Arent Schuyler DePeyster

Colonel Arent Schuyler De Peyster (27 June 1736 – 26 November 1822) was a British military officer best known for his term as commandant of Fort Michilimackinac and Fort Detroit during the American War of Independence. Following the capture of Lieutenant-Governor General Henry Hamilton in 1779, De Peyster became the de facto military leader of British and Indigenous forces in the Ohio Country and the upper Great Lakes region.

Early life

De Peyster was a native of New York City, the son of Pierre Guillaume De Peyster (1707–1785) and Cornelia Schuyler (1715–1785). His maternal grandparents were Arent Schuyler (1662–1730) and Swantje Van Duyckhuysen (1679–1724), and his paternal grandparents were Catharina De Peyster and Abraham De Peyster (1657–1728), the 20th Mayor of New York City. His godparents were his uncles, Philip van Cortlandt (1683–1746) and Peter Schuyler (1707–1762) and his godmother was his aunt, Eva Schuyler Bayard (died 1737). Arent was educated in London and obtained a commission as ensign in time for the Seven Years' War.

Career De Peyster was educated in London and after returning to British America, received a commission as an ensign in the British Army in 1755. He joined the 50th Regiment of Foot, which had been raised in America in 1748 by William Shirley, the Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In 1745, Shirley, along with De Peyster's uncle, Colonel Peter Schuyler, had directed the Siege of Louisbourg against the French in today’s Nova Scotia. De Peyster next held a commission in the 51st Foot, a regiment raised by Lieutenant General Robert Napier in America, which at one point, had three Schuylers in it.

In 1779, Major De Peyster took over as commandant of Fort Detroit.

In November 1783, De Peyster was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the 8th Foot and transferred to Fort Niagara, situated at the mouth of the Niagara River.

Later life He retired in 1794 due to illness, and sold his lieutenant-colonelcy to an associate of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Ten years later, De Peyster had still not been paid. Upon his retirement, DePeyster and his wife moved to Dumfries, where they settled down at Mavis Grove, a country estate. They purportedly had a happy but childless marriage and were seldom apart.

De Peyster died as the result of an accident on 26 November 1822 in Dumfries, Scotland. A large funeral was given in his honor, and he was buried in St Michael's Churchyard. His wife died on 20 February 1827.