Poundmaker leads his band of Plains Cree into Battleford, Saskatchewan. The band is short of food and farming tools. Battleford settlers, reacting to news of recent pillages and killings by native people, fear Poundmaker and barricade themselves inside the Northwest Mounted Police fort. Poundmaker seeks out the local Indian Agent to get the supplies he needs. The Indian Agent refuses to see him. Poundmaker's men, frustrated and angry, loot the town's Hudson's Bay Company store and some private homes.

The band realizes the Canadian government will retaliate. A troop of Canadian militia is already in the area to put down the Métis resistance. Poundmaker's warriors set up a war lodge. War Chief Fine Day replaces Poundmaker as leader of the band. Poundmaker still retains a good deal of moral authority over his people. But, because the band is at war, Poundmaker must obey Chief Fine Day's orders like everybody else.

Fine Day moves the Cree camp to Cut Knife Hill. On May 2, at dawn, 350 militia under Lieutenant-Colonel Otter attack the camp. The Cree are surprised, but quickly rally and charge the troopers repeatedly, forcing them to retreat. Fine Day and his warriors are eager to pursue the fleeing soldiers. Poundmaker tells them it is acceptable to defend their women and children, but not to go on the attack. The warriors listen and let the soldiers go. Many historians believe that if Poundmaker had not stopped the warriors, Otter's retreat would have turned into a disaster because of his troops' vulnerable position as they were fording Cut Knife Creek.

When he finds out the Canadian militia defeated the Métis at Batoche, Poundmaker surrenders to Canadian authorities. A Canadian court convicts him on four counts of treason-felony, including one count related to the sacking of Battleford and another for the Battle of Cut Knife Hill. The judge sentences him
to three years' hard labour.