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. Strung out along the coulée's edge, silhouetted against the sky, the militia fired a vast amount of ammunition at the resistance, succeeding mostly in showering tree branches across the ravine, but when the artillerymen pushed their guns to the coulée's edge to try to fire down at the concealed Métis, they suffered heavy casualties. The only targets the militia could clearly see were the Métis' tethered horses: they killed about 55 of them. General Middleton attempted to place himself in full view of the resistance. However, a bullet tore through his fur hat, and his two aides-de-camp were both wounded by his side. The frustrated Canadians, their casualties mounting, undertook several fruitless rushes into the ravine. A few infantry regulars under Middleton's command made one charge. Another, larger one was carried out by the 90th "Winnipeg" Battalion of Rifles. This latter advance was parried by the Métis' use of improvised barricades within the coulée. These uncoordinated advances accomplished nothing but more Canadian casualties. Middleton in a statement later on said: "[Métis] plans were well arranged beforehand and had my scouts not been well to