Phineas Riall General Sir Phineas Riall , KCH ( 15 December 1775 – 10 November 1850 ) was the British General who succeeded John Vincent as commanding officer of the Niagara Peninsula in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 . In 1816 , he was appointed Governor of Grenada . Phineas Riall was born at Clonmel , Ireland , into a wealthy Protestant landowning family . He was the third son of Phineas Riall ( 1737 – 1797 ) of Heywood , Co . Tipperary , whose father had founded the Riall Bank of Clonmel . His mother , Catherine , was the daughter of Charles Caldwell of Dublin and a sister of Admiral Sir Benjamin Caldwell . He was a cousin and from 1790 the brother - in - law of the traveller , author and collector , General Sir George Cockburn of Shanganagh Castle , Co . Dublin . Riall entered the army as an Ensign in 1794 and rose rapidly through purchased commissions . Even though he spent seven years on half pay ( i . e . without any regimental or staff appointment ) , he was Major in the 15th Regiment of Foot in 1805 . He sailed with them to the West Indies , and seems to have first seen serious action when he commanded the regiment at the capture of Martinique in 1809 . The next year , he commanded a brigade at the capture of Guadeloupe . After this , he returned to England . Over the next two years , he received promotion to Colonel and Major General through seniority . He was then posted to Canada , where initially he commanded the Montreal district , then accompanied Lieutenant General Drummond to Upper Canada . On arrival , Drummond immediately halted all withdrawals and mounted an attack on the American side of the Niagara River . As part of the attack , Riall led a detachment across the river at Lewiston on 19 December 1813 and advanced south . The attack was almost unopposed , as the Americans had stripped the Niagara front of Regular soldiers to furnish an ill - fated attack on Montreal . The advance was marked by the burning of almost every village , in reprisal for the American burning of Newark ten days earlier . On 30 December , Riall again crossed the Niagara River further south , and repeated the deliberate destruction at Buffalo and Black Rock , although here there were a Navy yard and several other legitimate military targets . On 5 July 1814 , Riall commanded the " Right Division " of the British Army in Upper Canada , on the Niagara river . At the Battle of Chippawa , he ordered them to attack Winfield Scott ' s advancing American brigade . The result was a bloody defeat for the British . Riall ' s tactics might have been correct had he faced American militia , as he thought , but were disastrous against Scott ' s well - trained regulars . On 25 July , Riall ' s troops once again engaged Scott at the Battle of Lundy ' s Lane . Riall was severely wounded in the arm early in the battle , and while riding to the rear , was captured by American infantry . While he was a prisoner , a fellow captive ( Canadian militia dragoon officer William Hamilton Merritt ) described him as " very brave , near sighted , rather short , but stout . " He was allowed to sail for England on parole in December . On 18 February 1816 , he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Grenada , a post he held until 1823 . Thereafter , he appears to have seen very little service , although he was knighted in 1833 and eventually became full General on 23 November 1841 . He died peacefully in Paris in 1850 .