Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-06-13

be built from the forests near by. Meet OF nine
vessels built by him and his men req.
ment OF Pennsylvania militia covered tne SNIP
builders while they we're at work
The battle against superior British squadron
lasted all day. and the Lawrence was dismanteo'
that Perry had to row through NAH OF ahot
to the Niagara where he hoiated his nag again.
At o'clock he was able TO send his famous dis.
patch: I'VE have met the enemy and they are
ours"
Commodore Perry then twenty-seyen years
old.
Perry was Rhode Islander by birth. The
of naval officer and the daughter of an Irish
OF unusual attainments. he had the most
careful early training. that after Lake Erie
some who knew the family spoke OF Il az Mrs
Perrys victory" Young Oliver Hazard Perry
fond of Plutarch.a Lives. Shakespeare and
Addison. He was pupil of Count Rochambeau.
At fourteen he commissioned midshipman.
When the war with England began there was
probably no better ordnance ofhcer In the Amer.
lean navy and In the training of his crews he was
unwearying in personal attention to details. by
assembling his gunhoata occasionally he gained
actual knowledge Of the evolutions of heot.
He also practiced sham battles. which taught him
much.
Within twenty-four hours after receipt of Com.
modore Chauncey's order to go to Lake Erie be
had sent OF detachment Of fifty men. and i've
days later he act out himself with his younger
brother Alexander Travelling chiefly in seighs
he reached Erie March 81. There he found
Noah Brown. shipwright, and Sailing Master Dob
bins awaiting fifty carpenters from Philadelphia
The carpenters more than i've weeks MAX
ing the wintry journey.
The kees OF two twenty gun briga and three
gunboats had already been laid. Incredible toll
IN the wilderness enabled Perry TO collect nine
vessels Of 1.671 tons with 81 gums capable Of
throwing a broadside of 936 pounds of metal of
which 286 pounds could be fired at long range
Puny figures these In this day of dread
naughts but In 1873 they respectable II not
exactly impressive.
The Lawrence and the Niagara, which were
the two twenty gun ships. carried two long
twelve Founders and eighteen thirty-two FOUNDER
carronades. The long range gums the chief
dependents of the Americans. To make hts car
canister shot and fayorite American ammunItIon
language. which made out of scraps of iron
sewed up In leather bags.
Perrys force of consisted Of about 500
landsmen and sailors. many OF whom had never
seen salt water. On the British side Captain
Barclay had sir vessels of 1850 tons. manned by
nearly 500 men. but he had sixty-three cannon
Barclay of Nelson's veterans.
As the fleets approached each other 1T about
IL o'clock the hngIe sounded from the flagship
The men OF the whole British line gave three
cheers and the long gums OF the Detroit opened
on the Lawrence at distance Of mile and
the form OF duel. the heaviest vessel In each
fleet confronting the other Barclay had 1t hrst
manifest advantage. The gnnnerg Of the Law
renee, depending too much on their carronadea
fired too fast and oveFshotting their stumpy guns
able only 10 pit and dent the sides OF the
Detroit. So the Lawrence was reduced to hulk
by steady British nre After two hours only
gun left mounted the cockpit was
crowded with wounded and only eighteen IN.