But Ogden's position was quickly eroding. Gardner informed his trappers that they had no further obligation to the Hudson's Bay Company. He offered each employee high wages of $3.50 a beaver and cheap goods if they would join the Americans. The offer was hard to refuse. Ogden's overcharged and underpaid men had little loyalty to the company. Several Iroquois and one French trapper, deserters who had joined the Americans a year earlier, visited the tents of Ogden's trappers to encourage them to desert the British company. Convinced by their stories, some men began taking down their tents and preparing to leave. One of them, John Grey, an Iroquois trapper, told Ogden, "You have dealt fair with me and with all of us. But go we will....If every man in the camp does not leave you, they seek not their own interest."

As the they left camp, some of the deserters took with them company horses and supplies. Ogden accused the men of theft and tried to seize the horses. As the atmosphere grew more tense, Gardner announced that he was prepared to defend any deserter. Then, an Iroquois who had left the Hudson's Bay Company in 1822 shouted, "We are superiors in numbers! Let's fire and pillage them!" Some of Gardner's men pointed guns at Ogden while the deserters left camp.