John Graves Simcoe was an effective soldier during the American Revolution and, later, a respected colonial administrator during his time in Canada (specifically as Lt. Gov. of Upper Canada - now Ontario.) The Governor-General of the Canadas was based in Quebec and would have been Simcoe's superior.

First, let's start with all the inaccuracies surrounding this history. The story described about burning a church with civilians inside sounds very much like that infamous scene in the movie The Patriot, orchestrated by the fictional British officer Tavington (himself very loosely based on Banastre Tarleton, a leader of a Loyalist unit, the British Legion, with a reputation for giving no quarter). The scene was lifted from an actual atrocity that the Nazis committed in France ... in WWII. This sensational account didn't happen in the revolution.

Simcoe had sought to form an all-black regiment in Boston at the start of the revolution. Instead, he was given command of the Queen's Rangers, a Loyalist unit of militia. The Queen's Rangers (or, Simcoe's Rangers) would become one of the most effective Loyalist units during the American Revolution and a bona fide scourge of the Patriots at the time. They were involved in the Siege of Boston, the campaigns in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and in Yorktown when he was captured, as the tide of war turned against the British.

He and the Rangers were involved in various attacks and raids, often behind enemy lines, one of which did involve the burning of a Dutch Reformed church in 1779 in New Jersey that contained Patriot supplies. A night-time ambush of Patriots at Hancock House in 1778, also in New Jersey, has often been described as a "massacre" by Patriots themselves and, later, in many American accounts of the war.

Such acts, while tactically effective in disrupting Patriot activities and supplies, also helped to cast all Loyalist militia in a negative light among the rebels. Benedict Arnold's betrayal of the Patriot cause and switching sides also helped to demonize the Loyalist/Tory cause in many American histories of the war. In many ways, the revolution was America's first "civil war", pitting brother against brother and dividing neighbours.

These acts would now be considered guerrilla warfare, but such tactics were seen as acceptable under 18th-century rules of war -- acts that both sides engaged in. State-sponsored persecution and mob violence against mostly poorer civilian Loyalists and their families occurred throughout the revolution -- their property taken, burned or destroyed, their civil liberties trampled on and their livelihoods ruined.

Both sides also have accounts of maiming or killing enemy soldiers after surrender or capture, which did violate the rules of war. Historians generally acknowledge that the rebels likely broke more rules of war than the British.

The wildly inaccurate portrayal of Simcoe on the recent tv series TURN was also tantamount to a character assassination, portraying him as sadistic, bloodthirsty and without scruples aka the stereotypically "evil" British officer suppressing the "good" Patriots. The show briefly tried to circle back to his destiny as a colonial administrator in a half-hearted attempt to acknowledge his historical fate, but the damage was already done.

You would be hard-pressed to find much information in American textbooks about Simcoe's life after the war and the exiled Loyalists who moved to Canada, or Simcoe's efforts in establishing the new colony of Upper Canada and in abolishing slavery there in 1793. The Loyalist cause doesn't factor in America's post-revolution story -- while in Canada, it is a fundamental part of Canada's journey to nationhood.

So, in a nutshell, Simcoe has endured a lot of slander and pop culture myth-making because he was, historically, very good at his job as a soldier. It just so happens that the victors of the revolution were at the receiving end of his efforts, hence the muckraking.

His deeds during the war were typical of the guerrilla tactics at the time and need to be viewed in this historical context.