Some Account of the Public Life of the Late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Bart.: Particularly of His Services in the Canadas, Including a Reply to the Strictures on His Military Character, Contained in an Article in the Quarterly ReviewBrenton, E. B.
History
Some Account of the Public Life of the Late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Bart.: Particularly of His Services in the Canadas, Including a Reply to the Strictures on His Military Character, Contained in an Article in the Quarterly Review
Brenton, E. B.
Prevost, George, 1767-1816; United States -- History -- War of 1812
In the month of August Sir George Prevost again repaired to Montreal, in
order that he might be ready to take the field, should the movements of
General Dearborn, who commanded the enemy's forces on that frontier,
indicate any intention of attacking our line of defence, which had been
entrusted to the charge of Major-General de Rottenburg. General Dearborn
having, on the 16th November, advanced from Plattsburg to Champlain town,
close upon our frontier line, thereby threatening the front of
Major-General de Rottenburg's position, Sir George Prevost, upon the
receipt of this intelligence, crossed the St. Lawrence with a considerable
proportion of the force then at Montreal, in order to strengthen the point
thus threatened, and established his head-quarters at Chambly, where he
remained for several weeks. Whether this movement on the part of General
Dearborn was made in the expectation of finding that no effectual
resistance would be offered by the Canadian population to his further
advance into the Province, or with the view of preventing the sending of
reinforcements from the Lower to the Upper Province, he was equally
disappointed in both these objects. The able measures adopted by Sir George
Prevost in the disposition of the regular troops, as well as of the
militia, who displayed the most ardent spirit of loyalty, and the most
resolute determination to repel every attempt of the enemy to invade the
Colony, induced the American Commander in Chief to abandon any further
intention of advancing. After pushing forward a few reconnoitring parties
which were invariably forced to retreat without effecting their object, he
was ultimately compelled, by the advanced season of the year, to close the
campaign, and to put the army into winter quarters.
The result of the first campaign was highly honorable to the military
talents of the Commander of the forces. The enemy, notwithstanding their
superior resources, were foiled in every attempt which they made to invade
the Provinces, with the loss in one instance of the whole of their army,
together with the Commander; while, in the other, their troops suffered a
total defeat, attended with the capture of a General Officer, and upwards
of 700 men.
But while thus engaged in his military duties, Sir George Prevost was not
unmindful of the importance of our naval superiority upon the Lakes, though
in this as in every other part of his conduct, he has fallen under the
indiscriminate censure of the Quarterly Reviewer,[34] who has accused him
of neglecting to preserve the naval ascendancy which we enjoyed on Lakes
Erie and Ontario, at the commencement of the contest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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