Database: General Richard Prescott, the target

A Lieutenant General of the British Army, often described as arrogant, Richard Prescott was in charge of the 4,000 troops that garrisoned in the strategic sector of Newport. He had his personal headquarters in a farm owned by Henry Overing, a fervent Loyalist, where only an escort of a few men protected him. The farm was less than 1 mile from the coast, which made an operation from the sea to kidnap him more likely to succeed. Ironically, Prescott had already been captured (and exchanged) one year before.