Defender Of Canada: Sir George Prevost And The War Of 1812

Since most of the books I have read and reviewed for the Michigan War Studies Review have been very technically challenging ones, when I saw the opportunity to read a biography, I figured it would provide a bit lighter of a read, and allow me the chance to do more reading on the British/Canadian side of the War of 1812. After all, as an American, most of my reading about the war has been heavily slanted towards the American perspective, and as I have some Canadian background, I tend to think it is nice to balance the perspective and see things from the other side, especially given that the Canadians were able to defend themselves against America’s goals of conquest, even with capable leaders like William Henry Harrison and Winfield Scott leading invasion armies at various points.

As it happens, this book is the first full-length volume written about the civil and military commander of the British and local forces in Canada, a fellow by the name of Sir George Prevost. Many historical accounts, when they mention him at all, assume he was some sort of cowardly and incompetent leader, and it was his supposed failures in the Plattsburgh campaign of 1814, when the attempted invasion of New England failed, as well as his inability to control the Great Lakes against American efforts, and his perceived favoritism to Francophone interests as opposed to Anglophone interests that led him to be recalled. After arriving in London, he demanded a court-martial to clear his reputation, but he died abruptly and his reputation remained tarnished. Being a person who tends to be somewhat temperamental about matters of reputation, it will be interesting to look at a book that openly considers itself to be writing the case for Prevost in the court-martial, and openly avows this aim in its introduction. A historian willing to admit a certain loyalty, with a crusading sense of justice to write a serious historical wrong, in a book that appears to be based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, certainly appears to be a worthy effort to me. For I too am a partisan of underdogs by background and temperament, even if I am American.