War Stories: Toronto and the War of 1812-14
War Stories: Toronto and the War of 1812-14
A unique exhibition of first-hand accounts from the Library’s Special Collections
About the Exhibit
Initially a sidebar to a larger conflict, the War of 1812 became very real for the people of Toronto (then called the Town of York) when the American forces occupied the town in April 1813. At the outbreak of the War, “Toronto” was in its infancy and a somewhat isolated community. It consisted of a market, a church, a tavern, shops, parliament buildings and over a hundred houses on a twenty block parcel of land, about to forever be altered by war.
Exhibit Highlights:
- Letters written by local residents including the lawyer W.W. Baldwin, Mrs. Anne Powell, wife of Judge William Dummer Powell, and John Strachan describing the stress and fears of living in a time of war.
- The original handwritten copy of the Terms of Capitulation signed by the Americans and the British, dated 1813.
- The Treaty of Ghent, the first published edition of the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom.
- A painting showing a bird’s eye view of the invasion of York in 1813, by Owen Staples, ca. 1911.
- A pen and ink sketch of Lundy’s Lane and District, drawn on site of the battle made famous by Laura Secord’s legendary walk past the American troops to warn the British.
- Musket balls, medallions and other artifacts on loan from the City of Toronto, Museum Services.
