Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-05-23

be built from the forests near by A meet Oh hlne
vessels was built by him and MS men [esf
ment of Pennsylvania militia covered tue snip
builders while they were at WORK
The battle against superior British squadron
lasted all day and the Lawrence was dlsmahtieu'
so that Perry had to row through a NAH OF snot
to the Niagara where he hoisted his nag again
At o'clock he was able to send his famous as
patch: 1--WE have met the enemy ana they are
ours"
Commodore Perry was then twenty-seven years
old
Perry was a Rhode islander by birth. The son
of a naval officer and the daughter of an Irish
woman of unusual attainments, he had the most
careful early training so that after Lake Erie
some who knew the family spoke of it as Mrs.
Perrys victory" Young oliver Hazard Perry
was fond of Plutarch's Lives, Shakespeare and
Addison. He a pupil of Count RochamDeau.
At fourteen he was commissioned mldsnlpman.
When the war with England began there was
probably no better ordnance officer in the Amer
lean navy, and in the training of his crews ne was
unwearying in personal attention to details ny
assembling his gunboats occasionally ne gained
actual knowledge of the evout1ons or Meet
He also practiced sham battles which taught him
much.
Within twentyfour hours after receipt of Com
modore Chaunceys order to go to Lake Erie he
had sent off detachment of fifty men, and hve
days later he set out himself with his younger
brother Alexander. Travelling chiefly in sle1ghs
Noah Brown, shipwright, and Sailing Master Dob
bins awaiting fifty carpenters from Philadelphia.
The carpenters were more than five weeks max
ing the wintry Journey
The keels of two twenty gun briggs and three
gunboats had already been laid. Incredible toll
in the wilderness enabled Perry to collect nine
vessels OF 1671 tons with 81 guns capable of
throwing a broadside of 936 pounds of metal, of
which 288 pounds could be fired at long range.
Puny figures these seem in this day of dread
naughts but in 1913 they respectable If not
exactly impressive
The Lawrence and the Niagara, which
the two twenty gun ships, carried two long
twelve Founders and eighteen thirtytwo FOUNDER
carronades. The long range guns were the chief
dependents of the Americans To make his car
ronade fire effective Perry relied grape and
canister shot and favorite American ammunition,
language, which was made out of scraps of iron
sewed up in leather bags.
Perrys force of men consisted of about 500
landsmen and sailors many of whom had never
seen salt water. On the British side Captain
Barclay had six vessels of 1850 tons, manned by
nearly 500 men, but he had sixty-three cannon.
Barclay was one of Nelson's veterans.
AS the fleets approached each other at about
II o'clock the bugle sounded from the flagship.
The men of the whole British line gave three
cheers and the long guns Of~the Detroit opened
on the Lawrence at distance of mile and a
half By noon the battle began in earnest in
the form Of duel. the heaviest vessel In each
fleet confronting the other. Barclay had at first
a manifest advantage. The gunners of the Law
renee. depending too much on their carronades,
fired too fast, and overshotting their stumpy guns
were able only to pit and dent the sides Of the
Detroit So the Lawrence was reduced to a hulk
by steady British fire. After two hours only
one gun was left mounted the cockpit was
crowded with wounded and only eighteen I'M