Augustine Prevost

Maj. General Augustin Prévost (ca. 1725 - May 5, 1786) was born in Geneva, Switzerland and served as a British General during the American Revolutionary War.

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. 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 and defended the town that year from a combined French and Continental force in an action that came to be known as the Siege of Savannah.

Family

*Augustin is the father of Sir George Prevost.
*Another son was Major Augustin Prevost {b.1744 Geneva-d.Januuary 1822} married to Susannah-daughter of George Croghan; reportably Croghan grandson Augustin Prevost was lost on liverpool packet Albion in Sept 1822

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