In British Generals in the War of 1812 Wesley Turner takes a fresh look at five British Generals - Sir George Prevost, Isaac Brock, Roger Sheaffe, Baron Francis de Rottenburg, and Gordon Drummond - who held the highest civil and military command in the Canadas. He considers their formative experiences in the British Army and on active service in European and West Indian theatres and evaluates their roles in the context of North American conditions, which were very different from those of Europe. Turner answers questions about the quality of each general's leadership, particularly that of Isaac Brock, the best known of these five generals. He argues that Brock's charge up Queenston Heights - the basis for his heroic stature - was brave but hardly a demonstration of competent leadership. Turner also shows us that while the other generals displayed courage in combat, they had to face problems raised by American military successes and by the strains of warfare on the civilian population. British Generals in the War of 1812 explores why these commanders succeeded or failed and why, except for Brock, they are all but forgotten.

Dr. Wesley B. Turner is Associate Professor of History at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. His previous publications include Life in Upper Canada (198); The War of 1812 in the Niagara Peninsula (1981); The War of 1812: The War for Canada (1982); and Album of Upper Canada (1987). He is also the contributor of several biographies in The Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Turner was president of the Ontario Historical Society (1983-84), and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the St. Catharines Historical Museum (1985).

Wesley B. Turner's profile page

"[Turner] raises questions about [the generals'] leadership which have not hitherto been discussed, and he presents an argument about the advantages and disadvantages of combining military and civil power which throws new light on an old chapter of Canadian history." Jack Hyatt, Department of History, University of Western Ontario.