Historic Fort York, 1793-1993
By Carl Benn and Henry N.R. Jackman
4/5
()
About this ebook
Fearing an American invasion of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe had Fort York built in 1793 as an emergency defensive measure. That act became the first step in the founding of modern Toronto.
Twenty years later, the Fort was the scene of the bloody Battle of York in which the famous American explorer, Zebulon Pike, died leading U.S. forces against the Fort’s outnumbered Canadian, British and Aboriginal defenders. The Americans won this battle – their first major victory in the War of 1812 – and torched the province’s public buildings during a six-day occupation. A year later, British forces retaliated by capturing Washington and burning its government buildings, including the White House.
Rebuilt in time to drive off another American attack in 1814, Fort York was maintained through the 1880s to guard against internal unrest and potential American annexation. Even after its defences became obsolete, Fort York continued to serve as barracks and training grounds for the Toronto garrison until the 1930s, when it reopened as a historic site museum.
In this book, Carl Benn explores the dramatic roles Fort York played in the frontier war of the 1790s, the birth of Toronto, the War of 1812, the Rebellion of 1837 and the defence of Canada during the American Civil War, and describes how Toronto’s most important heritage site came to be preserved as a tangible link to Canada’s turbulent military past.
Carl Benn
Dr Carl Benn is a history professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and previously worked in the museum field for 34 years. He has curated numerous exhibits and restored historic facilities, including Canada's most complete War of 1812 fort. His extensive publications include the critically acclaimed A Mohawk Memoir from the War of 1812 (University of Toronto Press, 2019).
Read more from Carl Benn
Native Memoirs from the War of 1812: Black Hawk and William Apess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMohawks on the Nile: Natives Among the Canadian Voyageurs in Egypt, 1884-1885 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Historic Fort York, 1793-1993
Related ebooks
Lockport, Illinois:: The Old Canal Town Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChesapeake Bay Steamers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings200 Years Yonge: A History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Havre de Grace, Maryland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesigning Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manistee County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mighty Fine Road: A History of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaginaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project: An Oral History of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Washington's DuPont Circle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Oak Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The WPA Guide to Nevada: The Silver State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEast of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Islands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMuncie in 150 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCheboygan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArchitect John D. Parkinson: Eternally Elevating the Los Angeles Skyline Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChicago Union Station Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Stand: A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistoric Tales of Bethel, Connecticut Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarns of New York: Rural Architecture of the Empire State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMontgomery Co, IN Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American-British Artist Benjamin West: A Short Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConcert Musings by the Cosmic Chef Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Floods of Northern New Jersey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cincinnati's Incomplete Subway: The Complete History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrawfordsville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistoric Shrines of America: Being the Story of One Hundred and Twenty Historic Buildings and the Pioneers Who Made Them Notable Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Outer Banks of North Carolina, 1584-1958 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Village of Grosse Pointe Shores Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJuniata's River Valleys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Historic Fort York, 1793-1993
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Historic Fort York, 1793-1993 - Carl Benn
HISTORIC FORT YORK
1793–1993
Fort York
is a historic site museum operated by
the Toronto Historical Board
The Toronto Historical Board was established by the
Corporation of the City of Toronto
in 1960
Fort York is located in downtown Toronto
on Garrison Road off Fleet Street
between Bathurst Street and Strachan Avenue
HISTORIC FORT YORK
1793–1993
CARL BENN
This book is dedicated
to the memory of the late
Colonel Charles P. Stacey,
one of Canada’s foremost historians and
First Honorary Curator of Fort York.
Historic Fort York, 1793–1993
by Carl Benn
Published by Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc.
P.O. Box 95, Station O
, Toronto, Ontario M4A 2M8
Copyright © 1993 Carl Benn
No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the
purpose of literary review, may be reproduced in any form without
the permission of the publisher.
MAPS: Kevin Hebib
COPY EDITING: Wendy Thomas
DESIGN AND TYPESETTING: Robin Brass Studio
Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Printing Limited,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Benn, Carl, 1953–
Historic Fort York, 1793–1993
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-920474-79-9
1. Fort York (Toronto, Ont.) – History.
2. Fortification – Ontario – Toronto – History.
3. Canada – History, Military.
4. Historic sites – Ontario – Toronto.
I. Title.
FC3097.8.F67B46 1993 971.3'541 C93-094175-6
F1059.5.T688F67 1993
Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc. gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation.
FOREWORD
by
THE HONOURABLE HENRY N. R. JACKMAN,
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF ONTARIO
Two hundred years ago Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe founded Toronto when he established Fort York. Immediately afterwards, he moved the provincial capital from the border town of Niagara to Toronto as a temporary
emergency measure. Both acts were part of Governor Simcoe’s preparations to defend Upper Canada (now Ontario) from an expected American invasion. Civilian settlement followed the government, and a community, named York,
began to grow just east of the garrison.
While the threat of hostilities passed by 1794, ongoing tensions with the United States led to war in 1812. Between 1812 and 1814, British troops, Canadian militia, and Aboriginal warriors marched from Fort York to preserve our sovereignty against foreign assault. In 1813 and 1814, Fort York itself came under attack when American forces targeted the provincial capital in their efforts to annex Canada. Although the Americans captured York twice in 1813 and enjoyed military success elsewhere, the colony’s defenders ultimately succeeded in defending our territorial integrity from conquest.
After the War of 1812, British and Canadian troops continued to garrison Fort York to guard the province from foreign expansion and internal unrest. These soldiers and their families made important contributions to colonial society as it grew in size and sophistication. In 1834, this growth saw York incorporate as the City of Toronto, a prosperous centre with a population of 9,000. In 1867, when Toronto had 50,000 people, Canadian society had matured to the point where the British Parliament made Canada a self-governing Dominion.
Often, we overlook the roles the military played in protecting our sovereignty during the formative years of Canada’s evolution from colony to nation. Had it not been for the soldiers in garrisons such as Fort York, Canada’s distinctive social and national development might very well have been stillborn at some distant point in our past.
As John Graves Simcoe’s modern-day successor, I take pleasure in commending this book to your attention. Through it, I invite you to explore the exciting world of our turbulent military past. At the same time, I hope you will spare a thought for the people – most of them now nameless – who defended our society in its fragile formative decades.
THE HONOURABLE HENRY N. R. JACKMAN,
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF ONTARIO
CONTENTS
PREFACE
A Note about the Name Fort York
THE EARLY YEARS, 1793–1811
Forces Leading to the Establishment of Fort York
The Founding of Toronto at Fort York
The Anglo-American Confrontation of 1794
The Consolidation of York
The Threat of Mississauga Attack
Simcoe’s Garrison Replaced
THE WAR OF 1812–1814
The Outbreak of War
York Becomes a Target
The Battle of York
The Occupation of York
The Impact of the Battle of York
The Second Attack on York
Fort York Rebuilt
The Third American Descent on York
The End of the War
FORT YORK AND THE TORONTO GARRISON, 1815–1945
The Post-War Garrison
The Rebellion Crisis
Fort York Replaced
The Trent Affair
Canadian Forces Assume Responsibility for Fort York
HISTORIC
FORT YORK
Fort York Becomes a Historic Site
The Preservation Battle of 1903-1909
The 1930s Restoration and the Museum Years
The Gardiner Expressway Threat
The Fort York Heritage Conservation District
ENDNOTES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
LIST OF PLATES
1 John Graves Simcoe, 1791
2 Columbian Tragedy, 1791
3 Fort Niagara, c.1784
4 Council at Sandusky, 1793
5 Queen’s Rangers’ Camp, 1793
6 Anthony Wayne, c.1792
7 Fort Miamis as it appeared in 1794
8 Garrison at York, 1796
9 Part of York the Capital of Upper Canada, 1804
10 Town Blockhouse, 1799
11 Fort York, c.1799
12 York Barracks, Lake Ontario, 1804
13 Lieutenant-Governor’s House, 1800
14 Garrison at Toronto, 1805
15 Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812
16 American Naval Base at Sackett’s Harbor, c.1815
17 Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, c.1787
18 Mortal Wounding of Zebulon Pike in 1813
19 The Royal Standard from Fort York, 1813
20 Frigate plans similar to the Sir Isaac Brock, c.1813
21 Ann Strachan, 1807
22 Warships after the Battle of Lake Erie, 1813
23 Battle of Blandensburg in 1814
24 Blockhouses Numbers 1 and 2 in 1823
25 John Strachan, 1807
26 Kingston’s Fort Henry of the 1830s
27 Murney Martello Tower of the 1840s
28 Fort York from the East, 1821
29 East and Stone Magazines in 1823
30 Officers’ Brick and Blue Barracks in 1823
31 Winter Dress of the 71st Light Infantry, late 1840s
32 Officers of the 30th Regiment, c.1862
33 St. John the Evangelist Garrison Church in 1859
34 Officers Sleighing on Toronto Bay, 1842-1843
35 King Street near St. Lawrence Market, c.1840
36 Canteen at the New Fort, 1887
37 William Lyon Mackenzie, c.1834
38 Sir Francis Bond Head, 1837
39 Cartoon: Liberty to the Negroes,
c.1838
40 Toronto Harbour, 1838
41 1838 Rebellion Barracks
42 Toronto Blockhouse in 1841-1842
43 Pier and Fort, Toronto, 1839
44 The New Fort in 1913
45 Old and New Forts in 1842
46 Fort York from the East in 1860
47 East End of Fort York in 1885
48 Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, c.1866
49 HMS Heron in Toronto Harbour, c.1867
50 Fort York from the South, 1865
51 Fort Niagara’s Civil War Period Defences
52 Toronto Field Battery, 1878
53 48th Highlanders, c.1902-1913
54 Colour Party of Veterans at the Garrison Church, 1922
55 West End of Fort York in 1885
56 Officers’ Brick Barracks and Rebellion Cookhouse
57 Parade at Stanley Barracks, c.1908
58 Recruits Drilling at Stanley Barracks, c.1915
59 The Officers’ Mess at Stanley Barracks in the 1920s
60 Soldiers’ Barracks at Fort York in 1903
61 School Tour at Fort York, 1905
62 Fort York in 1890
63 West Entrance to Fort York, c.1900
64 Park-Blackwell Slaughterhouse at Fort York, 1909
65 Streetcar line along the North Wall, c.1916
66 South Wall of Fort York in 1922
67 Blockhouse Interior, c.1934
68 Opening Day Ceremonies, 1934
69 East End of Fort York, 1934
70 West End of Fort York, 1934
71 Restoration of the Circular Battery, 1932
72 Fort York Museum Exhibit in the 1930s
73 Cartoon: Now They Want Reparations,
1959
74 Construction of the Gardiner Expressway, 1960
75 Mess Exhibit in the 1960s
76 Archaeological Excavations, 1992
77 Aerial View of Fort York, c.1986
LIST OF MAPS
1 Fort York Today
2 The Great Lakes in 1793
3 Plan of York Harbour, 1793
4 Proposed Winter Camp for the Queen’s Rangers, 1793
5 The Battle of York, April 27, 1813
6 Western Battery, Ravine Blockhouse, and Gibraltar Point Blockhouse, 1814
7 Fort York, 1816
8 Toronto Bay, 1818
9 Toronto During the Rebellion Crisis
10 Fort York, 1842
11 Proposed New Defences for Toronto, 1827
12 Existing and Proposed Toronto Harbour Defences, 1833
13 Proposed New Defences for Toronto, 1833
14 The New Fort as Built, 1842
15 The Old and New Forts, 1851
16 Proposed Defences for Toronto, 1865
17 Fort York, 1871
18 Restoration Plans, 1909
19 Expressway Misses Fort,
1959
ABBREVIATIONS FOR COMMONLY
CITED SOURCES
Map 1: Fort York Today
1 & 2 The BRICK BARRACKS, constructed in 1815, each contained three rooms which housed 25-35 soldiers, soldiers’ wives and children. By the 1860s, when barracks facilities were improved, some rooms were converted into married quarters with two or three families per room, while others were made into sergeants’ quarters, and another room became a school.
3 The brick OFFICERS’ BARRACKS AND MESS ROOM was built in 1815 and enlarged in 1826. It was divided into three sections: two served as officers’ quarters and the other was the general mess dining room for all the officers in the fort. Married officers usually lived in York (Toronto). There are two money vaults in the cellar, installed in 1838 to store government and Bank of Upper Canada funds during the tensions that followed the Rebellion of 1837.
4 The junior OFFICERS’ BARRACKS was constructed in the 1930s to represent an earlier 19th-century building. Much of the present building contains material from the earlier structure.
5 BLOCKHOUSE NUMBER 2, built in 1813, doubled as a 160-person barracks and fortification. The structure is splinter- and bullet-proof, and has musket loopholes and artillery ports.
6 The BRICK MAGAZINE, built in 1814, originally was a bomb-proof gunpowder magazine. However, its walls were unable to support the weight of the vaulted bomb-proof roof and in 1824 the roof was removed and a second floor was added. It then was used as a storehouse for weapons and other equipment.
7 BLOCKHOUSE NUMBER 1, constructed in 1813, could accommodate 124 people. It originally had a cellar that could serve as a magazine.
8 The STONE POWDER MAGAZINE was built in 1815 to provide bomb-proof storage for 900 barrels of gunpowder (each weighing about 41 kg). It has walls 2.2 m thick, a vaulted roof, spark-proof copper and brass fixtures, and a simple but effective ventilation system to keep the powder dry.
PREFACE
The founding of modern urban Toronto was a military event that occurred when John Graves Simcoe ordered the construction of a garrison on the present site of Fort York in 1793. Because of a war scare with the United States, Simcoe wanted to establish a naval base at Toronto in order to control Lake Ontario. In his capacity as lieutenant-governor of the British colony of Upper Canada, Simcoe also moved the provincial capital to Toronto from the vulnerable border town of Niagara during that tense period. Toronto was renamed York,
civilian settlement followed the government, and a community began to grow east of the garrison. During those early years, Fort York played a significant role in the economic and social development of the small backwoods community.
Militarily, the fort saw action in the War of 1812, most notably during the Battle of York in April 1813. After the war, troops garrisoned Fort York to guard the community from threats posed by internal unrest and, more importantly, from possible American attempts to annex Canada. The British army stationed soldiers at the fort almost continuously from 1793 until 1870. After the withdrawal of imperial troops, Canadian forces maintained Fort York’s harbour defences until the 1880s when its fortifications and armaments became obsolete. However, the army did not abandon the site at that time, but continued to use the buildings and grounds as an auxiliary facility for the Toronto garrison until the 1930s, and some military activity took place at the fort as late as World War II.
Between 1932 and 1934, the City of Toronto restored Fort York to celebrate the centennial of the incorporation of the city in 1834. On Victoria Day 1934, the governor-general of Canada, the Earl of Bessborough, opened Fort York as a historic site museum. Today, the fort’s defensive walls surround Canada’s largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings. In addition to their national significance, these seven structures are Toronto’s oldest grouping of historic buildings, forming the cornerstone of the city’s architectural heritage. Even the one reconstructed building in the fort, the Blue Barracks, contains a significant amount of 1814-period material and is an interesting example of the efforts made during the Great Depression to create employment by restoring and rebuilding historic sites. The grounds of the fort and the land on its west side encompass part of the 1813 battlefield, remnants of Toronto’s late eighteenth-century landscape, and a military cemetery. Below the ground of the fort lies a vast archaeological resource capable of significantly expanding our understanding of life in the earliest years of Toronto’s settlement.
Today, the City of Toronto, through the Toronto Historical Board, operates Fort York as a historic site museum. The fort houses various exhibits, such as restored period rooms and traditional museum galleries, as well as other displays that tell the story of Ontario’s turbulent military past. THB staff engage in the essential tasks common to operating any such institution: enhancing the collection through acquiring artifacts, conserving the collection for the benefit of future generations, developing the site to meet the public’s interest in the fort, studying Fort York’s history through archival and archaeological research, and sharing that history with as many people as possible through public programmes, tours, and special events. Every year, tens of thousands of people visit Fort York to understand and enjoy the important heritage preserved at the site. A large proportion of these visitors are Toronto-area schoolchildren who participate in the fort’s extensive range of educational services.
Surprisingly, despite Fort York’s historical importance, a general history of the site had not been produced until I undertook to write this book. My objective in the first three chapters is to narrate the story of Fort York and its place in the broader military history of the Great Lakes region. In the last chapter, my focus changes to recount how Fort York developed as a historic site between the 1880s and the present. My purpose is to provide a readily accessible study so that people can appreciate the fort’s story within their larger understanding of the history of Canada.
I am indebted to a number of people who helped in the preparation of this book. Aldona Sendzikas, formerly the fort’s assistant curator, spent many long hours tracking down illustrations, helping with research, and supplying other assistance. Within the staff of the Toronto Historical Board, R. Scott James, George Waters, Ian Vincent, John Summers, Cheryl Hart, Susan Kohler, Karen Black, Catherine Webb, David Spittal, René Malagon, David Juliusson, Stan Davies, and Bill Nesbitt (now of