Mrs. Simcoe made this sketch of a 'Proposed Idea for the Winter Camp of the Queen's Rangers at York,' soon after she arrived in 1793, when the Rangers were still housed in tents. North is at the bottom of the sketch; a directional arrow marked 'N' and 'S' could pass for some pen-scratches. The Camp was to stand on the west bank of Garrison Creek where Fort York is located today, but was never laid out exactly like this. The novelty of her plan is that instead of walls and ramparts, a continuous line of log barracks on two sides of the fort was to be linked by 14-foot high 'pickets' [piquets] to serve as outer defences. Near where the creek entered the lake “Canvass houses & two Huts for the Governor” were to be erected.
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Proposed Idea for the Winter Camp of the Queen's Rangers at York
by Elizabeth Simcoe, 1793
Image courtesy Queen’s York Rangers Regimental Council
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