Thomas Scott (1 January 1842 – 4 March 1870) was an Irish Protestant who emigrated to Canada in 1863. While working as a labourer on the "Dawson Road Project", he moved on to Winnipeg where he met John Christian Schultz and fell under the influence of the Canadian Party. His political involvement in the Red River Settlement from then on led to his capture at Fort Garry where he was held hostage with others. On 4 March 1870 Scott was marched out of Fort Garry's east gate and was executed on the wall by the provisional government of the Red River Settlement led by Louis Riel.
Scott's execution led to the Wolseley Expedition – a military force said to be sent to protect Canada from American annexation, but widely believed to confront Riel and the Métis at the Red River Settlement, authorized by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. Scott's execution highlights a time of severe conflict between settlers and the Métis in Canadian history. His execution led to the exile of Riel and to Riel's own execution for treason in 1885.
Life
Little is known of Scott's early years. He was born in the Clandeboye area of County Down, in what is today Northern Ireland in 1842. Raised as a Presbyterian, he became an active Orangeman. Scott then moved to Winnipeg, where he met John Christian Schultz and became a supporter of the Canadian Party. Thomas Scott escaped Upper Fort Garry in January 1870, as did John Christian Schultz and Charles Mair. In February, Scott alongside several hundred armed volunteers amassed at Kildonan Presbyterian Church and school planning to attack Upper Fort Garry to release the prisoners still being held there. Summarily, Riel released the prisoners, and the rescue party was dispersed. Scott and several volunteers marched to Portage la Prairie but passed too close to Fort Garry, where Scott was captured and imprisoned by Riel's garrison once again. Mair and Schultz travelled through the United States to Ontario to urge the government for an extensive military expedition to the Red River Settlement.
Scott suffered severe diarrhea during his second incarceration, which had a negative effect on both Scott and his captors. During his captivity, Scott was extraordinarily difficult, opinionated, and verbally abusive and refused to acknowledge his captors' legal authority. Thomas had an altercation with a group of guards that injured him so severely that Riel had him locked into another cell with a stronger lock, partly for his own safety. Scott's fellow prisoners had asked that he be removed due to his obnoxious behaviour while in captivity.
Trial and execution
While in jail, Scott became a nuisance as he caused trouble with the guards and made attempts at escaping. He was then brought in front of a court where they found him guilty of defying the authority of the Provisional Government, fighting with guards, and slandering the name of Louis Riel. One of the issues in determining the character of Thomas Scott is a lack of unbiased evidence. An example would be his trial which was held in-camera by a small number of Métis and without any outside observers. An eye-witness to this trial, Nolin, testified later that Scott was not present for the accusations of the charges against him nor for any evidence to support these accusations. These accusations plus their evidence (coming partially from Louis Riel) were later summarised in English by Riel and presented to Scott. Louis Riel himself described the behaviour of Scott that led to his execution not once but multiple times over many years. However, the charges against Scott that were put forth by his contemporaries in 1870 were not the same as those allegations levelled against Scott that in later years by Riel and then by others. In other words, as the years progressed, the accusations became more and more detailed and Scott became a more villainous character. Some of these elaborations entered the oral tradition of the Metis.
Scott was not alone in being sentenced to death, but the other sentences were never carried out. On 4 March 1870, unlike the other members of his group, he faced the firing squad. His execution was watched by 100 bystanders. Many eyewitnesses disagree on multiple aspects of Scott's execution from disagreement on his last words and actions to the manner of his death. What is agreed upon is that he was shot while blindfolded by a firing squad against the east side gate of Upper Fort Garry. It was reported that Scott was kneeling in the snow praying fervently up until he was shot. Other witnesses reported that he had been yelling wildly that his execution was unjust and that his execution was murder. The weapons that were used by the firing squad were ordinary hunting weapons (supposedly muskets) and it was observed that the men who shot these guns were intoxicated. At the time of fire, the men in the firing squad stood 60 metres away from Scott. It was also debated whether or not Scott died immediately when shot by the firing squad.
Métis leader John Bruce claimed that only two bullets from the firing squad actually hit Scott, wounding him once in the left shoulder, and once in the upper chest. A man came forward and discharged his pistol close to Scott's head, but the bullet only penetrated the upper part of the left cheek and came out somewhere near the cartilage of the nose. Still not dead, Scott was placed in a makeshift coffin, from which he was later reported to cry:
:"For God's sake take me out of here or kill me."
John Bruce said that he was left there to die of his injuries.
A similar account was reported by Reverend George Young, who was told by Major George Robinson that Scott was confined to a roughly made coffin on the presumption that he had died when shot on by the firing squad. Robinson said that five hours later he and Riel entered the room where Scott's coffin was being kept and heard Scott beg for death. Robinson fled the room, Riel closed the door and, a few moments later, Robinson heard a shot and presumed that Scott was then dead. This account was cast into suspicion, though, as Riel had fired Robinson as the editor of New Nation on 19 March 1870, so it remains unclear whether or not these accounts are based in fact or acted to defame Riel in retaliation for Robinson's dismissal.]]
Upon Scott's death, George Young forwarded Thomas Scott's documents to his brother Hugh. These documents included Scott's commendatory letters and certificates of good character written by Presbyterian minister of whose church Scott had been connected to in Ireland. Additionally his life savings were sent to his brother. It has been suspected that because it was a such substantial amount ($103.50), that this money might have indicated an immoral lifestyle.
Despite all claims regarding the death of Thomas Scott, many observers and testimonies differ in the conditions that Scott had died - details such as whether or not he wore a blindfold, if Riel was present during the execution, and if Scott had actually survived first being shot. With all these details differing and no concrete evidence available that suggests an accurate depiction of the events, there is much to wonder about the legitimacy of Thomas Scott's death and the resulting impacts that shaped Manitoba. In summary, the events that indirectly built Manitoba are interpretations and cannot be proven.
It is not known where Scott's body was laid to rest. In 1870, the supposed burial site of Thomas Scott was revisited by a party of men led by Young. The purpose of this expedition was to bring his body back to Ontario. The party found the reported site of his burial just outside the Hudson's Bay Company store, dug down. There they discovered the fruit tree box that was meant to be Scott's coffin. The box was discovered partially open and measuring in length. No body was found once the box was opened. The box contained only dirt and shavings of some sort. The length of the box has thrown into question whether Scott had ever been buried at that site. He was tall and would not have fit into this makeshift coffin which had been said to have been nailed shut. Later, John Bruce claimed that Elzéar Goulet, one of Riel's men who had allegedly disposed of the body, had told him that a week after Scott's execution a hole had been cut in the ice of German Creek about a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the River La Seine. Scott's body was brought to this site and tied in heavy chains and then sunk into the water.
Significance of his death
While relatively unknown during his lifetime, once news of Scott's death made it to Ontario he was regarded as a martyr by the English-speaking, Protestant population. Historian Lyle Dick said that Scott's martyrdom created a "rallying symbol" for expansionists who wanted the armed force be sent to the Northwest. This fostered higher recruitment rates for the Red River Expedition and hastened its dispatch.
Some sources say Scott's execution turned the Red River Settlement against the leadership of Louis Riel. These qualities are supposedly what may have led to his execution. In the George Bloomfield directed movie, Riel (film), Thomas Scott's trial and execution is briefly portrayed. He is depicted as loud and uses offensive words such as "savage." He is only depicted in this way however, after he is convicted and led to his execution.
J. M. Bumsted, a specialist on the topic of the Red River Rebellion, also discusses many popular portrayals of Thomas Scott in his work, Thomas Scott's Body: And Other Essays on Early Manitoba History. It is important to note that even Bumsted stresses that many stories may have been elaborated on. It is argued in some works that these behaviors are typical of captives who believe they are held unjustly, which Scott certainty believed. His execution in these stories is portrayed as being a factor of a personal animosity between him and Riel.