[2] Resulting in a decisive victory for the NWC over their rivals in the North American fur trade, the confrontation was the climax in a long series of dispute in the Canadas.

[2] In 1809, the North West Company arrived to establish Fort Gibraltar at the Forks, which would be built in 1810 by John Wills, Cuthbert Grant’s brother-in-law.

They would move south for winter at the junction of the Pembina and Red rivers, relying on the meat provided by the Métis and the NWC, as well as corn purchased from the Peguis Band.

On June 10, during a shootout between Métis and remaining settlers at HBC’s Fort Douglas, one of Macdonell’s men was killed when a cannon exploded, and three others were wounded.

[2] At this time, Cuthbert gained more men as many of Selkirk’s people went over to the Métis side, as well as the Irish who were initially hired to prepare the way for the settlement, as their contracts expired on June 1.

[2] Surveyor and Brandon House district manager Peter Fidler negotiated with the Métis chiefs at their camp at Frog Plain.

On 20 June 1815, Pangman instructed Fidler that no colonists were to remain, but that a limited number of HBC servants might stay, as it was to the advantage of the Métis to have competing trading companies in the area.

[2] On 19 June 1816, Cuthbert Grant led two groups of North West Company employees, a party of about 60 mounted Métis and First Nations freighters, towards Seven Oaks (known to the Métis as la Grenouillière, or Frog Plain) to escort a shipment of pemmican to Lake Winnipeg to supply NWC canoe brigades from Montreal which had to pass by en route to Athabasca.

Grant’s men escorted their boats of supplies back up the Assiniboine River and seized Brandon House trading post.

[2][12] Demoralized from the losses, the settlers gathered their belongings the day after the battle and sailed north for Norway House, leaving the Métis in command of the settlement, having seized Fort Douglas.

[4][17] The British government called for a special inquiry into the incident, and appointed Lieutenant Colonel William Bachelor Coltman as Royal Commissioner, who set his investigation in motion in May 1817.

Delivered to the British House of Commons on 24 June 1819, Coltman's report exonerated the Métis, concluding that the first shot was fired at François Boucher from Semple’s side.

He also argued that Selkirk and Semple should have known that their enforcement of the Pemmican Proclamation showed "a blameable carelessness as to the consequence, on a subject likely to endanger both the peace of the country and the lives of individuals.