Battle of York

43°39′09″N 79°22′54″W / 43.65250°N 79.38167°W / 43.65250; -79.38167

Battle of York
Part of the War of 1812

Battle of York by Owen Staples, 1914. The American fleet before the capture of York.
DateApril 27, 1813
Location
York, Upper Canada
(present day Toronto, Ontario)
Result United States victory[1]
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 Upper Canada
Ojibwe
 United States
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Roger Hale Sheaffe
Upper Canada James Givins
Upper Canada John Robinson Surrendered
Upper Canada Aeneas Shaw
United States Zebulon Pike 
United States Isaac Chauncey
United States Henry Dearborn
Strength
300 regulars
300 militia
40–50 Natives
1,700 regulars[2]
14 armed vessels
Casualties and losses
82 killed
112 wounded (including 69 wounded prisoners)
274 captured
7 missing[3]
55 killed
265 wounded[1]

The Battle of York was a War of 1812 battle fought in York, Upper Canada (today's Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on April 27, 1813. An American force, supported by a naval flotilla, landed on the western lakeshore and captured the provincial capital after defeating an outnumbered force of regulars, militia and Ojibwe natives under the command of Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.

After Sheaffe's forces were defeated, he ordered his surviving regulars to withdraw to Kingston, abandoning the militia and civilians. The Americans captured the fort, town, and dockyard. They themselves suffered casualties, including force leader Brigadier General Zebulon Pike and others killed when the retreating British blew up the fort's magazine.[4] After the Americans carried out several acts of arson and looting, they seized ordnance and supplies from the settlement and subsequently withdrew from the town weeks later.

Although the Americans won a clear victory, the battle did not have decisive strategic results as York was a less important objective in military terms than Kingston, where the British armed vessels on Lake Ontario were based.

  1. ^ a b Cruikshank, p. 183
  2. ^ Hitsman 1995, p. 138.
  3. ^ Malcomson 2008, p. 393.
  4. ^ Peppiatt, Liam. "Chapter 31B: Fort York". Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto. Archived from the original on June 6, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2015.