Battle of York
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The Battle of York was a battle of the War of 1812 fought on April 27, 1813, at York, Upper Canada, which was later to become Toronto, Ontario. An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lake shore to the west, defeated the defending British force and captured the town and dockyard. The success of the operation was marred by acts of arson and looting carried out by the American force.
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[edit] Background
At the start of the campaigning season of 1813, the American naval squadron on Lake Ontario was ready for action before their British counterparts. The commanders at the American base at Sackets Harbor, New York (Major General Henry Dearborn and Commodore Isaac Chauncey) had a chance to strike a decisive blow by attacking the main British base and dockyard at Kingston, at the eastern end of the lake, but they feared that Kingston's garrison numbered up to 8,000. (There were in fact only 600 regulars there).[2] They decided to attack York instead. This was the Provincial capital of Upper Canada, but it was far less important as a military base. It had a population of 625, though as many were living in settlements and farmsteads nearby.
[edit] Forces
The Americans appeared off York late on April 26. Chauncey's squadron consisted of a ship-rigged corvette and a brig, together with twelve schooners. The embarked force under Dearborn and Brigadier Zebulon Pike numbered between 1,600 and 1,800 (mainly from the 6th, 15th and 16th U.S. Infantry, and the 3rd U.S. Artillery fighting as infantry).
York's defences consisted of a fort a short distance west of the town, with the nearby "Government House Battery" mounting two 12-pounder guns. A mile west was the crude "Western Battery", with two obsolete 18-pounders. Further west were the ruins of Fort Rouillé and another disused fortification, the "Half Moon Battery", neither of which was in use. [2]
Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, was present at York to transact public business. He had under his command only four companies of regulars. The Militia was ordered to assemble, but only 300 of the 1st and 3rd York Regiments could be mustered at short notice. There were also about 100 Indians in the area.
[edit] Battle
Early on April 27, the first American wave of boats, with Major Benjamin Forsyth and some of the U.S. 1st Rifle Regiment, landed about four miles (6 km) west of the town. Because Sheaffe could not know where the Americans would land, Forsyth's riflemen were opposed only by some of the Indians, who were outflanked and retreated into the woods after a stiff resistance. Sheaffe had ordered a company of the Glengarry Light Infantry to support the Natives, but they lost their way in the outskirts of the town.
As more Americans landed, the Grenadier company of the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot charged them with the bayonet, but the Grenadiers were already outnumbered and were repulsed with heavy loss. Pike ordered an advance by platoons, now supported by two 6-pounder field guns, which steadily drove back the other two companies of redcoats (another company of the 8th, and one of the Royal Newfoundland).
The British tried to rally around the Western battery, but the battery's travelling magazine (a portable chest containing cartridges) exploded, apparently as the result of an accident.[3] This caused further loss and confusion among the British, and they fell back to a ravine north of the fort, where the militia were forming up. Meanwhile, Chauncey's schooners, most of which carried a long 24-pounder or 32-pounder cannon, were bombarding the fort and Government House battery. British return fire was ineffective.
Sheaffe decided that the battle was lost and ordered the regulars to retreat, leaving the militia and several prominent citizens "standing in the street like a parcel of sheep".[4] He instructed the militia to make the best terms they could with the Americans, but unknown to the senior militia officers or any official of the legislature, he also ordered a warship under construction in the dockyard (HMS Isaac Brock) to be set on fire and the fort's magazine to be blown up.[5]
When the magazine exploded, Pike and the leading American troops were only two hundred yards away, or even less. Pike was mortally injured by flying stones and debris. The explosion caused over 100 casualties on both sides.
[edit] Surrender
The militia tried to arrange a capitulation, but the process took time. The negotiators had to ply back and forth between the shore and the corvette USS Madison, which Dearborn refused to leave. When he eventually did so, Reverend John Strachan (who held no official position at the time) accused Dearborn to his face of delaying the capitulation to allow his troops licence to commit outrages. [2] For their part, the Americans were angry over their losses, and because the ship and fort had apparently been destroyed after negotiations for surrender had begun.[1]
Eventually, the articles for surrender were signed early on April 28. The Americans took over the dockyard, where they captured a brig in poor state of repair (the Duke of Gloucester) and twenty 24-pounder carronades and other stores intended for the British squadron on Lake Erie. The Brock was beyond salvage. By chance, another ship-rigged vessel, the Prince Regent, which carried 16 guns, had sailed for Kingston two days before the Americans had been sighted. Forsyth's company of the 1st U.S. Rifle Regiment was left as guard in the town
During April 29 and April 30, American troops carried out many acts of plunder. Some of them set fire to the Parliament buildings. (It was alleged that they had found a scalp there.)[1] Other Americans looted empty houses on the pretext that their absent owners were militia who had not given their parole as required by the articles of capitulation. Dearborn emphatically denied giving orders for any buildings to be destroyed and deplored the worst of the atrocities in his letters, but he was nonetheless unable or unwilling to rein in his soldiers. Chauncey later returned some looted property, including books from the public library.[2]
[edit] Aftermath
The Americans sent the captured stores away on May 2 but were then penned in York harbour by a gale. They left York on May 8, in miserable weather, and required a period of rest at Fort Niagara on the Niagara peninsula before they could be ready for another action. Sheaffe's troops endured an equally miserable fourteen-day retreat overland to Kingston.[1] Following complaints about his conduct by the Provincial Assembly, Sheaffe lost his military and public offices in Upper Canada as the result of his defeat.
The most significant effects of the capture of York were probably felt on Lake Erie, since the capture of the ordnance and supplies destined for the British squadron there contributed eventually to their defeat in the Battle of Lake Erie.
The many acts of arson and looting committed by American troops at York became (in part) the pretext for the later Burning of Washington by British troops.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e John R. Elting, "Amateurs to Arms", p. 118
- ^ a b c d Charles W. Humphries, "The Capture of York", pub. 1959 in "Ontario History", printed in Morris Zaslow, "The Defended Border" p.254
- ^ J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, p.332, n
- ^ John Beikie, Sherriff of York, quoted in Charles W. Humphries, "The Capture of York", pub. 1959 in "Ontario History", printed in Morris Zaslow, "The Defended Border" p.258
- ^ J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, p. 140
[edit] References
- John R. Elting, Amateurs to Arms: A Military History of the War of 1812, Da Capo Press, 1995, ISBN 0-306-80653-3
- J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, Robin Brass Studio, 1995, ISBN 1-896941-13-3
- Jon Latimer, 1812: War with America, Harvard University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-67402-584-9
- Morris Zaslow (ed), The Defended Border, Macmillan of Canada, 1964, ISBN 0-7705-1242-9
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