Battle of seven oaks

“Battle of Seven Oaks.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 26 Nov. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Seven_Oaks>.

This painting shows the battle of seven oaks,  It is in the perspective of the HBC because they are the ones that look defenseless in the painting and shows the metis as savages.

At the Start of the nineteenth century, the Hudson’s bay company was re-organizing.  At this time one of the owners named Thomas Douglas, an Earl of Selkirk was troubled about the poverty of the people living on his Scottish lands and he believed that emigration to the colonies would solve the problem. He wanted to provide a new home for his Scottish tenants and retired officials and traders of Hudson’s Bay Company. The colonists arrived at the proposed settlement of Selkirk in 1812 but their arrival wasn’t very welcoming. They weren’t prepared for the harsh conditions of the cold, insufficient clothing, transportation and hunger. The governor of the new Selkirk colony, Miles Mcdonnell decided to solve their problems with food by angering the Metis who had helped them. In 1814 the governor passed the Pemmican Proclamation that banned the running of buffalo, hunting buffalo by running the herd over a cliff. The ban stopped the movement of food, clothing and there was little to no income for the Aboriginal and Metis people, including those who worked for the North West Company. While these proclamations might have served the settlers immediate need for more food they opened deep conflicts between the settlers and the North West Company. For the Metis families whose lives depended on the fur trade and the buffalo, this was a disaster. The NWC quickly understood that the governors proclamations attempted to destroy the North West Company fur trade and Metis society. They fought back by threatening the colonists, burning crops and houses, and stealing lives stock and farming tools.

The NWC captured HBC pemmican ships to try and make the settlers starve to death. The NWC also took over HBC fort. Robert Semple of the HBC rode out and ran into Cuthbert Grant. 21 HBC men were killed in the battle including Semple.

After the battle the settlers left the colony and Selkirk arrested NWC workers. After the battle the metis were set against the British and the HBC started to see the Metis as uncivilized.  The British try to impose farming life and the Metis started to see the British as hostile to the Metis way of life and economy. The farms conflicted with the buffalo hunt. The battle solidified the Metis as a distinct society.