Battle of the seven oaks

The battles of the Seven Oaks took place the June 19th 1816 during the long conflict opposing the Compagnie of Hudson Bay to the Compagnie of the North-West, companies rival of the trade of fur to the Western Canada.

As employees of the two companies, the Métis started to settle along the Assiniboine river and of the Red Rivière (the sector around the current city of Winnipeg, Manitoba). In 1811, the majority shareholder of the Company of Hudson Bay, Lord Selkirk, required and accepted grounds to settle there. With the arrival of colonists in 1812, new tensions were done day and the mongrels settled of force. When the colonists had hard moments after the first winters, it became obvious that Fort Douglas wanted to preserve its provisions for itself. The governor of Assiniboia, Miles McDonald, published in January 1814 a proclamation prohibiting the export of the Pemmican since Assiniboia. This proclamation seriously threatened the life of the mongrels because they strongly depended on this trade to survive. Many mongrel and employees of the Company of western north were opposed to this proclamation.

When Cuthbert Grant and some of its men was seen, trying to avoid Douglas Fort on their way towards Fort Low-of-the-River on the Lac Winnipeg, the Semple governor and twenty-four men left to intercept it. They met in a place called the seven oaks . A rifle shot is drawn and Simple is wounded with the leg. This action starts a battle with rifle. In a few minutes, Simple and 20 of its men lie dead by ground. Only one mongrel died. Grant keeps one of the men as prisoner and sends it to ask the capitulation of the Douglas Fort. The colony capitulates immediately.

This incident marks the beginning of an all-out war between the men of the Compagnie of Hudson Bay and those of the North-West.

Grant became, later, an important figure with the Company of Hudson Bay after its fusion with the Compagnie of the North-West.

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