Located near the heart of Toronto lies a place that houses Canada’s largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings. Beginning in 1793 when the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, planned to establish a naval base, due to war scares, in Toronto to gain control of Lake Ontario and built a garrison on the present site of Fort York. However, the buildings deteriorated quickly and his successors built new barracks 100 meters east of the present site. Unfortunately the garrison did not have strong defences.

On April 27, 1813, the U.S. Army and Navy attacked York with overwhelming odds; 750 British, Canadians, Mississaugas and Ojibways with twelve cannons against 2,700 Americans on fourteen ships and schooners with 85 cannons. The battle ended after six hours when British commander, Major-General Sir Roger Sheaffe, blew up the fort’s gun powder magazine and retreated east. The blast wounded and killed 250 Americans including their field commander, Brigadier-General Zebulon Pike.

The Americans remained at York for six days, looting homes, destroying supplies, and burned buildings. The bodies of the American soldiers were buried in one or more collective graves and Pike’s body was taken back to Sackett’s Harbour, New York in a barrel of rum. The British however, were buried in a shallow grave close to the shoreline. A week of constant rain soaked the ground, washing away the soil exposing the dead. They were soon given proper burials.

In July of 1813, the Americans returned to burn barracks and other buildings they missed. Shortly afterwards, the British rebuilt Fort York on the original Simcoe and current site. By August 1814, the fort was strong enough to defend against the U.S when they tried to enter the Toronto Bay. By December the war was over but Fort York would not find out until February of 1815.

After the war, the British army continued to garrison the fort, but by 1841 majority of the troops moved to the new barracks one kilometer west. The fort was never fully abandoned, Canadian troops maintained the harbour defences until 1880, and then used the fort for training purposes up until the 1930s. Between 1932-1934 the City of Toronto restored the fort and on Victoria Day 1934, Fort York opened as a historic site museum.

Today when walking through the fort you are not only walking through history but standing on battle grounds where hundreds of men have lost their lives fighting for what they believed in. Fort York offers tours of the grounds, historic cooking classes, demonstrations, festivals and their After Dark Lantern Tours, where guides retail the haunted stories that surround the fort.

Old Garrison Burying Ground

What lies beneath Victoria Square is the oldest surviving European burying ground in Toronto. Between the years 1825 and 1850, it was recorded that 122 women and children along with 118 men were laid to rest. However, the first recorded burial of the location was on April 21, 1794, belonging to Katherine Simcoe (18 months old), the seventh child of Lieut-Governor Simcoe and his wife, Elizabeth. During the War of 1812, York was used as a hospital stop for men wounded during the battlefields of Niagara, it wasn’t uncommon to bury up to eight men a day.

One legend belongs to Lieut-Col. Francis Battersby and his horses. It is said that the horses were either shot by Battersby himself or by people he hired and the remains of the horses are buried somewhere on the grounds. It is said on certain nights you can still hear the horses going by.

Centre Blockhouse

Sometimes referred to as No. 2 Blockhouse. It was not only used as 160-persons barrack but also fortification. The building is made of heavy timbers to protect the occupants from bullets, as well as had loopholes to allow them to fire back. Until the 1820s the only door was on the second floor to discourage attackers.

One story surrounds the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on Toronto Island. The first lighthouse keeper, John Paul Radelmuller was also known for his bootlegged beer that he often sold to the soldiers over at Fort York. In January 1815, soldiers went over and Radelmuller was never seen again. Some believe a fight broke out and the soldiers murder and dismembered and buried the body near the lighthouse.