A Bad Rap
This profile is truly one of THE badasses of the American Revolution, a struggle that had more than its share of badasses. But John Graves Simcoe was not the usual badass, fueled by testosterone and a lust for blood – although the (very excellent) TV series TURN might have you think he was that and more – psychopath comes to mind.
But the real John Graves Simcoe was anything but. He was, in fact, a well educated professional officer, liked by his troops and superiors, and respected, and sometimes feared, by his adversaries. Born in Cotterstock, England on 25 February 1752, he was the son of a Royal naval officer who received a classical education at Eton and Oxford. But in 1771, Simcoe left school at 19 and purchased an ensign’s commission with the 35th Regiment. His education would place him above most of his peers as he had a thorough knowledge of classical Greek and Roman military tracts. He would soon get to put theory into practice in the dark woods and green fields of America.
Off to America
Simcoe was delayed in sailing to America and arrived after his 35th Regiment was devastated in the bloodbath that was Breed’s Hill. So during the American siege that followed, he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment where he fought in several of the engagements in New York and New Jersey. Ambitious, he had sought command of the Queen's Rangers as early as the summer of 1776, when the army was on Staten Island. But it was not offered to him.
New Kind of Unit
He must have impressed his commander In chief, Lieutenant General William Howe, who promoted him to major in October and gave him command of the Queen’s Rangers. The Rangers were once a storied unit formed by the even more storied hero of the French and Indian War, Major Robert Rogers. The unit’s star had faded along with that of Rogers, who had left the army. Simcoe went right to work drilling it in the unorthodox tactics he knew the American war demanded. Outfitted in green uniforms and tirelessly drilled to fight as skirmishers in deep woods, patrol dense forests, and conduct raids and ambushes, they would eventually strike fear in all they faced. He eventually raised the unit to around 11 companies of some 30 men each. One was a “hussar” (light cavalry) company. He also added a light infantry and a grenadier company.
New Kind of Action
With the coming of the spring campaign in March 1778, Simcoe’s new unit had its first action. The Queen’s Rangers squared off against two American militia detachments in actions at Quinton’s and Hancock’s bridges, in New Jersey. The Americans were thrashed by the aggressive actions of Simcoe and his men. A few months later the rangers gave a sound drubbing to General John Lacey’s boys at Crooked Billet, Pennsylvania on 1 May. Less successful was the attempt to trap a reconnaissance detachment led by the Marquis de Lafayette at the end of May. But things were shifting in the middle Atlantic. The new commander in chief, Sir Henry Clinton, was directed to abandon the American capital at Philadelphia and march his army to the secure base of New York City. With the replenished and newly trained Continental Army hovering in nearby Pennsylvania, Clinton knew the move posed risks. So, he called on Simcoe to help screen the force.
The Queens Rangers were in their element and performed well at their task, covering the withdrawal through the hot, humid fields and woods of New Jersey. In June 1778, Simcoe received word of his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, a meteoric rise for a British officer and a sign of more to come. The year 1779 would see Simcoe, the Queen’s Rangers, and the kind of warfare they were made for, come to the fore. A series of small actions and skirmishes took place throughout the New York region, but mostly along the North (Hudson) River. On 31 August 1778, he led a massacre of forty members of the Stockbridge Militia, Indians allied with the Continental Army, in what is today the Bronx. His men were known to burn houses, barns, and stores - all actions not unknown to American units in a war that had become one of fire and smoke.
In June 1779 his rangers successfully spearheaded the capture of Stony Point and Verplank’s Point on the North River. Simcoe’s men soon joined Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s British Legion in a successful foray against rebels at Pound Ridge, New Jersey. With two of the top three British badasses commanding, it was hard for the defenders. A series of small actions followed raids, ambushes, skirmishes, and patrols. During one foray, on 17 October 1779, Simcoe himself was ambushed and taken by the New Jersey militia. He was briefly interred and finally exchanged on 31 December. The Queen’s Ranger returned just as General Clinton’s amphibious expedition against South Carolina was commencing.
Rangers go South
In the spring of 1780, Simcoe sailed south to support the British siege of Charleston. After a brief siege, the city surrendered in May. In what may have proved an eventful blunder, Simcoe was returned north with Clinton and was soon dispatched to help Hessian General von Knyphausen conduct large-scale thrusts in the Jerseys. His talents and his rangers would have proved more useful in helping subdue the south, as would Clinton’s presence. Instead, after a remarkable start, the southern strategy would begin to unravel in the kind of warfare that demanded Simcoe and his men.
Traitor’s Partner
In another curious turn (sic), in December 1780 Simcoe was assigned to support traitor in chief, British General Benedict Arnold’s powerfully destructive raid through Virginia. He was in-part placed at Arnold’s side to keep a close eye on him. But the two talented leaders and co-bad asses actually got along well together. Brigaded with hessian Jaegers under major Johann Ewald, Simcoe’s command thrashed the hapless Virginia militia in several bold attacks around Richmond. At a place called Point of Forks, Simcoe deceived former General Wilhelm von Steuben and seized a trove of valuable supplies.
Climax in the Old Dominion
As luck would have it, Simcoe was in the right place, but at the wrong time. Britain’s eight-year effort to maintain its hold on the 13 colonies would end, for all purposes, in the Old Dominion. Frustrated at every turn in the Carolinas, British General Charles Cornwallis marched his depleted and tired army north into Virginia. There, Simcoe and his queen’s Rangers joined him as part of the advance guard. As battle-hardened as the rangers were, they, like so many British units, were finding the rebels reaching parity. Things were definitely “going south.” One example is the 26 June 1781 engagement at Spencer’s Ordinary. There, in an unlikely turn of events, the Queen's Rangers were hotly engaged by Pennsylvania riflemen under Colonel Richard Butler. The precise adversaries they were created to defeat. The rangers abandoned the field, and their wounded, and made a hurried march to Yorktown and the main army.
When they arrived at Yorktown, Cornwallis sent them across the York River to secure Gloucester Point. During the summer, the rangers were on a quiet front. This worked well for Simcoe, who had suffered several bouts of illness during the war, exacerbated by his wounding. His health was in decline.
While ill with a fever, the French blockaded the York River. A week later, the French Admiral Comte de Grasse defeated Simcoe's godfather, Admiral Thomas Graves, and the British fleet in the Chesapeake. Cornwallis's army was trapped. In September the American-French army arrived at Yorktown. Not long after some 1,000 French troops cut off Gloucester Point. The siege was on.
But Simcoe was too ill to be of service and his rangers fell under Tarleton’s command. Simcoe was not expected to live. Still, in mid-October, he requested permission to escape with his men on boats to Maryland and fight his way through to New York. He feared many of his men, being deserters, would hang if taken prisoner. But Cornwallis insisted the entire army share its fate. Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe did not die but suffered the ignominy of surrender on the field of Yorktown on 17 October 1781. He was soon paroled and sailed to New York with his unit. The Queens Rangers ultimately went to New Brunswick, Canada, and disbanded in October 1783.
Convalescent and Cupid
In 1782, the still ailing Simcoe returned home to Devon, England to convalesce. There, he met and married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, a wealthy heiress. Her adopted mother, Margaret, had married Admiral Samuel Graves, Simcoe's godfather. So it was a family affair. They had four daughters and a son. By all accounts, he was a devoted family man. Venus, it turns out, was better to him than Mars.
Author, Author
It is beyond the scope of this blog to give details of Simcoe’s post-war life in England. He entered Parliament briefly and offered to raise a ranger unit to fight the French. Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Rangers, titled "A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers" from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War, self-published in 1787 for distribution to his friends.
Lieutenant Governor
Simcoe returned to North America when he resigned from Parliament in 1792 to accept the post of Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) under Governor-General Guy Carleton. His tenacious personality, so suited to combat, kept him at odds with London. But Simcoe proved a remarkably effective and visionary leader. His ideas were progressive for the period. While cherishing and promoting British institutions, he also promoted American style economics and self-reliance. He promoted agriculture, property rights, and settlement of what was then the Canadian frontier. He built roads.
He was even-handed with the Indians, supported the loyalists, and pushed for education and culture. He was anti-slavery when slavery was still a thing in the British Empire. Fearing a war with America, he moved the capital from Newark to York on the north shore of Lake Ontario - today's Toronto. To help defend Upper Canada from possible American encroachment or invasion, Simcoe raised a Canadian version of the Queen's Rangers, with himself as its colonel. But illness would once more strike. In 1796, neuralgia and gout spurred a leave of absence to England. Simcoe resigned from his post in 1798 and did not return to Canada.
War with France
By 1797, war with France was on again and Simcoe was made governor of Santo Domingo. Simcoe faced a slave revolt with French Republican and Spanish support. He was also promoted to Lieutenant General (the highest rank in the army at the time). Illness again cut his time short. Simcoe returned to England to prepare the defenses of Plymouth against possible French invasion. Simcoe accepted command of the Western District but did not receive another active field command from the Pitt government. When the British were putting together a coalition against Napoleon in 1806, General Simcoe sailed to Portugal as part of a military mission. But his old illnesses caught up with him for the last time. He was forced to return home, where he learned of his appointment as commander in chief of British forces in India.
Lost Opportunity
India was arguably the most prestigious and challenging overseas appointment for any British military office or administrator. And Simcoe excelled at both. There is no telling how the future of the subcontinent might have fared with him at the helm. But it was not to be. He succumbed to his illness on 26 October 1806 in Devonshire. Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe was just 54. Simcoe was not the crazed character portrayed on television. Quite the opposite, Simcoe proved himself to be a learned and scholarly warrior and aggressive leader of partisan forces, among the best serving in the Revolutionary War. And a genuine man of peace who helped make Canada one of the best-governed provinces, and nations, on earth. And he might have done the same for India.
