Toronto,
The name of an Indian village when
Governor Simcoe made it the capital of
Upper Canada in 1794, and named it
York.
There the seat of the provincial government remained until 1841, when Upper and
Lower Canada (now
Ontario and
Quebec) formed a legislative union.
When the confederation was formed, in 1867,
Toronto, the name by which
York had been known since 1834, became the permanent seat of government for
Ontario.
In the winter of 1812-13 the
American Secretary of War (
John Armstrong) conceived a new plan for an invasion of
Canada.
He did not think the
American troops on the northern frontier sufficiently strong to attack
Montreal, and he proposed instead to attack successively
Kingston,
York (now
Toronto), and
Fort George, near the mouth of the
Niagara River, thus cutting off the communication between
Montreal and
Upper Canada.
As the
British had a sloop-of-war on the stocks at
York, another fitting out there, and a third repairing,
Dearborn and
Chauncey were of opinion that the surest way to secure the supremacy of
Lake Ontario, and so make an invasion successful, would be to attack
York first.
This proposition was sanctioned by the
President, and at the middle of April (1813)
Chauncey and
Dearborn had matured a plan of operations with a combined land and naval force.
It was to cross the lake and capture
York, and then proceed to attack
Fort George.
At the same time troops were to cross the
Niagara River and capture
Fort Erie, opposite
Buffalo, and Fort Chippewa, below, join the victors at
Fort George, and all proceed to capture
Kingston.
With 1,700 troops under the immediate command of
Brig.-Gen. Zebulon M. Pike,
Dearborn sailed in
Chauncey's fleet from
Sackett's Harbor, April 25, and on the morning of the 27th the armament appeared before
York.
Chauncey's fleet consisted of the new sloop-of-war
Madison, twenty-four guns, the brig
Oneida, and eleven armed schooners.
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York was then the headquarters of
General Sheaffe, at the head of regulars and
Indians.
It was intended to land at a clearing near old Fort Toronto, but a strong easterly wind drove the boats in which the troops had left the fleet farther westward, and beyond any effectual covering by the guns of the navy.
Major Forsyth and his riflemen led the van in landing.
When within half rifle-shot of the shore they were assailed by a deadly volley of bullets from a company of Glengary men and a party of Indians concealed in the woods.
Pike, from the deck of the
Madison, saw this, and, jumping into a boat, ordered his staff to follow.
Very soon he was in the midst of a sharp fight between
Forsyth's men and the party on shore.
The main body soon followed, and the
British were driven back to their works near the town.
The
Americans, led by Pike, followed closely and captured two redoubts, and at the same time
Chauncey hurled deadly volleys of grape-shot on the foe from his guns.
Heavy ordnance had been landed, and these were pressed forward with great fatigue over the many ravines.
The Indian allies of the
British, frightened by the cannon, deserted
Sheaffe, and the latter fell back to the Western Battery, mounting 24- pounders.
Pike's men were about to storm it, and
Chauncey's round-shot were pounding it, when the wooden magazine of the battery, which had been carelessly left open, exploded, killing some of the garrison and seriously damaging the works.
The dismayed enemy spiked the cannon and retired to a battery nearer the town.
That, too, was soon abandoned, and
Sheaffe and his men fled to the garrison, near the governor's house, and then opened a fire of round and grape shot upon the
Americans.
 |
|
The powder-magazine blown up by the British |
The great guns of the
British were soon silenced, and the
Americans expected every moment to see a white flag displayed from the block-house, when a sudden and awful calamity occurred.
General Pike was sitting upon a stump conversing with a huge British sergeant who had been taken prisoner, and with his staff around him, when a sudden tremor of the ground was felt, followed by a tremendous explosion near the
British garrison.
The enemy, despairing of holding the place, had blown
 |
|
Remains of the Western battery in 1860. |
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up their powder-magazine, situated upon the edge of the lake, at the mouth of a ravine.
Fragments of timber and huge stones, of which the magazine walls were built, were scattered in every direction over a space of several hundred feet. By that
explosion fifty-two
Americans were slain and 180 wounded. Forty of the
British also lost their lives.
General Pike, two of his aides, and the captive sergeant were mortally hurt.
The terrified
Americans scattered in dismay, but were soon rallied the column was reformed, and
Col. Cromwell Pearce, of
Pennsylvania, assumed the command.
The
Americans pressed forward to the village, where they were met by the civil authorities of the town, who surrendered the place, together with 290 regulars and the militia.
With them were also taker the war-vessel (the
Duke of Gloucester) and a large quantity of naval and military stores.
The loss of the
Americans in the capture of
York, in killed and wounded on land, was 269; and on the fleet, seven teen.
The British loss, besides the prison ers, was 149.
General Pike was crushed between two stones, and was carried or board the
Pert, then
Chauncey's flag-ship.
His benumbed ears heard the shout of victory when the
British ensign was pulled down at
York.
He lingered several hours.
Just before he expired that flag was brought to him. He made a sign for it to be placed under his head, and in that position he died.
The port and village of
York were abandoned by the
Americans, for they were of little value to them.
General Sheaffe, taking advantage of the confusion after the explosion, and the time purposely consumed in the capitulation, after destroying some vessels on the stocks and some storehouses, escaped with the larger portion of the regulars to
Kingston.
After the
Americans left, the fort at
Toronto was repaired, and has been garrisoned ever since, only the barracks being kept in order.
When the
Americans took possession of
York, the
Parliament-house and other public buildings were burned by an unknown hand.
It was said that the incendiary was instigated by the indignation of the
Americans, who found hanging upon the wall of the legislative chamber a “human scalp,” for which commodity
Proctor had paid bounties when at Fort Malden.
It is not pleasant to relate a fact so discreditable; but, as a British historian (Auchinleck), has intimated that the scalp in
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question—which
Commodore Chauncey sent to the
Secretary of War--was taken from the head of a
British Indian “shot, while in a tree,” by that officer when the
Americans advanced, the fair fame of a dead man demands the revelation of the truth.
Chauncey was not on shore at
York.
A few days after the capture of that city he wrote from
Sackett's Harbor to the
Secretary of the Navy: “I have the honor to present to you, by the hands of
Lieutenant Dudley, the
British standard taken at
York on the 27th of April last, accompanied by the mace, over which hung a human scalp.
These articles were taken from the
Parliament-house by one of my officers and presented to me.”
General Dearborn wrote: “A scalp was found in the legislative council-chamber, suspended near the speaker's chair, accompanied by the mace.”
