In 1814, large reinforcements became available after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Prévost was appointed Colonel of the 16th, Bedfordshire Regiment in April. He planned an attack along Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, but the army which he led personally was driven back at the Battle of Plattsburgh after the British naval squadron on Lake Champlain was defeated. Commodore Yeo considered that the British ships under Captain George Downie (who was killed in the action) had been ordered into action prematurely by Prévost, and that Prévost had failed to order an attack by his own troops until it was too late to avert the defeat of Downie's squadron.