Middleton, having led his Field Force out from
Qu'Appelle on April 10, was advancing upstream from
Clarke's Crossing along the
South Saskatchewan River when scouts discovered an apparent ambush by
Gabriel Dumont's Métis / Dakota force at Fish Creek, about south of Batoche. Fish Creek was Métis land. Dumont also proposed to attack them by surprise at night, but after he learned that Middleton's scouts were already on the lookout, he had to scrap the idea. However, an inexperienced Métis soldier had forgotten Dumont's specific demand to stay away from the road as it could give the location of the Métis away. The next day, the militia were about to attempt to cross the coulée. A scout spotted the tracks of the inexperienced Métis soldier and began to follow them. The scout was coming close to Dumont and his men, and Dumont stealthily attempted to catch him. Before Dumont could catch the scout, the Métis and Canadian Militia had come into contact with each other, and it was then that the concealed Métis in the rifle pits attempted to ambush the militia. Dumont, under pressure, shot the militia's scout and returned to his men in the poplar bluff rifle pits to fight the rest of the Canadian militia. The Métis pounded Middleton's men with one devastating fusillade before withdrawing into cover and restricting themselves to sniper fire in order to conserve ammunition. Their position was strategically selected and enabled a simple and effective strategy of defence. Since the Métis were positioned in the coulée, they were restricted to shooting up towards the Canadian Militia, and many of the wounds were mainly in the upper body and head area. With half of his force on the opposite side of the river, Middleton was unable to bring his full numbers to bear. One of his artillery batteries opened fire on the Métis to little effect, although well-fired cannonades did succeed in driving away Dumont's
Cree allies before their weight could be added to the battle. Many of Dumont's men were fleeing the battle. Dumont stopped as many men as he could from leaving and convinced them to keep fighting. Dumont's numbers were decreasing vastly, as he had 47 of the 130 men that he began fighting with. Dumont very outnumbered, but was able to keep the Métis casualties to a minimum. With night coming on, Middleton, distressed by the casualties he was taking, opted for retreat. At the battle's end, both sides had withdrawn from the battlefield but the Métis had inflicted greater casualties and had delayed Middleton's march on the Métis' headquarters at Batoche. Weeks later, after news reached him of the Cree victory over Colonel
William Dillon Otter – to whom had been issued a
Gatling gun – at
Cut Knife, Middleton arrived at Batoche. ==Maps==