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THE 8th KING'S REGIMENT;

A CURIOSITY IN ITS ANNALS.

Sn.G

The Remains OF A Non-Commissioned Officer m this Regiment, killed

,• AT the taking of York (Toronto) in 1813, are accidentally

' discovered at Toronto in 1894, and are honorahly cared for

BY the Officers and Men of the same Rkgimknt, at IIalikax,

Nova Scotia, after a complete oversicmt, duly kx plained, or

more than eighty years.

iijiiii-:.!;;

■Ir ift

BY the

REV. DR. SCADDING,

Aut/wr of " Toronto of Old."

TORONTO:

THE COrP, CLARK COMPANY, LIMITED,

67 & 69 Colborne Street.
1894.

■•mMPI~~<

THE 8th KING'S REGIMENT;

A CIMIIOSITY IN ITS ANNALS.

It is now more than twenty years since I prepared an account of the
taking of York by the Americans in 1813 for the pages of my " Toronto
of Old, Collections and Recollections Illustrative of the Early Settlement
and Social Life of the Capital of Ontario," where the narrative may be
seen in its proper place ; but as many persons at tho present time are not
acquainted with that work, or may not be able to gain ready access to it,
I have here given a brief abstract of the account referred to, with certain
annoi:ations appended, having for their object the maintenance of public
confidence in the general trustworthiness and accuracy of my book.

An accidental discovery of some human remains w^as lately made on the
south side of a shallow ravine or hollow caused by the course of a small
obscure stream, known formerly at its mouth where it entered the Bay,
not a verygreatl wayoflf, as "Goodman's Creek," from a fisherman who
lived near by. Tho said discovery in thil obscure place in the east part of
Toronto has given sudden rise to a discussion which has somewhat called
in question that portion of my narrative which described the interment,
or rather re-interment, in the year 1829, of the body of an oflicer killed
at the taking of York in 1813.

This re-interment was solemnly performed by the local military
authorities of the day ; and now it is asserted that a great blunder was
then unconsciously committed. It is held that the remains lately discov-
e' 3d were in reality those of this officer, whilst the body then re-interred
was that of some unknown person.

General Sheaffe, in his dispatch to Sir George Prevost (see Auchin-
leck's History of the War of 1812-13, p. 154), gives the killed as follows :
one captain, one sergeant-major, four sergeants, one drummer, fifty-two
rank and file, and three gunners.

The one captain here reported as killed, is allowed on all hands, to
have been the captain of the 8th Regiment, supposed to be interred by

■win"»,«^ii~'""

inilifcary authorities in 1829. Tlmt the hnman remains found in the
ravine near Berkeley street were those of a soldier of the 8fch Regiment is
quite certain from the number of that regiment plainly to be seen on
numerous buttons found with the remains, but *.hat he was a commis-
sioned officer of that regiment is not certain.

There was, as we see from General SheaflFe's report, a sergeant-major
killed and in the case of a non-commissioned officer of that rank the
material of the dress would certainly be superior to that of an ordin-
ary private soldier, as also would be the make of the buttons and th;
weapon carried.

This is said because some minute fragments of the dress, which sur-
vived, were supposed to be of a quality worn only by commissioned
officers, and among the bones were fragments of a sword-blade ; while the
buttons found were by no means those of a common soldier. It was,
therefore, thought impossible that these remains could have been those of
the sergeant-major, who was known to have been killed, but must be
those of the one only commissioned officer slain, viz., Capt. McNeale.*
Let us, however, for one moment allow that these were the remains
of that officer. Then, to be consistent, we are to imagine that General
Sheaffi), while on his hasty retreat down the Kingston Road, after
hurriedly hiding away the body of the captain in this convenient ravine
close to the road, failed, on his arrival at Kingston, or even before,
to send back word to York by letter or messenger, to the friends of Capt.
lilcNeale, describing the exact spot where the body was deposited, in
order that due attention might be paid to it when peace was restored.

Dr. Hackett is spoken of as t/<e surgeon of the 8th Regiment, and he,
we gather, accompanied the survivors of the Grenadiers of the 8th in their
retreat down the Kingston Road, but returned to York very soon after.

We learn these particulars from the interesting journal of Mrs. Break-
enridge, to be seen at page 434 in " Toronto of C)ld," where she also de-
scribes the pleasure of the poor, wounded fellows when told that their
own surgeon was returning, whose place, she says, had been temporarily
taken out of sheer feelings of humanity, by Dr. W. W. Baldwin, a non-
practising physician of the place. Dr. Hackett, if no one else, would as-
suredly have been ordered by General Sheaffe to point out the where-
abouts of the slain captain's remains. Nothing of the kind, however, was
done by the General, and eighty years were to elapse before the important
disclosure should take place. This, of course, is incredible iii the case of

*In "Toronto of Old," I employed the orthography "McNeil," because the name so
appeared in the public account ^ven of the re-interment in 1829. I now adopt the form
" MoNeale, ' as that appears tp be in reality the oorrect mode. Gen. Sheafife spells the name
McNeal,

such a character as Capt. McNeale, who had been the observed )f uU ob-
servers at York immediately on his arrival there, as we learn f ' m the
journal just referred to. In the case of the Sergeant-major, on the other
hand, it is not incredible ; his fate, however noble, would, ot necessity,
not excite the same personal interest among the inhabitants of York as
did that of Capt. McNeale, and hence the body luirriedly thrn9<- i"'ny
under the bushes in the obscure ravine, remained uncared for and became
quite forgotten until accidentally unearthed m the year 1894.

According to the testimony of those who saw the remains when first
uncovered, it would appear that the body had been deposited in its hiding
place in a hap-hazard manner, indicative of hasty action, in a bent posture
and with the face downwards. Persons possessed of a more perfect vision
than my own declared that the dead soldier had undergone an amputation
of the arm, the principal bone showing the action of the surgeon's saw,
and I myself, at the request of the bystanders, felt with my fi /er the end
of this bone, which was smooth, as if it had been divided by a fine saw,
and not fractured or splintered.

The theory immediately presented itself that the unfortunate man was
being charitably conveyed along by his comrades in their flight down the
Kingston Road, when it was discovered that life had departed and that it
would be of no avail to bear their burden any farther ; it was accordingly
taken aside and hidden away in the damp, swampy ground where it was
found.

The small, narrow slats, portions of which were found under the bones,
along with some rude nails, were fragments, it is likely, of the extempor-
ized litter on which he was being carried.

Experts who afterwards examined and arranged the bones, judged
that they were those of a person over six feet in height, in the vigor of
manhood, with the teeth remarkably sound, all of them points not un-
likely to distinguish a Sergeant-major in the Grenadier company of the
King's 8th Regiment.

The whole story is an amusing modern instance which might be
quoted to show how easily and how speedily plain facts in history may
occasionally be transformed, or even reversed, without any intention
whatever of deception. (It were to be wished that the name of this
gallant Sergeant-major, as well as the names of the for.r Sergeants who
fell with him, could be recovered, in order that proper respect might be
shown to them, at Halifax, or elsewhere. They might possibly yet be
found in some old orderly book or roll call, still extant among the papers
of the regiment.)

I have now to narrate the fortunes that befell the real remains of the

veritable Capt. McNeale, as attested by remembered facts and authentic
records. It will be necessary first to transport ourselves to the Garrison
Common, situated some three miles to the west of Berkeley street, where
the human remains which have given rise to this discussion were exhumed.

The Garrison Common was a fine, spacious piece of ground, cleared of
trees, extending all the way from the western gate of the old garrison al-
most to the shore of the Humber Bay. On the left all along was the cliff
overhanging the lake, with a well-worn, irregular pathway running near
its edge ; and, on the right, down to quite a late period, were woods of a
greater or less density or altitude, a survival of the vast forest that had
once covered the whole district. The clearance had l)een made when the
trading-post of Fort Rouill^, afterwards better known as Fort Toronto,
was established, so as to guard that stockade from any sudden surprise
from the Indians. (Major Rogers, who was sent up to take possession of
the post after its evacuation by the French, in 1760, states that a clearing
ol n'ouui^ 300 acres had been made round the fort.) Every square rood of
,the Garrison Common was well known to the inhabitants of York, especi-
ally to the younger portion of them, and the spot was well frequented by
them, on the occasion of militia training, and grand military reviews. On
this common had taken place the ever memorable contest between the
■American invaders and the defenders of the town, in. the year 1813.

The landing-place of the invaders, far to the west, used on these occa-
sions to be eyed with ever fresh interest ; the hummocks and digcrings
marking the site of the old French trading-post were scanned again and
again, where it had been the intention of the American commander at
firsc CO uiseaibark, when he was prevented from so doing by the preval-
«nce of a strong easterly gale.

Along by the cliff, eastward of this, the principal collision between the
American force advancing towards the town, and the British regulars op-
posing their progress, seems to have taken place ; this would be some-
where near the part of the bank or cliff where are now seen the white cut-
stone barracks. The powder magazine, which at a later period in the en-
gagement exploded with such disastrous effects to both parties, was situ-
ated still further to the eastward, below the bank, close to the western
gate of the old garrison.

In the vicinity of the modern cut-stone barracks, and elsewhere over
the whole common, there used frequently to be picked up and preserved
as relics, fragments of weapons, military buttons and buckles, small pieces
<jf human bone, flattened bullets, and even occasionally a cannon ball.

Here, on the cliff, seen of all and well known to every passer by, was
the grave of the unfortunate ofiicer so unhappily killed at the taking of

I
I

ithe
op-

York ; this was Capt. McNeale, of the King's 8th, who, with his Grena-
diers, appears to have pushed on through the woods on the north side of
the Common, with a view to roacliing, without molestation from the ene-
mies' ships, the point whore the Americans were about to land ; but be-
coiiiiizg embarrassed in some way, he arrived at that point somewhat too
late. The enemy had landed, and all he could do was to attack them in
the rear, and, if possible, rejoin Gen. Sheaffe, who had already been re-
pulsed, and was now in full retreat towards the old garrison and the
town.

An engagement immediately took place, and the unfortunate Grena-
diers were overwhelmed by superior numbers, and suffered most severely ;
when the engagement was over we have reason to know that the remains
of Capt. McNeale, who then fell, were taken charge of by the American
authorities, and committed to the ground ; this we learn from the state-
ment given on the best authority in the Loyalist newspaper, which we
shall quote more at length presently. On that occasion, of course, the
customary volleys over a dead officer's remains had not been fired. The
deficiency was now to be supplied.

The remains of the captain, the Loyalist expresslj' sets forth, were
" consigned to earth by the hands of the enemy." The same humane
courtesy that caused minute guns to be fired from the American fort in
the preceding year, while the sad obsequies of the slain Gen. Brock were
being performed in the bastion of Fort George, would, without doubt, in-
duce Gen. Dearborn and Commodore Chauncey to regard with respect the
dead body of the gallant officer who had fallen in the defence of the place,
and would mark his grave in some effective way. It would probably be
by means of a bold stake or rude headboard, at all events the grave was
well known, as is seen by the fact that when the encroachment of the
waters of the lake threatened the safety of ^.uo contents of the said j^jrave,
the military commandant at the post. Major V^ Uniett, immedip.toly took
•steps for their protection and preservation. The whole of the article in
the Loyalist newspaper of May 9th, 1829 to which so many references
have been made, reads as follows : —

" THE LATE CAPT. McNEIL.
"It will be recollected by many of the inhabitants of York that this
officer fell while gallantly fighting at the head of his company of Grena-
diers of the 8th Regiment, in deff ice of the place, on the morning of the
27th of April, 1813. His remains, which so eminently deserved rites of
honourable sepulture, were, from unavoidable circumstances, consigned to^
earth by the hands of the enemy whom he was opposing near the spot

whem he fell, without any of those marks of distinction which are paid toi
departed valor."

"The waters of the lake," the Loyalist then proceeds to say, ''having,
lately made great inroads upon the bank, and the grave being in danger
of belns; washed away, it may ^e satisfactory to his friends to learn that,
on these circumstances being made known to Major Winniett, command-
ing the 68th Regiment at this post, he promptly authorized the necessary
measures to be taken for removing the remains of Capt. McNeil and
placing them in the garrison burial ground, which was done this day. A
firing-party and the band attended <m the occasion, and the remains were
followed to the place of interment by the officers of the garrison, and a
procession of the inhabitants of the town and vicinity."

Whtiii we take into consideration the high class character of the
Loyalist newspaper, and realize the circumstance that its editor and pro-
prietor, Mr. Robert Stanton, had been, both in 1813 and in 1829, an actor
in the scenes described or alluded to, is it possible that any reasonable
man can say that the extract just given is not an authentic and reliable
record 1 As to Major Winniett himself, I perfectly remember his appear-
ance ; I am sure it was not that of a man likely to be taken in or carried
away by plausible talk. He would thoroughly investigate the facts be-
fore acting on the representations made to him by the inhabitants of
York, in regard to the imperilled grave of Capt. McNeale. Shortly after,,
when tranquility was restored, friends would surround this with a paling,
as was actually done, to my certain knowledge, in the case of an Indian
chief or brave named " Yellowhead," who also fell at the taking of York ;,
this solitary railing round an Indian grave was a conspicuous object to all
travellers northward on Yonge street, in an ancient Indian burying-ground
near the spot now known as Clover Hill. (For full particulars, see
"Toronto of Old," p. 399.)

"Major Winniett and the 68th" sound to me, at this moment, like
very familiar household words ; I remember well where the Major lived,
in a long, one-storey house on Queon street, just to the north of where
St. Andrew's Market now stands. The building had a broad verandah in
front, and it was often spoken of as Major Winniett's " Bungalow." When
the Major and the 68th were here, I was a boy in attendance at the old
District Grammar School and was daily mixed up with the sons or other
junior relatives of many who had been present at the " capture " of York
—with the sons of Colonel Givins for example, the sons of Dr. Strachan,
Rector of York in 1813, the Fitzgibbon boys, the two Fullers (Thomas
and William), Allan and James Macdonell, William and St. George
Baldwin, and others; and I distinctly remember when Major Winniett's

ire paid to<

r, "having,
; in danger
learn that
command-
> necessary
[cNeil and
.8 day. A
nains were
son, and a

ter of the
)r and pro-
l9, an actor
reasonable
nd reliable
his appear-
i or carried
e facts be-
ibitants of
lortly after,.
1 a paling,
an Indian
g of York ;,
bject to all
ing-ground
culars, see

)ment, like
'ajor lived,
of where
erandah in
w." When
at the old
ts or other
" of York
Strachan,
•s (Thorn a»
st. George
Winniett's

proposed removal of the killed oificer's remains from thd edge of the cliflF
to the military burying grounds was excitedly talked of amongst us, and
had there been the slightest inkling of a suspicion on the part of any of
us or of any friends or relatives at home, as to their genuineness, I should
certainly have heard of it, and should certainly at this moment vividly re-
call it, verging so closely on the ludicrous as the thing M'ould have been,
if the suspicion had proved true, but there was no misgiving of this kind
suggested from any quarter, and accordingly we may be quite sure that
*' the inhabitants of the town and vicinity," who, as the Loyalist news-
paper of the time tells us, followed ia procession after Major Winniett's
firing party, did so with the feeling that they were simply performing a
serious duty in honor of a gallant ofiicer whom they had all seen and
known.

In that procession would be walking Mr. Robert Stanton, afterwards
King's Printer and then editor of the Loyalist newspaper, who, on going
back to town, on the very same day penned the article in his paper now
before me, which speaks of the proceedings there narrated as taking place
on " that day," viz., May 9th, 1829.

Mr. Stanton's name appears in the list of those who were to be nomin-
ally held as prisoners of war by General Dearborn and Commodore
Chauncey after the taking of York (April 27th, 1813) ; the same list com-
prised the names of many others who would probably make a point of
attending Capt. McNeale's obsequies on the Garrison Common. A lapse
of sixteen years had produced very little change in the mental and bodily
activity of Lieut.-Col. Chewett, for example ; or Major Allen ; or of Cap-
tains Duncan Cameron, John Robinson (afterwards Attorney-General and
Chief Justice), Samuel Ridout, William Jarvis (the future sheriflf) ; or of
Lieutenants George Ridout, Edward McMahon, Eli Playter, Robert
Stanton (it is here that his name occurs) ; or of Ensigns Andrew Mercer,
James Chewett, Chas. Denison, Geo, Denison or D'Arcy Boulton. I have
omitted a few names of persons not so well remembered, but all those
who have been given, were to my certain knowledge and recollection liv-
ing and moving conspicuously in and about York in the year 1829, and
would be very likely, as I conceive, to make their way to the Garrison
Common to witness and take part in the interesting ceremonies which
were to take place, and which without doubt did take place there, on the
9th of May, 1829.

All parties may therefore with a full confidence continue in the belief
which was undisturbed down to the year 1894, that the remains of Capt.
McNeale, of the 8th, at this moment rest in peace in the a jient military
burying ground of York (i.e. , Toronto).

It is to be regretted that when a portion of that burying ground was
transformed into a public ornamental park for the use of the citizens, a
number of the memorial objects therein contained were thoughtlessly
destroyed or sodded over, and in this way whatever token of remembrance
Major Winniett may have caused to be set up, has been unfortunately lost
to view.

On the interior walls of the adjoining church, St. John the Evangelist,
Toronto, there are already to be seen several military memorials in the
form of a suitably inscribed brass plate. Another, in memory of Capt.
McNeale, whose remains must be resting at a distance not many yards off,
would be a very proper addition.

vround was
i citizens, a
oughtlessly
membrance
inately lost

Evangelist,
rials in the
ry of Capt.
y yards oflf,

#•