The Rebel Spell - The Tsilhqot'in War lyrics

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The Rebel Spell - The Tsilhqot'in War lyrics

In 1863 the road builders came To the Tsilhqot’in Plateau at the head of a wave Of Empire spreading like a treacherous disease To build a road from the ocean to the Cariboo Gold Fields Hundreds of Tsilhqot’in had already died Of smallpox brought by the European tide Now came the road crews pushing through their land threatened with disease, it was time to take a stand Annihilation on its way The Crown will take and take and take Guerrilla war up in the hills No choices left, our fight we make Dealt this hand they had to stand Would you stand? I would stand Backs to the mountains their place to be But no space for this new enemy By the spring of 1864 the pattern was clear: They bring smallpox and rape and take by murder, theft and fear So Klatsa**in and a band of Tsilhqot’in warriors Ambushed the invaders on the banks of the Homathco ‘k** the head and the body will die’ 14 whites dead beneath the undulating skies Klatsa**in saw it as the start of a war The Crown sent a militia in to even the score Annihilation on its way The Crown will take and take and take Guerrilla war up in the hills No choices left, our fight we make Dealt this hand they had to stand Would you stand? I would stand Backs to the mountains their place to be But no space for this new enemy To Klatsa**in it was war, to the Crown they were criminals The militia couldn’t catch them, way up there in the hills So the Crown brought in a tracker named Donald McLean Who’d k**ed elders and babies in the course of his days As a frontier mercenary working the fur trade The Tsilhqot’in knew him by his bayonet blade He struck out on his own and the warriors shot him down A last insult to the Crown and the Uprising was over They were tricked into surrender with the promise of peace talks A trap: they were arrested and The Hanging Judge Begbie Tried them in Quesnel where they were hanged as criminals But it was another 100 years before the road was even built The Tsilhqot’in never ceded and this fight will never end It’s a legacy of struggle and what it means to stand Climb the gallows, take the blame His name means “We Don’t Know His Name” Klatsa**in’s last words: “We meant war not murder” Dealt this hand they had to stand Would you stand? I would stand Backs to the mountains their place to be But no space for this new enemy Dealt this hand they had to stand Would you stand? I would stand Dealt this hand they had to stand Would you stand? They did stand “We meant war not murder”