The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-09-10
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE.


To-day is the anniversary of Perry's victory on
Lake Erie. AT Clevelanda a monument surmounted by
statue of the hero will be inaugurated with great
ceremony. civil and military display will take
place, and mock naval battle, representing some
of the stirring scenes of the fight, will be had on
the Lake. Several of the surviving soldiers and
sailors that took part in the battle will be present
The following account of the great engagement of
1913 we take from the Providence Journal:
War declared against England in June, 1872.
The government at once conceived the idea of con-
quering Canada But all their military efforts dur
ing the autumn were unavailing; most of them were
disastrous Gen. Hull surrendered his army, with
out firing gun, on the 18th of August, at Detroit
thus giving up at once the whole of Michgan.-
Gen. Van Rensselaer, utterly failed in his attempt
upon Queenstown. Dearborn succeeded little bet
ter upon the New York frontier. In January, 1913,
Gen. Winchester strOve in vain to regain what
Hull had lost at the upper end of Lake Erie. 1t
was only on the sea that laurels were won.
Though country had but eighteen vessels in
her navy, and the English had thousand, the
capture of the Guerriere by the Constitution, of
the Macedonian by the United States, of the Frolic
by the Wasp of the Java by the Constitution, of
the Peacock by the Hornet, and all before the ex-
piraon of the first winter, seemed to presage that
our glory was to come from our navy.
1t was seen clearly that we must have naval
force upon the northern lakes The British had
entire control of them. They had five armed YES
sells on Lake Erie, and we had none. Capt. Perry,
who was then stationed at Newport in charge of a
hotlla OF gunboats, ordered in February, 1913,
to supervise the construction of a feet on that
lake, and to take charge of it. With a hundred
and fifty volunteers he set out in the dead of win
ter. The timber for his vessels was growing in
the forest. He had few materials. He lacked for
mechanics He had no ammunition for defence.
He was delayed fortnight with Commodore
| Chauncey at Sackett's Harbor. lie rendered val
liable service in the conquest of Fort George
/ With two hundred men he spent nearly week il
! dragging vessels from Black Rock up to Erie. He
was watched by the enemy. Yet such was hi
! energy and that of his men, that by the 24th o
May two twenty-gun brigs and three gunboat:
! were launched, and on the 10th of July the guns
were mounted. He delayed by the want o
for his vessels till the 9th of August, when he
sailed for the western part of the lake to aid Gen
/ eral Harrison. He received with great Joy
and hundred Kentuckians at once enlisted in hi:
| service. The next month spent in drilling his
| forces.
1t was at sunrise on the memorable tenth of Sep
| tember that from the moorings in Putin Bay,
harbOr formed by the Bass Islanders at the western
end of the lake, he deserted the enemy's fleet ap.
! preaching. The American force consisted of nine
vessels carrying ffty-four guns, the British of six
vessels with siXty-three guns. The latter was com
manded by Barclay, who had seen service with
Nelson and had lost at Trafalgar. The battle
| began at noon and continued till three O'clock
/ With what valor it was fought, how Perry stood
/ by his vessel, the Lawrence till she was totally
disabled and eighty-three of her one hundred and
/ three men were killed or wounded, how he pushed
! off in his small boat, passed to the Niagara, and
then swept down through the enemy's fleet, raking
| them right and left with doubled-shotted guns, till
the British colors fell, it is not for to tell
! 1t was at four o'clock that Perry wrote that line
! which is ever associated with his name. owe have
! met the enemy, and they are ours" Forty one OF
! the British killed and ninety-iour wounded.
| Says MIR. Calvert, ''this the first American
| feet that ever in line of battle encountered an
enemy. The British fleet was the first fleet, since
! England had a navy, that had been captured"
! This brilliant victory is memorable, not alone foI
| the bravery and skill which Perry and his comrades
| displayed. 1t antirely changed the aspect of the
! war on the Canadian frontier. 1t saved the whole
northwest from the bavoDets of the British and the
| scapng- knife of the Indian. 1t won for us more
than Hull had lost. 1t left us entirely masters o
| Lake Erie, and enabled Gen. Harrison at once tC
| cross into Canada, drive the British from Maiden
| pursue them along the Thames, and conquer then
| in that decisive battle which gave him and Col
johnson such renOwn. Perry was by his side ever
| here. His enthusiasm would not permit him to re
| main quietly on shipboard, while there worl
! to be done. As aid to Gen. Harrison, he render
! ed valuable services in this expedition. The lake
and the northwest were thus regained, the British
were defeated on their own soil, and the enthusiasm
| which had been kindled by succession of nava
victories the was heightened by this proof o
| our superiority upon our inland waters The cOun
try rang with the praises of the young captain
who, at the age of twenty eight had thus in sil
| months hewn the timber from the woods, built
feet, and with it defeated one of England's vete
! ran commodores.