Augustine Prévost
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maj. General Augustine Prévost (b. August 22, 1723 Geneva, Switzerland d. May 4, 1786 East Barnet, England) was a Swiss-born British soldier who served in the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence.
Contents |
[edit] Seven Years War
Like his younger brother Jacques Marcus Prevost, Prévost joined the 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot as a Major on January 9, 1756 at the Regiment's establishment. He fought in the French and Indian War, during which he suffered a wound.
[edit] American War of Independence
By the summer of 1776, Prévost, then a Colonel, was in charge of a contingent of the 60th stationed in St. Augustine, Florida.
In the winter of 1778, following a proposal of Lord George Germain, Prévost, now a Brigadier-general, was given orders by General Sir Henry Clinton to invade Georgia. Prévost dispatched two units north: one under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Lewis V. Fuser and the other under Major Jacques-Mark (James Mark) Prévost.
Augustin Prévost arrived at Savannah, Georgia on January 17th, 1779 which was under occupation by British Lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell. Prévost assumed command but also sent the message to Sir Henry Clinton that he wished to resign, feeling that a younger man should take his place. In September 1779 Brigadier General George Garth was sent to replace him, travelling from New York on HMS Experiment. Garth was however captured before he could reach Savannah and Prévost remained to defend the town from a combined French and Continental force in an action that came to be known as the Siege of Savannah.
[edit] Family
- Augustine is the father of Sir George Prevost.
- Another son was Major Augustine Prevost {b. August 29, 1744 Geneva – d. January 17, 1821 Greenville, NY} married to (1) on April 15, 1765 at St. James Episcopal Church, Lancaster, PA Susannah b. May 1750 near Carlisle, Cumberland, PA - d. December 24, 1790 at Mill Grove, Perkiomen Creek, PA daughter of George Croghan; Croghan grandson John Augustine Prevost b. September 29, 1769 was lost on Liverpool packet Albion in May 1822 off the coast of Ireland.
(2) on July 2, 1792 at Hatia, Columbia County, NY Anna Bogardus b. April 8, 1775 at Sharon, CT - d. August 4, 1842, Greenville, NY (daughter of American Loyalist Jacob Bogardus, the descendant of a Dutch family settled in New Amsterdam in its earliest days[1], and Patience Harvey).[2]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Early Settlement of the Town of Greenville, History of Greene County, New York, with Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men, J. B. Beers and Co., 1884, rootsweb
- ^ History of Greene County, 1650–1800, Vol. I, J. Van Vechten Vedder, Published by the Greene County Board of Supervisors, 1927, rootsweb
[edit] References
- "A regimental chronicle and list of officers of the 60th, or the King's, royal rifle corps." by Nesbit Willoughby Wallace
- "Notices généalogiques sur les familles-genevoises" by Jacques Augustin Galiffe, Eugène Ritter, Louis Dufour-Vernes, 1833, p. 277.
- "The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies" by David Lee Russell
Christopher Prevost, 2009.
