First Edition Published April
23, 2016
Second Edition Published June 15,
2017
Third Edition Published June 3,
2020
Copyright by Fred Blair
Additions and changes are in
blue text.
Fort Willow
June 1, 1814
In York
Estimates of the number of residents in the Town of York were:
1812 1813 1814
Men 234 158 189
Women 164 149 172
Children 305 318 330
And in York, Scarborough, and Etobicoke Townships:
1812 1813 1814
Men 210 161 178
Women 155 135 156
Children 391 380 402[1]
On the Niagara Frontier
Sometime during the month, the
British began building a breastwork on the north side of the creek on the
property of Nathan Caswell in Stamford Township. His fields of oats and wheat were “opened up”
to ease the movement of the horses and wagons used in the construction.[2]
The breastwork was a wall of mounded
earth as high as a man’s breast.
Soldiers could stand behind it and fire their muskets over the top. The earth was probably dug out of Nathan’s
grain fields, piled into the wagons, and then shovelled or dumped onto the long
mound.
June 3, 1814
At York
The only operating printing press in
Upper Canada was in Kingston. John
Cameron was still looking for parts for his press in the Town of York. His press had been destroyed by the Americans
in May, 1813.[3]
June 4, 1814
It was King George’s birthday.
The 3rd York Militia had
last made a Return on March 24, 1813. On
this date, the Return chart indicated that there were 9 companies with 12 to
111 men in each company. Ensign James
Chewett was at St. David’s and Ensign D’Arcy Boulton had gone to England. There was a total of 412 men available to be
mustered in the regiment. Sixty of these
men were officers.
The 9 companies were commanded by
John Endicott, Duncan Cameron, Ely Playter, Isaac Secor, John Wilson, John Scarlett,
George Ridout, Thomas Matthews, and William Smith.
Since March 24, 1813, 19 men had
died, deserted, or moved out of the muster area. Eighty-five men were exempted from service by
their age, a certificate from the surgeon, or because they were Quakers,
Menonists, or Tunkers.[4]
The previous Return was made on
March 24, 1813. The next surviving
Return was on December 25, 1814.
June 7, 1814
In Glengarry County
Sergeant Daniel Cameron of the 1st
Glengarry Militia suffered an accident and received a pension after the war for
his disability.[5]
June 10, 1814
At York
A
subaltern, a sergeant, and rank and file were called out for three-months duty
at York. The 1st York Militia
had 131 rank and file called out, the 2nd York, 91, the 3rd
York, 91, and the 1st Durham, 37.[6]
Ann Humberston applied for aid to the Loyal and Patriotic
Society. Her husband had been captured
at York on June 27, 1813 and was believed to be still imprisoned in the United
States. She had six children to support
and could not find labourers to work on her farm. Her husband Thomas Humberston had been a
lieutenant in the 3rd York Militia in 1812.[7]
At the time that Thomas was
captured, he was serving in the Incorporated Militia. He had made his escape from prison in
Philadelphia on April 20, 1814 but apparently had not made it home yet.[8]
Coincidentally, he was imprisoned in
the same city where he was born in 1776.
June 19, 1814
In Kingston
The Kingston Gazette published a
notice from George Ham that his wife, the former Hester Hawley, had absconded
from his bed and board on May 24th without provocation. He warned the public that he would no longer
pay her debts.[9]
On the Niagara Frontier
Captain Peter Bowman’s Company of
the 5th Lincoln Militia was employed falling timber at Burlington
until the 28th. The 11
militia privates were commanded by Sergeant Henry Hagle.[10]
June 20, 1814
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Beasley
of the 2nd York Militia reported the strength of his regiment at 754
men. He also recorded the loss of a
number of officers. Major Titus G.
Simons and Lieutenants John Applegarth and William Chisholm had transferred to
the Incorporated Militia, Captain William Bates had been ill and absent for the
past three years, Captain William Applegarth and Lieutenant Frederick S. Jarvis
had transferred to the Commissariat Department, Captain William G. Hepburn and
Ensign William Hepburn had moved to East Cornwall District, Captain William
Thompson had moved to the Niagara District, Lieutenant Manuel Overfield had
resigned in 1813, Ensign Hugh Rose had moved to Stamford in the Niagara
District, and Ensign George Detlor had moved to York.[11]
On March 4, 1813, the regimental
muster had included 502 men. Over the
last 15 months its size had increased by 252 men. Where did these extra men come from? Was this the result of Upper Canadians
fleeing from the west and the Niagara District?
In Ancaster Township traitors had
been eliminated and the farmers were prone to fire upon American scouting
parties because of the way they had been treated in 1813.[12]
June 28, 1814
In Kingston
The Kingston Gazette published a
notice from Bryer Bull that his wife, Sarah Bull, had left his bed and board without
provocation. He forbade anyone from
harboring her, from keeping her on their premises, or from trusting her. People were also cautioned not to accept two
$50.00 notes against Daniel Lyons or any other property that Sarah might offer
them.[13]
June 30, 1814
In Prince Edward County
John Young, of Ameliasburgh
Township, reported that 2 men knocked on his door at about nine o’clock in the
evening. They said that they were taking
2 boat loads of supplies from Kingston to “Presquile” but had lost their
way. As the Yankee fleet was active on
the lake, they offered to pay John to guide them to a safe harbour. When he arrived at the at the dock on Lake
Ontario, he discovered that boats were loaded with over two dozen men armed
with swords and pistols. He told them
that he had forgotten his tobacco and had to go back to his house to get
it. The armed men ordered him into one
of the boats where he met Lieutenant William Vaughan, an American pilot. William told John that they did not need him
to pilot the boats but wanted him to tell them where to find British stores and
a boat being built by George Gibson Sr. for the British, which they intended to
burn. John told them that he did not
know anything about British stores and that he believed Gibson was building the
boat for himself. The men sailed to
within half a mile of Presquile where they saw the light of fires on the shore
ahead. They took the 2 boats to a small
island to wait until the following evening.
John remained their prisoner.
At about eleven o’clock at night on
July 1st the boats arrived at Presquile where two men were sent
ashore to check for British guards.
Finding none, the men came ashore and burnt the forty-foot long vessel
Mr. Gibson had been building for the British and a storage building. They told John that as he had been such a
stubborn man and had not told them anything they wanted to know, they would
take him back to America as a prisoner.
However, William Vaughan objected to this and John was put ashore about
a mile from his home.[14]
In Ancaster Township
On Benjamin Smith’s farm in
Ancaster Township they began to plant corn and potatoes at the beginning of the
month, bought a cow from Davis, visited the salt works, cut and hauled logs,
burnt logs and picked brush, and ploughed, harried, and sowed fields.
On the 4th
Benjamin and his boys went to general militia training. On the 7th, Benjamin went to court
at “Hotail’s”. On the 20th,
Benjamin joined a detachment of the 5th Lincoln Militia. On the 23rd Benjamin and Peter
House went to Burlington and stayed overnight.
The following day Benjamin saw the 103rd Regiment on parade
where 3 soldiers were whipped. He
crossed the lake to an area where 55 men cut down trees on the 25th. They finished the cutting the following day
which was a Sunday and Benjamin returned home.
On the 27th, he returned to Burlington to cut bushes. On the 28th, they burnt the cut
trees and Benjamin watched the artillery parade and exercise.[15]
Lieutenant
Colonel Andrew Bradt of the 5th Lincoln Militia commanded a
detachment of 108 men serving from June 16th to July 24th. Private Benjamin Smith of Ancaster Township
joined them on June 20th and served until July 24th. Although Peter House was with Benjamin on the 23rd, he
was not serving in the same detachment.[16]
Sources:
[1] Edith G. First,
editor, The Town of York 1793-1815: A
Collection of Documents of Early Toronto, Univ. of Toronto Press, 1962, pages
not numbered.
[2] Collections Canada, War
of 1812, Board of Claims and Losses, Microfilm t-1131, page 950.
[3] The Fife and Drum, The
Newsletter of The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common, Volume 18, Number
1, March, 2014, page 4.
[4] Collections Canada,
War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns,
Nominal Payrolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10383, pages 1051-1052.
box MU 2192, Ontario Archives, Toronto.
[6] Collections Canada,
War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns,
Nominal Payrolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10383, pages 1053-1056.
[7] The Report of the
Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada, with an appendix and a list of
subscribers and benefactors, William Gray, Montreal, 1817, page 131, accessed
on Dec. 14, 2018 at https://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/4754
[8] L. Homfray Irving,
Honorary Librarian, Officers of the
British Forces in Canada during the War of 1812-15, Canadian Military
Institute, Welland Tribune Print, 1908, online at http://ia600204.us.archive.org/19/items/officersbrit00irviri...,
pages 67-69.
[9] Kingston Gazette, July
18, 1814, accessed June 12, 2016 at http://vitacollections.ca/digital-kingston/96888/page/2
[10] Collections Canada, War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and
Paylists, Microfilm t-10386, page 1051
[11] Collections Canada, War
of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal
Payrolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10383, pages 1043-1044.
[12] William Kirby and
Lorne Pierce, Annals of Niagara, Macmillan Co. of Canada, Toronto, 1927, page
244.
[13] Kingston Gazette, July
18, 1814, accessed June 12, 2016 at http://vitacollections.ca/digital-kingston/96888/page/2
[14] Collections Canada, War
of 1812, Board of Claims and Losses, Microfilm t-1128, pages 340-357.
[15] Benjamin Smith’s Diary, Benjamin Smith Fonds F582, Ontario
Archives, Toronto, Ontario.
[16] Collections Canada, War
of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal
Payrolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10386, pages 915-919 & 1168-1171.
End
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