Burning The Don Bridge

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Garrison At York Circa 1813

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Drama At Toronto Bay

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An excerpt from The battle of York; ...:

The Parliament had but recently completed its sittings and festivities were still being maintained. A little girl of six narrated that her mother, Mrs. Grant Powell, had issued invitations for a party on the evening of the 26th, the supper table had been laid and she had been dressed to see the company arrive. Only one lady and no gentlemen came, when later on her father hurried in saying the American fleet had been sighted, and he and the other volunteers had been ordered under arms. Then may have come the scene so graphically told by our poet, Charles Mair, in the stirring lines in his Drama of Tecumseh.

"What news afoot? Why every one's afoot and coming here 

York's citizens are turned to warriors 

The learned professions go a-soldiering 

And gentle hearts beat high for Canada. 

For, as you pass, on every hand you see 

Through the neglected openings of each house 

Through doorways, windows, our Canadian maids 

Strained by their parting lovers to their breasts, 

And loyal matrons busy round their lords 

Buckling their arms on, or, with tearful eyes 

Kissing them to the war." 

Burned (Or Not) On A Technically

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From Soldiering in Canada...:

When York was captured in April, 1813, my grandfather was sent with a party of men to burn the ships on the stocks, and to set fire to a frigate which lay in the harbour.  He succeeded in destroying the two ships on the stocks, but when he came to the frigate, the officer of the Royal Navy in command raised some technical objection, and the discussion was so heated and prolonged that the vessel and all on board were captured, and so my grandfather was a prisoner for about six months. The naval officer was not exchanged as his conduct was severely censured by the authorities.

On Humber Bay

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From The battle of York;...:

Away to the east, where the St. Lawrence runs beneath the ramparts of old Quebec, stands the honoured monument to the two heroes who died upon the fatal field — Wolfe and Montcalm, victor and vanquished, who in valour, in death, and in fame, were not divided.

Yet we, too, nearer home, have an eventful and strangely parallel scene of strife.

In the neighbourhood of our city of Toronto, the "Humber Bay" is our " Wolfe's Cove," the " Garrison Common" our "Plains of Abraham"; over them in one long day a fierce battle raged, on them a victor died in the hour of victory.

As we pass along the westward of where the Humber Bay begins its graceful curve there will be found no memorial raised to do honour to whom honour is due.

As we enter the city of Toronto, we shall find no statue erected to the fallen, no inscription set up to record the deeds of the eventful day, and at the Old Fort, the culminating point of the attack, not, as yet, any tribute paid to the memories of those gallant defenders who fought and died in the defence of York on the 27th April, 1813.

The Anticipated Attack Upon York

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"Rumours had been heard all during the winter of the preparations which were being made on the American side. Yeo and his sailors were still struggling through the snow from Halifax. There were no telegraphs in those days, and but one road, the Kingston road, which wound its way through the forests and the scattered settlements which fringed the shores of the lake. News came slowly. It was a time of expectancy and all Canada was waiting for the attack."

"It was known at York that the breaking up of the ice would be the signal for the sailing of the enemy's fleet."

"About 5 o'clock on Monday afternoon the 26th, some ten ships of the enemy were sighted from the 

Highlands of Scarborough about eight miles out on the lake, and steering apparently towards York." 

A Look At The Provincial Marines

The Provincial Marine at Amherstburg 1796-1813, by Bob Garcia, is a nice article and includes a Provincial Marine Lieutenant's uniform.  Also mentioned was Alexander Grant; "more interestingly he might have been the only commander of a military force to live, while on active duty in the land of his potential opponent." [Grant lived in the Detroit area when he was a Canadian officer]


From Officers of the British Forces in Canada During the War of 1812-15:

John Richardson, the author of Richardson's War of 1812, was a member of the Provincial Marines.

What Is This Formation?

This illustration was placed after the description of the death of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813) who was killed during the Battle of York; is there any special significance?  I don't know.

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Map Of The American Fleet At The Battle Of York

Map Of The Battle of York [now Toronto, Canada]