When the North-West Field Force arrived in Saskatchewan to deal with the rebellion, it perceived three separate opponents and divided its attention accordingly. While the main force of 900 soldiers and militia, led by Major-General Frederick Dobson Middleton, departed Fort Q’Appelle to march on Batoche on April 10, another column under Lieutenant-Colonel William D. Otter was dispatched to relieve what Middleton thought to be the besieged fort at Battleford. A third column of about 400 soldiers and NWMP under Major-General Thomas Bland Strange left Calgary for Edmonton, aiming to bring Big Bear’s band to ground. Troop movements during that bitterly cold spring were expedited by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, although uncompleted stretches necessitated the soldiers marching from one section of track to the next. One important by-product of the North-West Rebellion was to spur the railway’s final completion by November.

Departing Swift Current, where the rails ended, on April 13, Otter’s column consisted of 763 men from 2nd Battalion, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada (2 QOR); B Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery; C Company, Infantry School Corps; some sharpshooters from 1st Battalion, Governor General’s Foot Guards; and a NWMP contingent led by Percy Neal. Only 50 men were mounted, but Otter also had 48 horse-drawn wagons at his disposal.

On April 24 the swelled populace at Fort Battleford greeted Otter’s arrival with elation, unaware that Poundmaker’s combined band of Cree and Assiniboine had long since retired to his reserve at Cut Knife Creek, named for a Sarcee warrior slain in a skirmish with the Cree, 40 kilometres to the west. Angry locals pressed Otter to pursue and chastise the Aboriginals for their depredations, and many of his inexperienced militiamen expressed disappointment that they had “missed out on a good fight.”

Otter, the only Canadian-born among the three commanders (Middleton was born in Belfast, Ireland and Strange in Meerut, India), had already seen a “good fight” in his time. Born in The Corners, Canada West, on December 3, 1843, he had joined the Non-Permanent Active Militia in Toronto in 1864. He was a captain serving as adjutant to the 2 QOR by June 1866, when the Niagara area was invaded by a force of Irish-American Civil War veterans called the Irish Brotherhood, or Fenians, seeking to seize territory to ransom for an independent Irish republic. On June 2, 1866 the Fenians clashed with the militia at Ridgeway, just east of Fort Erie. After 90 minutes of holding their own against their more battle-seasoned opponents, the 2 QOR either mistook mounted Fenian scouts for attacking cavalry or redcoated 13th Battalion of Hamilton militia for a relief force. Whatever the cause, the 2 QOR’s formation fell into confusion and Fenian skirmishers, seizing the opportunity, drove them and the entire militia force from the field. Besides the humiliation of hearing its initials frequently interpreted as “Quick, Over to the Rear,” the 2 QOR suffered nine dead and 25 wounded, four of whom died soon after. Notwithstanding this battle won, the Fenians ultimately lost their campaign. Seeing their position untenable, they withdrew to New York, where they were arrested for violating the Neutrality Act of 1818.

In the succeeding years Otter continued his military career, joining the Permanent Force when Canada established its first professional army in 1883. Now, in 1885, he could not have ignored the opportunity to redeem his old unit, the 2 QOR, a company of which accompanied his column. Although Middleton had ordered him to stand fast in Battleford, Otter telegraphed Edgar Dewdney, lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territory, for permission to “punish Poundmaker” and duly got it.

Leaving about half of his force at Battleford, Otter departed at 1600 hours on May 1 with a flying column of 392 men, 75 of whom were NWMP, with a rearguard contingent of Battleford Rifles. Whoever was not mounted rode in the wagons. Besides their single-shot Snider-Enfield and repeating Winchester rifles, Otter’s men were supported by B Battery’s two 7-pounder rifled cannon and a Gatling gun. The weather was cloudy and drizzling, but the force made good progress through low wooded hills. Scouting reports had pinpointed Poundmaker’s band east of Cut Knife Creek, but when Otter’s force reached it early on the morning of May 2, they found the camp deserted. Poundmaker’s people had in fact settled in on the far side of Cut Knife Hill to the west.