William Bleasdell Cameron was born July 26, 1862, in Trenton, Canada West. He is best known as being one of the survivors of the Frog Lake Massacre, and his book The War Trail of Big Bear that recounts his experiences of the massacre and his captivity. In 1885 he was working as a clerk for the Hudson's Bay Company store at Frog Lake in the District of Saskatchewan, North-West Territories. He survived the Frog Lake Massacre of the North-West Rebellion on April 2, 1885, and was held captive for two months by Big Bear's band of Cree.