George Prevost

Sir George Prevost, 1st Baronet (born May 19, 1767 in New Jersey , North America , † January 5, 1816 in London , England ) was a British officer and diplomat, British Governor General and Commander-in-Chief in Canada during the Anglo-American War of 1812 .

Life

Sir George Prevost, 1st Baronet

George Prevost was in 1767 in what is now the US state of New Jersey , the eldest son of Augustin Prévost , one from the French-speaking Geneva Republic originating Lieutenant Colonel of the British born army. George's maternal grandfather was a wealthy banker from Amsterdam , whose money was sure to help his grandson's army career. After attending schools in England and on the continent, George joined the British Army as an ensign in 1779 . In 1782 he became a lieutenant , in 1784 a captain and in 1790 a major . Since 1789 he was married to Catherine Anne Phipps , with whom he had five children, one of whom died as a child.

During the Revolutionary Wars with France , Prevost served in the Caribbean . From 1794 he was in command of St. Vincent , where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the same year and was seriously wounded in battle with the French in 1796 . After his return to England he was appointed brigadier general and governor of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia in 1798 , where his fluent French and his winning manner won him the respect of the French planters. In 1802 he went to England for health reasons, but came back to the Caribbean as governor of Dominica after the renewed outbreak of war , where he had to repel a French attack on this island and St. Lucia in 1803. In 1805 he received the rank of major general and on his return on December 6, 1805 the hereditary dignity of a baronet , of Belmont in the County of Southampton , and the rank of commander of the district of Portsmouth .

In 1808 he was transferred to Canada and entrusted the office of governor of Nova Scotia . In the background were the deteriorating relations with the USA , because of which the British government exchanged civilian administrators in the colonies for military personnel. Prevost proved to be a capable administrator who managed to ease tensions with the colonial parliament, improve defense capabilities, uphold the rights of the crown and promote the country's economy. He also increased his military fame by participating in a successful campaign to conquer Martinique in 1808/09. Granting customs exemption for traders from the New England states of the USA proved to be a clever move . This trade, illegal from the US point of view, which undermined the economic blockade against Great Britain imposed by President Thomas Jefferson , allowed Nova Scotia's economy to flourish and increased aversion to war with neighbors in New England.

Prevost was promoted to governor general of Canada and commander in chief of the British armed forces there in 1811. His main task was the preparation of the looming conflict with the USA. Due to the involvement of the British Army in the war in Europe, no significant reinforcements could be expected for the troops in Canada. They comprised only 5,600 men, of which around 1,200 were scattered in small garrisons in Upper Canada . The militias numbered over 70,000 on paper, but they were poorly armed, undisciplined and of dubious loyalty in Upper Canada, where many immigrants from the United States lived. Prevost quickly realized that winning over the French-Canadian population was central to successfully defending Canada against US attack. Through a series of measures, including the allocation of posts to prominent representatives of this group, he succeeded in gaining the broad support of the French Canadians, including the Catholic Church, and in securing their loyalty to the British crown. In doing so, however, Prevost made an enemy of influential Anglo-Canadians who did not want to accept the loss of power, influence and positions.

In the face of the overwhelming military superiority of the Americans, Provost chose a strictly defensive strategy in accordance with the government in London . A key role was played by Québec , the only notable fortress in Canada, which in the event of a US invasion was to be held at the cost of abandoning outposts until reinforcements arrived from Europe. Prevost recognized that the Royal Navy's rule over the Great Lakes compensated for the United States' superiority in land forces. After the outbreak of war in 1812, he relied on this defensive strategy. Instead of going on the offensive, he preferred to strengthen his defensive positions, wait for the opponent's moves, avoid fighting if possible and not risk anything.

His demand to cease fighting at all in order to maintain the split in public opinion in the US could not be enforced. The coup against these instructions by Major General Sir Isaac Brock , the commander in Upper Canada, against the strategically important Fort Mackinac finally brought the Indians under their important leader Tecumseh to the side of the British. With their help, an American invading army under William Hull could not only be forced to retreat in the summer of 1812, but also to surrender in Detroit . These successes were to a certain extent decisive for the war, as they had a significant psychological impact on the Americans, whose resulting, often fearful, half-hearted, and hesitant approach made Prevost's defensive strategy easier. One of the first actions of the Governor General himself was the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement with the American Commander-in-Chief Henry Dearborn , who initially ensured calm on the main front on the Niagara River . When the Americans attacked after President James Madison's rejection of the armistice in September 1812, they suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of Queenston Heights , which, however, was paid for by Brock's death. Despite attempts to achieve a more offensive warfare, Prevost, with the support of Wellington , stuck to his defensive strategy, which proved to be overall successful in changeable battles until 1814, when the Americans never managed to occupy Canadian territory for a long time. The incompetence of most of the US generals played just as important a role in this as the fighting strength of the mostly outnumbered British-Canadian troops.

Where Prevost himself was in command, he acted extremely cautiously, as in the attack on the American naval base Sackets Harbor on May 28, 1813. Here he hesitated with an attack so long that the defenders under Jacob Brown had enough time to bring reinforcements and one To make taking the place impossible. The last and most threatening US advance on the Niagara Peninsula in the summer of 1814 was repulsed by the extremely costly battle at Lundy's Lane . Was partially criticized Prevost, however, that he the fleet on Lake Erie and the standing at Detroit troops under Henry Procter did not support enough so that they in September 1813 by superior US forces in the battles on Lake Erie and the Thames River beaten and were forced to evacuate Upper Canada to Lake Ontario . From Prevost's point of view, the dispatch of reinforcements would have weakened the troops at the main theater on the Niagara Peninsula and on the Saint Lawrence River to such an extent that there was a risk of a defeat that could then have been decisive for the war.

However, the Governor General was overwhelmed by the task of going on the offensive himself when the end of the war in Europe allowed the British government to send sufficient reinforcements to Canada. Prevost was now to drive the American fleet from Lake Erie , Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain and occupy parts of Michigan in order to improve the British position in the peace negotiations in Ghent . For this he received 11,000 men from among four of Wellington's most capable brigade generals . Prevost planned a combined land and sea foray along Lake Champlain. In September 1814 he began the advance with a strong army, but stopped it in front of the city of Plattsburgh, which was defended by far inferior militia units . In order to eliminate the American naval association on the lake, he compelled Captain George Downie , the commander of the British naval fleet, with his unfinished ships to lead an attack on the US fleet lying in Plattsburgh Bay, which resulted in the extensive destruction of the British association in the Battle of Plattsburgh and Downie's death ended. The governor general was partly responsible for this, since he had promised Downie a simultaneous attack on land. But he failed to do this until the naval battle was almost over. After learning of the defeat of the fleet, Prevost ordered the retreat, ignoring the advice of his officers, who nevertheless considered the capture of Plattsburgh to be achievable.

Anglo-Canadian circles hostile to the Governor-General used the Plattsburgh debacle to launch a torrent against him, which was all the more threatening since he had drawn the hostility of many army and naval officers. However, Prevost's behavior towards some of his officers was also questionable. He not only deprived Lieutenant Colonel Charles-Michel de Salaberry of the honor he was entitled to for the victory in the Battle of the Chateauguay River by deliberately falsifying reports , but also tried to force him out of the army through a double-faced game. His dealings with Major General Sheaffe , the victor of Queenston Heights , whom he had relieved under dishonorable circumstances without the latter having done anything other than carry out Prevost's orders, was also questionable. High functionaries of the colonial administration also operated his replacement behind Prevost's back. One was not squeamish in choosing the means; the governor general proved helpless in the face of defamation, and finally the defamations worked to the extent that Prevost was replaced and returned to England in April 1815 to justify himself for his behavior in the Plattsburgh campaign, since the Canadian naval commander Sir James Lucas Yeo serious accusations had raised against him. The government accepted his statements, but a court martial of the Royal Navy came to the conclusion in August 1815 that Prevost was responsible for the defeat of Plattsburgh because he had forced Downie to fight prematurely and then had not given him the promised support. The severely weakened Prevost demanded a court martial by the army against him to restore his reputation, but died a month before it began on January 5, 1816 in London . His son George Prevost (1804-1893) inherited his title of nobility as 2nd baronet.

Since this deprived him of the opportunity to justify himself publicly, the accusations made against him shaped his image in posterity. To this day he is portrayed as a friendly, but weak and overly cautious personality and is often declared to be militarily incompetent. This image was popularized by the political myth created by the Anglo-American upper class , according to which Canada was saved by General Brock and the local militias. Contemporary sources clearly show, however, that the successful defense of Canada against immense American superiority was due in large part to Prevost's energetic and well-thought-out actions in the run-up to the war and his generally successful strategy during the war. As a field commander he proved to be less talented, but would - as the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography" suggests - his reputation as a general would have been a little better if he had been compared not to Wellington but to the US generals facing him. His great services to the administration of Canada, in particular to the integration of the French Canadians, which were recognized by the British government, since his successor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke was expressly instructed to continue the policy of Prevost, have largely been forgotten. Tragically, it was precisely these policies that exposed him to the hatred of influential Anglo-Canadian circles whose defamations have permanently damaged his reputation.

Web links

• George Prevost . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Sir George Prevost, 1st Bt. On thepeerage.com