The year is 1812 and the world is in turmoil. France is at war with Russia. Napoleon victoriously enters Moscow but the city he finds is a burnt-out shell. He begins his retreat back to France during a bitterly cold winter. In Spain, the British army led by Wellington defeats the French force at Salamanca and enters Madrid. Ironically, in the middle of this upheaval, the Brothers Grimm publish their first book of Fairy Tales. Then there was the war on this continent when America declares war on Britain and decides to invade Upper and Lower Canada. Ex-US President Jefferson incites the American army by declaring 'The capture of Canada is a mere matter of marching'. They did and the War of 1812, which lasted until 1814, is seen today not so much as a war that Britain won but as a war America lost. A few people have emerged as legends and are now part of our folklore like Tecumseh, Brock, Laura Secord and the cow . I am no student on the History of Warfare and there are greater writers than I who have written hundreds of books on the events leading up to and the outcome of the War of 1812, but to me the war turned out to be a huge waste of time and lives with no new territories being established by either side. My interest is in how the war affected us and the streets we walk on today. This is my interpretation of (keep in mind I am a product of the Ontario School System) the ransacking, burning and pillaging of York during the War of 1812 when, for the first and only time, our neighborhood was proclaimed, by those same marching American forces, Property of Uncle Sam.
THE SIEGE OF YORK April 27-May 2 1813
The War so far was a bloody excess of destruction. We had already seen the death of British General Isaac Brock at The Battle of Queenston Heights the year before. Yet to occur was the slaughter at Lundy's Lane, the burning of Washington and the death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh by the time the Americans set their sights on York.
We weren't strategically important, unlike the towns that bordered the States along the Niagara River (most history books on the War of 1812 barely mention us and on a recent TVO documentary, the battle at York was never once referred to) but we were however the capital of Upper Canada and had in our possession a huge stash of weapons, gunpowder and a massive yet unfinished warship The Isaac Brock in our harbour. It was understood whoever held that ship, the biggest ever, would control the Great Lakes.
In 1813, the Town of York, had a population of about 600 centered in and around King, Berkeley and Front Streets. It was there that the first Legislature Buildings once stood and today, near that famous site, the monstrous Business Depot dominates. At the other end of town was The Garrison at Fort York, still standing in part, near the grounds of the CNE. In between the town and the Fort were a few farms and the harbour.
Back then the only entrance to the harbour was through its western gap. It wasn't until 1858 that the eastern gap was created when a huge storm carved its way through the peninsula that until then curved out into Lake Ontario thus creating the Toronto Islands. On the morning of April 27 1813 the tall ships of the American Fleet could be seen entering the harbour. What a frightening sight it must have been to the residents of York to see 14 immense warships with 1700 green uniformed soldiers aboard sail pass Gibraltar's Point bent on attacking not only York but our very way of life. The war, that was being fought miles away, was finally coming to town. It's as if today a massive, fully armed, nuclear powered American aircraft carrier is spotted swinging herself around Hanlan's Point eager to blow Toronto off the map. What do you do and where do you go? You become gripped with unimaginable fear and that sense of dread was felt no differently back then especially when you realize that most of the men you know between the ages of 16 and 60 were out at Fort York, ordered there to help fend off an attack. Should you flee into the forest above present day Queen Street or lock your door and not answer it when an American solider came a knocking?
If you were Loyalist and fled to Canada from the States, you were here because you didn't want to live in a Democracy, you liked the King of England and his way of Governing. None of this 'by the people for the people' stuff for you.
You loved the British Empire and all it stood for, that's why you came to Upper Canada in the first place.
Now the Americans were going to take that away and make you pledge allegiance to their flag and to President Madison who was elected by the people for pity's sakes and not anointed by the Grace of God as George III had been back in England. Totally unacceptable. OK, you decide to stay and begin to bury your gold behind the little house you and your husband built on Berkeley Street and prey to God and King the Yanks won't make it this far. Such was the feeling of many who lived in York, to remain English and never surrender to the Republic that wanted Britain out of the New World forever. This mighty ideal held true to the man who was to become the single most powerful figure in 19th century Toronto, especially after his valiant and widely seen heroic efforts during the capture of York, John Strachan.
The winds carried the American fleet, under the command of 34 year old General Pike, passed the Garrison and made land at the present day Sunnyside Beach. The soldiers jumped out and waded onto the beach while the two main ships The President Madison and Oneida fired their cannons on York. The Battle of York was under way. The Americans were met by 300 British soldiers, 200 Ojibwa warriors and 300 untrained men and boys of York. The Battle of York was a to become a blood-soaked disaster for both sides. Some of our side got lost in the woods on the way to battle, some thought it better to leave the scene and others, most notably The Kings Grenadiers, stayed and shouted "Show us our enemy." The enemy stayed hidden and picked off 90 Grenadiers some of whom fell into the pond nearby, and the long held legend of how Grenadiers Pond in High Park got it's name was born. (Noted Fort York historian Carl Benn says that isn't true, just a bit of Victorian romanticism, and the pond received it's name because The Grenadiers used to fish and generally just hang out there.)
So, as the Americans advanced on Fort York, British General Sheaffe in retreat gave the orders to blow up the ammunition magazine. Seconds later with the Americans only 400 yards away, 500 pounds of gunpowder blew sky high. Twenty of our men and 38 of theirs were killed instantly with another 222 wounded. Dead too was the American commander Pike. The British also set fire to The Isaac Brock (docked near the present day Union Station).
Since the Americans didn't capture the ship or seize any of the ammunition (their main goal of this particular campaign) why did they bother to advance on the Town of York? It was done in revenge for their loses and in particular for the looting that accompanies a town once captured. It's what armies do.
The Americans marched on along present day Lakeshore Blvd. up to the towns' boundaries at Front and Peter (before the landfill operations that began in earnest in 1911 and lasted well into the 1920's, Front St. was virtually fronted on it's south side by the lake). The town of York sat in silent but terrified wait.
With the fires of the garrison, the burning of The Isaac Brock and the huge explosion still fresh in the residents minds the soldiers continued their march along Front, crossed Yonge Street and finally reaching the town core itself. At Church and King they began their looting and pillaging the stores, taking what ever they could carry off. At Jarvis, where the Town Hall stands today they ransacked the fish and meat shops and gathered up all the whiskey they could drink. All along King Street no store was left untouched. Furniture, tableware, linens, tobacco, carpenter's tools, surgical instruments, huge amounts of sugar, flour, and soap were emptied from their shelves. The little library (the first in York), the one we were so proud of, was ransacked of all of it's books. Houses were burned, jails were thrown open and livestock butchered. People were fearful, especially woman. I've read reports of the time that state 'American soldiers and sailors threatened and molested some civilians during the occupation.' I'm not exactly sure what that means but I can imagine. War reporting can seem so gentlemanly archaic at times. A few nights into the occupation a group of American sailors were seen loitering around the area of King and Berkeley. Moments later the nearby Parliament buildings were on fire and consequently burnt to the ground. Would there be no end to this barbaric intrusion? To be fair there were some American soldiers who were disgusted with their comrades' actions and stood guard in front of peoples houses.
As the legend goes, when the soldiers thought they would loot and ransack the then St. James Church, John Strachan said 'Enough!' Dressed head to toe in black, the Reverend of St. James astride his horse on the steps of his church demanded that the American forces get out of town and pay pound for pound the damage they had inflicted. Amazingly the American General Dearborn, exhausted from vomiting all week due to seasickness, agreed helplessly in front of this imposing figure, the American army withdrew from York, and the legend of John Strachan was created.
True, he was a great hero to the people of York, he helped bury the soldiers at the Garrison and did oversee the army's withdrawal from York but it's doubtful that it was done in such an imperious way with a dash of Hollywood flair thrown in but his myth grew regardless. York was saved from the tyranny of American Democracy.
The British way of life was spared for the time being. It would be along time before the people of York would forget the occupation by American forces.
There's not much physical evidence left from that time, if anything. There is thankfully Fort York, re-named Historic Fort York in the 1970's, and though it has grown and reshaped itself over the years it still holds Canada's largest collection of original War of 1812 structures. Those seven buildings are the city's oldest grouping of buildings. Not surprisingly, in true Toronto form, they were considered for demolition to make way for the Gardiner Expressway in the 1950's but were ultimately saved. The old St. James burnt down a few times before the present day Cathedral was built in 1850.
The Cathedral archives has in its possession the Union Jack that flew over Fort York preserved in a glass case. Those Parliament buildings were eventually reconstructed in 1820 but leveled in 1824. There is a plaque, stuck in the middle of nowhere on a patch of grass called Parliament Square at the eastern end of The Esplanade, commemorating those first parliament buildings. That area, once the center of a fledgling York, is gone forever. A car-wash, a garage, a car rental and the omnipresent Business Depot covers most of what, at one time, was a place worth dying for.
According to the plaque the year after the Americans burnt our parliament buildings, we torched their Presidents home. They painted it white and have called it The White House ever since.
The White House, a symbol of Democracy the world over, is called that because of what happened near the corner of Front and Berkeley in April of 1813. (Some historians say this is wrong, just another popular myth, claiming there are documents floating about that use the term White House when referring to the Presidents Mansion that pre-date the war of 1812.)
There is, however, one memorial that still graces the old town of York, the body of Bishop John Strachan, buried deep in the catacombs of St. James Cathedral. Recently I paid a visit to the remains of the man I greatly admire but differ politically with.
Crawling hand and knee with a flashlight in my mouth I made my way through the darkened passage-way under the center aisle and finally beneath the altar of St. James where for a quarter of a century Bishop Strachan held religious and social court over a heavily populated Anglican Toronto.
I rounded the corner and there in a bricked-up alcove, lay the remains of the great man, whose funeral in 1867 was the largest our city had ever seen. I wonder what he'd make of today's' Toronto with it's huge ethnic mix, the demise of British influence and that one of his 'own kind dared to question him?
Mindful of whose profoundly sacred tomb I was in front of and that his city with its antiquated ways is fast disappearing we do share one thing in common, the fact that I am, and he was, fiercely proud to be a Canadian. The war ended in December 1814 with the European signing of the Treaty of Ghent. It would take another two months for the news to cross the ocean so the war continued with the Battle of New Orleans as it's grand finale.
When the word came that the war was finally over both sides agreed to let things be as they were before, status quo ante bellum. As I said, it seemed it was all for nothing. America did however, get it's national anthem The Star Spangle Banner (Oh say can you see....) out of that war and the town of York got to live a few more decades under 'Superior British Rule. Loses on both sides were staggering but it was to be the First Nations who lost the most. Fifteen thousand of this continents original settlers, more than the combined total of British and American forces, were wasted and a promise of a permanent homeland (now Upper Michigan) forever vanquished.
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