Silver, booze and pantaloons: the American looting of York in April 1813

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Gold guineas were perfect plunder in the lawless days following the Battle of York, fought across the ground of downtown Toronto on April 27. We lost badly. After five days of American occupation, public buildings were in ruins and the treasury was gone. But how bad was the plunder of private homes? A look at the claims for compensation, p.2.

ieutenant Ely Playter, a farmer in the 3rd York Militia, wrote in his diary that he was just leaving the eastern gate L of the fort when the great magazine “Blew up.” Although it killed more U.S. soldiers than the fighting itself, ending the Battle of York, the vast explosion left Ely stunned but otherwise unharmed. He watched Major-General Sheaffe march off toward Kingston and quickly helped set fire to the dockyard, where the unfinished 30-gun frigate Sir Isaac Brock was one of the reasons York was attacked. Then Ely and a few other militiamen, with their frightened families, made their way to his father’s farm a mile or so up the Don River. The next day a friend appeared at Ely’s nearby farm with a waggon (“hearing I was killed”) so he sent his wife and children with his friend north to safety in Newmarket. It was two days after the battle that an American looting party “came to my House, Broke the door Pine Grove was the name of the Givins home, ransacked and took many things.” it was designed by William Berczy. This front section – was added later to a main structure, obscured According to Ely’s later tall. On April 27, 1813, these front rooms were the claim for losses, they blood was said to have soaked into the floorboards. made off with some sketch by Owen Staples, made in 1888 three years the top of Givins St. not far from Garrison Creek. cash and jewellery, his sword, clothing, and other items – including his regimental head-dress. He and his brother George watched from the woods until dark. In the morning he finally went down to the ruined fort to surrender and, after visiting some wounded friends, went back to find the American commander. “I spoke to Genl. Dearborn of his Men Plundering my House,” recorded there is no record Ely. “He said it was contrary to his orders and he had station’d an officer in Town to being gravely prevent it.” They both knew that private property was given explicit protection in the terms of the town’s surrender. The general assured the aggrieved lieutenant that he’d look into the matter and have the miscreants punished. Major-General Dearborn, who issued few orders of any kind, had in fact done little to discourage the pillaging. Although the town of York was virtually lawless in those cool, rainy days at the end of April, there is no record of anyone being gravely assaulted. A few American officers took it upon themselves to prevent or discourage the pillaging. The buildings of the old garrison had been ruined by cannon fire and the explosion while the legislative building, the town blockhouse and several

ieutenant Ely Playter, a farmer in the 3rd York Militia, wrote in his diary that he was just leaving the eastern gate L of the fort when the great magazine “Blew up.” Although it killed more U.S. soldiers than the fighting itself, ending the Battle of York, the vast explosion left Ely stunned but otherwise unharmed. He watched Major-General Sheaffe march off toward Kingston and quickly helped set fire to the dockyard, where the unfinished 30-gun frigate Sir Isaac Brock was one of the reasons York was attacked. Then Ely and a few other militiamen, with their frightened families, made their way to his father’s farm a mile or so up the Don River. The next day a friend appeared at Ely’s nearby farm with a waggon (“hearing I was killed”) so he sent his wife and children with his friend north to safety in Newmarket. It was two days after the battle that an American looting party “came to my House, Broke the door Pine Grove was the name of the Givins home, ransacked and took many things.” it was designed by William Berczy. This front section – was added later to a main structure, obscured According to Ely’s later tall. On April 27, 1813, these front rooms were the claim for losses, they blood was said to have soaked into the floorboards. made off with some sketch by Owen Staples, made in 1888 three years the top of Givins St. not far from Garrison Creek. cash and jewellery, his sword, clothing, and other items – including his regimental head-dress. He and his brother George watched from the woods until dark. In the morning he finally went down to the ruined fort to surrender and, after visiting some wounded friends, went back to find the American commander. “I spoke to Genl. Dearborn of his Men Plundering my House,” recorded there is no record Ely. “He said it was contrary to his orders and he had station’d an officer in Town to being gravely prevent it.” They both knew that private property was given explicit protection in the terms of the town’s surrender. The general assured the aggrieved lieutenant that he’d look into the matter and have the miscreants punished. Major-General Dearborn, who issued few orders of any kind, had in fact done little to discourage the pillaging. Although the town of York was virtually lawless in those cool, rainy days at the end of April, there is no record of anyone being gravely assaulted. A few American officers took it upon themselves to prevent or discourage the pillaging. The buildings of the old garrison had been ruined by cannon fire and the explosion while the legislative building, the town blockhouse and several

John and Penelope Beikie lived in the house in the middle of this tranquil scene to George Crookshank, a senior supply officer of the army. Thoroughly looted, the was at the corner of Front and Peter Streets; from there to the garrison was only a wide-open Detail of untitled oil on paper by Robert Irvine, 1815, 16” x 10” Courtesy Royal Ontario

painted just after the war. The large white house in the foreground belonged house was used by the U.S. Army during the occupation. Crookshank’s house field, good for grazing. A tavern stands just beyond the Beikie house. Museum 2004.85.2 (Bequest of Helen S. Heward)

John and Penelope Beikie lived in the house in the middle of this tranquil scene to George Crookshank, a senior supply officer of the army. Thoroughly looted, the was at the corner of Front and Peter Streets; from there to the garrison was only a wide-open Detail of untitled oil on paper by Robert Irvine, 1815, 16” x 10” Courtesy Royal Ontario

for wood cutting, and for deliveries of food, firewood, candles and other supplies. One important cause of loss was not considered by the commission: looting by the residents themselves. Some of these thieves were the “disaffected” – residents who were highly critical of the local government and openly supportive of the republican cause. Others were merely criminal opportunists (the victors had emptied the jail). Still others were “every house they happy to cart home supplies distributed by American officials at the wharves, was completely where more public stores had piled up than the already crowded fleet could carry. There was so much that the Reverend John Strachan, the young Anglican who seemed to be everywhere that week, was given 50 barrels of flour to distribute to the poor. While he went to find a waggon, most of these barrels disappeared. Many of the criminals and the disaffected were dealt with harshly by the justice system in subsequent months. York being a small town of some 700 souls, a few of these people were well known to their neighbours. Claimants had to report the date and place of their loss, who was responsible, a description of the stolen items and their value (with proof when available) and a certification that the claim was “just and true,” preferably by a witness to the event. They did not have to give a detailed account of their experience with the looters. But we have enough stories from a handful of claims, letters, diaries and other sources to construct a good sense of what went on in the days after the battle. “It appears that as soon as the last responsible American officer left the town,” writes historian Robert Malcolmson, “the prowlers went to work.” According to one acute observer – the sheriff’s wife – “every house they found deserted was completely sacked.” I looked at 24 claims for compensation related to the occupation 27th) of York from the day of the battle (Tuesday the until the 2nd) following Sunday (May when the Americans were all back 250 Fort York Blvd, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3K9 info@fortyork.ca www.fortyork.ca

aboard their ships. This is most, if not all, of the claims filed by citizens whose property at York was pillaged; a few other claims with absent or ambiguous dates or locations might have been included, but these 24 well represent the Upper Canadians. The only other individual losses not counted here are the possessions of the officers of British regiments that retreated from York. Each was compensated (by the army, not the treasury of Upper Canada) typically for “three found deserted fourths of his personal baggage.” Sheaffe’s own valuable personnel effects sacked” – including a dress coatee with gold embroidery and a splendid musical snuff box – were seized and taken to Dearborn. They were later auctioned off to American officers. Of the 24 claims examined, four were rejected. Patrick Strange, an assistant barrack master at the York garrison, claimed for a list of items including all his lost clothing. Strange was also, however, a sergeant on the rolls of the Glengarry Regiment of Light Infantry Fencibles – a British regiment, not militia – so his claim was rejected as inadmissible. Jacob Clock of York Township claimed he had lost five cows and two calves to allied warriors. The board’s investigation found instead that “he had sold his cattle to the enemy.” Joshua Leach, a carpenter working for the navy, claimed for the loss of a chest of tools. Evidence was presented that he was known to have had those tools in his possession after the occupation and that “he had amply remunerated himself by the share he took of the supplies plundered of public stores left by the enemy.” Joseph Kendrick lost his schooner, the Governor Hunter, that was aground near the shore and burnt by the Americans. He claimed it was worth £650. It was noted, however, that he had received £300 compensation (in stolen British army bills) from General Dearborn, which the commissioners deemed a fair value. The remaining 20 claims were almost all the result of looting by ill-disciplined American soldiers. Thomas James Plucknett, the superintendent of the dockyard that was building the Brock, was The Fife and Drum 3

the one exception. The fire that Ely Playter had helped to set also consumed Plucknett’s own clothing and household items, a claim initially rejected as unsupported (widely regarded as officious and incompetent, Plucknett had few friends). Sheriff John Beikie, like many other men in the town, was briefly a prisoner on the afternoon of the battle. His wife, Penelope, searched for her husband and son and made sure they were safe before returning to their home, which was within sight of the ruined garrison. She managed to preserve most of the family’s possessions by standing guard in the doorway with a broom. “Will you believe it?” she wrote to her brother, “I had the temerity to frighten, and even to threaten, some of the enemy.” Some American soldiers later helped guard the Beikie house and Major William Swan, a senior member of Dearborn’s staff, stayed with the family one night to ensure their safety. He was among the various Americans commended by citizens of York (including Sheriff Beikie) for helping to guard their private property. And some U.S. troops gave supplies to the destitute families left behind when the British regiments left for Kingston. Major James Givins, who was Sheaffe’s liaison officer to the warriors, was also away from home when the looting began. A party of Americans drove his wife from their house and threatened her life. Angelique was found “in great Distress” by William Dummer Powell, a prominent citizen and friend of Sheaffe’s. They soon encountered the guilty Americans. “One of them was apprehended in my Presence who had returned loaded with Plunder,” he wrote in support of the Givens claim, “& from whom a Silver Cup & Mirror was taken by the Guard.” He accompanied Angelique to report the incident to Dearborn. The general told her (according to Powell) “that it was not in his Power to protect her in her own House” on the edge of the woods, and that she should take shelter with someone in town. Reverend Strachan also saw the Americans with some of the Givins’s possessions and, the following Saturday, he and Angelique went to Dearborn to protest. The commander said there was little he could do for anyone associated with the warriors, and Strachan himself suggested – in his endorsement of the Givins claim – that “Major Givins as belonging to the Indian department was particularly exposed” to the “depredations of the Enemy.” The family’s two claims amounted to more than £388, including £50 for repairs to the house. Among the articles lost were carpets, curtains, tablecloths, silverware, books, wine, furniture, all their clothes (they had seven children), an English saddle and one “Childs Cott with Dimity Curtains.” Grant Powell (William’s son) was a local surgeon with the Provincial Marine who also left with Sheaffe’s column. His wife, Elizabeth, had fled north with their

servant and young daughter and did not return home until the following day. There she found, lounging in the doorway of the pantry, an American soldier eating pieces of sugar. Bessy Walters, the family’s servant, berated the man – but it soon transpired that he was from a farm owned by Elizabeth’s own father, a prominent citizen of New York City! They set about exchanging the news of mutual acquaintances and, although it had already been pillaged, the Powell home was secure for the rest of the occupation. After the Americans left, Sheriff Beikie rescued a few of the family’s possessions from Upper Canadian looters, but the Powells still claimed for the loss of household goods, clothing, food, and liquor. The 20 legitimate claims for compensation that were examined were submitted by a variety of people: 3rd Major William Allan, York Militia, leading merchant, deputy commander of the regiment; Elizabeth Andrews, of York; John S. Baldwin, a merchant of Niagara with goods in York; 3rd Private Henry Brown, York Militia, a messenger for the government; 3rd Private Thomas Deary, York Militia, a merchant in York; Major James Givins, Superintendent, Indian Department; Joseph Grenette, a naval artificer; Patrick Hartney, Barrack Master at fort, badly wounded; James Hinton, a carpenter in York; John Hunter, messenger for the Legislative Assembly who lived in an adjacent house; 3rd Lieutenant Edward MacMahon, York Militia, military secretary to Major-General Sheaffe; Mary Marshall, a housekeeper in Elmsley House; 3rd Ensign Edward McArthur, York Militia, a merchant in York; Joseph Nadeaux, of Lower Canada with baggage in York; 3rd Lieutenant Ely Playter, York Militia, a farmer; Thomas James Plucknett, the Superintendent of Artificers for the Quarter Master General’s Office and the Provincial Marine; Surgeon Grant Powell, Provincial Marine; Quetton St. George, a leading merchant of York; 3rd Private William Shaw, York Militia (son of Major-General Shaw); John Small, of York.

Of the two women who claimed for losses on their own, one – Mary Marshall – was well known at Elmsley House, rented as office space by the provincial government. Her claim was endorsed by no less than George Crookshank, a senior supply officer for the army and one of the claims commissioners. The other woman – Elizabeth Andrews – may have been the mother of Angelique Givins (whose maiden name was Andrews). An Elizabeth Andrews was the widow of Captain James Andrews, a senior sailor on the Great Lakes when his new command HMS

Ontario was lost in a storm in 1780. Elizabeth and her daughters, including an Angelique, later made successful land claims in Newark (that is, in Niagara-on-the-Lake). Elizabeth claimed for her “entire wearing apparel” and some heirloom silver, all modestly valued at £25. Comparing these claims to one another can be a problem. Like Joseph Kendrick’s claim for his schooner, the values cited were sometimes inflated. Other claims, like those from Patrick Strange and Thomas Plucknett, included little detail of individual items. As a basis of comparison, then, the items listed were sorted into ten categories of goods. The ten categories, with the number of claims made for each category, are: Clothing 13 Money & valuables 12 Household items 11 Beds & bedding 9 Food 6 Wine & spirits 6 Books 4 Arms & munitions 3 Damages to a house 1 Bulk tobacco 1

The end of April that year was cool and rainy and no doubt some of the stolen men’s clothing went into immediate use. Women’s and children’s clothing was presumably taken home by the soldiers for their own families or for sale. Clothing was not only the most common category claimed, it also represents the largest number of individual items stolen. Some claimants lost entire chests full of wearing apparel. Edward McMahon – who had been the Chief Clerk of the government’s offices and was living at Government House as Sheaffe’s military secretary – presented an itemized list of more than 180 articles of clothing, including 44 handkerchiefs, 30 fine linen shirts and six “pantaloons.” Mary Marshall and James Givins, on Angelique’s behalf, more modestly claimed undefined “wearing apparel.” Mary wanted a little over £35 for hers; for the wardrobe of Angelique and her seven children, an even £100 was sought. Any currency of money was a lucky find. The claims for loss were cited in Halifax currency, which wasn’t a coinage or a set of bills but a value ultimately pegged to British sterling. The coinage of many different realms, as a weight of silver or gold, might make up the value. British gold guineas, each worth a little more than a pound sterling, were highly desirable; MacMahon claimed for 13 of them, lost in his “Port folio” of morocco leather. Paper currency was then not common in Upper Canada but the war had multiplied the use of British army bills (and most of these were seized from the treasury by Dearborn’s staff, not from individuals by looters).

Included in this liquid category were small valuable items which could easily be sold. These include jewellery, watches, silver household items – sometimes referred to as “plate” and a means of storing wealth – and even tools and instruments. Mary Marshall claimed for no cash but lost three silver watches, nine silver spoons, a silver buckle and one silver medal. Many of the household items looted, especially from the kitchen and the fireplace, would have been useful on the spot as the Americans “They Broke open prepared and served hot meals in their & took away burnt temporary camp. Plentiful food, wine, every thing that spirits and tobacco was welcome indeed to soldiers who had been eating hard rations crowded aboard rolling ships for a week. The same would have been true of much of the bedding that was plundered, including the four complete beds. Pillaged from Thomas Deary’s store were 280 pounds of tobacco, eight hams, five gallons of wine and ten gallons of spirits. While William Allan was busy at the garrison the day after the battle, soldiers pried open the locks of his waterfront warehouse and made off with – according to his 1823 claim – “Six Cases of Shot, 2 Casks of best Quality Coppeas, One large Case English Soap & Box best Crown Glass, a Barrel of Gun Powder & two Casks of Jamaca Spirits.” When the Americans briefly returned at the end of July, he watched as again “They Broke open my Store House & took away burnt or distroyed every thing that was in it.” Although only four claims included books, MacMahon lost over 80 volumes, including sets of Pope, Swift and Addison; collections of plays; encyclopedias, histories and travel books;

Included in this liquid category were small valuable items which could easily be sold. These include jewellery, watches, silver household items – sometimes referred to as “plate” and a means of storing wealth – and even tools and instruments. Mary Marshall claimed for no cash but lost three silver watches, nine silver spoons, a silver buckle and one silver medal. Many of the household items looted, especially from the kitchen and the fireplace, would have been useful on the spot as the Americans “They Broke open prepared and served hot meals in their & took away burnt temporary camp. Plentiful food, wine, every thing that spirits and tobacco was welcome indeed to soldiers who had been eating hard rations crowded aboard rolling ships for a week. The same would have been true of much of the bedding that was plundered, including the four complete beds. Pillaged from Thomas Deary’s store were 280 pounds of tobacco, eight hams, five gallons of wine and ten gallons of spirits. While William Allan was busy at the garrison the day after the battle, soldiers pried open the locks of his waterfront warehouse and made off with – according to his 1823 claim – “Six Cases of Shot, 2 Casks of best Quality Coppeas, One large Case English Soap & Box best Crown Glass, a Barrel of Gun Powder & two Casks of Jamaca Spirits.” When the Americans briefly returned at the end of July, he watched as again “They Broke open my Store House & took away burnt or distroyed every thing that was in it.” Although only four claims included books, MacMahon lost over 80 volumes, including sets of Pope, Swift and Addison; collections of plays; encyclopedias, histories and travel books;

Fred Blair is retired in Orillia and intrigued by stories of life in Upper Canada during the War of 1812. He has been publishing transcripts and indices for related collections, registries, and books for several years and is regularly employed as a volunteer researcher on that topic and on local history in Orillia. Sources & Further Reading

Sources & Further Reading

he original claims are at Library & Archives Canada in Record T Group 19 as “Department of Finance, Board of Claims for War of 1812 Losses, 1813-1848.” An archival introduction and Search Help page can be found here. The digital microfilmed documents can be directly accessed here. Fred Blair has created a guide and name index to the War Loss Claims applications and generously made it available online here. This index includes the locations of the losses, many dates, and the names of principal witnesses. Richard Gerrard, the helpful City of Toronto historian, was kind enough to share work he’d done in these files while researching Fort York’s own displays on the pillaging. Some beautiful items he found in the archives that escaped the looting will be featured in a future, post-pandemic issue of the F&D. The two indispensable printed works on the Battle of York and its aftermath are Robert Malcomson, Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813 (RBS 2008) and Edith Firth, ed., The Town of York 1793-1815: A Collection of Documents of Early Toronto (Champlain Society 1962). Included are the letters of Penelope Beikie, the Givins and Allan claims, various other eyewitness accounts, and the relevant days of the diary of Ely Playter (the diary is in the Archives of Ontario, which has tweeted excerpts).

Carl Benn’s definitive Historic Fort York 1793-1993 (Natural Heritage 1993) contains a comprehensive chapter on the war in York. Various insights into the social history of the town during the war are scattered throughout Dianne Graves, In the Midst of Alarms: The Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812 (RBS 2007). Janice Nickerson’s modest book York’s Sacrifice: Militia Casualties of the War of 1812 (Dundurn 2012) – with a foreword by Richard Gerard – explores the family histories of all those Home District men who died during the war from causes related to service. The story of Robert Irvine’s 1815 painting of the houses on Front Street is told by Stephen Otto in the July 2018 issue of the F&D, accessible at www.fortyork.ca. The complicated arrangements of currency in Upper Canada are explained in Eric Wilfrid Hounsom, Toronto in 1810 (Ryerson 1970). Illustrated by the author, an architect, with a preface by John C. Parkin, it contains a useful critique of the widely used illustrations in J.R.R. Robertson’s Landmarks of Toronto series. There’s no index but Toronto in 1810 contains 33 brief chapters on every aspect of the people, landscape and society of early York and it has yet to be matched. A dated but still elegant overview is G.P. de T. Glazebrook’s Life in Ontario: A Social History (UTP 1968), enhanced by a set of very 1960s illustrations by Adrian Dingle. Two excellent brief accounts of the war as a whole are Carl Benn, The War of 1812 (Osprey 2002), in their Essential Histories series, and D. Peter Macleod, Four Wars of 1812 (Douglas & McIntyre 2012), from the Canadian War Museum. Although the latter is only the catalogue of an exhibition, both works embody the current approach of Canadian historians to the war. The Fife and Drum 7