Alfred Boerger Covers / P.O. Box 12 / Toledo, OH
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the British Royal Navy. This ensured American control of the lake for the rest of the war, which in turn allowed the Americans to recover Detroit and win the Battle of the Thames to break the Indian confederation of Tecumseh. It was one of the largest naval battles of the War of 1812.
Background
1812
When the war broke out, the British immediately seized control of Lake Erie. They already had a small force of warships there: the sloop-of-war Queen Charlotte and the brig General Hunter. The schooner Lady Prevost was under construction and was put into service a few weeks after the outbreak of war. These vessels were controlled by the Provincial Marine, which was a military transport service and not a naval service. Nevertheless, the Americans lacked any counter to the British armed vessels. The only American warship on Lake Erie, the brig Adams, was not ready for service at the start of the war, and when the American army of Brigadier General William Hull abandoned its invasion of Canada, Adams was pinned down in Detroit by the British batteries at Sandwich on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. The British Major-General Isaac Brock used his control of the lake to defeat Hull's army at the Siege of Detroit, by cutting the American supply lines and rapidly transferring himself and some reinforcements to Amherstburg from where they launched a successful landing on the American side of the Detroit River.
The British took Adams when Detroit was surrendered, renaming her Detroit. Together with the brig Caledonia, which had been commandeered from the Canadian North West Company, she was boarded and captured near Fort Erie on 9 October, by American sailors and soldiers led by Lieutenant Jesse Elliot. Detroit ran aground on an island in the middle of the Niagara River and was set on fire to prevent her being recaptured. Caledonia was taken to the navy yard at Black Rock and commissioned into the United States Navy.[4] Also present at Black Rock were the schooners Somers and Ohio and the sloop-rigged Trippe, which had all been purchased by the United States Navy and were being converted into gunboats.[5] While the British held Fort Erie and the nearby batteries which dominated the Niagara River, all these vessels were pinned down and unable to leave Black Rock.
Late in 1812, Paul Hamilton, the United States Secretary of the Navy had received long-time American lake mariner Daniel Dobbins, who had escaped capture at Detroit and brought information on the British forces on Lake Erie. Dobbins recommended the bay of Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania as a naval base on the lake. ("Presqu'isle" is French for "peninsula", literally "almost an island"). Dobbins was dispatched to build four gunboats there, although Lieutenant Elliot objected to the lack of facilities.[6] Another problem was that a sand bar extended across the entrance to the harbor at Presque Isle, which would prove to make it very difficult to get newly constructed U.S. ships out to open water. In September, Dobbins began directing the cutting of trees. By November, Ebenezer Crosby, a master shipwright, was hired by Dobbins to start work on the four wooden ships.[7] Commodore Isaac Chauncey had been appointed to the command of the United States naval forces on the Great Lakes in September 1812. He made one brief visit to Erie on 1 January 1813[8] where he approved Dobbins's actions and recommended collecting materials for a larger vessel, but then returned to Lake Ontario where he afterwards concentrated his energies.
1813
In January 1813, William Jones (who had replaced Hamilton as the United States Secretary of the Navy) ordered the construction of two brig-rigged corvettes at Presque Isle, and transferred shipwright Noah Brown there from Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario to take charge of construction. Other than their rig and crude construction (such as using wooden pegs instead of nails because of shortages of the latter), the two brigs were close copies of the contemporary USS Hornet. The heaviest armament for the ships came from foundries on Chesapeake Bay, and were moved to Presque Isle only with great difficulty. (The Americans were fortunate in that some of their largest cannon had been dispatched shortly before raiding parties under Rear-Admiral George Cockburn destroyed a foundry at Frenchtown on the eastern seaboard.)[9] However, the Americans could get other materials and fittings from Pittsburgh, which was expanding as a manufacturing center, and smaller guns were borrowed from the Army.
Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry had earlier been appointed to command on Lake Erie, through lobbying by Jeremiah B. Howell, the Senior Senator from Rhode Island,[10] supplanting Lieutenant Elliot. He arrived at Presque Isle to take command at the end of March. Having arranged for the defense of Presque Isle, he proceeded to Lake Ontario to obtain reinforcements of seamen from Commodore Isaac Chauncey. After commanding the American schooners and gunboats at the Battle of Fort George, he then went to Black Rock where the American vessels had been released when the British abandoned Fort Erie at the end of May. Perry had them towed by draft oxen up the Niagara, an operation which took six days, and sailed with them along the shore to Presque Isle.[5]
Meanwhile, Commander Robert Heriot Barclay was appointed to command the British squadron on Lake Erie. Another British officer had already endangered his career by refusing the appointment as success appeared unlikely.[11] Barclay missed a rendezvous with Queen Charlotte at Point Abino and was forced to make the tedious journey to Amherstburg overland, arriving on 10 June. He brought with him only a handful of officers and seamen. When he took command of his squadron, the crews of his vessels numbered only seven British seamen, 108 officers and men of the Provincial Marine (whose quality Barclay disparaged), 54 men of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles and 106 soldiers, effectively landsmen, from the 41st Foot.[12] Nevertheless, he immediately set out in Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost. He first reconnoitred Perry's base at Presque Isle and determined that it was defended by 2,000 Pennsylvania militia, with batteries and redoubts. He then cruised the eastern end of Lake Erie, hoping to intercept the American vessels from Black Rock. The weather was hazy, and he missed them.[13]
During July and August, Barclay received two small vessels, the schooner Chippeway and the sloop Little Belt, which had been reconstructed at Chatham[14] on the Thames River and attempted to complete the ship-rigged corvette HMS Detroit at Amherstburg. Because the Americans controlled Lake Ontario and occupied the Niagara Peninsula in early 1813, supplies for Barclay had to be carried overland from York. The American victory earlier in the year at the Battle of York resulted in the guns (24-pounder carronades) intended for Detroit falling into American hands.[15] Detroit had to be completed with a miscellany of guns from the fortifications of Amherstburg. Barclay claimed at his court martial that these guns lacked flintlock firing mechanisms and matches, and that they could be fired only by snapping flintlock pistols over powder piled in the vent holes.[16]
Barclay repeatedly requested men and supplies from Commodore James Lucas Yeo, commanding on Lake Ontario, but received very little. The commander of the British troops on the Detroit frontier, Major-General Henry Procter, was similarly starved of soldiers and munitions by his superiors. He declined to make an attack on Presque Isle unless he was reinforced, and instead he incurred heavy losses in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Stephenson, which he mounted at the urgings of some of his Indian warriors.[17]
Blockades of Presque Isle and Amherstburg
By mid-July, the American squadron was almost complete, although not yet fully manned (Perry claimed to have only 120 men fit for duty). The British squadron maintained a blockade of Presque Isle for ten days from 20 to 29 July. The harbour had a sandbar across its mouth, with only 5 feet (1.5 m) of water over it, which prevented Barclay sailing in to attack the American ships (although Barclay briefly skirmished with the defending batteries on 21 July), but also prevented the Americans leaving in fighting order. Barclay had to lift the blockade on 29 July because of shortage of supplies and bad weather. It has also been suggested that Barclay left to attend a banquet in his honour, or that he wished the Americans to cross the bar and hoped to find them in disarray when he returned.[6] Perry immediately began to move his vessels across the sandbar. This was an exhausting task. The guns had to be removed from all the boats, and the largest of them had to be raised between "camels" (barges or lighters which were then emptied of ballast). When Barclay returned four days later, he found that Perry had nearly completed the task. Perry's two largest brigs were not ready for action, but the gunboats and smaller brigs formed a line so confidently that Barclay withdrew to await the completion of Detroit.
Chauncey had dispatched 130 extra sailors under Lieutenant Jesse Elliot to Presque Isle.[18] Although Perry described some of them as "wretched", at least 50 of them were experienced sailors drafted from USS Constitution, then undergoing a refit in Boston.[19] Perry also had a few volunteers from the Pennsylvania militia.
His vessels first proceeded to Sandusky, where they received further contingents of volunteers from Major General William Henry Harrison's Army of the Northwest.[20] After twice appearing off Amherstburg, Perry established an anchorage at Put-in-Bay, Ohio. For the next five weeks, Barclay was effectively blockaded and unable to move supplies to Amherstburg. His sailors, Procter's troops, and the very large numbers of Indian warriors and their families there quickly ran out of supplies. After receiving a last-minute reinforcement of two naval officers, three warrant officers and 36 sailors transferred from a transport temporarily laid up in Quebec[21] under Lieutenant George Bignall, Barclay had no choice but to put out again and seek battle with Perry.
In the days preceding the battle, Perry told his friend, Purser Samuel Hambleton, that he wanted a signal flag, or battle flag, to signal to his fleet when to engage the enemy. Hambleton suggested using the dying words of Perry's friend Captain James Lawrence of the frigate USS Chesapeake, "Don't Give up the Ship". Hambleton had the flag sewn by women of Erie, and presented it to Perry the day before the battle. The flag would become an icon in American naval history.
On the morning of 10 September, the Americans saw Barclay's vessels heading for them, and got under way from their anchorage at Put-in-Bay. The wind was light. Barclay initially held the weather gauge, but the wind shifted and allowed Perry to close and attack. Both squadrons were in line of battle, with their heaviest vessels near the centre of the line.
The first shot was fired, from Detroit, at 11:45.[22] Perry hoped to get his two largest brigs, his flagship Lawrence and Niagara, into carronade range quickly, but in the light wind his vessels were making very little speed and Lawrence was battered by the assortment of long guns mounted in Detroit for at least 20 minutes before being able to reply effectively. When Lawrence was finally within carronade range at 12:45, her fire was not as effective as Perry hoped, her gunners apparently having overloaded the carronades with shot.[23]
Astern of Lawrence, Niagara, under Elliot, was slow to come into action and remained far out of effective carronade range. It is possible that Elliott was under orders to engage his opposite number, Queen Charlotte, and that Niagara was obstructed by the unhandy Caledonia,[24] but Elliot's actions would become a matter of dispute between him and Perry for many years. Aboard Queen Charlotte, the British ship opposed to Niagara, the commander (Robert Finnis) and First Lieutenant were both killed. The next most senior officer, Lieutenant Irvine of the Provincial Marine, found that both Niagara and the American gunboats were far out of range, and passed the brig General Hunter to engage Lawrence at close range.[23]
Although the American gunboats at the rear of the American line of battle steadily pounded the British ships in the centre of the action with raking shots from their long guns from a distance, Lawrence was reduced by the two British ships to a wreck. Four-fifths of Lawrence's crew were killed or wounded. Both of the fleet's surgeons were sick with "lake fever" (malaria),[25] so the wounded were taken care of by the assistant, Usher Parsons. When the last gun on Lawrence became unusable, Perry decided to transfer his flag. He was rowed a half-mile (1 km) through heavy gunfire to Niagara while Lawrence was surrendered. It is said his personal servant, African American sailor Cyrus Tiffany, accompanied and protected Perry during this journey.[26]
It was later alleged that Perry left Lawrence after the surrender, but he had actually taken down only his personal pennant, in blue bearing the motto, "Don't give up the ship".
When Lawrence surrendered, firing died away briefly.[24] Detroit collided with Queen Charlotte, both ships being almost unmanageable with damaged rigging and almost every officer killed or severely wounded. Barclay was severely wounded and his first lieutenant was killed, leaving Lieutenant Inglis in command. Most of the smaller British vessels were also disabled and drifting to leeward.[27] The British nevertheless expected Niagara to lead the American schooners away in retreat.[28] Instead, once aboard Niagara, Perry dispatched Elliot to bring the schooners into closer action, while he steered Niagara at Barclay's damaged ships, helped by the strengthening wind.
Niagara broke through the British line ahead of Detroit and Queen Charlotte and luffed up to fire raking broadsides from ahead of them, while Caledonia and the American gunboats fired from astern. Although the crews of Detroit and Queen Charlotte managed to untangle the two ships[29] they could no longer offer any effective resistance. Both ships surrendered at about 3:00 pm. The smaller British vessels tried to flee but were overtaken and also surrendered.[30]
Although Perry won the battle on Niagara, he received the British surrender on the deck of the Lawrence.
The British lost 41 killed and 94 wounded. The surviving crews, including the wounded, numbered 306. Captain Barclay, who had previously lost his left arm in 1809, lost a leg and part of his thigh in the action while his remaining arm was rendered "permanently motionless". The Americans lost 27 killed and 96 wounded, of whom 2 later died.[31] The heaviest American casualties were suffered aboard Lawrence, which had 2 officers and 20 men killed, and 6 officers and 55 men wounded.[29]
Of the vessels involved, the three most battered (the American brig Lawrence and the British ships Detroit and Queen Charlotte) were converted into hospital ships. A gale swept the lake on 13 September and dismasted Detroit and Queen Charlotte, further shattering the already battered ships. Once the wounded had been ferried to Erie, Lawrence was restored to service for 1814, but the two British ships were effectively reduced to hulks.[32]
Perry's vessels and prizes were anchored and hasty repairs were underway near West Sister Island when Perry composed his now famous message to Harrison. Scrawled in pencil on the back of an old envelope, Perry wrote:
Dear General:
We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.
Yours with great respect and esteem,
O.H. Perry[B]
Perry next sent the following message to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones:
Brig Niagara, off the Western Sister,
Head of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, 4 P.M.
Sir:- It has pleased the Almighty to give to the arms of the United States a signal victory over their enemies on this lake. The British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop, have this moment surrendered to the force under my command after a sharp conflict.
I have the honor to be, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
O. H. Perry
Once his usable vessels and prizes were patched up, Perry ferried 2,500 American soldiers to Amherstburg, which was captured without opposition on 27 September. Meanwhile, 1,000 mounted troops led by Richard Mentor Johnson moved by land to Detroit, which also was recaptured without fighting on or about the same day. The British army under Procter had made preparations to abandon its positions even before Procter knew the result of the battle. In spite of exhortations from Tecumseh, who led the confederation of Indian tribes allied to Britain, Procter had already abandoned Amherstburg and Detroit and began to retreat up the Thames River on 27 September. Lacking supplies, Tecumseh's Indians had no option but to accompany him. Harrison caught up with Procter's retreating force and defeated them on 5 October at the Battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh was killed, as was his second-in command and most experienced warrior, Wyandot Chief Roundhead.
The victory on Lake Erie had disproportionate strategic import.[34] The Americans controlled Lake Erie for the remainder of the war. This accounted for much of the Americans' successes on the Niagara peninsula in 1814 and also removed the threat of a British attack on Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Western New York.
However, an expedition in 1814 to recover Mackinac Island on Lake Huron failed, and the Americans lost eight of their smaller vessels and prizes. (Four were destroyed when the British captured Black Rock, where they were laid up, following the Battle of Buffalo at the end of 1813, and four were boarded and captured in separate incidents on Lake Erie and Lake Huron.)
After the war, there was a bitter quarrel between Perry and Elliot over their respective parts in the action, mostly fought at second hand in the press. On the British side, Barclay was exonerated of any blame by a court-martial but was too badly injured to see service again for several years.
Reconstructions and memorials
In 1820 Lawrence and Niagara were intentionally sunk near Misery Bay in Lake Erie, as they had "went to rot."[35] In 1875, Lawrence was raised and moved to Philadelphia, where she was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Later that year, the ship burned when the pavilion that housed it caught fire. Although Niagara was raised and restored in 1913, she subsequently fell into disrepair. She was eventually disassembled, and portions of her were used in a reconstructed Niagara, which is now on view in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The 352-foot (107 m) high Perry Monument within Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial now stands at Put-in-Bay, commemorating the men who fought in the battle.
Another 101-foot (31 m) high Perry Monument is located at the eastern end of Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania. It stands on a peninsula in Presque Isle Bay, where Niagara and Lawrence were built, stationed along with the rest of the American Squadron, and then scuttled after the war.
Reasons for American victory
Most historians attribute the American victory to what Theodore Roosevelt described as "superior heavy metal" by citing the greater numbers of American ships and heavy cannon.[36] Perry's leadership, particularly in the latter stages of the action, is also mentioned as a factor. The British historian C.S. Forester commented that "it was as fortunate for the Americans that the Lawrence still possessed a boat that would float, as it was that Perry was not hit."[24]
On the British side, William Bell served as constructor and built Detroit, which was the best-built ship on the lake. However, Detroit was built slowly, in part because of Bell's perfectionism, and indeed, it was the only purpose-built British warship constructed on Lake Erie during the war. The guns intended for Detroit were seized by the Americans at the time of their raid on Fort York the year before. That building imbalance, given the fact that six American ships were built in the same time frame, was another important cause of the American victory although it might be argued that even if Barclay had possessed more hulls, he would have been unable to obtain armament and crews for them.
The court-martial of Captain Barclay and his surviving officers determined that the captain and his officers and men had "conducted themselves in the most gallant manner," and it found that the defeat was the result of American numerical superiority, an insufficient number of able seamen, and the early fall of superior officers in the action.[37]
The Battle of Lake Erie, War of 1812
Importance of this Battle
At dawn, 10 September 1813, a United States Navy lookout spots six British vessels to the northwest of Put-in-Bay beyond Rattlesnake Island [add distance]. Immediately, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry issues a flurry of orders and makes preparations to engage the British in a naval battle.
While naval travel is slow, taking upwards of a year to reach the Great Lakes from the British Isles, it is much faster, safer, and easier than traversing the woodlands of Upper Canada on foot. British posts on the western end of Lake Erie and around the Upper Lakes depend on shipments coming across the Atlantic. In order to get food, ammunition, and other military supplies the British navy have to sail past Put-In-Bay.
With Perry's fleet on Lake Erie the British must fight or abandon their post at Fort Malden. American control of Lake Erie would sever the British supply route running from Port Dover, Ontario to Fort Malden (present-day Amherstburg, Ontario).
DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP
Erie, October 12th, 1813. “About 11 o’clock Capt. Perry produced the flag & having unfurled it, mounted a gun slide & said “My Brave Lads, this Flag contains the last words of the brave Capt. Lawrence. Shall I hoist it?” – “Aye, Aye” they said from all quarters.” [From Samuel Hambleton’s Diary, transcribed by Gerard T, Altoff]
Captain James Lawrence was a friend of Perry’s. He was mortally wounded aboard the USS Chesapeake in June of 1813. While he was carried below deck, he called out to his crew, "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP". Upon hearing of Lawrence’s death, Perry had a flag sewn with the words emblazoned across a dark background.
The Wind Changes
When the squadron sails from Put-in-Bay at 7 a.m., the American vessels are steering west-northwest. The wind is blowing from west-southwest. For more than two hours Perry repeatedly tacks his ships in an effort to put the wind to his back, but with no success.
By 10 a.m. the wind shifts to blow from the southeast, placing the wind directly behind the Americans. Perry's opponent, Commander Robert Heriot Barclay, is an experienced Royal Navy officer. His options do not alter when the wind shifts. Barclay points his bow to the west and into line of battle.
With the wind at his back, Perry makes tactical adjustments. The 20-gun brig Lawrence, Perry's flagship, is third in line behind two schooners followed by the Caledonia, a small brig with three guns. The Lawrence is set to engage Barclay's 19-gun flagship, the Detroit. Fifth in the American line of battle is the other 20-gun brig, the Niagara, captained by Master Commandant Jesse Elliott. The Niagara prepares to engage the 17-gun Queen Charlotte, the second largest British ship. Three schooners and a sloop follow the brig Niagara ready to engage the smaller British vessels.
The Battle of Lake Erie Begins
At 11:45 a.m. the Detroit fires the first shot at extreme range. A 24-pound cannonball splashes harmlessly near the Lawrence. A few minutes later a second shot was fired, but this time the heavy cannonball punches through the bulwarks of the Lawrence. The flying splinters kill and wound American sailors. The Lawrence's carronades are still far out of range, so Perry issues orders to the Scorpion, with one long 24-pounder, and the Ariel, with four long 12-pounders, to open fire. For the next 30 minutes Perry struggles to close within range, during which time the Lawrence is taking damage from almost all the British ships.
Challenges Mount
Another problem for Perry is the small gunboats bringing up the rear of his battle line. Because the wind is light the little schooners and sloop fall behind early, even with all sail set and sweeps working when the battle opens they were still two miles away and out of range.
At 12:15 p.m. the Lawrence closes within range of the British. The starboard guns unleash a broadside of 288 pounds of metal crashing into the British ships. Now, as soon as the Niagara moves in the advantage will rest with the Americans. Perry peers astern, expecting to see the Niagara edging in toward the Queen Charlotte, but instead of closing, Perry is shocked to see that Jesse Elliott shortens sail, nearly stopping the Niagara’s forward movement, a tactic which has the Niagara dead in the water.
Elliott's actions are initially somewhat justified. The Caledonia, directly ahead of the Niagara, also shortens sail. The Caledonia's commander, facing the Queen Charlotte's vastly superior broadside, wisely decides to stand off and not jeopardize his vessel. Since one of Elliott's two procedural directives dictates that he maintain his position in line, Perry's second-in-command is simply following his superior's orders. Elliott opens with the Niagara's 12-pounder bow chaser, which in his current position astern of the Caledonia is the only gun within range.
Changing Positions
As the battle progresses the Caledonia continues to hesitate, so Elliott decides to range in front of the smaller brig. The Niagara's captain displays initiative by abandoning the rigid line-of-battle tactic, justifiably disregarding one of his superior's orders. Making this move Elliott can now follow Perry's second specific order, to engage his designated adversary at close range - the Niagara's pre-ordained opponent was the Queen Charlotte. But instead of moving starboard of the Caledonia and closing with the British line, Elliott eases the Niagara to the windward, angling slightly away from the enemy ships – yet still out of range. The reason for Elliott's questionable movement is still being debated, but regardless of motive the Niagara's carronades, almost 40% of Perry's total broadside strength, sits out of range.
With the Niagara lingering to windward the Queen Charlotte's guns are rendered useless. The commander of the second largest British vessel, possibly not understanding his adversary's move but anxious to bring his guns to bear, allows his vessel to move forward of the General Hunter, where she can assist the Detroit against the Lawrence. Practically ignoring the smaller American support vessels, the Detroit, Queen Charlotte, and General Hunter focus their broadsides, pounding the Lawrence while the Niagara remains idle. Fighting desperately the American flagship inflicts considerable damage upon the British, but the Lawrence is eventually overwhelmed by superior firepower.
DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP Raised Again
By 2:30 p.m. the Lawrence is a floating wreck with every gun on her starboard side disabled and four of every five men either killed or wounded. Perry is facing the grim prospect of surrender. As he gazes across to the Niagara, still out of range and relatively undamaged, Perry makes a fateful decision. He collects four unwounded men, pulls down his battle flag, and transfers to the flagship's first cutter. They rowed through a hail of shot and smoke to the Niagara. Lieutenant John Yarnall, who has been wounded and returned to the deck three times, is left in command of the Lawrence.
Miraculously, Perry and his boat crew reached the Niagara unscathed. Climbing aboard, Perry, dispatches Elliott in the cutter to hurry along the lagging gunboats. Perry then prepares the Niagara for immediate action, puts the helm up, and sails toward the British line.
A Blunder and The Advantage
The British, though they have pounded the Lawrence into a crippled hulk, have suffered terribly. During the engagement Barclay is severely wounded, and the captain and first lieutenant of every British vessel is incapacitated. The English fleet is now commanded by junior officers - brave men, but with little or no experience maneuvering ships in combat. When they observe the Niagara bearing down on their line the British attempt to wear ship - to turn their vessels around to bring the unused starboard broadsides to bear. Orders are issued, but amidst the tumult of battle the battered Detroit and Queen Charlotte collide, becoming helplessly entangled.
Taking full advantage of the enemy blunder, Perry steers the Niagara through the jumbled British battle line. Unleashing both broadsides, the Niagara ravages the vulnerable British ships. As it presses through the British line Perry backs the maintop sail, holding the Niagara stationary while her carronades decimate the enemy decks. The wind has also picked up, allowing the sluggish gunboats to rush forward and rake the enemy from astern.
The British Surrender
A few minutes after 3 p.m. the British the four largest vessels surrender one by one. The gunboats Chippawa and Little Belt attempt escape but are pursued and snared by the Scorpion and Trippe. The entire British fleet has been captured.
The vessels anchor and hasty repairs are underway near West Sister Island when Perry composes his now famous message to William Henry Harrison. Scrawled in pencil on the back of an old envelope, Perry writes, "Dear General: We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop. Yours with great respect and esteem, O.H. Perry".
What Victory Means
The Battle of Lake Erie proves one of the most resounding triumphs of the War of 1812. The victory secures control of the lake, forcing the British to abandon Fort Malden and retreat up the Thames River. Harrison's army pursues, decisively defeating the British and its allied Indian force on 5 October 1813 at the Battle of the Thames. And later, during the peace talks, the dual victories of Lake Erie and the Thames ensure that the states of Ohio and Michigan remain the sovereign territory of the United States.