Battle of Seven Oaks

Battle of Seven Oaks
Part of The Pemmican War
The Fight at Seven Oaks, June 19, 1816
Date June 19, 1816 Location Seven Oaks (present day Winnipeg, Manitoba) Result Decisive Métis/North West Company victory
Belligerents
Métis of the North West Company	Hudson's Bay Company
Commanders and leaders
Cuthbert Grant	Robert Semple †
Strength
65	28
Casualties and losses
1	21
National Historic Site of Canada
Official name	Battle of Seven Oaks National Historic Site of Canada
Designated	1920

21

The Battle of Seven Oaks was a violent confrontation in what was known as the Pemmican War between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC), rivals in the fur trade, that took place on 19 June 1816. It was the climax of a long dispute in western Canada. The Métis people, who fought for the North West Company, called it "the Victory of Frog Plain" (la Victoire de la Grenouillière).

In 1814, Miles MacDonell, Governor of the Red River Colony (the area around present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba), issued the Pemmican Proclamation, which prohibited the export of pemmican from the colony for the next year. It was meant to guarantee adequate supplies for the Hudson's Bay Colony, but it was viewed by the North West Company as a ploy by employees of the Earl of Selkirk (majority shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company) to monopolize the foodstuff, which was important to the North West Company.

The local Métis did not acknowledge the authority of the Red River Settlement, and this stand was probably consistent with the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Pemmican Proclamation was a blow to both the Métis and North West Company. The North West Company accused the HBC of unfairly monopolizing the fur trade by this edict. As the North West Company floundered under these and other restrictions, the HBC attempted to take it over, but was not successful.

Later in 1815, after several conflicts and suffering from "severe emotional instability", MacDonnell resigned as governor of the Red River Colony. He was replaced by Robert Semple, an American businessman with no previous experience in the fur trade.

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