America\'s Military Adversaries. From Colonial Times to the Present

gland to serve as governor of Armagh, Ire-
land, and was succeed by Gen. Frederick
Haldimand. However, his open and scathing
criticism of Lord Germain made it impossible
to employ him as long as that official still held
power.
By 1781, the defeat of Gen. Charles Corn-
wallisat Yorktown ended the war in Ameri-
can victory and caused the fall of the north
government. Once a new ministry under Lord
Rockingham assumed power, Carleton was
called out of retirement to succeed Gen.
Henry Clinton as commander in chief of
British forces in America and was also au-
thorized to seek political reconciliation with
the rebels. However, after arriving in New
York, Carleton concluded that no effort,
diplomatic or military, would curtail the colo-
nial drive toward independence. He therefore
spent the bulk of his time organizing an or-
derly withdrawal of British forces; he also as-
sisted the departure of thousands of Loyalists.
In 1786, Carleton was created Lord Dorch-
ester and dispatched to Canada for a third
time. As previously, he made sincere gestures
toward accommodating French aspirations
and helped implement a new system of gov-
ernment for this vast territory. That entailed
creating two new provinces, Upper Canada
(now Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec),
along with their respective legislative assem-
blies. He departed Canada for the last time in
1796, having played a large and successful
role in the founding of that country. The dis-
tinguished Carleton spent the rest of his life in
retirement and died on November 10, 1808,

one of the most capable military administra-

tors of his age. The viability of Canada as a na-

tion, and its independence from the United

States, remain his greatest legacy.

See also

Arnold, Benedict

Bibliography

Bird, Harrison. Attack on Quebec: The American Inva-

sion of Canada, 1775.New York: Oxford University

Press, 1968; Bowler, Reginald A. “Sir Guy Carleton

and the Campaign of 1776 in Canada.” Canadian His-

torical Review55 (1974): 131–140; Burt, Alfred L. Guy

Carleton, Lord Dorchester, 1724–1808. Ottawa:

Canadian Historical Association, 1964; Gorn, Michael

H. “‘To Preserve Good Humor and Perfect Harmony’:

Guy Carleton and the Governing of Quebec,

1766–1774.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Univer-

sity of South Carolina, 1978; Hatch, Robert. Thrust for

Canada: The American Attempt on Quebec in

1775–1776.Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1979; Lanctot,

Gustave. Canada and the American Revolution,

1774–1783.Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1967; Neatby, Hilda.The Quebec Act: Protest and

Policy. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall of

Canada, 1972; Nelson, Paul D. General Sir Guy Carle-

ton, Lord Dorchester: Soldier-Statesman of Early

British Canada.Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson

University Press, 2000; Reynolds, Paul R. Guy Car-

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H. “Sir Guy Carleton’s Peace Negotiations and the

Evacuation of New York.” Canadian Historical Re-

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CARLETON, GUY