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Born in New Jersey, the eldest son of Swiss French Augustin Prévost, he joined

the military as a youth and became a British Army captain in 1784. Prevost

served in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars and was commander

of St. Vincent from 1794 to 1796. He became lieutenant-governor of St. Lucia

from 1798 to 1802 and governor of Dominica from 1802 to1805. His tenure

in Dominica was marked by a sudden raid by French troops under General

Lagrange, accompanying the fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve,

and the raid was an episode in the preliminary moves which led to the Battle

of Trafalgar. Prevost's outnumbered troops withdrew from the main town of

Roseau, which was thoroughly looted, but the French left the island after three

days. In 1808, Prevost became governor of Nova Scotia. In May 1811 he was

advised that he would be replacing Governor James Craig in Lower Canada and

was sent to Quebec. On July 4, 1811 he was officially promoted Lieutenant

General, and on October 21 he was appointed as Governor-General of British

North America and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces there. War with the neighbouring United States of America appeared probable. With few British forces

to defend a long frontier, Prevost raised several regular and local units from among

the Canadians. When the War of 1812 broke out the following year, these

Canadian units proved themselves to be valuable additions to the British forces.

For most of the War, Prevost's strategy was defensive and cautious.

Learning in August, 1812 that the British government had repealed some of the

orders in council which the United States regarded as a cause of war, he

negotiated an armistice, but peace did not result and the war resumed. During

the early months of 1813, Prevost visited Upper Canada where the military and

civil situation was unsatisfactory after the Governor and Commander there

(Major General Isaac Brock) had been killed in action. As a result, he was present

in Kingston in May, and took charge of an attack on the main American naval base

on Lake Ontario. A victory here could have been decisive but the attack was

hastily planned and at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor, both Prevost and the naval commander, James Lucas Yeo, attacked hesitantly. After meeting stiff resistance,

they withdrew. In 1814, large reinforcements became available after the defeat

of Napoleon Bonaparte. Prevost planned an attack along Lake Champlain and

the Hudson River, but the army which he led personally was driven back at the

Battle of Plattsburgh after the British naval squadron on Lake Champlain was

defeated. Commodore Yeo considered that the British ships had been ordered

into action prematurely by Prevost, and became his most bitter critic.

Prevost had also made himself unpopular among some of the Army officers under

his command by his perceived over-caution, his insistence on correct uniform and

his apparent failure to reward properly several successful officers. He was relieved

and temporarily replaced by Lieutenant General George Murray, by coincidence

only a day or so after he learned that the War had ended. As he returned to England

he was given a hasty vote of thanks by the Assembly in Quebec.

On his return to England, the Government and Army authorities at first accepted

Prevost's explanations for his conduct at Plattsburgh and during the War generally.

Soon afterwards, the official naval despatch on the Battle of Plattsburgh was

published, together with Yeo's complaints. Both these accounts blamed Prevost.

Prevost requested a court martial to clear his name. The trial was set for January,

1816 (the delay being necessary to allow witnesses to travel from Canada), but

Prevost was already in ill health and died a week before it was due to convene.