Battle of Seven Oaks National Historic Site

Commemorating a violent clash

Here at the Frog Plain, on June 19, 1816, Robert Semple, Governor of the Red River Settlement, and about 26 men confronted a North West Company brigade from the Assiniboine River, led by the young Métis clerk, Cuthbert Grant. The Métis saw the settlement as a threat to their way of life; Semple, brave but obstinate, was prepared to insist on his authority as Governor. Tempers flared, a shot was fired, and Semple and twenty of his men were cut down. Regardless of what Grant's plan had originally been, he was now committed to action, and went on to capture Fort Douglas, headquarters of the Settlement.