Table of Contents
Home | Setting the Stage | Battlegrounds | Militia and Civilian Life
Prisoners of War | Loyalty and Treason | The War Ends
After the War | Chronology | Soldiering in Canada
Important Figures | Important Places| Glossary
Sources | Links | The Making of a Virtual Exhibit
There is no doubt that some residents actively helped American forces when parts of Upper Canada were under military occupation. Joseph Wilcocks and his Canadian Volunteers fought on the American side at Fort Erie (Wilcocks was killed during the attack on the siege works in September). Others left the province during the war for the United States, possibly out of loyalty to that country, possibly to avoid militia service or possibly to avoid the destruction visited by both sides along the border areas. Loyalty to the British connection and support for the military effort was also part of the wartime reality. The role of the militia in the defence of Upper Canada has been the subject of debate for decades. However, many served and a number were killed or disabled and provisions were made for widows and orphans pensions through public and private sources. |
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Loyal and Patriotic Society was established to raise and
distribute money on behalf of militiamen and their families who
faced hardship arising from the war. The Society heard submissions
from militiamen and their dependants and issued sums based on the
level of hardship. |
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 | On March 19th, 1814 a committee consisting of Duncan Cameron, William Allen, Quetton St. George, Thomas Ridout and Alexander Wood heard an application from John White, a carpenter from Quebec who had served as a volunteer on the Detroit frontier. “He was charged with Boats of stores by Gen’s Proctor on the retreat from Amherstburg up the River Thames …he proceeded on his route to Burlington but was overtaken by the Enemy at the Battle of Moravian Town, plundered of all his money..wounded and left for dead” The Board awarded him one hundred dollars in compensation. Click
here to see a larger image (332K) |
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John Strachan was the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto, and a leading supporter of the British connection in the province during and after the War of 1812. He was instrumental in organizing the Loyal and Patriotic Society.
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![Lithograph: Right Rev. John Strachan, D.D., [ca. 1865]](pics/s_21248_strachan_270.jpg "Lithograph: Right Rev. John Strachan, D.D., [ca. 1865]") Click here
to see a larger image (212K) |
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The Final Report of the Loyal and Patriotic Society |
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The report provides an entry for each payment made from the funds administered by the Society between 1813 and 1817. The entry for Daniel Springer of the London District reads in part:
In recognition the society awarded Springer and his family £50. |
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One of the contributors to the fund was Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe, £25, the wife of the first Lt. Governor of Upper Canada and the artist responsible for some of the illustrations in this display. |
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[Portrait of William Hamilton Merritt], 1860 |
![Photo: [Portrait of William Hamilton Merritt], 1860](pics/s_657_merritt_270.jpg "Photo: [Portrait of William Hamilton Merritt], 1860") |
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In the lower left corner on this plan we can see which parts
of land were granted to William Hamilton Merritt for his service
as captain of a company in the Troops of Provincial Light Dragoons.
He received a total of 800 acres (concession 2, lots 4, 7 &
8; and concession 4, lot 8). Click here to
see a larger image (454K) |
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The acreage allotted varied with the rank occupied by an individual during the conflict. John Kennedy from Scarborough would receive 100 acres for his service as private in Captain Cameron's flank company and Joel Judd, a sergeant in the Incorporated Militia, was granted 200 acres. Click
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Special Commissioners were appointed under the Act to investigate individuals accused under its terms. The Commissions had the authority to declare the individual an alien and thus ineligible to hold land in Upper Canada. The passage of these acts and the subsequent "Bloody Assize"
at Ancaster was the direct result of the reverses suffered by
the British in the Niagara
and Western
Districts during 1813. |
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Those inclined to support the invaders were in a position to do so, and many personal scores were settled through the destruction of property of those who were loyal or by the kidnapping of active militia officers. Many of the prisoners tried at Ancaster had been captured in
a raid by militia under the command of Colonel Bostwick on a party
of U.S. troops and Canadian irregulars near London. Click
to see a larger image (510K)
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The near anarchy in the region west of the Grand
River after Proctor's defeat at Moraviantown made it impossible
to hold the trials in that area as would be the normal procedure.
It was also feared that Justices of the Peace friendly or sympathetic
to the accused would grant bail, allowing them to slip over the
border or behind enemy lines. |
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Sir John Beverly Robinson, Chief Justice, |
![Print: Sir John Beverly Robinson, Chief Justice, Upper Canada, [ca. 1840]](pics/s_2976_robinson_270.jpg "Print: Sir John Beverly Robinson, Chief Justice, Upper Canada, [ca. 1840]") |
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It is unclear whether the full rigour of the sentence against the eight condemned men was carried out. Of the seven whose death sentences were reprieved, one escaped and two died in custody before they could be deported from Upper Canada. |
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The broadsheet would have been distributed to judicial and local
officials, so far as is known this copy sent to the Clerk of the
Peace for the Newcastle District is the only one to survive. Click here
to see a larger image (229K)
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This item comes from General Gordon Drummond’s Letterbook, which contains copies of his outgoing correspondence. |
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Click
to see a larger image (383K) Thomas McMachon served as his secretary in the fall of 1814. The authorities reacted to invasion and treason by contemplating punishment of the families of those executed or declared outlaw, though there is no documentary proof that the order was carried out. The severity of an order like this shows the depths of feeling in the province after two years of war and the kind of extraordinary measures the authorities were willing to take in the interests of security. The War of 1812 seems like a small matter to later generations but it affected the whole population of Upper Canada in a profound way.
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artime
in Upper Canada, which had a mixed population of loyalists and
more recent American immigrants, posed problems for individuals
and the government. General Brock began the war pessimistic about
the loyalty of a significant part of the population and doubts
remained about the reliability of the newcomers throughout the
war. The level of political disaffection or pro-American sentiment
in the province is difficult to measure. The refusal of the Legislative
Assembly to suspend Habeas Corpus early in the war has been interpreted
as disloyal or a principled stand against arbitrary government,
depending on the view of the writer. 
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March 14, 1814, the Legislature of Upper Canada passed three acts
as emergency measures. The first limited the right to habeas corpus
applications for those accused of treason; the second provided for
trials for treason and related charges in districts outside the
area where the alleged offences occurred; the third act, and the
one that had the greatest impact, was the Alien Act which made it
an offence for anyone to have left the province after July 1812
for the United States. 
Setting the Stage | Battlegrounds | Militia and Civilian Life
Prisoners of War | Loyalty and Treason | The War Ends
After the War | Chronology | Soldiering in Canada
Important Figures | Important Places| Glossary
Sources | Links | The Making of a Virtual Exhibit