History of cities in Canada located. The British purchased of land from the native peoples in 1787 and Governor John Graves Simcoe chose the site for the capital (which he named York) of the newly created Upper Canada. Concerned with military transportation to protect the new colony from US attack, he built roads west to what is now Windsor, east towards Montreal, and north, the present day Yonge Street. York was attacked and burned to the ground by the American Army in 1813 and the Canadians, in retaliation, attacked and burned the White House in Washington to the ground in 1814. Another US attack that
Battle of Lacolle Mills (1814) Battle of Lacolle Mills (1814) The Battle of Lacolle Mill was fought on 30 March 1814 during the War of 1812. The small garrison of a British outpost position, aided by reinforcements, fought off a large American attack. After the St. Lawrence campaign had ended late the previous year with the British victory at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, the defeated American Army under Major General James Wilkinson went into winter quarters at French Mills, New York, only just inside the United States. The British commanders feared that the Americans could threaten the British line of communication along the St.