to confer with Yeo, and both men decided that
a preemptive strike against Sackets Harbor
might relieve pressure on other fronts. At that
time, the American squadron under Com-
modore Isaac Chauncey was absent, so on
May 29, 1813, Prevost landed troops and scat-
tered the militia of Gen. Jacob Brown. How-
ever, the British attack stalled when it proved
unable to evict a determined stand by regular
soldiers under Thomas Aspinwall and Arthur
P. Hayne. Adverse winds also kept British
gunboats from approaching the shore and
bringing their heavy armament to bear.
Brown, meanwhile, had rallied his forces and
began pressing upon the British flank when
Prevost suddenly ordered a retreat. Losses in
this short but intense action were 48 British
killed and 195 wounded, to an American tally
of 21 killed and 84 wounded. The governor-
general was much criticized in military circles
for this timidity, but he brushed it aside. He
reasoned that a quick withdrawal saved his
small force of regulars, which could not be re-
placed, from possible capture.
In the fall of 1813, U.S. Secretary of War
John Armstrong conceived an ambitious, two-
pronged offensive designed to capture Mon-
treal, but it was completely foiled by the
heroic efforts of Joseph Wanton Morrison
at Crysler’s Farm and Charles d’Irumberry
de Salaberryat Chateauguay. A new and ag-
gressive leader, Gen. Gordon Drummond,
also arrived on the scene and was installed by
Prevost as military commander of Upper
Canada. Drummond then executed a series of
lightning strikes along the Niagara frontier
that left possession firmly in British hands.
However, when Drummond and Yeo ap-
proached him for reinforcements to attack
Sackets Harbor again, Prevost rejected the
strategy as too risky. Furthermore, that April
he renewed his efforts to secure another
cease-fire and instructed Drummond not to
take offensive operations against either De-
troit or Erie, then weakly held.
The recent downfall and abdication of Na-
poleon released thousands of British
Napoleonic veterans for service against the
United States, and that summer Prevost was
instructed by the home government to take
10,000 men and invade either Sackets Harbor
or Plattsburgh, New York. Prevost chose the
latter course as less risky, although his for-
tunes were closely tied to the fate of the
British fleet then building on nearby Lake
Champlain. He led his mighty army south-
ward in September 1814. Prevost brushed
aside all scattered opposition and at length
confronted Gen. Alexander Macomb across
the Saranac River for several days but failed
to attack. Meanwhile, he continually urged
the British fleet under Capt. George Downie
to sail immediately in support, apparently be-
fore the ships were ready. On September 11,
1814, Downie was decisively defeated by
Commodore Thomas MacDonough at Platts-
burgh while Prevost launched a few prelimi-
nary thrusts across the river. When the entire
British fleet surrendered, he suddenly called
off the battle. The British were now devoid of
naval support, and the memory of Gen. John
Burgoyne, who had surrendered at nearby
Saratoga in 1777, cast a very large shadow
over subsequent operations.
Prevost, true to his defensive nature, or-
dered his army ignominiously back into
Lower Canada—much to the amazement of
the hard-pressed American defenders. Such
conduct disgusted British officers who had
previously known nothing but victory under
the Duke of Wellington, but Prevost
adamantly refused to undertake any opera-
tion that might compromise the security of
Canada. No less authority than the Duke of
Wellington subsequently acknowledged that
without naval supremacy on the lakes little
could be accomplished militarily.
The War of 1812 concluded with the Treaty
of Ghent, signed Christmas Eve 1814, and—
strictly speaking—was a draw. But Canada
had been preserved for the empire, thanks
largely to the policies and strategy of Prevost.
Unfortunately, whatever praise he merited
was drowned in a sea of criticism. Com-
modore Yeo was particularly vocal in his con-
demnation, and he leveled charges against thePREVOST, GEORGE