The United States and Canada conclude their wars with the native peoples.

Louis Riel had considered returning to Montana while awaiting news from Ottawa but had by February resolved to stay.

Without a productive course of action, Riel has begun to engage in obsessive prayer, and is experiencing a significant relapse of his mental agitations.

This leads to a deterioration in his relationship with the Catholic hierarchy, as he publicly espouses an increasingly heretical doctrine.

On February 11, 1885, a response to the petition is received.

The government proposes to take a census of the North-West Territories, and to form a commission to investigate grievances.

This angers the Métis, who interpret this as a mere delaying tactic—a faction emerged that favors taking up arms at once.

This is not supported by the Church, the majority of the English-speaking community, or, indeed, by the Métis faction supporting local leader Charles Nolin, but Riel, undoubtedly influenced by his messianic delusions, becomes increasingly supportive of this course of action.

Riel disrupts a sermon in the church at Saint-Laurent to argue for his position on March 15, following which he is barred from receiving the sacraments, and increasingly frequently discusses his "divine revelations".

Disenchanted with the status quo, and swayed by Riel's charisma and eloquent rhetoric, Métis remain loyal to Riel, despite his proclamations that Bishop Ignace Bourget should be accepted as pope, and that "Rome has fallen".

It becomes known on March 18 that the North-West Mounted Police garrison at Battleford is being reinforced.

Although only one hundred men men had been sent in response to warnings from father Alexis André and NWMP superintendent L.N.F. Crozier, a rumor soon begins to circulate that five hundred heavily armed troops are advancing on the territory.

Métis patience is exhausted, and Riel's followers seize arms, take hostages, and cut the telegraph lines between Batoche and Battleford.

The Provisional Government of Saskatchewan is declared at Batoche on March 19, with Riel as the political and spiritual leader and with Dumont assuming responsibility for military affairs.

Riel forms a council called the Exovedate (a neologism meaning "those who have left the flock"), and sends representatives to court Poundmaker and Big Bear.

On March 21, Riel's emissaries demand that Crozier surrender Fort Carlton, but this is refused.

The situation is becoming critical, and on March 23, Dewdney sends a telegraph to Premier John A. Macdonald indicating that military intervention might be necessary.

Scouting near Duck Lake on March 26, a force led by Gabriel Dumont unexpectedly chances upon a party from Fort Carlton.

In the ensuing Battle of Duck Lake, the police are routed, and the natives also rise up once the news becomes known.

The die is cast for a violent outcome, and the North-West Rebellion is begun in earnest.

Louis Riel had counted on the Canadian government being unable to effectively respond to another uprising in the distant North-West Territories, thereby forcing them to accept political negotiation.

This is essentially the same strategy that had worked to such great effect during the 1870 rebellion, but in that instance, the first troops did not arrive until three months after Riel seized control.

However, Riel has completely overlooked the significance of the nascent Canadian Pacific Railway.

Despite major gaps in railway construction, the first Canadian regular and militia units, under the command of Major-General Frederick Dobson Middleton, arrive in Duck Lake less than two weeks after Riel had made his demands.

Knowing that he cannot defeat the Canadians in direct confrontation, Dumont had hoped to force the Canadians to negotiate by engaging in a long-drawn out campaign of guerrilla warfare; Dumont realizes a modest success along these lines at the Battle of Fish Creek on April 24, 1885.

Riel, however, insists on concentrating forces at Batoche in order to defend his "city of God".

The outcome of the ensuing Battle of Batoche, which takes place from May 9 to 12, was never in doubt, and on May 15 a disheveled Riel surrenders to Canadian forces.

Big Bear's forces manage to hold out until the Battle of Loon Lake on June 3but , the rebellion is a dismal failure for Métis and native alike, with most surrendering or fleeing.

Several individuals closely tied to the Canadian government had requested that Riel’s trial be held in Winnipeg in July 1885.

There are historians who contend that the trial was moved to Regina because of concerns with the possibility of an ethnically mixed and sympathetic jury.

Tom Flanagan states that an amendment of the North-West Territories Act (which dropped the provision that trials with crimes punishable by death should be tried in Manitoba) meant that the trial could be convened within the North-West Territories and did not have to be held in Winnipeg.

Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald orders the trial to be convened in Regina, where Riel was tried before a jury of six English and Scottish Protestants, all from the area surrounding the city.

The trial had begun on July 28, 1885, and lasts only five days.

Riel delivers two long speeches during his trial, defending his own actions and affirming the rights of the Métis people.

He rejects his lawyer's attempt to argue that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

The jury finds him guilty but recommends mercy; nonetheless, Judge Hugh Richardson sentences him to death, with the date of his execution initially set for September 18, 1885.

Riel is hanged for treason on November 16, 1885.

Prior to his execution, Riel had been reconciled with the Catholic Church, and had been assigned Father André as his spiritual advisor.

He had also been given writing materials so that he could employ his time in prison to write a book.

Fifty years later, one of the jurors, Edwin Brooks, will state that Riel had been tried for treason but had been hanged for the execution of Thomas Scott in 1870.

Subsequent to Riel’s execution, latent ethnic animosity will intensify in Canada.