Editing Poundmaker (section)

===North-West Rebellion===
{{main|North-West Rebellion|Battle of Cut Knife}}
The shortage of bison left Poundmaker's people desperately famished, and in 1885, they travelled south to [[Battleford]]. Oral history accounts suggest Poundmaker went to the fort to speak with the Indian agent, Rae, and reaffirm his loyalty to the Queen after a murder at the nearby Mosquito Reserve; however, the people of Battleford and some of the settlers in the surrounding area, hearing reports of large numbers of Cree and Assiniboine leaving reserves and making their way to Battleford, feared for their safety. On the night of 30 March 1885, the townspeople began to abandon the town and seek shelter in the North-West Mounted Police [[Fort Battleford]]. When Poundmaker and his party reached the town, the Indian agent refused to come out of the fort to meet with them. He kept them waiting for two days. Telegrams sent by those barricaded in the fort indicated they believed it was an attack, but Peter Ballantyne exited the fort and, acting as a spy, checked Poundmaker's plans and found his intentions peaceful.<ref>Stonechild, ''Readings in Canadian History'', Volume 2, 66</ref>

[[Looting of Battleford|Looting of the abandoned buildings of the town]] took place, but the identity of the looters is disputed. Some reports claimed Poundmaker's people were responsible, but one observer alleged that most of the looting had already been done by whites.<ref>Robert Jefferson, Fifty Years on the Saskatchewan, 127</ref> White witness oral history suggests daily looting by Indians. Native tradition suggests the looting was done by [[Nakoda (people)|Nakoda people]], and that Poundmaker did his best to stop it.<ref>Stonechild, Blair. "An Indian View of the 1885 Uprising" in ''Sweet Promises: A Reader on Indian White Relations in Canada'', J. R. Miller (ed)</ref> Either way, Poundmaker's people left the next day, to establish an encampment at Cut Knife Hill.

On 2 May 1885, a military force of 332 Canadian troops, led by Lieutenant-Colonel [[William Dillon Otter]], crossed [[Cut Knife Creek]] and attacked Poundmaker's camp on Cut Knife Hill.<ref name="es-pdmkr"/> Lieutenant R.S. Cassels, attached to the command of the "C" School, a military division of the troops under Otter, stated the following:

{{quote|About 4 P.M. the column starts.  Our force is eight scouts; sixty Mounted Police under Captain Neale; "B" Battery, eighty men under Major Short; "C" School, forty-five men under Lieutenant Wadmore, No. 1 Company, Queen's Own Rifles, under Captain Brown, fifty-five men; Battleford Rifles, under Captain Nash, forty men; twenty men of the Guards under Lieutenant Gray and Queen’s Own Rifles Ambulance Corps; Surgeon Lesslie; Sergeant Fere and eight men; Colonel Otter in command; and Colonel Herchmer, Surgeon Strange, Captain Mutton and Lieutenant Sears on the Staff.  Hume Cronyn, E. C. Acheson, and Blakely of "K", McLennan and Prior of "T", Farin Wallace and Grierson of "H", Fraser and A. J. Boyd of "F" is attached to No. 1.<ref>Mcleod, R. C. (Ed.) (1983). ''Reminiscences of a Bungle by One of the Bunglers: And Two Other Northwest Rebellion Diaries''. Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press, 150.</ref>}}

After six hours of inconclusive skirmishing and suffering casualties, Otter ordered the withdrawal. As his force retreated, Poundmaker, who had not taken part in the fight, coaxed his band's fighters not to pursue the soldiers. Likely, his actions prevented the loss of many lives on both sides as the active pursuit of the fleeing force would have prolonged the conflict as serious countermeasures would have been put into use to cover the retreat, and the Cree would likely have killed many as the soldiers made their retreat.<ref>Light, Douglas W. ''Footprints in the Dust''. Turner-Warwick Publications, 1987.</ref>

A few weeks later, after [[Louis Riel]]'s defeat at [[Battle of Batoche|Batoche]], Poundmaker and his starving band went to Battleford to make peace with Major-General Middleton.