GENERAL SIR GEORGE PREVOST

                        Sir George Prévost, 1st Baronet (19 May 1767 – 5 January 1816) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.


                    In 1808, Prevost became governor of Nova Scotia. In May 1811 he was advised that he would be replacing Governor James Craig

                    in Lower Canada and was sent to Quebec. On July 4, 1811 he was officially promoted Lieutenant General, and on October 21

                    he was appointed as Governor-General of British North America and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces there. War with the

                    neighboring United States of America appeared probable. With few British forces to defend a long frontier, Prevost raised several

                    regular and local units from among the Canadians. When the War of 1812 broke out the following year, these Canadian units proved

                    themselves to be valuable additions to the British forces.

                    For most of the War, Prevost's strategy was defensive and cautious. Learning in August 1812 that the British government had repealed

                    some of the orders in council which the United States regarded as a cause of war, he negotiated an armistice, but peace did not

                    result and the war resumed. During the early months of 1813, Prevost visited Upper Canada where the military and civil situation was

                    unsatisfactory after the Governor and Commander there (Major General Isaac Brock) had been killed in action. As a result, he was

                    present in Kingston in May, and took charge of an attack on the main American naval base on Lake Ontario. A victory here could have

                    been decisive but the attack was hastily planned and at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor, both Prevost and the naval commander,

                    James Lucas Yeo, attacked hesitantly. After meeting stiff resistance, they withdrew.

                    In 1814, large reinforcements became available after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Prevost planned an attack along

                    Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, but the army which he led personally was driven back at the Battle of Plattsburgh after

                    the British naval squadron on Lake Champlain was defeated. Commodore Yeo considered that the British ships under

                    Captain George Downie (who was killed in the action) had been ordered into action prematurely by Prevost, and became

                    his most bitter critic. Prevost had also made himself unpopular among some of the Army officers under his command by his

                    perceived over-caution, his niggling insistence on correct dress and uniform and his apparent failure to reward properly several

                    successful officers. He was relieved and temporarily replaced by Lieutenant General George Murray, by coincidence only a day

                    or so after he learned that the War had ended.

                    On his return to England, the Government and Army authorities at first accepted Prevost's explanations for his conduct at Plattsburgh

                    and during the War generally. Soon afterwards, the official naval dispatch on the Battle of Plattsburgh was published, together with

                    Yeo's complaints. Both these accounts blamed Prevost. Prevost requested a court martial to clear his name. The trial was set for

                    January 1816 (the delay being necessary to allow witnesses to travel from Canada), but Prevost was already in ill health and died a

                    week before it was due to convene. His widow Lady Prevost declined the offer of a peerage in honor of her husband, as she did not

                    consider herself and her family to have sufficient means to support the dignity.

                    Later historians judge Prevost's preparations for defending the Canada's with limited means to be energetic, well conceived, and

                    comprehensive, and against the odds he had achieved the primary objective of preventing an American conquest.

                    Prevost is buried in East Barnet, near London, England.