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 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.