‘The Engagement Letters of Sam Steele and Marie Harwood’ by Connor J. Thompson.
A new book by historian Connor J. Thompson sheds light on a well-known member of the North West Mounted Police, romance in the late 1800s and life in early Fort Macleod.
Thompson, a PhD candidate in history at the University of Alberta specializing in Canadian prairie history, has published The Engagement Letters of Marie Harwood and Sam Steele.
At it’s heart, though, The Engagement Letters is a good love story.
“The first thing that will become obvious to anyone who picks up these letters is how deeply these two loved one another,” Thompson said. “These letters are profoundly romantic — throughout these documents, whatever it is they’re talking about, it inevitably comes back to how much they loved one each other, how beautiful the other is, reminisces about their courtship, how excited they are to see each other again. It is a distinctively ardent set of letters.”
“What we see here is the blossoming of a romance which would become a 29-year marriage. It is worth noting that the loving, tender nature of their letters continued until Sam Steele’s death.”
Thompson said Sam Steele means different things to different people, noting Steele was involved in many aspects of Alberta history including the initial March West of the North-West Mounted Police, the signing of Treaty 6 and Treaty 7, stopping the whiskey trade, and leading Steele’s Scouts in 1885.
Steele was also a member of the militia during the Red River resistance and fought during the North-West Resistance. As a result a big part of his legacy is suppressing Indigenous resistance to unjust treatment by the Canadian government.
“He also supported banning the Sun Dance, among the most sacred ceremonies of the Plains First Nations in southern Alberta. It should be noted regarding these letters specifically that one of the only mentions of Indigenous peoples in them is regarding children being taken to residential school.”
As an NWMP commanding officer, Steele was a leading citizen in Fort Macleod, which was second only to NWMP headquarters in Regina in terms of prestige.
“Steele’s time as commanding officer in Macleod really cemented his place as a leader in the North West Mounted Police,” Thompson said. “His acumen as a leader was noted throughout the force, and led in 1898 to his famous command in the Yukon during the Gold Rush.”
Thompson began work on The Engagement Letters in 2019 when he was working as a research assistant under NWMP historian and biographer of Sam Steele, Rod Macleod. Thompson was transcribing Steele’s journals from his time in Fort Macleod.
“It was decided that this engagement correspondence would be a far more illuminating window into numerous aspects of Canadian history during this period. This correspondence is not just between a couple who happened to be engaged — it was a correspondence between two people who deeply loved one another and clearly trusted each other. As a result, they speak quite frankly with each other about whatever topic it is they’re discussing. It was amazing to read, and transcribing it was a real pleasure.”
The Steele letters are archived at the Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta, who purchased the collection for $1.8-million. The collection was repatriated to Canada in 2008, with a formal ceremony held at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, in London, England.
Thompson said the collection is massive and includes journals, correspondence, scrapbooks, genealogical materials and other documents. Many artifacts, including some of Steele’s uniforms, are in the Military Museum in Calgary.
Thompson, who has an MA from the University of Regina, and a BA (Honours) in history from the U of A, where he was awarded the Prairie History Medal and the S. W. Field Prize, said personal correspondence provides insight into history not always available from other sources.
“Correspondence is certainly a more personal way to understand a given historical period,” Thompson said. “Letters are of course exchanged for a variety of reasons, but if it’s a correspondence between family, friends, or romantic partners, you’ll often get people speaking more frankly than they would in other sources.”
“Sam Steele, for example, was often only known as a strict lawman before the Sir Samuel Steele Collection arrived in Canada. With these more family-oriented sources, we see another side of Steele personally, but we also get some of his more bluntly stated opinions about people and events during his time. In the case of these engagement letters, we get an astonishing example of how love might be expressed in 19th century Canada.”
The collection includes hundreds of letters between Steele and Harwood written throughout their lives, as well as correspondence with other people.
There are 114 letters from Steele and 93 from Harwood during their engagement. Thompson was limited to about half the letters, from 1888-’89, in the 600-page book.
“Part of what is remarkable about this correspondence is that almost all the letters from both sides seem to have survived,” Thompson said. “In the case of the letters included in this book, I only identified one that seems to have been lost.”
The Engagement Letters of Marie Harwood and Sam Steele is illustrated with photos of the couple and early Fort Macleod, as well as maps and scans of some letters.
“This correspondence provides some remarkable details about life in Fort Macleod in the late 19th century, as well as southern Alberta more generally,” Thompson said. “We find out about life in the police — patrols, drills, who the good and bad recruits are, and so on — but also about life in the town of Macleod. Things like recreation are discussed throughout the letters, as well as simple gossip. We find out who the local flirt is, who’s causing headaches for people in the town, who Sam and Marie find pretty or ugly. Sam and Marie also tell each other about what others have said, which, while we obviously need to take into account their biases, nonetheless provides us glimpses into the everyday discussion occurring on the streets of Macleod, in people’s homes, or while traveling by wagon.”
This is the first book for Thompson, who has published articles in Alberta History, Strata, Intersections and the Edmonton City as Museum Project.
The Engagement Letters of Sam Steele and Marie Harwood is available at book stores and on the Historical Society of Alberta’s Web site.
