Battle of Seven Oaks (1816)

The Battle of Seven Oaks took place in 1816 during the long dispute between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. Because of a shortage of food, in 1814 the governor of the Red River Colony, which had been established by the majority shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company, had issued a proclamation prohibiting the export of food. The local Métis, however, did not acknowledge the authority of the Red River Settlement, and this

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stand was probably consistent with the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

In 1816 a band of Red River settlers attacked a party of Métis, led by Cuthbert Grant, who had seized a supply of Hudson's Bay Company pemmican and were travelling to a meeting with traders of the North West Company to whom they intended to sell it. The Métis repulsed the attack, inflicting heavy losses. They were later exonerated by a Royal Commissioner appointed to investigate the incident. Grant later became an important figure in the Hudson's Bay Company after its merger with the North West Company.