Sir Charles Preston, 5th Baronet

Sir Charles Preston, 5th Baronet (c. 1735 - 23 March 1800) was a British Major who was stationed in Canada during the American Revolutionary War. Revolutionary War He was ordered by Gen. Guy Carleton to delay the American advance on Montreal, and Quebec. He was in command of 662 men of the 26th Regiment, engineers, Canadians, and Indians. They held Fort Saint-Jean, at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, in 1775 when it came under siege by American General Richard Montgomery, and resisted multiple attacks by troops under command of Montgomery and Philip Schuyler. His troops held the fort in hopes of being rescued by reinforcements for two months before surrendering on the third of November 1775. After the war On his return to Valleyfield, Fife, in 1784, he became Member of Parliament for Dysart, from 1774 to 1790. After his death, the Preston baronetcy passed to his brother, Robert.