In December 1780, Simcoe sailed to Vir-
ginia as part of Arnold’s large-scale raiding
force. This was undertaken to rally Loyalist
sympathizers, raise havoc in American rear
areas, and possibly cut off Gen. Nathaniel
Greene, operating in North Carolina, from his
base. Simcoe conducted several sharp and
successful operations against the militia that
culminated in his partial destruction of Rich-
mond. At Point of Forks on June 5, 1781, the
Queen’s Rangers engaged and defeated a
much larger force of Americans under the fa-
mous Baron von Steuben. In the course of
these activities, Arnold was succeeded by
Gen. William Phillips(who died of illness)
and then Gen. Charles Cornwallis. The
British army was then running out of options,
so Cornwallis concentrated his forces at York-
town and ordered Simcoe to join his garrison.
The Queen’s Rangers were subsequently
posted across the York River with Tarleton at
Gloucester Point and had several sharp en-
gagements with French forces. Following the
British surrender on October 17, 1781, Simcoe
and his command were paroled and sent to
New York. The Queen’s Rangers were finally
disbanded at New Brunswick, Canada, in Oc-
tober 1783, but under Simcoe’s tutelage they
had acquired a reputation second to none.
In 1781, Simcoe returned to England,
where he was introduced to King George III
and withdrew from public life to live on his
estates. However, he emerged in 1790 to gain
election to Parliament, and the following year
Simcoe was appointed lieutenant governor of
newly created Upper Canada (now Ontario).
He assumed office in July 1792 at Newark (Ni-
agara) and was primarily preoccupied by the
resettlement of Loyalist refugees. Simcoe also
took active interest in provincial defense and
promoting agriculture, positions that some-
times placed him at odds with the governor-
general, Guy Carleton. Furthermore, he
reestablished a new Queen’s Rangers battal-
ion, with himself as colonel, as the nucleus of
provincial defense. Simcoe was also viru-
lently anti-American, and the United States
strongly suspected him of stirring up Indian
hostilities along the western frontier. One of
his last acts was to relocate the provincial
capital from Newark to York (now Toronto),
where it remains today. Despite Simcoe’s
brief and sometimes stormy tenure in office,
Canadians honored him by christening a lake,
county, and town in his honor.
In 1794, Simcoe advanced to major general
and was installed as governor-general of the
Caribbean island of Santo Domingo. As be-
fore, he was a vigorous administrator who ac-
complished much good. Following his return
to England in 1797, Simcoe became a lieu-
tenant general, and four years later he as-
sumed control of Plymouth’s defenses in an-
ticipation of a possible French invasion. In
1806, he ventured to Portugal to assist in that
country’s defense against Napoleon but fell ill.
Sailing home, Simcoe then learned of his ap-
pointment as commander in chief of British
forces in India. Unfortunately, he died at Dev-
onshire on October 26, 1806, at the age of 54.
This learned, scholarly warrior had func-
tioned as one of the finest light infantry offi-
cers in the American Revolution. Moreover,
the legacy of the Queen’s Rangers remains a
cherished part of Canada’s military heritage.See also
Arnold, BenedictBibliography
Benn, Carl. “The Military Context of the Founding of
Toronto.” Ontario History 81 (1989): 303–323;
Brown, Alan S. “Governor Simcoe, Michigan, and
Canadian Defense.” Michigan History67, no. 2
(1983): 18–23; Cruikshank, Ernest A., ed. Correspon-
dence of John Graves Simcoe.5 vols. Toronto: On-
tario Historical Society, 1921–1931; Danglade, James
K. “John Graves Simcoe and the United States: A
Study in Anglo-American Frontier Diplomacy.” Un-
published Ph.D. dissertation, Ball State University,
1972; Fryer, Mary B., and Christopher Dracutt. John
Graves Simcoe, 1752–1806: A Biography.Toronto:
Dundurn Press. 1998; Ingles, C. J. The Queen’s
Rangers in the Revolutionary War.Montreal: N.p.,
1956; Macleod, Malcolm. “Fortress Ontario or For-SIMCOE, JOHNGRAVES