Travis Michelsen

Travis was born in the Canadian Maritimes and was raised in rural Manitoba, where his father was posted as an officer with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. With his father’s influence, Travis gained a strong interest in the military history of the British Empire, with a firm focus on the North-West Campaign of 1885 (Second Anglo-Métis War/North-West Rebellion/Second Riel Rebellion).

He was often recommended to write a book on the Second Anglo-Métis War, as he had studied the topic extensively and spoke of it often. Travis managed to take the time he needed to increase his studies and begin writing. He found that most books about the North-West Rebellion regurgitated the same story, using the same small handful of sources as one another. This offered a consistently limited and distorted view of the conflict and prevented the public from gaining any real interest in the war. Travis grew determined to offer the most accurate telling of events possible and gathered over 170 letters, diaries, memoirs, interviews, etc. from those who were there, from which he has based my work. He thoroughly compared each account to piece together what really transpired. Through these primary sources, he is able to assure that the stories of our veterans are not lost.