John Graves Simcoe

Military career in the American Revolutionary War

In 1770, Simcoe entered the British Army as an ensign in the 35th Regiment of Foot, and his unit was dispatched to the Thirteen Colonies. Later, he saw action in the American Revolutionary War during the siege of Boston. After the siege, in July 1776, he was promoted captain in the 40th Regiment of Foot. He saw action with the grenadier company of the 40th Foot in the New York and New Jersey campaign and the Philadelphia campaign. Simcoe commanded the 40th's Grenadiers at the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777, where he was wounded. Legend has it that Simcoe ordered his men at Brandywine not to fire upon three fleeing rebels, among whom was George Washington.

In 1777, Simcoe sought to form a Loyalist regiment of free blacks from Boston, but instead was offered the command of the Queen's Rangers formed on Staten Island on 15 October 1777. It was a well-trained light infantry unit comprising 11 companies of 30 men—1 grenadier, 1 hussar, and the rest light infantry. The Queen's Rangers saw extensive action during the Philadelphia campaign, including a successful surprise attack (planned and executed by Simcoe) at the Battle of Crooked Billet.

In 1778, Simcoe led an attack on Judge William Hancock's house during a foraging expedition opposed by Patriot militia. Hancock was also killed, although he was not with the Americans. The attack took place at night and with bayonets. On 28 June of that year, Simcoe and his Queen's Rangers took part in the Battle of Monmouth, in and near Freehold, New Jersey.

On 31 August 1778, Lieut. Col. Simcoe earned a victory over Daniel Nimham's Native American force serving under the Continental Army as the Stockbridge Militia in the Battle of Kingsbridge (also known as the "Stockbridge Massacre"). The skirmish had been planned by Simcoe for an earlier ambush by the same unit, and took place in what today is Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. The battlefield is recognized as the Indian Field there.

On 26 October 1779, Simcoe and 80 men launched an attack on central New Jersey from southern Staten Island known as Simcoe's Raid, from what is known today as the Conference House, resulting in the burning of Patriot supplies inside a Dutch Reformed Church in Finderne, including hay and grain; the release of Loyalist prisoners from the Somerset County Courthouse; and Simcoe's capture by Armand Tuffin de La Rouërie. Simcoe was released at the end of 1779 and rejoined his unit in Virginia. He participated in the Raid on Richmond with Benedict Arnold in January 1781 and was involved in a skirmish near Williamsburg and was at the siege of Yorktown. He was invalided back to England in December of that year as a lieutenant-colonel, having been promoted in March 1782.

Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Queen's Rangers, titled A Journal of the Operations of the Royal Queen's Rangers from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War, which was published in 1787. He served briefly as Inspector General of Recruitment for the British Army, from 1789 until he departed for Upper Canada two years later.

Marriage and family

Simcoe convalesced at the Devon home of his godfather, Admiral Samuel Graves. In 1782, Simcoe married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, his godfather's ward. Elizabeth was a wealthy heiress who acquired a 5,000-acre (2,000 ha) estate at Honiton in Devon and built Wolford Lodge. Wolford was the Simcoe family seat until 1923.

The Simcoes had five daughters before their posting in Canada. Their son Francis was born in 1791. Their Canadian-born daughter, Katherine, died in infancy in York. She is buried in the Victoria Square Memorial Park on Portland Avenue, Toronto. Francis returned with his father to England when his tenure expired and joined the army. He was killed in an infantry charge during the Peninsular War in 1812. Their other son Henry Addington Simcoe became an English theologian.

Member of Parliament

Simcoe entered politics in 1790. He was elected Member of Parliament for St Mawes in Cornwall, as a supporter of the government (led by William Pitt the Younger). As MP, he proposed raising a militia force like the Queen's Rangers. He also proposed to lead an invasion of Spain. But instead, he was to be made lieutenant governor of the new loyalist province of Upper Canada. He resigned from Parliament in 1792 on taking up his new post.

Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada

The Constitutional Act 1791 divided Canada into the Provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). The Act established separate governments and legislative assemblies for each province. Lower Canada was the French-speaking eastern portion, which retained the French civil law and protections for the Roman Catholic Church established when Britain took over the area after its defeat of the French in the Seven Years' War. Upper Canada was the western area, newly settled after the American Revolutionary War. The settlers were mostly English speakers, including Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies, and also the Six Nations of the Iroquois, who had been British allies during the war. The Crown had purchased land from the Mississauga and other First Nations to give the Loyalists land grants in partial compensation for property lost in the United States, and to help them set up new communities and develop this territory.

Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant-Governor on 12 September 1791, and left for Canada with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Sophia, leaving three daughters behind in England with their aunt. They left England in September and arrived in Canada on 11 November. Due to severe weather, the Simcoes spent the winter in Quebec City. Simcoe finally reached Kingston, Upper Canada on 24 June 1792.

In a proclamation on 16 July 1792, he renamed several islands at the mouth of the archipelago at the head of the St. Lawrence River to commemorate the British generals of the Seven Years' War (Amherst Island, Carleton Island, Gage Island, Wolfe Island, and Howe Island).

Under the Constitutional Act, the provincial government consisted of the Lieutenant-Governor, an appointed Executive Council and Legislative Council, and an elected Legislative Assembly. The first meeting of the nine-member Legislative Council and sixteen-member Legislative Assembly took place at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) on 17 September 1792.

Following Simcoe's work, precipitated by the Chloe Cooley incident, the Assembly passed the Act Against Slavery in 1793, the first legislation to limit slavery in the British Empire; the English colonists of Upper Canada took pride in this distinction with respect to the French-Canadian populace of Lower Canada. The Upper Canadians valued their common law legal system, as opposed to the civil law of Quebec, which had chafed them ever since 1763. This was one of the primary reasons for the partition of 1791. Simcoe collaborated extensively with his Attorney-General John White on the file.

The principles of the British Constitution do not admit of that slavery which Christianity condemns. The moment I assume the Government of Upper Canada under no modification will I assent to a law that discriminates by dishonest policy between natives of Africa, America, or Europe.

— John Graves Simcoe, Address to the Legislative Assembly

However, this Act did not free anybody directly, and slaves continued to be held across Upper Canada. The Crown abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, including Upper Canada, in 1834.

Simcoe realised that Newark made an unsuitable capital because it was on the Canada–US border and subject to attack. He proposed moving the capital to a more defensible position, in the middle of Upper Canada's southwestern peninsula between Lake Erie and Lake Huron. He named the new location London, and renamed the river there the Thames in anticipation of the change. Dorchester rejected this proposal, but accepted Simcoe's second choice, the present site of Toronto. Simcoe moved the capital there in 1793 and renamed the settlement York after Frederick, Duke of York, King George III's second son. The town was severely underdeveloped at the time of its founding, so he brought with him politicians, builders, Nova Scotia timbermen, and Englishmen skilled in whipsawing and cutting joists and rafters.

Simcoe began construction of two roads through Upper Canada, for defence and to encourage settlement and trade. Yonge Street (named after British Minister of War Sir George Yonge) ran north–south from York to Lake Simcoe. Soldiers of the Queen's Rangers began cutting the road in August 1793, reaching Holland Landing in 1796. Dundas Street (named for Colonial Secretary Henry Dundas) ran east–west, between York and London.

Conflict with the United States

Simcoe's priority was the Northwest Indian War between the United States and the "Western Confederacy" of Native Americans west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of the Great Lakes (the Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot, and other tribes). This conflict had begun in 1785 and was still raging when Simcoe arrived in 1792. Simcoe had hoped to form an Indian barrier state between the two countries, even though he distrusted Joseph Brant, the main Indian leader. Simcoe rejected the section of the Treaty of Paris (1783) which awarded that area to the US, because American actions had nullified the treaty. However, the French Revolutionary Wars broke out in 1793. The government in London decided to seek good terms with the United States. Simcoe was instructed to avoid giving the US reason to mistrust Britain, but, at the same time, to keep the Natives on both sides of the border friendly to Britain. The Indians asked for British military support, which was initially refused, but in 1794 Britain supplied the Indians with rifles and ammunition.

In February 1794, the governor general, Lord Dorchester, expecting the US to ally with France, said that war was likely to break out between the US and Britain before the year was out. This encouraged the Indians in their war. Dorchester ordered Simcoe to rally the Indians and arm British vessels on the Great Lakes. He also built Fort Miami (present-day Maumee, Ohio) to supply the Indians. Simcoe expelled Americans from a settlement on the southern shore of Lake Erie, which had threatened British control of the lake. US President Washington denounced the "irregular and high-handed proceeding of Mr. Simcoe." While Dorchester planned for a defensive war, Simcoe urged London to declare war: "Upper Canada is not to be defended by remaining within the boundary line." Dorchester was officially reprimanded by the Crown for his strong speech against the Americans in 1794.

The Northwest Indian War ended after the United States defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. They made peace under the Treaty of Greenville. While still at war with France, Britain could not afford to antagonise the US in the Jay Treaty of 1794, and agreed to withdraw north of the Great Lakes, as agreed in the Treaty of Paris. Simcoe evacuated the frontier forts.

Later career

In 1794, Simcoe was appointed to the rank of major general. In July 1796, poor health (gout and neuralgia) forced him to return to Britain. He was unable to return to Upper Canada and resigned his office in 1798.

From October 1796 until March 1797, Simcoe briefly served as the commander of the British expeditionary force which was dispatched to capture the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which was in the midst of the Haitian Revolution. After assuming control of the British forces in Saint-Domingue, Simcoe was attacked by troops under the command of Black general Toussaint Louverture, who at the time was fighting for the French Republic. An assault on the British-held town of Saint-Marc was repulsed, though Louverture's forces captured Mirebalais and the Central Plateau. Simcoe was eventually replaced as leader of the expeditionary force in March.

Simcoe was appointed colonel of the 81st Foot in 1798, but exchanged the position for the 22nd Foot less than six months later.

Simcoe was appointed commander-in-chief in India in 1806, but he fell ill on his way there. He returned to England, where he died. He was buried in Wolford Chapel on the Simcoe family estate near Honiton, Devon. The Ontario Heritage Foundation acquired title to the chapel in 1982.

Many of Simcoe's personal effects, including his sword, sabre, and walking cane, may be viewed by appointment at the Archives of Ontario in Toronto. Elizabeth Simcoe's personal effects and hundreds of her watercolour paintings are also available there.

Legacy

• In the winter of 1779, the first known Valentine's Day letter in America was given by then Lieutenant Colonel John Simcoe to Sarah 'Sally' Townsend.
• Simcoe Street in Oyster Bay, New York, is named after him for his destruction of a vast apple orchard and reconstruction of a hill fort on the site.
• Act Against Slavery passed in 1793, leading to the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada by 1810. It was superseded by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 that abolished slavery across the British Empire.
• Simcoe named London, Ontario and the River Thames in Upper Canada.
• He named Lake Simcoe and Simcoe County to the west and north of Lake Simcoe in honour of his father.
• Simcoe named his summer home Castle Frank for his first son, Francis Gwillim, who was preceded by eight daughters. (It is in what is now named Rosedale, a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.)
• The Ontario Heritage Foundation placed a plaque in Exeter's cathedral precinct to commemorate his life.
• Simcoe's regiment is still called the Queen's York Rangers, now an armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Forces reserves.

Many places in Canada were named in honour of Simcoe:

• The town of Simcoe in southwestern Ontario
• The Simcoe Fairgrounds in Simcoe
• Civic Holiday, a statutory holiday celebrated throughout Canada under a variety of names by region, was established in honour of Simcoe by the Toronto City Council in 1869. Other Ontario municipalities and then other provinces soon took up the holiday as well, leading to its Canada-wide status, but without any attribution to Simcoe. In 1965, the Toronto City Council declared the holiday would henceforth be known as Simcoe Day within Toronto. Attempts have been made to have the official provincial name—still Civic Holiday—amended, but none have succeeded.
• Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario
• Governor Simcoe Public School. Grades K – 8, in London, Ontario. The now closed and demolished school was located at the corner of Simcoe and Clarence Streets.
• Three parallel streets in downtown Toronto, John Street, Graves Street, and Simcoe Street, are all located near the fort where Simcoe lived during his early years in York and were named for him. Graves Street was later renamed Duncan Street.
• Simcoe Street, Simcoe Street United Church, and Simcoe Hall Settlement House in Oshawa.
• Simcoe Street in New Westminster and Simcoe Park was named by Colonel Moody in reference to the surveying of the area after the city of Toronto.
• Simcoe Street, Simcoe Street School, and the Simcoe Street School Tigers Bantam Baseball Team of Niagara Falls
• Simcoe Island, located near Kingston, Ontario
• Simcoe Hall, located on the St. George campus of the University of Toronto
• John Graves Simcoe Armoury, located on Industrial Parkway in Aurora, Ontario
• Governors Road, a named section of Ontario Highway 99 running between Dundas, Ontario and Paris, Ontario

Two places have been named for Simcoe with the title Lord, even though Simcoe was never a Lord in his lifetime:

• Lord Simcoe Drive in Brampton, Ontario
• Lord Simcoe Hotel, which operated from 1956 to 1981

Captain John Kennaway Simcoe, the last member of the Simcoe family, died without issue in 1891 and was survived by his widow beyond 1911.

In popular culture

A fictionalised version of John Graves Simcoe is a primary antagonist in the 2014–2017 AMC drama Turn: Washington's Spies, portrayed by Samuel Roukin. He is portrayed in the series as a cruel and ruthless sociopath.

Despite the strong fictionalisation of the namesake TV-show character, several biographical aspects of the latter's historical counterpart appear to have been adapted for and transferred onto the fictional character Edmund Hewlett. For instance, Hewlett's romantic ambitions regarding Anna Strong in the series resemble Simcoe's courtship of Sarah Townsend, sister of Culper Ring spy Robert Townsend, for whom he wrote a poem that is thought to be the first verifiable valentine on the North American continent. It is presumed that Townsend, much like the fictionalised portrayal of Anna Strong on Turn, may have gathered and passed on intelligence gleaned from her unsuspecting suitor to the Culper Ring.

Similarly, Hewlett's close bond with his horse Bucephalus (presumably named after Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander the Great) which overarches all four seasons, appears to have been inspired by history: in 1783, John Graves Simcoe sent a series of letters to New York to find the horse he had ridden on campaign, Salem. Salem was located, and Simcoe subsequently paid the considerable sum of £40 to have him shipped to England and thus returned to him. Shortly before his departure to Upper Canada, almost a decade later, it is reported he was greatly concerned for Salem's welfare in his absence, therefore making arrangements for the latter's care and upkeep.