Perry Wins at Lake Erie: U.S. Controls Great Lakes

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's squadron destroyed the British fleet on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, winning the most decisive naval engagement of the War of 1812 and seizing control of the Great Lakes for the United States. Perry, just 28 years old, sent his famous dispatch to General William Henry Harrison after the battle: "We have met the enemy and they are ours: two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." The victory forced the British to abandon Detroit and retreat into Upper Canada, opening the western theater of the war to American advance. Perry had built much of his fleet from scratch at Presque Isle, on the shores of Lake Erie near present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, using green timber cut from the surrounding forests. The shipbuilders, led by master carpenter Noah Brown, constructed two 20-gun brigs, the Lawrence and the Niagara, in roughly three months, an extraordinary feat of wartime construction. Perry manned his vessels with a mixed crew of sailors, soldiers, and frontier militia, many of whom had never served aboard a warship. The battle was fought near Put-in-Bay, off the Bass Islands in western Lake Erie. Perry's flagship, the Lawrence, bore the brunt of British fire and was reduced to a wreck, with 80 percent of her crew killed or wounded. In one of the most celebrated moments in American naval history, Perry transferred his command to the Niagara by rowing an open boat across the battle line under enemy fire, carrying his battle flag inscribed with the dying words of Captain James Lawrence: "Don't Give Up the Ship." Aboard the Niagara, Perry sailed directly through the British line and delivered broadsides that forced the remaining enemy vessels to surrender. The Battle of Lake Erie was the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron surrendered. Perry's victory severed the British supply line to their Native American allies, led by Tecumseh, and enabled Harrison to advance into Canada, where he won the Battle of the Thames a month later. Tecumseh was killed in that engagement, effectively ending the pan-Indian alliance that had threatened American expansion into the Northwest Territory. Control of the Great Lakes, secured at Perry's battle, remained with the United States permanently.