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
The letters of that officer fully prove, in contradiction to the assertion
of the Reviewer, who has attributed to the Commander of the forces, the
neglect (if any took place) in forwarding to him the reinforcements which
he had so strongly solicited, that no such neglect is imputable to Sir
George Prevost.
As early as the month of March, 1813, a confidential letter was addressed
by Sir George Prevost to General Procter, upon the subject of the
reinforcements he had solicited, and Captain M'Douall, one of the Commander
of the forces' Aids-de-camp, was sent for the purpose of ascertaining
General Procter's wants, and the best mode of relieving them. In the
correspondence between the Commander of the forces and General Vincent, the
situation of General Procter was constantly alluded to, and the former
officer was desired to pay his particular attention to the subject. On the
20th June, Sir George Prevost acquainted General Procter that General de
Rottenburg, who had been appointed to the command of the forces serving in
Upper Canada, had received his directions to push on the remainder of the
41st regiment, from the head of Lake Ontario to Amherstburgh. And in his
subsequent letters to General Procter, of the 11th and 12th July, after
stating that his wants of money, clothing, &c. had been supplied as far as
lay in the power of the Commander of the forces, and that those articles
were then on their passage to him, he informed him that the whole of the
41st regiment were either on their way, or would be with him before that
letter could arrive. This assurance was given by Sir George Prevost, in the
full confidence that the orders which he had sent to the officer commanding
in Upper Canada, for the immediate forwarding of the remainder of that
regiment to Amherstburgh, had been complied with. That they were not
complied with as early as Sir George Prevost intended they should be, was
owing to circumstances over which the Commander of the forces had no
control. The force under Major-General de Rottenburg, from which the 41st
regiment was to be detached, was then before an enemy greatly superior in
numbers and resources, and he was very unwilling to weaken it by sending
off the remainder of that regiment, until other reinforcements which were
on their way to him should arrive. It appears, however, by his letter to
Sir George Prevost, of 9th July, 1813, that he had, on the 6th of that
month, sent forward 120 men of that regiment to Long Point, in order that
thence they might be transported by means of the fleet to Amherstburgh, and
that it was his intention to send the remainder of the regiment to General
Procter, as soon as the Royals, then daily expected, should arrive. In a
subsequent letter from Sir George Prevost to Major-General de Rottenburg,
dated 23d July, 1813, in which his high opinion of General Procter's merits
and conduct is pointedly expressed, he says, "I trust the reinforcements
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