The exact number of soldiers employed by Selkirk is given as one hundred and forty. The other sixty men were voyageurs.
I have purposely omitted the name of another McDonell in this chapter—namely the man who succeeded Governor Semple as commander of Fort Douglas for two days before the surrender. There are so many McDonells in this chapter and all related that I have avoided mentioning any but the main actors. All of these who survived the fights finally retired to live in Glengarry on the Ottawa and in Cornwall. One may guess with so many members of the fiery clan on opposing sides, how old age arguments must have waxed hot. The McDonells of Toronto are kin of this clan. Governor Semple’s successor was known as “grasshopper McDonell.”
Many writers state no colonists were killed at Seven Oaks. Nevertheless, five widows were pensioned, one poor widow on condition she could prove her claim, as another woman claimed the pension of the deceased settler.
Semple had been employed only a year when he met death. Yet the company pensioned his two sisters for life, though the H. B. C. was on the verge of bankruptcy. Semple’s father left Philadelphia for London when the Revolutionary War broke out.
The N. W. C. say that Selkirk meant from the first to attack Fort William. This is nonsense. The letters sent by Lajimoniere warned Robertson to prepare for him in Minnesota. The letter was stopped by the N. W. C. and found by Selkirk in a secret press at Fort William. Did the Nor’Westers intend to attack Fort Douglas? They say not, but between attacking a fort and starving it out is not wide difference.