When Samuel de Champlain joined a Huron-Algonquin war party in 1609 and killed two Iroquois with the shot from his harquebus, a new era began......The only protection from the firearms and the greater killing power of the white man was in dispersion, sniping and ambush......Military historian Fred Gaffen 25 Most Canadians, Natives included served in the infantry with the Canadian Corps in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). Many Natives became snipers or reconnaissance scouts drawing upon traditional hunting and military skills to deadly effect.

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