Battle of Lake Erie

The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called 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 biggest 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 and the brig ''General Hunter''. The schooner 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 . Together with the brig , 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. Also present at Black Rock were the schooners and and the sloop-rigged , which had all been purchased by the United States Navy and were being converted into gunboats.Roosevelt 2004, p. 141. 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.Elting 1995, p. 90. 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. 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 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 . 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.) 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, 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.

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. 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. 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.

During July and August, Barclay received two small vessels, the schooner and the sloop , which had been reconstructed at Chatham on the Thames River and attempted to complete the ship-rigged corvette 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. ''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.Forester (2005), p.145

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.

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 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. 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. Although Perry described some of them as "wretched", at least 50 of them were experienced sailors drafted from , then undergoing a refit in Boston. 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. 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 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 , "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.

Battle

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. Perry hoped to get his two largest brigs, his flagship and , 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.Roosevelt 2004, p. 147.

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'',Forester 2005, p. 146. 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.

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), 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.

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. ''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. The British nevertheless expected ''Niagara'' to lead the American schooners away in retreat. 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 shipsEarnest A. Cruickshank, ''The contest for the command of Lake Erie in 1812–1813'' in Zaslow 1964, p. 102. 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.

Although Perry won the battle on ''Niagara'', he received the British surrender on the deck of the ''Lawrence''.

Casualties

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. The heaviest American casualties were suffered aboard ''Lawrence'', which had 2 officers and 20 men killed, and 6 officers and 55 men wounded.

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.

Aftermath

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:

Perry next sent the following message to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones:

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. 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." 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 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 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. 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."

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.William James ''The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by Trace in 1793, to the Accession of George IV.'' Volume 6 Richard Bentley 1847 Page 252

Order of battle

Listed in order of sailing:

Footnotes

Notes

References

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*"The Dobbins Papers." Severance, Frank H. ed. Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society v. 3 (Buffalo, New York: Buffalo Historical Society, 1905)
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*; Forester was a famous novelist but this is his history book
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* Mahan, Alfred Thayer (1840–1914)(1905
Power in Its Relation to the War of 1812'' (2 vols.)
(Boston: Little Brown) American Library Association.
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Further reading

* Axelrod, Alen; Phillips, Charles. ''The MacMillan Dictionary of Military Biography'' (New York: MacMillan, 1998.) p. 343.]
* George Bancroft, Bancroft, George, 1800–1891br>Dyer, Oliver, 1824–1907. (1891) ''History of the battle of Lake Erie: and miscellaneous papers'' (New York : R. Bonner's sons) 292 pp.
at American Library Association.
Barnes, James, 1866–1936 (1898) ''The hero of Erie (Oliver Hazard Perry)'' (microform) (1898) New York: D. Appleton
an
here for other formats

* Burges, Tristam (1770–1853)br>(1839) ''Battle of Lake Erie, with notices of Commodore Elliot's conduct in that engagement'' (Providence
Brown & Cady) at Internet Archive.
Conners, William James, 1857–; Emerson, George Douglas. (1916) ''The Perrys victory centenary. Report of the Perry's victory centennial commission, state of New York'' (Albany, J. B. Lyon Company, Printers).
* Cooper, James Fenimore (1846
''Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers''
Google Books an
here
for American Library Association.
Jesse D. Elliot, Address of Com. Jesse D. Elliot, U.S.N., Delivered in Washington County, Maryland, to His Early Companions at Their Request, on 24 November 1843 (Philadelphia: G. B. Zeiber & co., 1844).
* Galbreath, Charles Burleigh (1858–1934): ''The Battle of Lake Erie in Ballad and History'', Ohio Archæological and Historical Society Publications: Volume 20 911 pp. 415–456.
*Hickey, Donald R. (1990
''The War of 1812: The Forgotten Conflict''
Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. National Historical Society Book Prize and American Military Institute Best Book Award. ; .
* Hickey, Donald R. (2006
''Don't Give Up the Ship! Myths of the War of 1812''.
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press) .
Downloadable resources regarding Oliver Hazard Perry, American Library Association.
* Knoll, Denys W. (USN ret.) (1979
"Battle of Lake Erie: Building the Ships in the Wilderness".
Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Foundation
*
Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell, 1803–1848. (1915) ''Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry : famous American naval hero, victor of the battle of Lake Erie, his life and achievements'' (Akron, Ohio: Superior Printing Co.)Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell, 1803–1848 (1840) ''The life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.'' (New York, Harper) Volume 1Volume 2

Niles, John Milton (Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, 1830) ''The Life of Oliver Hazard Perry.''Reid, George. (1913) ''Perry at Erie:how Captain Dobbins, Benjamin Fleming and others assisted him.'' (Erie, Pennsylvania: Journal publishing company).Skaggs, David Curtis. (October 2006) ''Oliver Hazard Perry: honor, courage, and patriotism in the early U.S. Navy.''
Annapolis, Maryland:Naval Institute Press, 302 pp. ; .
Skaggs, David Curtis. ''Perry Triumphant'' (April 2009 Volume 23, Number 2)
Naval History Magazine United States Naval Institute.
James T. White (1895) p. 288.
National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.

External links

"Log of the Battle of Lake Erie"
by Sailing Master William Taylor

US Brig ''Niagara''

Barclay's court martial records and correspondence

Battle of Lake Erie Historical Sources



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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Erie, Battle of
Conflicts in 1813
Battle of Lake Erie
Battle of Lake Erie
Naval battles of the War of 1812
Battle of Lake Erie
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Orders of battle
Lake Erie
Lake Erie