Needler, G.H. Louis Riel: The Rebellion of 1885. Toronto:
Burns and MacEachern, 1957.
Needler was a corporal in the University Company of
the Queen’s Own Rifles and served with Colonel Otter’s
Column during the 1885 Resistance. He confines his
narrative to military events. Needler has all the common
prejudices of his day; he admires the British officers and
derides the French-Canadian gunners as ‘miserable skulking
spirits’ who ‘funked’ decidedly. His description of the one
major battle he participated in, Cutknife Hill, is short on
description, since he was behind the lines and never fired a
shot in anger. He tried to salvage some pride by first
describing Colonel Otter and Colonel Herchmer as
‘simpletons’ for allowing the troops to be routed in defeatand then he describes Otter’s retreat as a tactically brilliant
manoeuvre, which put the Colonel foremost among the
commanders of the whole campaign