Blood Red the Sun

The War Trail of Big Bear

By: William Bleasdell Cameron

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

"I was present at the Frog Lake Massacre and escaped by the slim margin of one hundred paces the fate that overtook my hapless fellows. For months afterward the unexpected report of a gun put my heart in my mouth, painted savages plunged in my dreams at early dawn through belts of dark firs upon my flying footsteps, bullets sang in my ears or found their mark in my flesh, and I awoke gasping and unable in the first few seconds of consciousness to convince myself that it was not all a horrible reality. Looking back on that now distant date and thinking over the flow of perilous turns in events piling swiftly one on another, the more clearly than ever before I see how close was my brush with death and wonder that I came through it and lived." W.M. Bleasdell Cameron

That wide and splendid land, dominated only yesterday by the elements, but now in thrall to the use of man, the pioneer West, has been the stage for many a grim and stirring drama. This is the story of one of them, the record of an event known today as the Frog Lake Massacre.

Frog Lake, a shimmering expanse of blue water, lies ten miles north of the North Saskatchewan river, with which it is connected by a creek bearing the same name, in what is now the province of Alberta. The settlement—to dignify it by the name—lies at the foot of the lake.

This is the home of the Cree Indians. The home of Chief Big Bear, his son Imasees, and the war chief Wandering Spirit, who took upon themselves to take revenge on this small trading post for not holding up their end of the treaty and wiped the settlement off the map for many years to come.

Through a twist of fate W.M. Bleasdell was the only one to survive the massacre. Then subsequently held captive by the tribe for two months before being rescued by a troop of the North-West Mounted Police.

The year of 1885 was a time of great unrest in this section of the North, known as the Northwest Rebellions, when numerous uprisings against the Hudsons Bay Company and Canadian government took place.

Originally published as "The War Trail of Big Bear" — Blood Red the Sun is a first-hand account of a survivor.

What's Been Said:

“No more interesting story regarding the pioneer days of the Canadian North-West ever has been written.”—The Legionary.

“Much more fascinating than any fiction ever written with its scene in Western Canada is the story that William Bleasdell Cameron has told of his experiences in the rebellion of 1885.”—Edmonton Journal.

“Mr. Cameron tells the tale of the massacre tersely and dramatically, with a realization, even after forty years, of the terrors of that April day.” —Saturday Night.

"For two months his life hung on a hair, but he retained all his faculties of observation and has preserved a most interesting record of the mode of life of his captors at a time when they were free to act according to their natural habits and impulses.”—The Times, London, Eng.

“The book is much more than an historical record. It is a story of adventure, admirably told.”—Prof. J. M. Lothian.

“The point about this thrilling story is that it is truth well told. . . . Suspense lasts up to the trial and the final moments of Wandering Spirit. . . . Many will find Mr. Cameron’s account of this deadly uprising an absorbing footnote to history.”—Owen Wister.