George Prevost
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Sir George Prévost (19 May 1767 – 5 January 1816) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.
Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the eldest son of Swiss French Augustin Prévost, he joined the military as a youth and became a British Army captain in 1784. Prevost served in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars and was commander of St. Vincent from 1794 to 1796. He became lieutenant-governor of St. Lucia from 1798 to 1802 and governor of Dominica from 1802 to 1805.
His tenure in Dominica was marked by a sudden raid by French troops under General Lagrange, accompanying the fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, and the raid was an episode in the preliminary moves which led to the Battle of Trafalgar. Prevost's outnumbered troops withdrew from the main town of Roseau, which was thoroughly looted, but the French left the island after three days.
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 neighbouring 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 Learning in August 1812 that the British government had repealed some of the orders in council which the United States regarded as a cause of war, he negotiated an armistice, but peace did not result and the war resumed.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. As he returned to England he was given a hasty vote of thanks by the Assembly in Quebec.
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 despatch 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.
Later historians judge Prevost’s preparations for defending the Canadas 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.
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| Military Offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Duke of Kent and Strathearn |
Commander-in-Chief, North America 1811 |
Succeeded by The Lord Seaton |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir James Henry Craig |
Governor General of British North America 1812–1815 |
Succeeded by Sir John Coape Sherbrooke |
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Lieutenant-Governors of Quebec |  |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Post-Confederation (1867-present)
Belleau | Caron | Saint-Just | Robitaille | Masson | Angers | Chapleau | Jetté | Pelletier | Langelier | Leblanc | Fitzpatrick | Brodeur | Pérodeau | Gouin | Carroll | Patenaude | Fiset | Fauteux | Gagnon | Comtois | Lapointe | Côté | Lamontagne | Asselin | Roux | Thibault Province of Canada (1841-1866) Clitherow | Jackson | Bagot | Fernhill | Cathcart | Elgin | Head | Monck Lower Canada (1791-1841) Prescott | Milnes | Dunn | Craig | Prevost | Drummond | Wilson | Sherbrooke | Richmond | Dalhousie | Aylmer | Gosford | Colborne | Durham | Sydenham |
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