Sir Guy Carleton, c.1780 (oil on canvas)

Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (1724-1808) was the British commander in Canada at the start of the Revolution; was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 1778, concurrently serving as Governor General of British North America in that time, and again from 1785 to 1795.[1] The title Baron Dorchester was created on 21 August 1786. He commanded British troops in the American War of Independence, first leading the defence of Quebec during the 1775 rebel invasion and the 1776 counteroffensive that drove the rebels from the province. In 1782 and 1783 he led as the commander-in-chief of all British forces in North America. In this capacity he was notable for carrying out the Crown's promise of freedom to slaves who joined the British, and he oversaw the evacuation of British forces, Loyalists and more than 3,000 freedmen from New York in 1783 to transport them to a British colony.