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 THE UBRARY OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 NORTH CAROUNA 
 AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 ENDOWED BY THE 
 DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 
 SOCIETIES 
 
 E353.1 
 
 L9 
 
This book is due ; 
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 DATE p. 
 DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NOV 2 8 
 
 1994 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/commodoreoliverhOOIyma 
 
Commodore 
 Oliver Hazard Perry 
 
 and — 
 
 v'^f HORTf 
 
 The War on the Izafees 
 
 OLIN L. LYM\^N 
 
 Author of 
 
 The Trail of the Grand SeigneurT^c. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 
 
 /905 
 
 E 3 53 
 
Copyrighted, 1905 
 NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I, KooT AND Branch ..... 1 
 
 II. Growth 18 
 
 III. Ad Interim 
 
 IV. The Frontier 57 
 
 V. The Fbontier— Continued . . . . 105 
 
 VI. The Battle of Lake Erie . . . 131 
 
 VII. Controversies . . . . . .172 
 
 VIII. After the Battle 207 
 
 IX. The Mediterranean . . . . . 223 
 
 X. The Last Cruise 238 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 ROOT AND BRANCa 
 
 WE HAVE met the enemy and they 
 are ours." 
 
 It is a national slogan, passed in 
 perpetuity down through the generations that 
 own allegiance to this iron-thewed, majestic 
 young giant of the West, the United States of 
 America. First learned in the schoolroom, it 
 may lie dormant in some dark cranny of the 
 brain in the after-time, when the boy has become 
 a man and is battling with the world in search 
 of pelf or power or whatever bubble he pursues ; 
 but let that phrase once more chance to fall 
 beneath his eye, though he be gray and grim 
 with the conflict, across the gap of years there 
 sweeps the odd, remembered thrill, and he tingles 
 to his finger-tips. For it is through the im- 
 mortal inspiration of such traditions that the 
 men of a nation hold in fee their birthright, a 
 birthright that demands and receives the sacri- 
 fice of blood and brain and brawn for the sim- 
 ple, God-sent joy of giving them. Indeed, the 
 
2 
 
 OLIVER HAZAED PERRY 
 
 divine spirit of patriotism itself furnishes a 
 crushing refutation of the materiahst's conten- 
 tion of the non-existence of a soul. 
 
 Words are pigments, mixed as may be, to be 
 splashed, with more or less regard for art and 
 truth, upon the scroll of finite achievement. 
 The hopeless tyro of the studio, in a series of 
 tentative dabs, can but feebly approach artistic 
 canons, while the power of genius guides the 
 brush of the master in a few free, all-potent 
 strokes that make of the dead, blank canvas a 
 thing of life, of virile power and beauty. And 
 so with words. It was Stevenson who wrote : 
 
 " Bright is the ring of words 
 When the right man rings them," 
 
 and it is well worth while to consider a moment 
 how few strokes of a pen have served certain 
 word-painters among the conquerors of the past 
 to frame messages of odds o'ercome which elec- 
 trified their generation, and, as enduring clas- 
 sics, will continue ringing down the grooves of 
 time. Brief they are, but their brevity holds all 
 in all; they thrill the soul with the glory, the 
 completeness, of the tale that is told. Because 
 of the splendid epitome of effort which they 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH 
 
 3 
 
 spell, they become the deathless heritage of men. 
 Their very brevity the more bespeaks the simple 
 grandeur of the great minds that framed them, 
 minds that busied themselves more with the 
 details of herculean labors to be performed than 
 with the subsequent record of their accomplish- 
 ment. 
 
 That some of these briefly glorious messages 
 seem closely related, one to the other, is not 
 strange. The souls of such men are kin. Sim- 
 plicity and directness, in the use of the quill as 
 in all else, is characteristic of the truly great. 
 Therefore, if the stripling of Put-in Bay, when 
 he penned his triumphant messages to Harri- 
 son and Jones, did adopt as a model a previ- 
 ous laconic document, dispatched under like 
 circumstances by the greatest of England's sea- 
 fighters, what does it indicate? Only that the 
 younger man was in gallant company" and that 
 his intrepid soul was cast in the same simple, 
 heroic mold. The conclusions reached by cer- 
 tain captious historians must inevitably end in 
 this. And as before Perry there was Nelson, so 
 before Nelson was the world-winning Caesar, 
 whose "Veni, vidi, vici,'^ may well serve as a 
 graphic model of modest brevity, while time 
 
4 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 endures, for all the sons of men with virility 
 enough, in any field, to conquer the sullen 
 world. Mere words are sufficient for the con- 
 queror. It is only the defeated apologist who 
 requires reams. 
 
 It is the breathing, embodied soul of action, 
 dynamic and irresistible, that insures immor- 
 tality to words like these. It has been so from 
 the beginning. The lion heart, that knew not 
 how to quail or swerve, has swayed the world 
 — and the ages have remembered. Power rules, 
 and for it there exists universally and forever 
 the fixed and changeless instinct of primal ad- 
 miration. Centuries ago Rome roared at the 
 sight of the gladiator throttling the wild beast 
 in the arena ; just as to-day an American crowd 
 goes mad at the savage plunge into opposing 
 humanity of a young giant in moleskins, with 
 a pigskin ball under his arm. Time and the 
 peoples change, but not the basic principles 
 of being. It is to-day as yesterday : The 
 soul is enthralled at the sight of might un- 
 leashed, of savage battling against resisting 
 odds. The fierce tide of exultation sweeps over 
 the throng in mighty waves, and the resultant 
 roar narrows astoundingly the gulf of time 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH 5 
 
 between the present and the dim, primordial 
 Stone Age. Why? Because the mimic struggle 
 is typical. It is elementary ; therefore it is life. 
 
 Of the peoples of to-day there is no nation 
 whose sons are more potently exerting those 
 unresting energies which move the world, than 
 these united brethren of states, the strength 
 of the West. There is no field in which the 
 American has not left the impress of his in- 
 dividuality and tireless zeal. If an alien is 
 minded to dispute this nation's category of 
 virtues, there is one that he will not presume 
 to decry. It is the saving grace of unwearied 
 energy, the gift of eternally keeping at it, the 
 gift that brings results. In a little more than 
 a century, this virtue has been demonstrated 
 through the gamut of human endeavor, in 
 war and peace, and the American is as ag- 
 gressive in the pursuits of one as the other. 
 And more, for the will to do which dominates 
 the national character, the will that has welded 
 the land in a common bond of sympathetic 
 interest, is also the will that originally weaned 
 the infant from its mother and guided it aright 
 in a separate way. 
 
 It is not strange, this development of re- 
 
6 OLRTER HAZAED PERRY 
 
 source, when one considers the character of its 
 forerunners, those good, old original advance 
 agents of prosperity. It has benefited the world 
 but little, and that unfortunate continent least 
 of all. that the Spaniards, after fruitless mis- 
 sions to the northward, flocked to South Amer- 
 ica. On the other hand, it is fortunate for the 
 world in general, and this nation in particular, 
 that the trail to true progessupon the Northern 
 Continent was originally blazed by Englishmen. 
 Stout arms and hearts, a love alike for God 
 and liberty, had those old pioneers. Undis- 
 mayed by the fearful odds against them, they 
 remained where others would have fled. Multi- 
 plying like the green things of the spring, as 
 every ship brought recruits, they stayed on. 
 The enshrouding trees fell before their axes, 
 while the red men sullenly gave way. slipping 
 farther and farther back from the borders into 
 the ever-narrowing green heart of the virgin 
 forest. And in the train of these first English- 
 men there came gradually the best blood, the 
 brawn and brain of the common people of the 
 more stable of the European lands, whose ad- 
 vent spelled force and all the resultant recom- 
 pense of unremitting toil. And so on till the 
 
EOOT AND BRANCH 7 
 
 awakening, the blood-pact of those signers of 
 the Declaration; the triumph; the stress and 
 victories and growth of the ensuing years. To- 
 day the aborigine is a fading dream, and the 
 broad land he loved, harnessed and webbed 
 with steel, serves the Caucasian and the world. 
 With the blood of England mingled the best 
 strains of other lands, and the red streams 
 flowed from the east across a continent to the 
 tide of the western sea. The land too young, 
 too raw for traditions, forsooth? Youth such 
 as this may have them. It is a national his- 
 tory, unique in the record of a world. 
 
 While many a man who has done things 
 worth doing in the world is unable to give 
 one the detailed particulars of his genealogical 
 tree, it is probable that, could he trace back 
 through the generations, he would find that he 
 owed something of his success to the trans- 
 mitted inheritance of heredity. Perhaps those 
 early ones occupied a position unvaryingly ordi- 
 nary, even lowly as viewed by the somewhat 
 undis criminating eyes of the world, but there 
 was probably a constantly recurring something 
 of courage and capacity. In the case of the 
 subject of this sketch, however, one is under 
 
8 
 
 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 no necessity to waste time in vague speculation. 
 Oliver Hazard Perry was the logical sequence 
 of useful generations. 
 
 He was the son of Christopher Raymond and 
 Sarah Perry and was born Aug. 21, 1785, at 
 South Kingston, Washington County, State of 
 Rhode Island. This town is situated on Narra- 
 gansett Bay, opposite Newport, and succeeding 
 generations of its inhabitants have distinguished 
 themselves in nautical lines. With other intrepid 
 souls of that devoted State, they shared the 
 youthful Perry's toils and subsequent victory, 
 and "Little Rhody's" part in that thrilling tale 
 is out of all proportion to her diminutive size, 
 for it was her sons that the young commander 
 carried with him up to Lake Erie. They, with 
 the aid of a few others, under his directions 
 created from the convenient forest and equipped 
 the fleet whose ensuing record figured so mo- 
 mentously in that war. 
 
 The father of Oliver was the son of the Hon. 
 Freeman Perry, who led a most useful career. 
 His pursuits were in the quiet paths of peace, 
 and he held during a long life many posts of 
 trust. Originally a clerk in the county court, he 
 eventually served in a judicial capacity. He 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH 9 
 
 died at the age of eighty-two at South King- 
 ston in October, 1813, the month following 
 the brilliant exploit of his grandson. 
 
 A brief survey of the American Commodore's 
 line of ancestry indicates the unerring destiny 
 of generic influences. On the maternal side he 
 was descended in a direct line from William 
 Wallace, fearless warrior, whose name will en- 
 dure while remains the Scotland for which he 
 battled. This strain alone would account for 
 the sequence of Erie, for the Scot possesses in 
 amazing degree the cardinal virtue of unflag- 
 ging zeal. The grim resolve to do or die, that 
 fiH^d the heart of Robert Bruce, the stout heart 
 that was buried by his coutrymen in the land 
 he loved, actuates in as full measure the preacher 
 in his pulpit, the inventor in his garret, and all 
 the imposing host, from warriors to writers, 
 from scientists to philosophers, from financiers 
 to legislators, that Scotland has given to the 
 world. No matter what the object may be, 
 the national character demands the employ- 
 ment of activity until the realization of attain- 
 ment. It was Scotch persistence that won for 
 the world Lord Byron's "English Bards and 
 Scotch Reviewers." 
 
10 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 In the paternal line, Oliver's great-great 
 grandfather was a native of Wales. He had 
 three sons, Samuel, Edward and Benjamin, who 
 emigrated to the new land of America. Samuel 
 and Edward were among those early settlers 
 of Plymouth, while Benjamin, the youngest and 
 the lineal ancestor of Oliver, went further south 
 and settled at South Kingston, Rhode Island. 
 He had two sons, Edward and Freeman, and 
 two daughters, Mary and Susan. Freeman, 
 the grandfather of Oliver, had seven children. 
 Christopher Raymond, his third son and the 
 father of Oliver, was born at South Kingston 
 in 1761. Despite his yovith, at the outbreak 
 of the Revolution he became an active partici- 
 pant, and bore a most honorable part in the 
 struggle. Beginning in the naval service, he was 
 first a seaman on board an American privateer, 
 later volunteering on the Trumbull, a public 
 war vessel. Afterward as a volunteer aboard a 
 sloop of war, the Miflin, under the command of 
 George Wait Babcock, he and his mates were 
 captured by the British. For three months, 
 with many others, he endured the torments 
 of the loathsome Jersey prison-ship. While 
 immured, he suffered an attack of fever which 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH 11 
 
 nearly proved fatal. He was liberated and re- 
 turned home to recruit his health. Impatient 
 for further action, he entered the service of a 
 private armed brig, commanded by Captain 
 Rathbone. While in the English Channel the 
 ship was captured. Young Perry was now im- 
 prisoned in England for eighteen months. Fin- 
 ally escaping from confinement, he embarked 
 for St. Thomas, and from there for Charles- 
 ton, reaching his native shore at about the 
 time peace negotiations were concluded. 
 
 After peace was restored he followed his fav- 
 orite maritime pursuits. He was employed in 
 the East India and other trades until about 
 1798, when he was appointed to the command 
 of the U. S. ship General Green, performing 
 several cruises, principally on the West India 
 station. He continued in public service till the 
 reduction of the marine in 1801. Following 
 this he was appointed Collector of Revenue for 
 the First District of Rhode Island. The brief 
 record indicates that the gallant father of a 
 famous son had himself suffered danger and 
 hardship in the service of his land and met 
 them with the courage of a worthy line. 
 
 In 1783 Christopher Perry married Sarah 
 
12 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Alexander Wallace. The year previous she had 
 come from Scotland, as a passenger, to Phila- 
 delphia, under the protection of Matthew Cal- 
 braith, in the vessel of which the subsequent 
 captain was then mate. Of this union there 
 were born eight children, Oliver Hazard, Ray- 
 mond Henry, Matthew Calbraith and James 
 Alexander, all of whom entered the naval ser- 
 vice, Nathaniel Hazard and three daughters. 
 Christopher Raymond Perry died June 1, 1818. 
 
 Oliver was destined by his father for the sea. 
 The selection by the parent of the child's future 
 field of effort is too often a breeder of subse- 
 quent chaos and general dissatisfaction. But 
 if the homely phrases of ''like father, like son," 
 and "a chip of the old block," hold true, no 
 such unhappy consequences are likely to attend 
 the fiat. In this case the boy was his father's 
 son in his love for the sweep of tides, in his 
 admiration for those who go down to the sea 
 in ships. A touch was sufficient to bend the 
 twig, for so was the future tree inclined. 
 
 It is an inspiring Omnipotence Who sends us 
 day-dreams in the morning of our lives, flashes 
 of sunlight athwart the brightened page of 
 youth. Few there are to whom those fleet- 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH 13 
 
 ing visions of the springtime did not seem 
 gloriously, startlingly alive ; few who are not in 
 some degree the better for them in the after 
 years. True, the swift fading of the vision in 
 the ardent eyes of the boy was wont, in the 
 early time, to leave the soul chilled with a sense 
 of the gray realities of that present which youth 
 is ever so impatient to outgrow for the beckon- 
 ing future. 
 
 But that childish dream in passing leaves a 
 hope behind, a hope that grows and grows, 
 that reaches out wistfully into the unknown, 
 that burns with a steady glow. The warm glow 
 lures once again the dream and fosters it, so 
 that it lingers, reluctant to depart, and when it 
 again withdraws from the lodgment that Hope 
 prepared for it, it is with tears, while Hope 
 droops, pining. Let the youth now guard well 
 his heavy heart, where Hope lies grieving, lest 
 the mourner slip out like a ghost into the 
 emptiness in search of the vanished dream, and 
 both be lost to him forever. Let him un- 
 weariedly nourish the invalid till Hope, renewed, 
 once more kindles the fire upon the hearth- 
 stone and the rays of the beacon are streaming 
 through the window. Be assured that the 
 
14 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 dream, tired of the outer cold and darkness, will 
 once more return, this time to abide with Hope, 
 forever. And the dream, backed by Hope, 
 will conquer the world. 
 
 Vague and formless at the first may have 
 been the dreams of the boy who once gazed 
 out from the shore over the green field of 
 the waters of Narragansett Bay, childish ques- 
 tioning in the eyes that wondered because of 
 the unresting, eternal mystery of the sea. 
 Vague and formless at the first, and we have 
 no knowledge of what they were, but because 
 we who are men were once boys, and remember 
 it, we know that they came to him. Indeed, 
 to a veritable clod, the sweep of the sea would 
 bring them, though he did but dully sense 
 their witcheries. And to the heart and soul 
 of the boy who was to become , the man of 
 Put-in Bay, we may be sure there came such 
 thrilling ambitions, such swelling aspirations, 
 as are born of the sight of wide waters and 
 endless tides, of the smell of briny winds. 
 
 Accounts tell us that Oliver in early youth 
 was not robust and gave little promise of the 
 splendid physical equipment with which nature 
 was to endow him with advancing maturity. 
 
ROOT AND BRANCH 
 
 15 
 
 It appears that as a child he was one of that 
 large constituency who are temporarily en- 
 feebled by too rapid growth. In his earlier 
 years his health was for some time an object 
 of parental solicitude, but as he grew older 
 the influence of a naturally inherited strong 
 constitution asserted itself and he developed 
 a fine physique, which grew stronger and more 
 vigorous as he approached manhood. 
 
 As for his mental qualities, it is related that 
 from the first he evidenced that lively curiosity 
 to learn regarding matters which he did not 
 understand, that should invariably be a source 
 of satisfaction to parents, despite the natural 
 annoyance entailed by the patient answering 
 of hordes of children's questions. When he be- 
 came of an age suitable for books, he turned to 
 them readily and developed a genuinely studious 
 bent. As for his education, the advantages he 
 received, the best his parents could give him, 
 were not of the highest, though he made the 
 most of them up to the time when, as a mere 
 youth, he began his practical training in the 
 matters of the sea. He was principally educated 
 in tho town of Newport, where he attended the 
 best schools that community afforded. It is 
 
16 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 told of him that he was very studious and 
 showed great proficiency in the several branches 
 of learning to which he applied himself. In a 
 word, he devoted himself to his school duties 
 with the same zeal that he later showed in the 
 stern tasks of life. 
 
 In writing of the Commodore's youth, a con- 
 temporaneous historian said of him : =^ 
 
 "We shall not claim that he was born a 
 great man, but that he became such from a 
 judicious and successful use of the powers given, 
 him and from a concurrence of circumstances, 
 affording an opportunity for a display of those 
 powers. As a boy he was remarkably sedate 
 and thoughtful, and the circumstance may be 
 considered as in some measure a presage of his 
 future career. It may be deemed so as much 
 as any other, but no characteristic of a child 
 can indicate the character of the man, as that 
 depends upon a great variety of causes, some of 
 which are more or less fortuitous in their nature 
 and cannot be controlled by human foresight. 
 
 A mind naturally serious, thoughtful and 
 
 inquiring is seldom destitute of capacity and 
 energy, and when these qualities are discernible 
 
 * Life of Perry, John M. Niles. Hartford, 1821. 
 
EOOT AND BRANCH 17 
 
 in youth they may be considered as 
 
 affording a promise of future talents, charac- 
 ter and usefulness which few other character- 
 istics disclose." 
 
 Christopher Raymond Perry had designed his 
 son for the navy, and Oliver's school days, 
 though well improved by the boy, were short. 
 He finished them at fourteen, an age when the 
 average boy of to-day, who is expected by his 
 parents to take the full course, is struggling 
 along in about the middle of it. But it was 
 at fourteen that Oliver Hazard Perry left the 
 schoolroom to begin his studies in the great, 
 grim university of life, studies that were to 
 yield him a diploma and degree imperishable 
 in the annals of the nation. 
 
 2 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 GROWTH 
 
 IT WAS under the tutelage of his father that 
 young Perry entered upon his training in 
 naval matters. Christopher Raymond 
 Perry was at that time in command of the 
 General Green, and in April, 1799, young 
 Oliver, vested with the dignity of a midship- 
 man's warrant, went aboard her. The Havana 
 station was the object of the General Green's 
 first cruise. She returned July 27 following, 
 having in the interim convoyed over fifty mer- 
 chantmen, bound to various United States 
 ports. It was intended to continue longer, but 
 a contagion which broke out among the crew 
 compelled Captain Perry to return home. It 
 was during this cruise that Oliver had his first 
 lessons in practical seamanship. It is recorded 
 that he proved a ready pupil, and the result 
 satisfied his father that his expectations regard- 
 ing the son's aptitude for matters maritime 
 would be realized, a conclusion in which he was 
 destined not to be disappointed. 
 
GROWTH 
 
 19 
 
 Oliver continued with his father on subsequent 
 cruises of the General Green. He displayed 
 lively interest in the unique calling and was 
 diligent in mastering the problems that con- 
 tinually present themselves to him who would 
 follow the sea in other than a subordinate 
 position. An incident is related of this period 
 which will serve to show that those qualities 
 in the younger Perry, which were later to win 
 universal admiration, were a transmitted in- 
 heritance. The General Green was convoy- 
 ing a brig from New Orleans to Havana, 
 when she fell in with a British ''74." The 
 latter fired across the bows of the brig to 
 bring her to. Neither the rudely saluted brig 
 nor the General Green deigned to notice the 
 hint, but kept steadily on. The frigate dis- 
 patched a boat to board the American brig, 
 whereupon the General Green returned the 
 Englishman's compliment of a few moments 
 previously which brought her alongside. The 
 Englishman bore down and liailed tlie American 
 with a request for an explanation of the shot. 
 Captain Perry answered that the brig was un- 
 der his protection and the shot had been fired 
 simply to prevent her from being boarded. 
 
20 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 The British captain sarcastically commented 
 that it was surprising if a British "74" could 
 not examine a merchant brig. "If she was a 
 first-rate ship," responded Captain Perry, "she 
 should not do it to the dishonor of my flag." 
 The rejoinder resulted in a polite request on the 
 part of the English captain for permission to 
 examine the brig. Captain Perry, knowing 
 that no portion of the cargo was liable to 
 seizure, now readily assented. 
 
 In 1800 the General Green, cruising about 
 the West India station, visited the port of 
 Jacmel, which was being invested by a land 
 detachment of the famous Toussaint's forces. 
 As the reduction of the place was considered of 
 great importance to the commerce of this 
 nation, the General Green assisted, after inter- 
 cepting supplies consigned to the beleagured 
 garrison. Between Toussaint's forces and the 
 American ship, the garrison was starved out, 
 and the entire number, more than five thou- 
 sand, surrendered to Toussaint. The General 
 Green was in close quarters during the engage- 
 ment, battling with three of the forts and com- 
 pelling the enemy to abandon two of them, 
 and afterward to evacuate the town. The 
 
GROWTH 
 
 21 
 
 strongest of the three forts was occupied for a 
 time, but soon after capitulated. The American 
 frigate suffered but sHghtly in the argument. 
 This incident is chiefly of value here because 
 young Oliver was an interested participant 
 and it was his first taste of war. We may be 
 sure that paternal example went a long way 
 at this time with the future hero of Erie. 
 
 In 1801 occurred the reduction of the navy, 
 at which time Oliver was still aboard the 
 General Green. The Tripolitan corsairs were 
 working their own sweet will with American 
 commerce in the Mediterranean, the respect 
 shown our flag by aliens of the present day 
 being then sadly wanting. This was not 
 strange, as we were then rather new and 
 raw, though it was just about that time 
 that we were destined to begin to ripen ; a fact 
 which was to be borne in upon the saddened 
 marauders. Three frigates and a sloop of war 
 were ordered to the Mediterranean for the pro- 
 tection of the pestered merchantmen. Young 
 Perry was attached to the frigate Adams, 
 one of the trio commanded by Captain Camp- 
 bell. The small squadron adequately fulfilled 
 the purpose for which it was dispatched. It 
 
22 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 rendered protection to a number of American 
 merchantmen, drove the barbarian craft to 
 its ports, to the amazement of Europe, whose 
 powers had previously bowed helpless before 
 the piratical flotillas, and established an ef- 
 fectual blockade of Tripoli. Perry returned 
 to this country in 1803, an Acting Lieuten- 
 ant. In 1804, again under Captain Camp- 
 bell, he sailed once more for the Mediterranean, 
 Campbell commanding one of a quartet of 
 frigates sent to reinforce the American squad- 
 ron. Perry remained with the squadron till 
 peace was concluded with vanquished Tripoli. 
 He returned as Second Lieutenant of the frigate 
 Essex, commanded by Commodore Rogers, 
 his experiences having the more equipped him 
 for the unguessed history which was to fol- 
 low. 
 
 Because of the brilliant brood of naval fledg- 
 lings, including Perry, who began notable 
 careers in that unique strife on the Mediter- 
 ranean, a brief sketch of the argument seems 
 at this point permissible. Many a youngster, 
 who was afterward to become famous, learned 
 his first lessons of actual warfare in that school, 
 lessons which he later turned to good account. 
 
GROWTH 
 
 23 
 
 The short experiment in the reduction of the 
 navy was not destined to prove satisfactory. 
 In March, 1801, at the close of President 
 Adams' administration. Congress passed a law 
 authorizing the President to place the navy 
 upon a rigid peace footing by retaining only 
 thirteen frigates, six of which were to be kept 
 in active service. The General Green was one 
 of those retained, as was also the famous Old 
 Ironsides. The complement of officers and men 
 was to be reduced in proportion. Twenty ships 
 were dismantled and sold. Seven of the thirteen 
 retained were laid up by President Jefferson, 
 under the Act, and officers and men in excess, 
 after placing the service on a peace footing, 
 were discharged. Work on six ships, the build- 
 ing of which had been authorized by Congress 
 in 1798, was suspended. "So little," says 
 Lossing, "did the American people then seem 
 to apprehend the value of a competent navy 
 for the protection of their commerce every- 
 where, as well as the honor of the nation, that 
 a majority of them applauded these measures, 
 while many Federalists assailed them only for 
 political effect. That strong arm of the Govern- 
 ment, which had so protected commerce . . . 
 
24 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 was thus paralyzed by an unwise economy in 
 public expenditure. ' ' 
 
 Those in charge of the helm of any nation, 
 who allow themselves to be lulled by that oft 
 recurrent dream of universal peace, are soon 
 forced to a disagreeable realization of the con- 
 tinued aloofness of the millenium. In lieu of 
 the ships of the line Avhich could have pro- 
 tected American commerce on the Mediterra- 
 nean, the United States was forced to follow 
 the examples of the European powers, by enter- 
 ing into arrangements with the Barbary powers 
 to render immune her commerce from the dep- 
 redations of pirates. These arrangements en- 
 tailed the payment of agreed sums to the Bey of 
 Tripoli, and tribute in cash, military and mari- 
 time stores to the Dey of Algiers and the Bey 
 of Tunis. Naturally, the wholesale and amazing 
 truckling of the powers to them, rendered the 
 growing insolence of the freebooters unbearable. 
 The national pride awoke, and, in the spring 
 of 1801, the President determined to act vigor- 
 ously, a resolution which was strengthened by 
 the recollection of insolent treatment the year 
 previous, of Commodore Bainbridge by the 
 Dey of Algiers. In May, 1800, Bainbridge, of 
 
GROWTH 
 
 25 
 
 the George Washington, 24, sailed to dehver 
 the usual tribute, arriving at the Dey's capital 
 in September. Having executed his mission, 
 he was about to leave, when he felt constrained 
 to politely refuse the command of the Dey to 
 convey an Algerine ambassador to the Sultan's 
 court at Constantinople. The Dey observed 
 that the American people paid him tribute, by 
 which they became his slaves, and he had a 
 right to order them as he thought proper. This 
 was a hard dose for an American to swallow, 
 but Bainbridge was advised by the American 
 consul there to yield to circumstances, as, if he 
 tried to leave the harbor without doing so, the 
 guns of a heavily armed fort would open on his 
 ship, which would be confiscated and which 
 outcome would probably bring instant war. 
 So Bainbridge yielded to the humiliation, and 
 to the further one, exacted by the Dey, of sail- 
 ing out with the Algerine flag at the main and 
 that of his own land at the fore. When he 
 had gotten away from Algiers he reversed the 
 flags and bore the Algerine ambassador to the 
 Golden Horn. In a letter to the Secretary of 
 the Navy he wrote, "I shall never again be 
 sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am 
 
26 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 authorized to deliver it from the mouths of 
 our cannon." 
 
 Bainbridge was received differently in Con- 
 stantinople, the Turkish Government entertain- 
 ing friendly feelings toward the new nation 
 of which they now heard for the first time. 
 When Bainbridge returned to Algiers in Jan- 
 uary he bore a firman, tendered him by the 
 Turkish admiral, to protect him from further 
 insolence on the part of the Dey, who greeted 
 him with another order for a mission to Con- 
 stantinople. Upon Bainbridge' s refusal, the Dey 
 waxed abusive, but the display of the firman 
 effected an instantaneous change of position, 
 the Dey becoming servile.* The result was that 
 the Dey now obeyed an order of Bainbridge's. 
 When the latter left he carried the French consul 
 and about fifty of his countrymen, just released 
 from durance, in which they had been held by 
 the Dey's order. 
 
 The United States Government had been pay- 
 ing tribute to the Bey or Bashaw of Tripoli. 
 That worthy learned that his piratical neigh- 
 bors had been paid more than he. So, in the 
 fall of 1800, he promised war if a demand for 
 greater extortion was not met within six 
 
GROWTH 
 
 27 
 
 months. The following May he ordered the 
 flagstaff of the American Consulate to be cut 
 down and proclaimed war. The United States 
 Government anticipated this, and dispatched 
 a squadron of four vessels from Hampton Roads, 
 in command of Commodore Richard Dale, on 
 board his flagship, the President, 44. The 
 squadron reached Gibraltar July 1. Dale pro- 
 ceeded east, in company with the Enterprise, 
 astonishing the powers that were in Tripoli 
 and Tunis with a sudden appearance off their 
 ports. The news of an engagement en route 
 between the Enterprise and the Tripoli, a cor- 
 sair, the latter being reduced to a wreck and 
 captured, added to the native consternation. 
 The squadron remained till autumn, and mean- 
 while the depredations upon American com- 
 merce languished. 
 
 In 1802 a relief squadron of six vessels was sent 
 to the Mediterranean, one after another, from 
 February till September, under Commodore 
 Richard V. Morris, aboard the flagship Chesa- 
 peake. The Constellation, one of the squad- 
 ron, arrived to find the port of Tripoli block- 
 aded by the Boston, commanded by Captain 
 M'Neill, who had been cruising independently. 
 
28 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 M'Neill soon left, and, in a subsequent fracas, 
 the Constellation's heavy guns inflicted much 
 damage upon a flotilla of seventeen Tripolitan 
 gunboats. The Chesapeake reached Gibraltar 
 May 25, finding the Essex blockading a couple 
 of Tripolitan cruisers. The Adams came in 
 July, and, with the Chesapeake and Enterprise, 
 protected American commerce. The squadron 
 rendezvoused at Malta in January, 1803, and 
 restrained the piratical corsairs during the 
 spring by demonstrations of force before the 
 various ports of the Barbary powers. The John 
 Adams damaged opposing gunboats and land 
 batteries of Tripoli considerably in an action 
 in May, suffering only a small loss in killed 
 and wounded. An attempt to negotiate for 
 peace the next day failed, and in June Algerine 
 and Tunisian corsairs became active, inducing 
 a raising of the blockade by the Americans. 
 Commodore Morris returned home in No vember, 
 1803. There was dissatisfaction. A court of 
 inquiry decided that he had not discovered 
 due diligence and activity in annoying the 
 enemy." So the President, says Lossing, "with 
 a precipitation difficult to be defended, dis- 
 missed him from the service without trial. His 
 
GROWTH 
 
 29 
 
 dismissal from the service has ever been con- 
 sidered a high-handed poHtical measure. He 
 died while attending the legislature at Albany 
 in 1814." 
 
 Now was the begining of the end. The United 
 States Government had found events to thor- 
 oughly dissipate the dream of universal peace. 
 The national blood was up and the naval ser- 
 vice, far from occupying a niche in the cabinet 
 of cast-off national utilities, was now all-impor- 
 tant. No efforts were being spared to effect 
 an equipment which should bring the insolent 
 freebooters to terms and force a wholesome 
 respect for the flag. So it came that in May, 
 1803, Commodore Edward Preble, in pursuance 
 of the awakened national spirit, was appointed 
 to the command of a squadron headed by the 
 Constitution, 44, with the Philadelphia, 38, Ar- 
 gus and Siren, 16 each, and Nautilus, Vixen 
 and Enterprise, 12 each. Preble sailed in the 
 Constitution in August, the others following 
 as fast as they could be gotten in readiness. 
 Captain Bainbridge had sailed on the Phila- 
 delphia in July, and captured, August 26, the 
 Moorish frigate Meshboha, which had taken 
 an American merchantman. The Philadelphia 
 
30 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 returned to Gibraltar with the captured frigate, 
 whose commander, it was discovered, was act- 
 ing under the orders of the Moorish Governor 
 of Tangiers in cruising for American vessels. 
 Upon Preble's arrival he determined to look 
 into the matter. Oct. 6, with Commodore 
 Rodgers, he entered the Bay of Tangiers with 
 the Constitution and three other ships. An in- 
 terview was had with the Emperor of Morocco, 
 who assured Preble that he desired to remain 
 at peace with this nation and disavowed the 
 act of the Governor of Tangiers. Rodgers 
 sailed home and Preble made ready for a 
 vigorous accounting with Tripoli. The Phila- 
 delphia, on Oct. 31, in chasing a Tripolitan 
 ship into its harbor, had the misfortune to 
 strike upon a wholly uncharted rock, where she 
 stuck fast and could not be sheered off. The 
 Tripolitans were quick to attack and capture 
 her while she lay helpless, making Bainbridge 
 and his officers and men prisoners. The officers 
 the captors treated as prisoners of war, while 
 the members of the crew were made slaves. 
 The Tripolitans soon succeeded in getting the 
 Philadelphia off the rock and brought her into 
 their harbor. 
 
GROWTH 
 
 31 
 
 The casualty was reported to Preble at Malta, 
 through the efforts of Bainbridge. The Tripoli- 
 tans were fitting up the Philadelphia for their 
 own purposes, intending to use her in battle 
 against her recent mates. Bainbridge suggested 
 her destruction, if it could be effected. On Dec. 
 23 the Enterprise, Lieutenant Decatur, sailing 
 with the flagship, captured a Tripolitan ketch, 
 the Mastico. She did duty for the Americans 
 thereafter, her name being changed to the In- 
 trepid. 
 
 A plan by Decatur for capturing or destroy- 
 ing the Philadelphia was approved by Preble, 
 and Feb. 3, 1804, he left Syracuse for that 
 purpose. An incident celebrated in naval an- 
 nals followed. Seventy-four gallant young fel- 
 lows accompanied Decatur on the changeling 
 Intrepid, which was convoyed by the brig Siren, 
 Lieutenant Stewart. Storms deferred the at- 
 tempt till the 16th, when, on a moonlit night, the 
 Intrepid was sailed into the harbor and warped 
 alongside the Philadelphia, in the guise of a 
 distressed vessel whose decks were apparently 
 well nigh deserted. The surprise was perfect. 
 With Yankee cheers American seamen once 
 more trod the decks of the Philadelphia, and 
 
32 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 with an irresistible rush that brought terror 
 to the hearts of the ahen crew which held her, 
 the latter were killed or driven into the sea. 
 Corsairs were coming and the Americans set fire 
 to the Philadelphia, which they could not pre- 
 serve to their own cause, and regained the In- 
 trepid, which, with the aid of oars, got out of 
 the harbor in safety. Boats from the Siren 
 were in waiting to aid in towing the ketch off. 
 Both vessels sailed to Syracuse, the feat of 
 Decatur and his mates producing great satis- 
 faction to the squadron. Through this exploit 
 Decatur later received a captaincy and others 
 in the venture were also promoted. 
 
 Commodore Preble established an effective 
 blockade of the port of Tripoli. In July, 1804, 
 Preble's squadron sailed into the harbor. The 
 Constitution anchored two miles and a half 
 from the town, which was protected by heavy 
 land batteries, a force of 25,000 troops, a num- 
 ber of gunboats and other craft, and a reef of 
 dangerous rocks and shoals, in itself a formid- 
 able defense. Preble was not of the faint- 
 hearted type, however, and Aug. 3, in the 
 afternoon, his gunboats, the only craft that 
 could draw near enough, opened a heavy can- 
 
GROWTH 
 
 33 
 
 nonade on the town. Here Lieutenant Decatur 
 again signally distinguished himself. This most 
 dashing and picturesque figure of American 
 naval history was in command of one of the 
 gunboats, which he laid alongside a much 
 larger Tripolitan craft, and led his boarders 
 upon her decks. He captured her after a des- 
 perate struggle. Lossing tells of the only 
 American officer killed in this engagement. It 
 was James Decatur, First Lieutenant of the 
 Nautilus and younger brother of Stephen. The 
 Nautilus had caused the surrender <pf one of the 
 enemy's largest vessels, and James was board- 
 ing her to take possession when her captain 
 treacherously shot him. His pistol was loaded 
 with two bullets connected with a wire, which 
 struck Decatur's forehead, and bending, the two 
 balls entered his temples, one on either side, 
 killing him instantly. 
 
 Meanwhile the elder brother, after capturing 
 the first corsair mentioned, boarded another, 
 with whose commander he had a most deadly 
 personal encounter. Decatur attacked the Tri- 
 politan captain with a pike, which was seized 
 by the latter, a powerful rascal, and turned 
 upon the lieutenant. The American warded 
 3 
 
34 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 off the blow with his cutlass, which snapped at 
 the hilt. He then closed with the Tripolitan 
 and the two fell, struggling, to the deck. An 
 attempt by his enemy to draw a knife was 
 frustrated by Decatur, who ended the argu- 
 ment with a swift shot from a pistol which he 
 managed to draw from his pocket. 
 
 The conflict lasted two hovirs. Three of the 
 enemy's boats were sunk, three captured, and 
 the Tripolitans' loss in killed and wounded was 
 very large. The Americans then withdrew, re- 
 newing the attack four days later, inflicting 
 some damage. They again renewed the on- 
 slaught on the 24th of that month, the engage- 
 ment being brief. On the 29th occurred an 
 engagement of several hours, till the ammu- 
 nition of the American gunboats was nearly 
 exhausted. They withdrew under the thunderous 
 protection of the big guns of the Constitution. 
 
 Till Sept. 2 a recess was taken, the fleet 
 anchoring off Tripoli to repair damages. A 
 general engagement occurred the following 
 day. The night following this fifth bombard- 
 ment the converted ketch Intrepid met her 
 tragic end. She had been made into a float 
 ing mine with which it was hoped to blow up 
 
GROWTH 
 
 35 
 
 the enemy's vessels in the harbor, and on the 
 night referred to set out on her desperate 
 undertaking. Aboard her were the gallant 
 Captain Somers, Lieutenant Wadsworth, of 
 the Constitution, and Joseph Israel, a young 
 officer who got upon the Intrepid by stealth 
 that night. The party was completed by 
 a few men^j^ work the ketch and two crews 
 of boats employed in towing her. It was a 
 dark night, the ketch entering the harbor at 
 9 o'clock. Soon after this there came a sin- 
 ister red glare and a tremendous explosion. 
 Those who went on that expedition never came 
 back. Whether the dramatic finale occurred 
 from a chance shot by the enemy, or an 
 American produced it with an opportune brand 
 to prevent imminent capture, is a matter that 
 could of course never be determined. 
 
 A scarcity of ammunition and the advent of 
 storms now closed active operations. Sept. 10 
 the coming of Commodore Barron relieved 
 Preble, who arrived home late in February, 
 1805, with national honors and emoluments 
 awaiting for himself and those under him. Com- 
 modore Barron was now in command of the 
 largest naval force that had yet been main- 
 
36 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 tained by the United States in those waters 
 during the trouble. There were ten vessels, 
 headed by the gallant old Constitution, now 
 captained by Decatur, and including the Con- 
 stellation, Captain Campbell, and the Essex, 
 Captain J. Barron, upon which the stripling 
 Perry was now serving, having won a lieu- 
 tenancy by meritorious conduct during the 
 war. 
 
 Barron made the President his flagship, and 
 maintained the blockade of Tripoli during the 
 autumn and winter of 1805. Meanwhile, Cap- 
 tain William Eaton, U. S. A., then consul at 
 Tunis, conceived and managed a land movement 
 against Tripoli. Hamet Caramalli, the rightful 
 holder of the beyship of Tunis, had taken 
 refuge with the Mamelukes in Egypt. Captain 
 Eaton and other American officers visited him, 
 and it was determined to make common cause 
 against his brother, the usurper. Hamet Cara- 
 malli left the Mamelukes, and, with a few fol- 
 lowers, joined Eaton, who had a force of repre- 
 sentatives of many nations west of Alexandria. 
 The allies, with a camel train, started for Trip- 
 oli in March, traversing the Desert of Barca 
 and the wild regions of the African coast of 
 
GROWTH 
 
 37 
 
 the Mediterranean for a thousand miles. With 
 two American vessels they captured Derne, in 
 Tripoli, in April. They were successful in other 
 engagements, their following increased, and 
 they approached the capital confident of suc- 
 cess. "When," says Lossing, "to the morti- 
 fication of Captain Eaton and the extinguish- 
 ment of all hopes of Hamet, they were apprised 
 that Tobias Lear, consul-general on that coast, 
 had appeared before Tripoli in the Essex and 
 made a treaty with the terrified Bashaw. This 
 treaty was not creditable. Although it was 
 stipulated that the United States should pay 
 no more tribute to Tripoli, it was agreed that 
 $60,000 should be paid for captives then in the 
 possession of the Bashaw. Altogether better 
 and less humiliating terms for the United 
 States might have been obtained. All that 
 Hamet gained was the release of his wife and 
 children. He lost everything else. He after- 
 ward came to the United States and applied to 
 Congress for remuneration for his services in 
 "favor of the Americans. His petition was 
 denied, but $2,400 were voted for his temporary 
 relief." 
 
 The four years' war with Tripoli was ended. 
 
38 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Tunis being still inclined toward insolence, Com- 
 modore Rodgers, succeeding to the command 
 of the squadron in consequence of the failing 
 health of Barron, anchored the flotilla on Aug. 
 1 before the Bey's capital. This sufficed. The 
 Bey sent an ambassador to Washington. 
 
 This was the school in which so many gallant 
 youngsters served, who were later to prove their 
 mettle in the war of 1812, and afterward. As 
 for the records of its scholars, they are written 
 in the annals of the nation and the world. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 AD INTERIM 
 
 AFTER the close of the TripoHtan War 
 in 1805, there succeeded a period of 
 seven years of harassed peace for this 
 nation, before the outbreak of the struggle of 
 1812. It was a species of peace in which there 
 was nothing of contentment or placidity, how- 
 ever. Even in those early years the youthful 
 nation had come to rank importantly as a com- 
 mercial power. This was a circumstance that 
 just here rebounded unfavorably upon her, for it 
 made her the sorely buffeted buffer between those 
 warring giants of Europe, England and France. 
 With the first, the motherland, the badgered 
 offspring was destined to grapple again in des- 
 perate rebellion against tyranny. As for the 
 second, had not the stupendous French dream 
 of universal aggrandizement been broken by the 
 might of resisting arms — arms upheld un- 
 weariedly by England through the stress of 
 years — it is probable that the men of the West 
 
40 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 would ultimately have been called to repel in 
 blood the forces of the invading Corsican 
 upon these shores. 
 
 The dream of universal peace has been so 
 often blasted in an explosion so sudden as to 
 stupefy the world, that the cynical smiles of men 
 at its mere mention in these later years may 
 readily be pardoned. It has been too often 
 proved that its announcement usually serves as 
 the prelude of some sinister convulsion. It is 
 like the glory of a tropic day before the destruc- 
 tive eruption of a volcano. In the light of the 
 past, one may clearly perceive the animus of 
 the ironical smiles with which the nations re- 
 ceived the Czar's proposal of general disarma- 
 ment, and behold clear-limned, the spirit of 
 covert menace in Kipling's famous poem on 
 the Russian Bear. 
 
 Following the general pacification of Europe, 
 early in 1802, when the claws of the Corsican 
 were temporarily sheathed and he seemed dis- 
 posed to remain at amity with the rest of the 
 powers, there was an intense admiration for him 
 throughout England. Then, as now, the squat, 
 rotund figure loomed a veritable Colossus, 
 grown a giant through the force of his pro dig- 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 41 
 
 ious genius, which cast a shadow that was en- 
 veloping Europe, lengthening and deadly. For 
 a time England was immune. Bonaparte was 
 a hero ; thousands of Englishmen found his rule 
 a magnet that drew them to France. The same 
 false sense of security that led America to re- 
 duce her navy lulled England for a time. But 
 not for long. The shadow, for a time hesitant 
 at the verge of France, stealthily crept out 
 across the channel toward the indomitable 
 island. Fair-seeming was irreconcilable with the 
 threatening shadow. Suspicion was born, sus- 
 picion that quickly matured and begat hatred 
 of the Corsican and his guarded schemings. 
 The French Senate, indorsed by the people's 
 votes, made Bonaparte consul for life. Islands 
 and duchies were added to France's possessions. 
 The Corsican was showing his hand. England 
 insisted that the aggrandizement violated the 
 Treaty of Amiens. Bonaparte threw off the 
 mask, became belligerent, overbearing. He ac- 
 cused England of interference with his claimed 
 scheme of promoting general peace; made ex- 
 traordinary demands upon her, which included 
 a request that she modify her constitution. It 
 was charged that his agents were employed in 
 
42 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 inciting rebellions in Ireland. So it went until 
 the climax in March, 1803, when Napoleon 
 asserted in an official note to the British am- 
 bassador in Paris, that "England, alone, cannot 
 now encounter France." The commotion on the 
 island that followed this intelligence was aug- 
 mented a few days later, when it was learned in 
 London that a Senatus Consultem had just 
 placed 120,000 conscripts at Napoleon's ser- 
 vice. 
 
 In May the British minister, after being in- 
 sulted by Napoleon, was ordered to leave Paris. 
 England immediately retaliated by ordering the 
 French minister to leave London and declared 
 war against France May 18, placing an im- 
 mediate embargo upon all French ships in the 
 island's ports. As a consequence many English 
 visitors in France at the time were seized and 
 imprisoned. The French concentrated troops, 
 ready to invade England. England prepared 
 at great expense to resist invasion, being aided 
 by many exiled Bourbon Royalists who had 
 found an asylum there. Their presence and 
 efforts added to the Corsican's resentment 
 against the British. 
 
 Writers have not been wanting who have 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 43 
 
 claimed that England's course at this time 
 changed history, and that if Bonaparte had been 
 left to himself the world would have been treated 
 to the spectacle of a benevolent monarch, en- 
 grossed wholly in the affairs of his own country 
 and in schemes for the betterment of his own 
 people. But a mere glance at the career of the 
 man would seem to render this theory untenable. 
 Had philanthropy been his life's chief aim, his 
 years could as well have been spent in Cor- 
 sica. But it was Corsica, France, the world. 
 It was with him a reaching out for increasing 
 power from the beginning. His ambition was 
 a fearsome, insatiable vulture that tore re- 
 morselessly at his quivering soul until the 
 end. 
 
 Lossing compares the resultant war between 
 these powers to a contest for the champion's 
 belt, supremacy in the political affairs of the 
 world; fought with science, desperation and 
 brutality of accomplished pugilists; with an 
 utter disregard for the rights of other nations. 
 With that conflict we have nothing to do here, 
 except as it affected the welfare of this strug- 
 gling nation. The world well knows of it; of 
 the Titanic fight of the Corsican; of the bull- 
 
44 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 dog tenacity of England, which, flanked by 
 the lesser of the dogs of war, finally won the 
 day and left Napoleon undone. 
 
 The Louisiana Purchase was a most impor- 
 tant step in the national career. In 1763 
 France had ceded to England the region east of 
 the Mississippi, except Florida, and west of 
 the river to Spain. The war for independence 
 changed the first, the second involved the ab- 
 dication by France of territorial holdings on 
 this continent. But while the negotiations of 
 the Treaty of Amiens were progressing, it was 
 rumored that Spain had retroceded to France 
 the region west of the great river. President 
 Jefferson viewed this prospect with alarm. It 
 seemed hardly desirable just then that France 
 should re-acquire her foothold on this continent. 
 The negotiations followed which solidified this 
 country and removed what was a positive 
 menace. There can be no doubt that colonial 
 expansion had formed a considerable part of 
 the fabric of Napoleon's dream. It was un- 
 doubtedly as well that at this time he was 
 facing the imminent prospect of having his hands 
 again full of Europe, and was bending his 
 energies toward the invasion of England and 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 45 
 
 the destruction of her maritime advantages. 
 It is related that he remarked at the time to 
 Marbois : " This accession of territory strength- 
 ens forever the power of the United States, 
 and I have just given England a maritime rival 
 that will, sooner or later, humble her pride." 
 
 Under a modification of the British "rule of 
 1756" this country's commerce had prospered 
 amazingly. The modification had been made 
 for the supposed benefit of British interests. 
 With reliance in the good faith of their brethren 
 over the sea, American shipowners established 
 a most profitable carrying trade. English mer- 
 chants and naval officers complained that there 
 were no more prizes to take. Britain's enemies 
 used neutral merchant vessels and trade did not 
 languish because of war. It was claimed that 
 the ''rule of 1756" was wholly evaded. The 
 Courts of Admiralty began to hear, favorably, 
 complaints to the effect that the neutral prop- 
 erty allegation was a mere subterfuge, and 
 early in the summer of 1805 the rule of 1756 
 was revived in full force, though secretly. So 
 the seizure of American vessels with rich car- 
 goes, by British cruisers, and subsequent con- 
 demnation by Courts of Admiralty, came as a 
 
46 OLIVER HAZAED PERRY 
 
 disagreeable surprise on this side. English 
 writers, in defending this action, alleged that it 
 was practically war against Great Britain to 
 carry on a profitable trade with her enemies. 
 
 Much indignation ensued and the President 
 was besieged with memorials from the mer- 
 chants of all American ports, protesting and 
 demanding redress. Another aggravating as- 
 sumption on the part of England, which fur- 
 nished the immediate cause of the subsequent 
 war, was the British insistence upon the right 
 to search neutral vessels for alleged British 
 seamen. Through this practice many Ameri- 
 cans were impressed into alien service. This is 
 a feature of history so well known to all Eng- 
 lish-speaking people that it requires no eluci- 
 dation. The practice, on the part of the British, 
 had been made the subject of American protests 
 since our beginning as a nation, protests that 
 were of no avail. Requests made through the 
 diplomatic branch that England should forego 
 this convenient method of increasing her forces 
 of able-bodied seamen only resulted in the 
 somewhat remarkable suggestion, that to guard 
 against these oft-recurring "accidents," Ameri- 
 can seamen should all carry certificates of 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 47 
 
 citizenship. The official correspondence of the 
 time relates that British naval officers often 
 impressed Swedes, Danes, and even Frenchmen, 
 from American vessels upon the ironical pretense 
 that they were English subjects. Attempts by 
 this Government to have the vexed matter 
 settled by arbitration were abortive, for Great 
 Britain's position was that there was nothing 
 to arbitrate. Impressments ceased at the time 
 of the general pacification of Europe in 1801, 
 for good, as the Americans hoped. The Peace 
 of Amiens had respited British ships of war 
 and there was for the time being a superfluity 
 of men. But with the locking of horns of Eng- 
 land and France in 1803, the impress was 
 resumed with vigor. Every attempt of serious 
 remonstrance by American public men failed 
 to change the English policy a hair's breadth. 
 Toward the close of 1805 the situation had 
 become unbearable. Congress passed a resolu- 
 tion denunciatory of impressment and the dep- 
 redations upon the national commerce. There 
 was a subsequent resolution offered and finally 
 passed demanding the restoration of unjustly 
 confiscated property, indemnification for past 
 losses and an arrangement calculated to do 
 
48 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 away with the impressment of American seamen. 
 Of the four modes of obtaining redress — negotia- 
 tion, non-intercovirse, embargo and war — it 
 was determined to try the first once more. 
 WilUam Pinkney, of Maryland, was made Minis- 
 ter Extraordinary to England, to become as- 
 sociated with Monroe, the resident minister, 
 in the concluding of a treaty to settle all dis- 
 putes existing between the two nations. In 
 the meantime, to bring the issue forcibly home 
 to the parent country, the House of Representa- 
 tives passed an act excluding many of Great 
 Britain's important manufactures from importa- 
 tion here. The act passed the Senate and be- 
 came a law in April, 1806. To accommodate 
 the negotiations, this act was specified to be- 
 come operative the following November. 
 
 There were hopes, during the debate on this 
 measure, of better things from England, as 
 intelligence had reached these shores of the 
 death of William Pitt in January of that year, 
 and the formation of a new cabinet early in 
 February, with the Liberal, Charles James Fox, 
 as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Pink-^ 
 ney sailed for England, believing there might 
 be a change of policy, but the English absorp- 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 49 
 
 tion in the war against Napoleon made the 
 complaints of this country a distinct side-issue. 
 However, Lords Holland and Auckland were 
 appointed and began negotiations with the 
 American diplomats in August. According to 
 instructions, the Americans insisted upon the 
 abolishment of the impress. The English rep- 
 resentatives, sustained by full authority of their 
 Government, refused to yield the point, claim- 
 ing that to do so would make American vessels 
 asylums for British deserters. A quasi-agree- 
 ment was finally reduced to writing, however, 
 by which the English were assumed to agree to 
 use the impress with more care and gradually 
 to allow the practice to die out. Negotiations 
 proceeded along other lines, a commercial treaty 
 being agreed to which the Americans considered, 
 on the whole, more favorable to their Govern- 
 ment than the previous one. The matters 
 affecting the carrying trade were also settled 
 upon, when word of the Berlin Decree reached 
 the commissioners. Holland and Auckland 
 asked assurances that the United States would 
 not allow their trade with Great Britain to 
 be interfered with by France without resenting 
 it. This the American commissioners had no 
 4 
 
50 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 authority to do, so they refused. The English- 
 men waived the point and signed the treaty, 
 presenting a written protest against the BerUn 
 Decree. 
 
 Because this treaty was loose in actual guar- 
 antees, and largely because it did not dispose 
 of the hated impress, the President, seconded 
 by Mr. Madison, the Secretary of State, refused 
 to ratify it. Before the official refusal reached 
 England there occurred the death of Fox. The 
 Fox and Grenville ministry had disappeared, 
 being succeeded by the warlike one in which 
 Liverpool, Percival and Canning, compatriots 
 of Pitt, figured. 
 
 In May, 1806, occurred the declaration by 
 England of a blockade of the European coast 
 from the Elbe, in Germany, to Brest, in France, 
 in retaliation of the seizure of Hanover by the 
 Prussians, at the instigation of Napoleon. On 
 Nov. 21, of that year, there emanated from 
 the "Imperial Camp at Berlin" Napoleon's 
 famous decree declaring the British Isles in a 
 state of blockade. He had scarcely a ship to 
 enforce it, but relied for moral support on Eng- 
 land's famous "law of nations," which made 
 a mere paper blockade effective and allowed 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 51 
 
 might to prey on unfortunate neutrals. Napo- 
 leon's adherence for several years to this meas- 
 ure was the means of dragging in many of the 
 European states against the buffeted England, 
 whose unwearied resistance against all the 
 amalgamated power of the Corsican and his 
 allies cannot but win the admiration of the 
 world. 
 
 The breadth of the Berlin Decree naturally 
 filled America — which nation was about the 
 only neutral extant at this time — with alarm. 
 The commerce of this nation was then a rich 
 morsel for the greedy. Still, the long-continued 
 policy of France in the rightful usage of neutrals 
 somewhat allayed the national fears, and Ameri- 
 can commerce for a time was immune. Doubt- 
 less Napoleon, perceiving the growth of hostility 
 toward England in the United States, deferred 
 any provocative measure for a time, in the 
 hope that this nation might join him in a con- 
 federacy against England. But the United 
 States did not declare war, and in 1807 there 
 was rendered a decision of Regnier, the French 
 Minister of Justice, to the effect that all mer- 
 chandise derived from England and her colonies, 
 by whomsoever owned, was liable to seizure even 
 
52 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 on board neutral vessels. Americans being the 
 only neutrals, the aim of the decision was ob- 
 vious, and the new principle was swiftly put 
 into practice. Then Great Britain prohibited 
 all neutral trade with France or her allies, un- 
 less through Great Britain. 
 
 To paraphrase an old quotation, the United 
 States now found herself in a deep sea between 
 two devils. But more was to follow. Bona- 
 parte, in retaliation, issued another decree, 
 even more destructive to American commerce, 
 and Spain and Holland immediately followed 
 his lead with similar ones. This nation's com- 
 merce, that had flourished like a flower, became 
 the rudely battered shuttlecock between smash- 
 ing battledores. 
 
 The war spirit in the United States received 
 a powerful impetus when in June, 1807, occurred 
 the raking of the Chesapeake by the Leopard, 
 off Hampton Roads, because of the former's 
 refusal to .turn over three alleged British de- 
 serters, who, by the way, were found to be 
 Americans who had previously been impressed 
 into British service and had escaped to rejoin 
 the Americans. Canning, the British Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs, disavowed the outrage and 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 53 
 
 recalled the officers of the Leopard. The war 
 spirit, in consequence of this affair, spread 
 through the States like a flame, but the Presi- 
 dent and the cabinet preferred to allow Eng- 
 land a chance to disavow the act and eventually 
 to repair the wrong. Popular sentiment in- 
 duced the Presidential proclamation July 2, 
 ordering British armed vessels to leave Ameri- 
 can waters immediately. Should they remain, 
 communication by Americans with their crews 
 was forbidden. Wholesale preparations for de- 
 fense were ordered to be made. The armed 
 schooner Revenge was sent to England with 
 instructions to the American ministers, Monroe 
 and Pinkney, to demand reparation in the case 
 of the Chesapeake and that all impressments 
 should cease. The latter the English Govern- 
 ment would not agree to, particularly as it 
 was asked that their cherished right of search 
 be relinquished. The Americans endeavored, 
 through diplomacy, to bring about the results 
 desired, but efforts proved fruitless, and from 
 1808 till the actual conflict, the shadow of 
 coming war was never exorcised. 
 
 The Embargo Act, passed in December, 1807, 
 was an attempt, by inhibiting the departure of 
 
54 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 our vessels from our ports, to compel France 
 and England to respect the rights of a badly 
 injured neutral, an object which the measure 
 did not accomplish. There was great opposition 
 to the act at home, and it was constantly 
 evaded. The sole benefit that accrued from the 
 act was the encouragement of manufacturing 
 enterprises, which received a genuine impetus 
 in the States at this time. 
 
 The Embargo Act, being found deficient in 
 the expected results, and hateful to the country's 
 citizens in general, was revoked in March, 1809. 
 It was followed by the non-intercourse law, the 
 operations of which were later suspended in so 
 far as they concerned France, by the proclama- 
 tion of the President, pursuant to a provision 
 of the law, but continuing in force against 
 Great Britain, with whom relations grew con- 
 stantly more strained. 
 
 Details are multitudinous regarding these 
 stirring times. The limitations of space have 
 forbidden the giving of more than a brief 
 resume of the trend of events which led to this 
 nation's second conflict with Great Britain. 
 Suffice it to say that, no other course appear- 
 ing possible, Congress declared war against the 
 
AD INTERIM 
 
 55 
 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 June 18, 1812. 
 
 Of this step the New York Morning Post of 
 that old day said editorially : 
 
 '*With a stone and a sling only, America 
 commenced the War of Independence. Without 
 arms, without clothing, without money and 
 without credit, we took the field, relying upon 
 stout hearts and the assistance of God for the 
 success of a righteous cause. The event has 
 proved that with such reliances a nation has 
 nothing to fear. Our country has again thrown 
 itself upon the protection of the Lord of Hosts ; 
 we need but prove faithful to Him and to our- 
 selves. Victory will again crown our efforts 
 and peace and plenty reward us for our toils. 
 Who that is truly an American will despair 
 of the success of his country; who will dare to 
 believe that we can be otherwise than con- 
 querors?" 
 
 And, for the purpose of glancing at the other 
 side of the shield, the following paragraph, 
 from the London Courier, is opportune : 
 
 "America knows not that the vigor of the 
 British Empire increases with the necessity of 
 exerting it; that our elasticity rises with the 
 
56 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 pressure upon us; that difficulties only make 
 us more firm and undaunted; that dangers 
 only give us the additional means of overcom- 
 ing them. It is in such a state of affairs, in 
 such a great crisis, that a nation like Great 
 Britain becomes greater. We are now the only 
 bulwark of liberty in the world ; placed, a little 
 spot, a speck, almost, on the ocean, between 
 the Old and the New World, we are contending 
 with both; with one arm we are beating the 
 armies of the Master of the Continent of Europe, 
 and with the other we shall smite his Prefect 
 on the Continent of America." 
 
 The scream of the eagle, the roar of the lion ! 
 Truly, a fearsome blending, these voices of the 
 aerie and the lair. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FRONTIER 
 
 IN the time of a troublous peace the nation 
 had finally begun to prepare for war. 
 It had been the Jeffersonian policy to 
 maintain an economical course in regard to 
 the army and navy; but dubious prospects of 
 coming trouble, as the situation grew more 
 strained, had changed this. The army had been 
 increased, the depleted navy reinforced by ships 
 that had been out of commission and by a few 
 new ones, coast and harbor defenses strength- 
 ened, and before the beginning of the inevitable 
 struggle the Government had appropriated 
 several millions of dollars for purposes of war. 
 
 This country's neutrality, that neutrality 
 which made her commerce the prey of aliens, 
 had naturally caused the navy to languish 
 during these few years. With the approach of 
 the grim shadow of war, and the resultant 
 activity in naval circles, a number of gallant 
 eager hearts were gladdened, for days of 
 
58 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 peace cannot but drag monotonously for the 
 men, who, on land or sea, trained in a relent- 
 less school, await the call to arms. 
 
 Lieutenant Perry, at the close of the Tripoli- 
 tan War, had continued in his congenial field, 
 the navy. The stripling of Tripoli had become 
 a man, strong and earnest, who followed hope- 
 fully the life that led to what he fully believed 
 would prove Opportunity ; a quest in which he 
 w^as not to be disappointed. The deep, abiding 
 desire for action, the wish that grew with the 
 years, that was born of his innate genius, was 
 destined, as was natural with such a soul, to 
 be satisfied only in the embattled roar of 
 Erie. 
 
 Perry's past services and growing abilities 
 were noted, resulting in his appointment to 
 the command of a flotilla of seventeen gun- 
 boats on the Newport station. This was soon 
 after the adoption of the Embargo in 1808. 
 He continued in this service until 1810, when 
 he was given the command of the U. S. 
 Schooner Revenge, then laying at New London, 
 and attached to the squadron of Commodore 
 Rodgers. During a cruise of the Revenge, in 
 that year. Perry was the means of rendering 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 59 
 
 signal services to the ship Diana, of Wiscasset, 
 Me., which craft was in distress off the coast of 
 Georgia. As a result of his opportune assist- 
 ance, he received a letter of acknowledgment 
 from the owners of the vessel, with the added 
 request that he forward it with his own report 
 to the Naval Secretary. 
 
 During January, 1811, the Revenge, while 
 returning from Newport to New London, under 
 the command of Lieutenant Perry, was lost in 
 a thick fog near the mouth of the Pawcatuck 
 River, in Rhode Island. She struck upon a 
 rocky reef off Watch Hill, and went to pieces 
 in a few hours. The fog was of the consistency 
 that seamen are wont to say can not readily 
 be cut with a knife, and the peril of the situa- 
 tion was vastly increased by a heavy swell. 
 The pilot was helpless to tell of the location 
 of the wrecked Revenge. At this trying time 
 Perry displayed the qualities that proved him, 
 as truly as they did later upon Erie, a born 
 master of men. His calm, philosophic accept- 
 ance of the harried situation prevented a panic, 
 his potent personality and inspiring example 
 swiftly brought order out of chaos, and dis- 
 cipline was soon again dominant. The re- 
 
60 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 suit was that not only the men but most of 
 the ship's property reached safety, the latter 
 including the sails, rigging, most of the cannon, 
 and nearly all the effects of value. 
 
 As the ship had been in his charge, Lieutenant 
 Perry asked that a court of inquiry be ap- 
 pointed to examine into the circumstances of 
 the casualty. This was done. The commission 
 fully canvassed the matter and returned find- 
 ings, that not only absolved the young com- 
 mander from all blame, but pronounced his 
 conduct during those trying hours to be most 
 meritorious. He received commendation for 
 evidenced judgment, activity and cool intrep- 
 idity; and the findings of the court raised in 
 no small degree the already high estimation in 
 which he was held by his Government. 
 
 The official report of the Secretary of the 
 Navy, made but briefly before, shows the fol- 
 lowing to have constituted the United States 
 Navy at the beginning of the war of 1812. 
 The Constitution, frigate, 44 guns; President, 
 44, cost $220,910; United States, 44; Congress, 
 36; Essex, 32, cost $139,362; ships— John 
 Adams, 20, cost, $113,500; Wasp, 16; Hornet, 
 12; brigs— Argus, 16; Nautilus, 16; Vixen, 14; 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 61 
 
 Enterprise, 14; Syren, 16; Viper, 10; Oneida, 
 on Lake Ontario, 16. These were in actual 
 service. 
 
 The following were laid up in ordinary : Chesa- 
 peake, 36 guns, original cost, $220,677; Con- 
 stellation, 36, cost $314,212; New York, 36, 
 original cost, $159,639; Adams, 32, cost, $76,- 
 622; Boston, 32, cost $119,570. Some of 
 these, particularly the New York and Boston, 
 were in such a decayed condition as to render 
 it inadvisable to repair them. Besides the 
 vessels enumerated, the nation had 165 gun- 
 boats, of which 65 were in commission, 93 in 
 ordinary and 7 under repairs. 
 
 It is recorded that the first service in which 
 Perry was employed after the war had begun 
 was one that would naturally chafe a spirit like 
 his, because the work lay in quiet waters. He 
 was given the command of a flotilla of gun- 
 boats, stationed at Newport. He continued 
 there for several months in the summer and 
 autumn of 1812. This would not do for Perry. 
 There was no prospect of action here. To the 
 north, by the shores of the great chain of in- 
 land seas and the mighty St. Lawrence beyond, 
 there stirred impending action. There was logi- 
 
62 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 cally the theater, upon the bosom of the wide 
 water; for across the deep lay Canada. 
 
 All things called for concentration of power 
 at the north. Perry's prophetic soul willed 
 his body where the fight seemed likely to be 
 thickest. He invoked the powers at Washington. 
 To the good fortune of themselves and the 
 nation they — at odd times — well served, they 
 finally consented. Perry was directed to join 
 the naval forces on the lakes; and the order 
 made history. The said naval forces were under 
 the command of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, 
 whose headquarters were at Sackets Harbor, 
 N. Y., near the foot of Lake Ontario. To this 
 port young Perry repaired early the next year, 
 reporting to the man who was officially his 
 superior, but who in achievement was not des- 
 tined to equal even remotely the subaltern. 
 
 To properly understand all that entered into 
 the border warfare during the War of 1812, 
 it is advisable here to revert for a space and 
 sketch, briefly, stirring events in the Northwest 
 at a period immediately prior to the second 
 war with England. In the year 1800 the In- 
 diana territory, then including the present 
 States of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 63 
 
 established. William Henry Harrison, who was 
 to achieve the Presidency, then not thirty years 
 old, was appointed Governor. He had been a 
 captain in the regular army, but had for a few 
 years followed a civil career. A territorial legis- 
 lature was organized in 1805, and Vincennes 
 was made the capital. By the end of that year 
 Harrison, by honorable treaties, had secured 
 thousands of acres of Indian lands for the 
 Government. He was powerless to prevent the 
 encroachment of classes, however, who preyed 
 upon and defrauded the Indians, besides under- 
 mining the unfortunate race with its worst foe, 
 whisky. British influence was also felt from 
 Canada, contributing to the discontent that 
 spread, like a growing cloud, through the North- 
 west. Harrison did all that he could to avert 
 the threatened trouble, but too many forces 
 were working the other way. At the beginning 
 of 1811 the Indians were impatient for the war- 
 path, and it were idle to deny that they had 
 had provocation. 
 
 Instances of Indian patriotism are by no 
 means wanting in the annals of this land. In 
 the breast of Tecum.seh there burned as white 
 a flame of love for the liberties of his people 
 
64 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 as ever warmed that of a Caucasian brother. 
 This picturesque figure was one of three sons 
 born at the same time of a Creek mother 
 (Methoataske), in a rude cabin near the Mad 
 River, a few miles from Springfield, Ohio. The 
 brothers were named Tecumseh (or Tecumtha), 
 Elkswatawa, and Kamskaka. In the Shawnoese 
 dialect the name of Tecumseh signifies " a flying 
 tiger," or ''a v/ildcat springing on its prey." 
 With Tecumseh, Elkswatawa, "the loud voice," 
 was, as the famous Prophet, destined to reach 
 a commanding position among his people; 
 which consummation he owed chiefly to the 
 directing genius of his masterful brother. The 
 third of the trio, Kamskaka, was unstirred by 
 ambition and died in comfortable obscurity. 
 
 From historical accounts, the rise to power of 
 Elkswatawa was the result of an impelling force 
 not his own, for an authority states that up 
 to the time in 1805 when he had a vision, as- 
 sumed to prophesy, and took the name of 
 Pemsquatawah, or "open door," he had been 
 chiefly conspicuous for stupidity and intoxi- 
 cation. He possessed a sinister appearance, 
 due largely to the loss of an eye. While light- 
 ing his pipe one day he fell to the ground as if 
 
THE FRONTIER 65 
 
 dead. He was prepared for burial, but in the 
 nick of time he revived and related a tale of 
 having been whisked into the realm of the 
 aborigine's ultimate desire and charged with a 
 solemn message to the braves to eschew evil 
 and avoid the temptations of the white man. 
 The cunning hand of Tecumseh was in this 
 hoax; the brother was a tool, though an apt 
 one. It was an opening move in a grand 
 scheme that Tecumseh had formed for obtain- 
 ing influence over the tribes of the Northwest, 
 and forming the confederacy, which should resist 
 the dominance of the Caucasian in the land of 
 the red man. The Prophet continued his play 
 upon the superstition of the redskins, and, 
 though there were unbelievers in his own tribe, 
 his sway over the great mass of the tribes in 
 the Northwest grew almost incredible. He was 
 accredited with miraculous powers, with being 
 the true oracle of the Great Spirit, Onder- 
 donk, in speaking of the tales told by his dis- 
 ciples, mentions his reputed power of making 
 pumpkins as large as wigwams spring out of 
 the ground and the growth of his corn being 
 such that a single ear would feed a dozen men. 
 His fame drew together a vast concourse of 
 5 ' 
 
66 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Indians, which gave Tecumseh abundant op- 
 portunity to agitate the matter of the pro- 
 posed confederacy. Governor Harrison was 
 quick to perceive danger in this course, and 
 made a speech to the head men of the Shawno- 
 ese tribe in which he denounced the Prophet as 
 an imposter. He concluded the address with 
 the sarcastic suggestion: "Let him go to the 
 lakes. He can hear the British more distinctly." 
 
 The Shawnoese stood by the Governor. In 
 the spring of 1808 the Prophet and his followers 
 went to abide on the banks of the Wabash, ' 
 near the mouth of the Tippecanoe River. Tecum- 
 seh was there when not engaged on political 
 journeys among the tribes; but he was cautious. 
 His brother was allowed to front the limelight 
 while he kept in the wings. The Prophet visited 
 Harrison in August at Vincennes, denying any 
 complicity w^ith the British. So ingratiating 
 he proved that the Governor was inclined to 
 believe he had misjudged him and dismissed 
 him with friendly assurances. Subsequent signs 
 pointed otherwise. Another conference was 
 held at Vincennes in the summer of 1809, when 
 the Prophet finally acknowledged that he had 
 received invitations from the British in Canada 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 67 
 
 to engage in a war with the United States, 
 though he stoutly maintained that he had 
 scorned them. Harrison's confidence, however, 
 was not to be restored. 
 
 Shortly after this, a treaty was concluded by 
 which Harrison obtained millions of acres of 
 the Wabash watershed from the Delaware and 
 other Indian tribes. Tecumseh, though the 
 lands had been those of tribes other than his 
 own, bitterly denounced the cession and threat- 
 ened to kill every chief concerned in it. He 
 grew bolder, for he was confident of the success 
 of the confederacy. He had already announced 
 the doctrine, opposed to State or tribal rights, 
 that the domain of all the Indians belonged to 
 all in common, and that no part of the territory 
 could be sold or alienated without the consent 
 of all. 
 
 In the spring of 1810 the Indians at the town 
 of the Prophet showed growing hostility. The 
 situation grew more strained, till, in July, Har- 
 rison sent Joseph Barron, a French interpreter, 
 to ask the brothers to meet him in friendly 
 council at Vincennes. Barron met the Prophet, 
 who raged and threatened him with death. 
 At this juncture there appeared Tecumseh. He 
 
68 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 immediately assured Barron that he was safe, 
 and promised to visit Vincennes shortly. On 
 the morning of August 12 Tecumseh appeared 
 at Vincennes with 400 fully armed warriors, in 
 place of the thirteen which he had been 
 requested to bring, and encamped his fol- 
 lowing in a grove near the town. With thirty 
 warriors he advanced to the conference, which 
 he demanded should be held in the open air. 
 He refused a seat by the side of Harrison; the 
 offer, as interpreted, being, " Your father requests 
 you to take a seat by his side." The chief 
 drew his mantle about him, and, straighten- 
 ing himself, replied, "My father! The sun is 
 my father and the earth my mother; on her 
 bosom I will repose!" and seated himself upon 
 the ground. 
 
 Tecumseh' s speeches were eloquent, justifying 
 his rare fame as a native orator. He enun- 
 ciated the principle of unity that was to ani- 
 mate the confederacy, and demanded the return 
 of the recently ceded lands. General Harrison's 
 reply, reduced to concise brevity, was to the 
 effect that the land had not belonged to the 
 Shawnoese and that it was none of their busi- 
 ness. This aroused the anger of Tecumseh, 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 69 
 
 who poured out a flood of fiery eloquence de- 
 nunciatory of the Government, because of the 
 wrongs which those of his blood were suffering. 
 His warriors made hostile demonstrations, 
 though no bloodshed occurred, Harrison being 
 cool-headed and preventing his guards from 
 firing on the Indians. This ended the conference 
 for the day, an occasion which has been famed 
 in song and story through its intensely dra- 
 matic features. 
 
 On the following day, Tecumseh, disclaiming 
 any intention of an attack upon the Governor 
 and his friends the preceding day, asked for a 
 renewal of the conference, to which Harrison 
 assented. Tecumseh reiterated his position, and 
 the chiefs of five of the tribes present agreed 
 to stand by him. Harrison was anxious to 
 adjust matters if possible, and the next day 
 had another friendly talk with Tecumseh. The 
 conference ended with the Governor's promise 
 to lay the matter of the demand for the return 
 of the land before the President, though he as- 
 sured the Indian that his claims would not be 
 allowed. 
 
 War seemed imminent, and Harrison began 
 to take measures to meet it. Tecumseh kept 
 
70 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 actively at work perfecting his confederacy. 
 Predatory bands of Indians began operations. 
 A vigorous letter from Harrison brought Tecum- 
 seh to Vincennes July 27, 1811, with 300 In- 
 dians, He found 750 militia, well armed, drawn 
 up for review before the Governor. Tecumseh 
 spoke, claiming peaceable intentions, but insist- 
 ing on the return of the lands. He departed for 
 the south to try to induce other tribes to join his 
 league. The Indians who had accompanied him 
 to Vincennes returned to their town, dismayed 
 by the demonstration of the military strength 
 at the command of the Governor. 
 
 The Government's suggestion, that it might 
 be politic for Harrison to seize Tecumseh and 
 the Prophet and hold them as hostages, re- 
 sulted in a proposal by the Governor that the 
 territory's military strength be augmented and 
 that a military post be established high up on 
 the Wabash near the Prophet's town. This 
 wise plan was assented to and steps were taken 
 to put it into operation. A call by Harrison 
 for volunteers was satisfactorily met by men 
 like General Samuel Wells and Colonel Owens, 
 the old Indian fighters in Kentucky. With 900 
 men, including some regulars, Harrison left 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 71 
 
 Vincemies and on October 3 began the erection 
 of a strong stockade about two miles above 
 where Terre Haute now stands. The fort was 
 completed the 28th of that month, occupying a 
 commanding position and being christened Fort 
 Harrison. In the meantime messengers had 
 been sent to the Prophet's town with orders 
 from Harrison, in the name of the Government 
 to cease some annoying depredations and dis- 
 perse. The messengers never returned. 
 
 The fort was garrisoned by a small detach- 
 ment under Lieutenant Colonel Miller — the "I'll 
 try, sir ! " hero of Niagara, three years afterward. 
 The main body of the army received some re- 
 inforcements of Kentucky volunteers. Harrison 
 was commander-in-chief. Col. John P. Boyd 
 being his next in command. Boyd's 250 
 regulars, with the volunteers and militia, 
 comprised the force. The army, after build- 
 ing a blockhouse, encamped on November 
 3, within eleven miles of the Prophet's 
 town. The troops were now surrounded by 
 unseen foes, but Harrison's caution, evidenced 
 in the admirable disposition of his force, ren- 
 dered an ambuscade impossible. Finally, when 
 about a mile and a half from the town, the 
 
72 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 savages asked for a parley, which was had. 
 The amenities were observed, and Harrison's 
 request for the designation of a place of en- 
 campment was met with the indicating of a 
 spot on the banks of a creek northwest a mile 
 from the Indian town. Promises were exchanged 
 that there should be no hostilities till an in- 
 terview should be had the next day. This 
 camping place proved desirable from two dif- 
 fering standpoints. It was comfortable for the 
 purpose of the Americans, but it also was con- 
 venient for a night attack by the Indians. 
 Harrison, knowing his foes, arranged his camp 
 and his troops with care on the afternoon of 
 November 6. The men were disposed to the 
 best advantage to resist any meditated treach- 
 ery. The camp was thoroughly provided with 
 sentinels, and at the usual hour, except for the 
 guards, was soundly sleeping. 
 
 In the absence of his brother Tecumseh, the 
 Prophet was about to execute what he thought 
 would be a grand coup, one that would make 
 him glorious. Unlike his brother, he was the 
 reverse of an honorable savage, a truce being 
 nothing to him. This night was to witness the 
 extermination of Harrison's force. With mum- 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 73 
 
 meries and mystic incantations, with charms 
 that were to render his excited followers more 
 invulnerable than Achilles, since the treat- 
 ment included their coppery heels, he worked 
 his 700 fanatics into a state of frenzy. 
 Harrison rose at four the next morning and 
 was dressing when the shot of a sentinel 
 rang out, followed by savage yells that 
 electrified the camp. The redskins had been 
 creeping up stealthily to surprise their white 
 opponents, first tomahawking the sentinels, 
 but the quick eye of a sentry had rendered 
 the amiable intention sufficiently abortive to 
 demonstrate to the first savages who penetrated 
 through the lines that the desired quarry was 
 ready for them. To some of these, who lingered 
 a little ere death claimed them, there must have 
 been borne in something of a revelation regard- 
 ing the inefficiency of a recipe for invulner- 
 ability administered by a certain dismayed 
 Prophet. 
 
 The high executive ability possessed by this 
 futile red pretender, this treacherous tool of an 
 absent and greater brother, may be gathered 
 from the fact that he had sent his dupes forth 
 on their murderous mission unled, divided, 
 
74 
 
 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 rushing forth Hke maddened beasts to slay, 
 their sinister souls hot with the lust for blood 
 which his dramatic mummeries had fanned to 
 a raging flame. His own blundering hand 
 severed the thong that bound the withes of 
 unity, in^-iting annihilation in the falling of 
 scattered reeds. The yelping fanatics, driven, 
 through the crafty play upon their superstition 
 and primitive passions into the very jaws of 
 destruction, met a force the greater part of 
 which had never engaged in a battle. But the 
 ranks had been disposed by master brains, and 
 they spelt cohesion. The triumph of concerted 
 defense was there: to compensate for the 
 presence of inexperience, there was the added 
 inspiration of leadership by veterans. It was 
 enough. With the dawn, while the false Prophet, 
 upon a hill far to the eastward and well out of 
 personal danger, still busied himself with liis 
 abortive incantations, the last of the redskins 
 were put to flight, and the forest swallowed 
 them. The following day Harrison and liis 
 forces entered the Prophet's town and found 
 it deserted. It was soon in ashes, and the 
 victors returned to Vincennes. 
 What of the result? Tecumseh, who had 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 75 
 
 been among the southern Indians, soon returned 
 to find his hopes of the welding of the con- 
 federacy, his scheme to obtain concessions from 
 the Government, frustrated by the folly of his 
 departed brother. His dreams, which were after 
 all inspired by a spirit of true patriotism for 
 his people, were now dissolved. The die was 
 cast, and he now became one of the firmest of 
 British allies. As for the Prophet — who had 
 claimed that the fiasco at Tippecanoe was 
 caused by the inadvertent touching of some of 
 the sacred vessels by his wife — he started on 
 a recruiting tour among the Upper Lakes and 
 Mississippi tribes and met with much success, 
 being aided by some cunning arrangements of 
 miracles which he luckily timed to occur in 
 connection with earthquakes and sun eclipses, 
 for which phenomena he modestly claimed the 
 credit. But when most successful, he was ex- 
 posed by two rival chiefs of his own tribe, who 
 had followed him. These benefactors of their 
 kind fully demonstrated to his latest dupes 
 that the worker of mysteries was what is known 
 in these later days as a fakir. 
 
 To return to the consideration of the frontier 
 in the War of 1812, it may be well, since they 
 
76 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 served so prominently as theaters of action, 
 both decisive and abortive, to describe briefly 
 Lakes Erie and Ontario, for the dominion of 
 whose wide waters the two nations were to 
 wrestle. Erie extends from southwest to north- 
 east 231 miles. Its greatest breadth is sixty- 
 three and one-half miles, and its circumference 
 is 658 miles. Near the Detroit River there 
 are many picturesque islands. The greatest 
 depth of water is between forty and forty- 
 five fathoms. Gales of wind are frequent, 
 creating a heavy swell. The bottom is gen- 
 erally rocky, affording a precarious anchor- 
 age. From the northeast end of Lake Erie 
 the communication to Lake Ontario is by 
 the Niagara River, thirty-six miles long and 
 varying from a half mile to a league in 
 breadth, its course nearly north. This stream 
 is famous for its falls, rapids and whirlpool. 
 The velocity of the current subsides and the 
 river grows more tranquil as it nears Lake 
 Ontario, flowing into the western end. Ontario 
 is 171 miles long, has a circumference of 467 
 miles, and its greatest breadth is fifty-nine and 
 one-half miles. The depth of water varies very 
 much, but is seldom less than three or more 
 
THE FKONTIER 
 
 77 
 
 than fifty fathoms, except in the middle, where 
 attempts have been made with 300 fathoms 
 without striking somidings. The position of 
 the lake is nearly east and west. The shores 
 exhibit great diversity; toward the northeast 
 they are low and marshy ; to the north and 
 northwest they are lofty, subsiding very mod- 
 erately on the south. They are often pictur- 
 esque, the cliffs of Toronto and the Devil's Nose, 
 over Presque Isle, being notable in the scenic 
 line. Many rivers flow into the lake, and there 
 are a number of harbors, particularly to the 
 south, though it takes plenty of Governmental 
 appropriations to keep most of these open for 
 purposes of navigation, being obstructed with 
 recurrent sand bars. Heavy squalls of wind 
 are frequent on this lake, and tales of wreckage 
 and death are by no means infrequent. 
 
 At the commencement of the war, the United 
 States' principal lake port was Sackets Har- 
 bor (formerly spelled Sackett's), and this young 
 hamlet, possessing a mere huddle of houses, 
 was made the official headquarters for the 
 armies of the north, and for the naval opera- 
 tions on the lakes. It is strange to reflect 
 that Ontario, designed to serve as the principal 
 
78 OLIVER HAZAED PERRY 
 
 arena of conflict, figured so obscurely when 
 finis was written to the tale, her pale scroll 
 of three indeterminate years drowned in the 
 glory of that single deed on the waters of Erie 
 by Chauncey's young subaltern. 
 
 A man, when gazing out across a field of 
 wide waters, may readily feel a sense of puny 
 insignificance by contrast with the far-flung, 
 pulsing power. But let him be consoled. Men 
 are more potent than many waters; the des- 
 tinies of the first may control those of the 
 second. The name of Erie is linked, while 
 tales are told, with the names of two men who 
 dared. The name of Ontario endiu'es alone — 
 while those of two other men, who dared not, 
 are forgotten. 
 
 Sackets Harbor offered exceptional advan- 
 tages as a strategic point. It was opposite 
 from Kingston, the principal naval station of 
 the British, and was well calculated to resist 
 attack, being protected by a long, high rock 
 bluff on the lake side, with an excellent har- 
 bor in the rear. A long point of land, which 
 afforded excellent opportunity for ship building, 
 flanked the outer edge of the harbor. The 
 virgin forest encroached upon the village, afford- 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 79 
 
 ing the materials for the crafts of war. From 
 this point mihtary and naval operations could 
 be prosecuted up the lakes and down the St. 
 Lawrence. Oswego stood next in importance to 
 Sackets Harbor among the Americans' few On- 
 tario lake ports at this time, while Ogdensburg 
 was the chief American river town. As for the 
 English, their chief ports on Ontario were Little 
 York, the capital of Upper Canada (now To- 
 ronto), and Kingston. They remain the chief 
 ports to-day, while on the American side, Sack- 
 ets Harbor, somnolent and senile, quaintly 
 picturesque, languishes in the cerements of fad- 
 ing memories. 
 
 The port of Kingston was as advantageous 
 to British ends as was Sackets Harbor to the 
 Americans. It is located at the point where 
 the waters of the lower lake become merged 
 with those of the Canadian channel of the St. 
 Lawrence River. Kingston was the most popu- 
 lous town in the Upper Province and formed 
 the principal headquarters for the lakes, as 
 Sackets Harbor did for the opponents of the 
 British to the south. At the beginning of the 
 war the British had four armed vessels on 
 Lake Ontario — the Royal George, 22; Earl of 
 
80 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Moira, 16; Prince Regent, 14, and Duke of 
 Gloucester, 8. There were also several smaller ves- 
 sels nearly ready for service. As for land forces, 
 the British had in Canada at the commence- 
 ment of the struggle about 7,500 regulars and 
 40,000 in militia. The population of all the 
 North American British colonies was estimated 
 at 400,000. Both the northern and southern 
 frontiers of the lakes were very sparsely settled, 
 though on the Upper St. Lawrence the British 
 had more numerous and more populous towns 
 than had the State of New York at that time. 
 Most ports, on either side, however, were quite 
 adequately defended. 
 
 The first battle of the War of 1812 occurred 
 on a Sabbath morning in July, off Sackets 
 Harbor, when a squadron of five vessels under 
 Commodore Earle came to the port to take the 
 Lord Nelson, a British vessel that had been 
 captured, and the Oneida, the latter the nucleus 
 of the American fleet on that lake. They were 
 repulsed by the land batteries and withdrew 
 with somewhat damaged ships. 
 
 The American "fleet" on Ontario at the open- 
 ing of the struggle consisted of one vessel, the 
 Oneida. In order to further their chances of 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 81 
 
 securing the command of the lake, it was neces- 
 sary to convert merchant schooners into gun- 
 boats. Six of these were at Ogdensburg when 
 war was declared. Two British warships were 
 sent from Kingston to Prescott, opposite Ogdens- 
 burg, to pen in these schooners and seize 
 them if possible for British purposes. To res- 
 cue them, there sailed from Sackets Harbor, 
 July 30, the Julia, an armed schooner, with a 
 convoy of riflemen in a Durham boat. This 
 was in accordance with the plan of that re- 
 sourceful militia commander, General Jacob 
 Brown, whose gallantry later won him a com- 
 mission as Brigadier-General in the regular 
 army, of which, years later, he was to be in- 
 vested with the supreme command. The Julia 
 met the two British vessels off Morristown, 
 eleven miles above Ogdensburg, and a sharp 
 engagement of three hours resulted. The Julia's 
 guns disabled her antagonists so that they 
 retired, she herself being practically unharmed. 
 The Julia then dropped down the river, took 
 the six schooners under her protection, and 
 brought them to the lake. 
 The first regular troops appeared at Sackets 
 
 Harbor in August. Recruiting was prosecuted 
 6 
 
82 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 vigorously. The Government's head-scratch- 
 ings in the matter of the selection of a com- 
 mander-in-chief for the navies of the lakes 
 resulted in the choice of Captain Isaac 
 Chauncey, then in charge of the Brooklyn Navy 
 Yard. He was commissioned August 31, enter- 
 ing upon his duties immediately on the re- 
 ceipt of his orders. The first week in Septem- 
 ber he sent forward forty ship carpenters, with 
 Henry Eckford at their head. The latter, by 
 the way, was admirably chosen for his mis- 
 sion. None surpassed him in speed and 
 thoroughness in the gentle art of transform- 
 ing a generous slice of forest into a finished 
 vessel. There were many such, and had the 
 ships but fulfilled the purpose for which they 
 were built — but, to quote a much hackneyed 
 phrase of Kipling's, that is another story. 
 
 Commander Woolsey was directed to purchase 
 some merchant vessels for the service; and 
 officers and seamen, with munitions, left New 
 York for Sackets Harbor September 18. 
 Chauncey arrived there October 6. A half- 
 dozen schooners were purchased, converted and 
 renamed. With the Oneida and Julia these con- 
 stituted the fleet, mounting forty guns, and 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 83 
 
 manned by less than five hundred men, marines 
 included. The British at this time had double 
 the weight of metal in their navy, with a far 
 greater force. Lake Erie, which was included in 
 Chauncey's command, presented the obstacle of 
 Niagara Falls, so its vessels had perforce to 
 be built upon its shores or at Detroit, where 
 the unfinished brig Adams, captured at Hull's 
 surrender, was built. Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott 
 was sent by Chauncey to Erie with instructions 
 to purchase vessels such as those secured by 
 Commander Woolsey. As for the naval opera- 
 tions on Ontario that autumn, they were un- 
 important. Chauncey's squadron started out 
 on a cruise to intercept the British squadron 
 on their return to Kingston from Fort George, 
 where they had conveyed troops and munitions, 
 the fort being on the Niagara River. The squad- 
 ron spied the Royal George, Earle's flagship, 
 and chased him into Kingston Harbor, where 
 a rather harmless engagement of the flagship 
 and the land batteries occurred. The smaller 
 ships made the attack, the Oneida acting as 
 rear guard. The land batteries were more for- 
 midable than Chauncey had supposed, and a 
 gale arose, so anchor was weighed and the 
 
84 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 fleet stood lakeward. Soon after Chauncey 
 essayed to seize the Earl of Moira, capturing 
 instead a small schooner that the warship was 
 convoying. He also saw the Royal George and 
 two schooners, but they did not seem disposed 
 to meet him. "In this short cruise," says 
 Lossing, "Chauncey captured three merchant 
 vessels, destroyed one armed schooner and dis- 
 abled the British flagship and took several 
 prisoners, with a loss on his part of only one 
 man killed and four wounded. The loss of the 
 British is not found on record. " 
 
 This rather colorless beginning extended in- 
 terminably until the end. It was perhaps for- 
 tunate for American prestige that Chauncey's 
 antagonists were worthy of his rather dubious 
 steel. The serial tale of naval exploits on On- 
 tario during the war is divertingly remindful 
 of a game of tag. Sackets Harbor and Kings- 
 ton were the naval depots of their respective 
 Governments upon the lakes. At these points 
 occurred the concentration of force and effort. 
 Yet in an hour the waters of Erie ran red with 
 blood — while in three long years those of On- 
 tario were scarcely tinged. 
 
 A blockade was maintained for a time of 
 
THE FEONTIER 
 
 85 
 
 Kingston Harbor by a part of Chauncey's 
 fleet, while he sailed for the head of the lake 
 with the rest of his vessels, searching for more 
 British boats. Gales occurred, forcing him 
 back, and navigation closed early in December. 
 Meanwhile the Madison had been launched No- 
 vember 26, only forty-five days after her keel 
 had been laid, attesting the energy, often dis- 
 played later, of Henry Eckford. Preparations 
 were now pushed vigorously for the ensuing 
 year. 
 
 The world well knows how abortive were the 
 attempts made during the war to invade 
 Canada from the Niagara frontier. The expedi- 
 tions fitted out for that purpose were dispirit- 
 ing failures. The chief source of satisfaction to 
 Americans in a perusal of the record of those 
 times, must lie in the reflection that the British, 
 too, in their several attacks upon points on the 
 southern frontier, were also generally repulsed. 
 As for a general invasion of the southern On- 
 tario frontier during the war, the British often 
 threatened it, but contented themselves with 
 infrequent, scattered attacks, reserving their 
 strength, principally, to resist the omnipresent 
 menace of formidable Canadian invasion. In 
 
86 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 this they were most singularly supported by 
 the loyal population of that Dominion, which 
 is the most steadfast of all her dependencies 
 to Great Britain's cause and flag. The men 
 to the north of the waters, as strongly rooted 
 in adherence to their King as were those to 
 the south in allegiance to their Constitution, 
 formed a bulwark of defense, apart from the 
 additional safeguard of imported regulars, that 
 could not but render plans of invasion prac- 
 tically hopeless at their very inception. A mis- 
 taken impression prevailed in Governmental 
 circles at Washington in regard to this. It was 
 believed that an invading army would be wel- 
 comed generally by Canadians, who were under- 
 stood to be weary of British rule and anxious 
 to transfer their allegiance. It was thought, 
 therefore, that they would be ready to assist 
 the United States in the elimination of English 
 sovereignty on this continent. The fallacy of 
 this idea was to be quickly demonstrated, at 
 crushing cost. The spirit of Canadian fealty to 
 England, so unmistakably expressed, as it is 
 to-day in the prefatory remarks of a late edition 
 of Charles Mair's "Tecumseh," was equally 
 virile then. When the second war came, it 
 
THE FRONTIER 87 
 
 transpired as in '76, and Britain had in her 
 dependency a tireless ally. In the light of the 
 services rendered their mother country by 
 Canadians in those two wars, it would seem 
 to an American that British historians, gen- 
 erally, of those old days, hardly gave them the 
 credit that was their due. Their assistance 
 was taken, with deliciously characteristic Eng- 
 lish complacency, as a matter of course; and 
 if British arms suffered a reverse it was usually 
 explained by a reference to the fact that depend- 
 ence had been placed on "unreliable colonials." 
 It is refreshing, however, to note that through 
 long years of unswerving devotion and sacrifice 
 to British ends, the Canadians are at last 
 winning something more of appreciation from 
 Englishmen : an awakening spirit which found 
 expression in the tight little island's recognition 
 of the work of Canadian regiments in the Boer 
 War. 
 
 All efforts of Americans, during this first 
 campaign, were to be directed toward the in- 
 vasion of Canada. All the regular troops, 
 with volunteers and militia, were concentrated 
 at the north, toward this end; with the ex- 
 ception of a few regulars left to help bodies 
 
88 
 
 olbt:r hazard perry 
 
 of militia garrison fortifications on the sea 
 coast. The invasion was to be attempted from 
 the Niagara frontier, and also from Detroit, 
 a point then considered as far west. Governor 
 William Hull, of Michigan, was in Washington 
 dming the spring of 1812. when the invasion 
 was being discussed, and ad^-ised against it, 
 on the ground that the British authorities 
 were enlisting the savages of the Northwest as 
 their allies. He urged the maintenance of an 
 American fleet on Lake Erie. President Madison 
 caused steps to be taken toward the building 
 of a fleet, and prevailed upon Hull to accept 
 the commission of a brigadier-general, and 
 take command of a force of mihtia to be secured 
 from Ohio. General Hull assumed formal com- 
 mand of the little army of volunteers near 
 Dayton. May 25. The army began its march 
 up the Miami June 1. They proceeded to 
 Urbana. then a frontier town, where reinforce- 
 ments joined them. There now lay between 
 them and Detroit, their destination, an almost 
 unbroken and formidable wildnerness. They 
 proceeded slowly, being met by messengers from 
 Detroit with alarming news of the unfriendliness 
 of the Indians; caused largely by the efforts of 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 89 
 
 Tecumseh. They pushed on to Fort Findlay, 
 where Hull received a message from the War 
 Department, urging him to hasten to Detroit. 
 This message was sent the day war was de- 
 clared, but did not mention that momentous 
 fact. Hull did not get word of this till July 
 2, when, near Frenchtown, a courier reached 
 him with a second message from the depart- 
 ment stating that war had been declared and di- 
 recting him to proceed at once to his post, make 
 such arrangements for the defense of the coun- 
 try as seemed to him necessary, and await 
 further orders. Hull had sent a schooner ahead, 
 with effects, to Detroit. The British had been 
 apprised of the fact that war had been declared 
 before he had learned it, and the schooner was 
 captured by them when passing Maiden. The 
 prior knowledge by the British of the state of 
 war has led to a great deal of conjecture. 
 The second dispatch to Hull, containing news 
 of the declaration of war, bore the same date 
 as that received by him at Fort Findlay, in 
 which nothing had been said of war. The firs b 
 had been sent by special courier direct from 
 Washington; the second mailed to Cleveland, 
 to be intrusted there to whomever might be 
 
90 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 secured to carry it through the wilderness to 
 Hull. Thinking upon this strange state of 
 affairs, Hull's fears were aroused that the 
 British might have learned that war was de- 
 clared, as was indeed the case, and would seize 
 the schooner at Maiden. He tried to have her 
 recalled, but it was too late. It was claimed 
 afterward, and the assumption has not lacked 
 for supporters since, that Hull's tardy ap- 
 prisement of the state of affairs was due to 
 the machinations of Southern politicians, who 
 did not wish to see Canada annexed, fearing 
 that such a step, by increasing the domain of 
 free labor, would snap the influence of the slave- 
 holding States in national affairs. It has been 
 also claimed that these representatives of South- 
 ern interests influenced President Madison to 
 withhold aid from General Hull for this reason. 
 
 After a day at Frenchtown, Hull's army pro- 
 ceeded to Spring Wells, at the lower end of the 
 Detroit settlement, opposite Sandwich, in 
 Canada. The British were throwing up forti- 
 fications at a point not far from here, opposite 
 Detroit. The force was anxious to invade 
 Canada at once ; but Hull refused to do so till 
 he received authority from Washington. This 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 91 
 
 caused a deep feeling of resentment; but a 
 letter arrived immediately afterward from the 
 Secretary of War directing the General to begin 
 operations at once, and take Fort Maiden, if 
 circumstances justified. He was also directed to 
 assure the inhabitants of the province about 
 to be invaded, of protection to their persons 
 and property. Hull decided, therefore, to cross 
 into Canada at once, to the great satisfaction 
 of his force. He, by recourse to stealth, deceived 
 the British by a feigned move to attack Maiden, 
 and got his army of something over two thou- 
 sand men across the river upon Canadian soil, 
 landing just above Windsor. Hull issued a 
 proclamation, promising immunity for all peace- 
 ful citizens, setting forth the issues upon which 
 the United States had taken up arms, and 
 stating his nation's purpose of liberating 
 Canada from English tyranny. He warned 
 them, however, that no quarter would be shown 
 men fighting by the side of Indians. The proc- 
 lamation served to reassure many citizens, 
 who kept on with their customary avocations. 
 Several small expeditions by detachments of 
 American troops followed, in which some British 
 regulars, Canadian militia and parties of 
 
92 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Tecumseh's Indians were put to flight. Colonel 
 Lewis Cass won deserved distinction in some 
 of these sallies. Hull, however, stating that 
 he was not yet prepared, deferred the antici- 
 pated attack on Maiden, His course is best 
 explained by the claim that has been made 
 to the effect that he believed the works and 
 garrison to be much stronger than they in 
 reality were. So dubious, however, was Colonel 
 St. George, who commanded the post, of his 
 ability to hold it, that he had determined to 
 risk a battle in the open field, though his 
 force was inferior to Hull's, rather than trust 
 to the flimsy fortifications. The continued 
 deferring of the expected attack, however, gave 
 an opportunity for strengthening of that post, 
 which was thoroughly improved. The wasted 
 days were irksome to Hull's force, which began 
 to murmur against him. The General left the 
 army July 21 for Detroit, where he remained 
 four days. In his absence the command of 
 the army devolved upon Colonel Duncan Mc- 
 Arthur, who resolved to make an attempt on 
 Maiden. The night of the 24th Major Denny 
 led an advance party to drive back some 
 Indians that bade fair to hinder the approach. 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 93 
 
 The next day he had skirmishes with them, 
 which resulted in his men's retreating in con- 
 fusion. The whole party then returned to 
 camp. Denny had lost six killed and two 
 wounded. The uneasiness of the little army, 
 that now thoroughly doubted the absent com- 
 mander, was augmented by receipt of the news 
 of the surrender of Mackinack to the British, 
 the post's commander, through the remissness 
 of the Secretary of War, not having been ap- 
 prised of the fact that war had been declared. 
 The chiefs of hostile Indian tribes, now in con- 
 ference with the British at Mackinack, had 
 runners at work preparing their braves to 
 gather for an attack upon Detroit. Hull, whose 
 deliberation had lost him whatever chance 
 he may have had, now confronted a situation 
 of increasing difficulty. Reinforcements and 
 supplies, for which he had sent to the Governors 
 of Ohio and Kentucky, had not yet arrived. 
 The news arrived that Colonel Proctor had 
 arrived at Maiden with reinforcements. And, 
 as a climax, Hull at last became aware of the 
 growing spirit of resentment toward himself. 
 During the first week of August, however, the 
 news reached the Americans that reinforcements 
 
94 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 of Ohio volunteers and provisions were at the 
 crossing of the River Raisin, thirty-five miles 
 away. 
 
 But the activity of Major-General Brock, the 
 Lieutenant-Governor in charge of Upper Canada, 
 whose vigorous policy was in marked contrast 
 to the dilatory one of his chief, Sir George 
 Prevost, the Governor-General at Quebec, was 
 fast rendering the idea of a Canadian invasion 
 a hopeless one. Through his persistent energy 
 with the Assembly, and in the collection of men 
 and munitions, British arms were fast rallying 
 to the defense of the province. 
 
 The criticisms of Hull's men at the continued 
 inaction caused him to call a council of field 
 officers, when it was decided to move at once 
 upon Maiden. There was a stir of preparation, 
 when, on the very heels of the first order, came 
 a second and disheartening one. It was to 
 recross the river to Detroit, in consequence of 
 intelligence just received to the effect that a 
 considerable force of British regulars, militia 
 and Indians were coming, under Brock, to at- 
 tack the Americans in the rear. Sullenly the 
 army recrossed the river on the night of August 
 7th and the morning of the 8th, and camped 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 95 
 
 on the plain behind Fort Detroit. Hull's rea- 
 sons for falling back to Detroit included his 
 desire to retain a permanent communication 
 between his army and its source of supplies 
 in the Ohio settlements. He dispatched 600 
 men, under Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller, 
 on the afternoon of the 8th, to open a com- 
 munication with the Raisin and escort Brush's 
 Ohio reinforcements and provisions, referred 
 to previously, to Detroit. A former expedition, 
 small in numbers, sent for the same purpose 
 while the army was on the Canadian side, 
 had failed, being turned back by Indians. This 
 second expedition, when but twenty-two miles 
 from the Raisin, was attacked by a force of 
 British and redskins, the latter under Tecumseh. 
 The Americans beat them off and put them to 
 flight. Miller sent the news to Hull, asking for 
 provisions, as he wished to push on to the Raisin. 
 They were sent him in charge of McArthur. He 
 was ill for several days, so that he could not 
 proceed at once toward the Raisin, and sent to 
 Hull for more provisions. His messenger met 
 Colonel Cass below the River Aux Ecorces and 
 told him of the delay. Cass, to save precious 
 time, sent a short dispatch to Hull acquainting 
 
96 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 him with Miller's illness and asking if he, Cass, 
 might relieve him. Receiving no reply he re- 
 turned to Detroit, meeting on his way an ex- 
 press bearing to Miller positive orders to return 
 to headquarters. The order was complied with, 
 while the bitterness of the troops increased. 
 There was even talk among the subordinate 
 officers of taking the command from Hull and 
 giving it to one of their number to be selected, 
 though they naturally hesitated to take so 
 radical a step. They contented themselves 
 with the preparation of a letter in which 
 Governor Meigs, of Ohio, was urged to hurry 
 forward reinforcements and supplies. In the 
 meantime General Brock had joined Proctor at 
 Maiden with a few regulars and some hundreds 
 of militia, secured with great trouble. Here 
 Brock met Tecumseh, and held a conference 
 with the Indians August 14, at which the 
 chiefs promised to support him in an attempt 
 upon Detroit. Brock's position was one of 
 amnesty toward those Canadians who had 
 previously been under Hull's protection. Mean- 
 while General Hull, whose entire conduct at this 
 time displayed the pitiable anxiety and inde- 
 'dsion under which he was laboring, sent an- 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 97 
 
 other relief expedition to Brush, to afford him 
 safe escort to Detroit, but changed his mind 
 and recalled them before they had gone far 
 on the errand. The artful Brock had num- 
 bers of his militia dressed as regulars. He 
 caused alarming and seemingly credible reports 
 to reach Hull of the threatened descent of 
 thousands of Indians upon Detroit from Mack- 
 inack. Dearborn had failed to make diversions 
 in Hull's favor on the Niagara or at Kingston, 
 as he had been directed to do. Communica- 
 tions from Ohio, the source of supplies, seemed 
 not to be relied upon. Added to these fears the 
 supreme one, that his little army was threat- 
 ened with annihilation by the savages, and 
 censure of Hull must inevitably be tinged with 
 pity. It was a different Hull, after all, with 
 wearied brain and silvered hairs, from the 
 vigorous Revolutionary hero of the preceding 
 century. 
 
 The British had taken possession of Sand- 
 wich, after the Americans' withdrawal to De- 
 troit, and planted a battery that commanded 
 the latter place. Hull, seeming not to desire 
 to exasperate the enemy, refused permission 
 to his artillerymen to open fire on them from 
 7 
 
98 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the fort. The British completed their hostile 
 preparations without molestation, and, on the 
 15th, Brock sent by two officers with a flag 
 with the message that his force authorized 
 him to demand the unconditional surrender 
 of Detroit, and with the intimation that 
 though Brock was personally averse to a war 
 of extermination, his Indians would be beyond 
 his command the moment the contest should 
 commence. The latter menace weighed mightily 
 with Hull, as the fort held many helpless, 
 frightened women and children and feeble old 
 men from the surrounding country, but his 
 pride and his patriotism — which, though his 
 course may have been a mistaken one, he un- 
 doubtedly possessed — impelled him to resist. 
 He deliberated for some time, finally returning 
 to Brock his refusal to surrender, which de- 
 cision his troops hailed with lively satisfaction. 
 The enemy prepared for the assault, Hull refusing 
 to allow a detachment of his men to attempt 
 to spike their guns or to have a gun placed at 
 Spring Wells, where the enemy seemed likely 
 to attempt to land. He seemed powerlesss to 
 plan coherently, impaled upon the horns of a 
 dilemma which grew more frightful with the 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 99 
 
 passing hours. The enemy crossed the river 
 in full force early in the morning of Sunday, 
 the 16th, and landed sans a disputing volley. 
 They breakfasted, and then moved slowly to- 
 ward the American line, the States' forces being 
 drawn up, judiciously distributed, to oppose 
 them at the electrifying order that was momen- 
 tarily expected. One came, but it was to the 
 effect that the outer line should retire within 
 the fort. It was obeyed, though almost mu- 
 tinously. Now a ball from the battery on the 
 Canadian shore cleared the fort wall, killing 
 several officers and soldiers. General Hull then 
 directed his son, Captain Hull, to display a 
 white flag over the walls of the fort, which soon 
 stopped the firing, and gave him a hastily 
 written note, which he bore out of the fort 
 with a flag of truce. He carried proposals for 
 an immediate capitulation. In this Hull acted 
 solely for himself; he stood alone. The in- 
 credulous amazement with which the troops 
 comprehended the humiliating truth — the white 
 flag ere a defending gun had been fired — was 
 succeeded swiftly by curses and bitter tears. 
 The terms of capitulation were soon agreed 
 to, and the formal surrender of the fort and 
 
100 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 garrison took place on the 16th. The bitter-^^ 
 ness felt at this outcome was augmented by 
 the fact that powerful reinforcements and ample 
 supplies were then on their way to the south- 
 ward. Two thousand men became prisoners 
 of war. Large quantities of arms, ammunition 
 and stores, then much needed in Upper Canada, 
 fell into British hands. The influence of the 
 British over the Indians was cemented. The 
 volunteers and militia who had been made 
 prisoners, with some minor regular officers, 
 were allowed to return home on parole. Those 
 of Michigan were discharged at Detroit. The 
 Ohio volunteers were taken in ships to Cleve- 
 land, from whence they made they way home. 
 General Hull and the regulars were taken as 
 prisoners of war to Montreal. General Brock 
 issued a proclamation of amnesty to the people 
 of Michigan, calling upon them to give up pub- 
 lic property therein, made arrangements for the 
 civil and military occupation of the territory, 
 and leaving Colonel Proctor in command of 
 a garrison at Detroit, hastened back to Little 
 York. His brief, energic period of labor brought 
 results that won for him the undying admira- 
 tion of Canadians and a baronetcy at the 
 
THE FRONTIER 101 
 
 hands of the Prince Regent of Great Britain. 
 Of the arrival of the American prisoners at 
 Montreal, of the courtesies shown General Hull 
 and his officers by Sir George Prevost, of the 
 speedy release of the venerable General, who 
 retired to his farm at Newton, Massachusetts, 
 it is necessary to speak but briefly here. A 
 court-martial was held in Philadelphia J anuary 
 3, 1814, to try Hull on the general charges 
 of cowardice and conduct unworthy of an 
 officer. General Dearborn presided, an officer 
 whose own record that year could claim nothing 
 of effectiveness, and whose remissness in sending 
 notification to Hull of the armistice entered 
 into between himself and Prevost prevented 
 the last chance of saving Detroit.^ Hull was 
 found guilty and sentenced to be shot and 
 his name struck from the rolls of the army. 
 The court, however, because of his age and 
 Revolutionary record, recommended him to 
 Executive mercy. President Madison pardoned 
 him. He died about a dozen years later, on 
 his farm, the object of almost universal re- 
 proach, yet serene through it all in the con- 
 scientious belief that, at the cost of his reputa- 
 tion, he had acted for the best and prevented 
 *Lossing's Field Book, p. 293. 
 
102 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 a horrible massacre of all those in Detroit who 
 were under his protection. On his death-bed 
 he declared that he had never regretted the act. 
 Right or wrong, it must be admitted that all 
 the signs point to the conclusion that William 
 Hull courted shame by performing what he be- 
 lieved to be his duty. In its bitter consequences, 
 one realizes the pathos of his closing years. 
 If he was lax, so also were others. General 
 Dearborn, with his interminable delays and 
 the effects of his indifferently communicated 
 armistice with Prevost, as well as the slothfuUy 
 inefficient War Department, must divide the re- 
 sponsibility with Hull. For not one, but many 
 causes contributed to Detroit's fall, 
 
 Hull's surrender gave the British the undis- 
 puted command of Lake Erie, the American 
 brig Adams, afterward called the Detroit, hav- 
 ing fallen into their hands. On October 7 the 
 British brigs Detroit and Caledonia, the former 
 manned by fifty-six men and having thirty 
 American prisoners on board, and the latter 
 having a crew of a dozen men with ten prisoners 
 aboard, came down the lake and anchored 
 under the protection of the guns of Fort Erie. 
 Lieutenant Elliott, who was then at Buffalo, 
 engaged in his commission of fitting out vessels 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 103 
 
 from the public service, purchased to dispute 
 British supremacy on Erie, observed the arrival 
 of the brigs. He determined to get possession 
 of them if possible. 
 
 The Lieutenant collected about one hundred 
 men, half of them sailors, who had arrived that 
 day after a 500-mile march, and stationed them, 
 at four in the afternoon, in two boats, which, 
 under Elliott's command, put off from the 
 mouth of Buffalo Creek at one of the morning 
 after. In two hours they were alongside the 
 British brigs, which were at once boarded and 
 captured. In ten minutes Elliott had his 
 prisoners secured and the vessels under way. 
 The wind was light, however, rendering it use- 
 less to try and ascend the rapid current into 
 the lake. So they had to run down the river, 
 passing the enemy's forts, and anchoring not 
 far from some of their batteries. The Caledonia 
 was moored as safely as possible under one 
 of the American batteries at Black Rock, and 
 the Detroit engaged the enemy as long as the 
 ammunition held out. When this was nearly 
 gone, Elliott attempted to drift down the river, 
 out of range of the batteries, and to engage 
 the flying artillery. The pilot left without 
 
 I 
 
104 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 warning, however, and the Detroit ran ashore 
 on Squaw Island. Boarding boats were gotten 
 ready and the prisoners sent ashore. A boat 
 with forty men, from the British side, swiftly 
 arrived, and the enemy boarded the brig. The 
 Americans fought savagely and drove the 
 boarders back to their boat with a considerable 
 loss. The Americans then removed most of 
 the Detroit's stores and guns. Then, to pre- 
 vent her becoming of use again to the British, 
 they burned her, and returned to Buffalo, 
 with something of a restoration of American 
 prestige on the frontier to their credit — such 
 a morsel as was needed at that particular 
 time. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE FRONTIER (CONTINUED) 
 
 IN pursuit of the national determination 
 to insure American supremacy on Lake 
 Ontario, work upon additions to the fleet 
 was vigorously prosecuted at Sackets Harbor 
 during the winter of 1812-13. That post, 
 being the principal depot for naval and mili- 
 tary stores, much alarm was occasioned 
 there by the capture of Ogdensburg ( which was 
 slimly defended), by the British on February 
 22. An attack upon the Harbor was feared, 
 but the enemy did not attempt it, and soon 
 evacuated Ogdensburg, returning to the Cana- 
 dian side. General Dearborn, who was still in 
 command of the Northern army, prepared ac- 
 tively in the spring for another invasion of 
 Canada. His troops were embarked at Sackets 
 Harbor, on Chauncey's fleet, April 23, to the 
 number of 1,700. After a short delay because 
 of unfavorable weather, the fleet sailed for Little 
 York, the capital of Upper Canada, reaching 
 
106 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 there the 27th. The troops debarked in the 
 face of a hot fire from the woods, where a force 
 of British regulars was stationed, besides some 
 Canadian miUtia and Indians, about eight 
 hundred in all. Major Forsyth's riflemen led the 
 way, and the gallant General Pike, impatient to 
 engage with the foe, personally headed several 
 hundred of the infantry to the shore. The enemy 
 retreated toward the town, the Americans follow- 
 ing, while a brisk bombardment was maintained 
 from Chauncey's ships. Some British batteries 
 were taken, the gunners fleeing as they delivered 
 their final fire. The American militia behaved 
 with great bravery throughout this engagement. 
 When the final battery had been taken and the 
 way lay clear to the town, a tremendous ex- 
 plosion occurred. A British powder magazine 
 had been blown up, presumably by some of 
 their forces. A large number of Americans, 
 and some of their opponents, were killed and 
 many more wounded. Among the latter was 
 General Pike, whose hurts proved speedily fatal. 
 He was conveyed to one of the ships, where he 
 died in a few hours, happy in the thought of 
 victory. He had a gallant military record, and 
 was also eminent as an explorer of the then 
 
THE FRONTIER 107 
 
 little known wilds of his country. It was he 
 who discovered the majestic western mountain 
 peak which bears his name. 
 
 At two that afternoon the American flag 
 was waving in Little York. The enemy had 
 fired their naval stores and a partially finished 
 ship upon the stocks. The militia were surren- 
 dered with the town, but General Sheaffe got 
 away with his regulars. It being determined 
 to evacuate the town, the prisoners were pa- 
 roled and the American troops re-embarked; 
 the fleet sailing for Fort Niagara early in May. 
 In anticipation, however, that an attempt 
 might be made from Kingston upon Sackets 
 Harbor in retaliation for the successful sortie 
 upon Little York, General Dearborn sent some 
 of the small schooners to the Harbor with a 
 few regulars and some picked companies of 
 militia to assist in defending the port, which 
 had been left slimly equipped. This proved a 
 fortunate move, as the enemy's fleet appeared 
 off Sackets Harbor, May 28. A little Amer- 
 ican schooner gave the alarm and expresses 
 summoned the militia. General Jacob Brown, 
 whose militia commission had expired shortly 
 before, was summoned from his home in Brown- 
 
108 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 ville and ably directed the preparations for 
 defense. The next day the enemy, composed 
 of regulars to the number of about twelve 
 hundred landed on Horse Island in boats, 
 and marched across a sand bar to the 
 mainland. A calm had fallen and prevented 
 the fleet from actively participating. A large 
 portion of the American militia posted on 
 the mainland near the end of the bar to 
 repel the enemy, being raw and untrained, 
 could not withstand the galling fire of the 
 British and were routed, running frantically for 
 safety. Others remained. These, with Captain 
 McNitt's company and Colonel Backus's regu- 
 lars, together with some militiamen, rallied 
 personally by General Brown, turned the tide. 
 The British had advanced nearly to the town, 
 the regulars retiring slowly before them and 
 maintaining a steady fire. The officers com- 
 manding the British column were soon all killed 
 or wounded, when the enemy ran in their turn, 
 and reaching Horse Island in disorder, entered 
 their boats and returned to the fleet. The chief 
 injury their visit did was to cause the destruc- 
 tion of large quantities of valuable stores re- 
 ceived shortly before in transports from Little 
 
THE FRONTIER 109 
 
 York. Some of the panic-stricken militiamen 
 had informed Lieutenant Chauncey, who was 
 in charge, that the day was lost, and he burned 
 the stores to prevent their falling into British 
 hands. A formal demand in the King's name 
 from Sir George Prevost and Sir James Lucas 
 Yeo, both of whom accompanied this expedi- 
 tion in person, that Sackets be surrendered, 
 was refused, and the fleet soon sailed away. 
 
 Historical accounts of this engagement have 
 not been lacking, which are rather inclined 
 to hide the sprinting abilities of our own men 
 under a bushel, and to bestow the laurel for 
 exhibited speed entirely upon British heads — or 
 heels. This is scarcely fair, however, and, 
 though the entire truth may be somewhat un- 
 palatable, Americans may find comfort in the 
 thought that if our own green, inexperienced 
 warriors dashed away from hostile bullets on 
 this occasion, British regulars scampered quite 
 as fervently a little later. In this connection 
 a letter from General Brown to Governor Tomp- 
 kins, of New York, written the second day after 
 the battle, may prove interesting. 
 
 When the British made their attack he was 
 with the militia, and he says, "as I was atten- 
 
110 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 tively watching their movements & the happy 
 effects of our fire, to my utter astonishment 
 my men rose from their cover, broke, & be- 
 fore I could reahze the disgraceful! scene, there 
 was scarcely a man within several Rods of 
 where I stood." He exonerates Lieutenant 
 Chauncey from all blame for burning the store- 
 houses on the supposition that the day was lost, 
 dryly remarking that "he was deceived by the 
 materials on whom he relied & nothing short 
 of Divinity can guard against such occurrences." 
 The General assures the Governor that he does 
 not "bear hard upon the militia. I do them 
 justice Sir .... The noble men both officers 
 and Soldiers of the Regular Army & some 
 few, precious few Citizen Soldiers, who nobly 
 resisted the shock of the Foemen, the Foe of 
 Basswood Cantonment, are the men who merrit 
 the honor of this Victory, and Sir, they must 
 have it!" 
 
 Commodore Chauncey had come to Sackets 
 Harbor for more troops early in May, immedi- 
 ately returning to the head of the lake. General 
 Dearborn held a council of officers to arrange 
 for crossing to the British side to attack Fort 
 George. The troops were landed early in the 
 
THE FRONTIER 
 
 111 
 
 morning of the 27th, under the protection of 
 the fire from Chauncey's ships. The enemy 
 gallantly disputed the landing, but the Ameri- 
 can troops were not to be denied and forced 
 the British back. They deserted the fort, which 
 the Americans occupied by noon. The batteries 
 at Fort Erie kept up a fire during the succeed- 
 ing night. That morning all the magazines 
 from Chippewa to Point Albino were blown up, 
 the enemy retreated, and Fort Erie was entered 
 in the afternoon by the American troops. 
 
 In March of this year a most important 
 step, as it proved, had been taken. Captain 
 Perry had then been appointed Master Com- 
 mandant, and, at about this time, he was 
 designated to exercise the superintendency of 
 the construction and outfitting of a fleet for 
 use upon Lake Erie, and to have the command 
 of the naval force upon that lake, under the 
 general direction of Commodore Chauncey. 
 He arrived at Erie from Sackets Harbor near 
 the close of March. Receiving word that an 
 attack was scheduled to occur on Fort George, 
 he set out from Erie a few days before the 
 attack took place. He volunteered his services 
 and accompanied the fleet when the attack 
 
112 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 was made. He rendered most valuable assist- 
 ance in the debarkation of the troops, and was 
 active throughout the engagement, being ex- 
 posed to imminent personal danger during its 
 entire duration. According to Commodore 
 Chauncey's report he was "present at every 
 point where he could be useful, under showers 
 of musketry, but fortunately escaped unhurt." 
 
 On the day following the capture of Fort 
 George, Perry, with fifty-five seamen, was dis- 
 patched to Black Rock by Commodore Chaun- 
 cey to take charge of five vessels there, and 
 to take them to the port of Erie. He was 
 directed to prepare them for service on Lake 
 Erie as speedily as possible. The genius of ener- 
 getic action possessed by Henry Eckford had 
 been signally shown in the preparation of this 
 quintet of ships, he having gotten them ready 
 after the attack on Little York. General Dear- 
 born offered 200 soldiers to be put aboard of 
 these ships at Black Rock, to assist in their 
 protection during their passage to Erie. So 
 the young commander proceeded with the ves- 
 sels early in June to Erie, arriving there safely. 
 The British had commissioned the Queen Char- 
 lotte and Lady Prevost to intercept the Ameri- 
 
THE FRONTIER 113 
 
 can ships, and they were cruising off Long 
 Point for that purpose. But Perry was wary 
 and contrived to have his ships pass them un- 
 perceived in the night. The Niagara and the 
 Lawrence, which had been built at Erie under 
 Perry's supervision, were launched in May. 
 The Queen Charlotte and three others of the 
 enemy's fleet descended the lake May 26, menac- 
 ing the Americans, but after the affair at Fort 
 George they withdrew, sailing up the lake. July 
 22, Commodore Chauncey's squadron arrived 
 at the head of Lake Ontario, bringing 170 men 
 for Perry's fleet. The decisive moment was 
 arriving fast, and it was felt that the question 
 whether British control should continue on 
 Lake Erie would be decided that summer. 
 
 The disastrous results of Hull's capitulation 
 had included complete British dominion upon 
 Lake Erie and the exposure of the Northwestern 
 frontier to the horrors of Indian warfare. This 
 roused the feeling of the nation, particularly 
 in the West. Early in August, 1812, a body 
 of troops, destined for the relief of Hull, had 
 gathered at Louisville and at points along the 
 Ohio River. When Hull's capitulation became 
 
 known, volunteers fairly poured from all parts 
 8 
 
114 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 of Kentucky and Ohio to swell the ranks. 
 Subsequent movements by Harrison, who had 
 been placed in command of these troops, cul- 
 minated in his approach toward Fort Wayne, 
 which had been invested by Indian allies of 
 the British. Fearing the Tippecanoe hero, 
 they fled September 12, before he arrived. 
 Harrison sent successful expeditions against the 
 Indians, destroying a number of villages. 
 Shortly afterward General Winchester arrived 
 at Fort Wayne to reinforce Harrison, who was 
 at once commissioned by the President as 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern Army, 
 with Winchester second in command. September 
 22, Winchester marched with 2,000 men for 
 Fort Defiance, Harrison being at Fort Wayne. 
 He soon followed, however, with an escort 
 accompanying a detachment of pack horses 
 with provisions, and personally took charge 
 of the expedition. The British and Indians, 
 who occupied Fort Reliance, retreated, the 
 Americans taking possession. Harrison de- 
 parted October 4, leaving troops there to 
 form the left wing of his army, under Win- 
 chester, while he returned to Ohio to organ- 
 ize and bring on the rest of his forces to 
 
THE FRONTIER 115 
 
 constitute the center and right wing. Some 
 minor movements, which included a victory 
 for General Tupper against a force of British 
 and allies, were followed early in January by 
 the departure of Winchester with his force 
 from Fort Defiance down the Miami River to 
 the Rapids. Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, 
 defenseless and exposed since Hull's surrender, 
 was desirous of protection, for which the in- 
 habitants now appealed to Winchester. A re- 
 lief detachment was sent under Colonel Lewis. 
 Three miles from Frenchtown a force of Indians 
 was encountered which was repulsed after a 
 brisk fight. The detachment was reinforced 
 by men under the command of Winchester 
 himself. Word of these events having reached 
 General Proctor he at once advanced from De- 
 troit with 1,500 British and Indians. The out- 
 nimibered Americans made a dogged fight; 
 but Winchester was captured, and, to save his 
 troops from the butcheries feared at the hands 
 of the savages, capitulated January 22. The 
 British carried the prisoners to Maiden, except- 
 ing about fifty wounded men, who were left at 
 Frenchtown. These were cruelly massacred by 
 Indians. This shocking event was followed by 
 
116 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the killing of additional prisoners, and thie mur- 
 der of one of several surgeons and assistants 
 sent by Harrison to Frenchtown under a flag 
 of truce to attend the wounded. Harrison had 
 been at Lower Sandusky. He started, with the 
 small force under his command, to march to 
 Winchester's relief, but learning that the latter' s 
 defeat was irretrievable, he reluctantly re- 
 turned. Harrison's plan of campaign was now 
 rendered abortive; but he set to work to build 
 up his depleted army anew, in which he was 
 assisted by Governor Shelby, of Kentucky^ 
 who ordered 1,200 of his militia to his relief. 
 In February Harrison erected Fort Meigs, 
 christened in honor of Ohio's Governor, at the 
 Miami Rapids. The relieving Kentuckians 
 arrived near this fort May 4, ascertaining that 
 it was besieged by a large force of British and 
 Indians under Proctor. The beleagured Harri- 
 son sent orders to General Green Clay, in com- 
 mand of the relief force, to follow plans that 
 should disperse the enemy. The instructions 
 were followed with a success that resulted in the 
 taking of the enemy's batteries and the latter 
 dispersing to the woods. The elated Ameri- 
 cans followed them, instead of crossing the river 
 
THE FRONTIEE 117 
 
 and returning to the fort, as they had been in- 
 structed. Proctor now judged it time to with- 
 draw, and did so on May 9. He threatened 
 a number of movements upon the forts of Lowe, 
 Sandusky, Cleveland and Erie during the spring 
 and summer, in which he was facilitated by 
 British dominion over the lake, but actually 
 attacked only that at Lower Sandusky, defended 
 by Major Croghan and 160 men, the com- 
 mander a youth of 21 years. Proctor had 500 
 regulars and about 800 Lidians. The attack 
 occurred early in August. He sent officers with 
 a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the 
 fort, but Croghan refused. A spirited engage- 
 ment followed, in which the enemy were finally 
 repulsed. An incident illustrative of man's 
 humanity to man occurred during this attack. 
 While the assault was in progress, the Ameri- 
 cans threw full canteens of water down to 
 wounded redcoats, who lay, writhing in agony 
 and parched with thirst, in the ditch outside 
 the works. The wounded, among the prisoners 
 captured, were, by Harrison's direction, given 
 the best of attention. 
 
 Matters now did not look so hopeless for the 
 Americans. Could the lake be swept clear of 
 
118 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 British supremacy, that feat would involve 
 the redemption of the Northwest. For the ac- 
 complishment of this all-important step, two 
 capable men, the intrepid Harrison and Perry, 
 Chauncey's gallant young subaltern, were now 
 working. 
 
 From the date of the receipt of his orders 
 from Washington to join Chauncey at Sackets 
 Harbor which instructions he received at New- 
 port February 17 of that year, Perry's remark- 
 able fund of energy had been ungrudgingly ex- 
 pended toward all the objects that fell to his 
 hands. He had the unhesitating swiftness of 
 action which is allied to the highest of execu- 
 tive ability. His order directed him to bring 
 all of the best men in his Newport flotilla, and 
 on the very day of its receipt he sent fifty of 
 them away in sleds to the West. He sent other 
 parties in quick succession, and finally, with a 
 thirteen-year-old brother who was zealous for 
 adventure, started himself upon the long drive 
 to the distant Harbor, which he reached March 
 3. For a fortnight he had remained there chaf- 
 ing, awaiting an expected British attack that 
 did not materialize, and then started for Erie, 
 at that time known as Presque Isle. Erie had 
 
THE FRONTIER 119 
 
 been chosen by the Government as the base of 
 operations on the lake because of its conveni- 
 ent location to other points, its comparative 
 immunity from the possibility of successful 
 attack by the enemy, and because supplies could 
 be sent from Pittsburg via the Alleghany River 
 and Lake Chautauqua. He found several ves- 
 sels of war, partially finished, with defending 
 detachments of a few raw volunteers and drilled 
 shipyard hands; the force being without arms 
 or ammunition. Perry sent men to Buffalo 
 after them, while he personally hurried to Pitts- 
 burg to secure carpenters, forward stores and 
 munitions, and to attend to the thousand- 
 and-one details that confronted him. The for- 
 est stood near at hand. Perry infused everyone 
 with his own dynamic vigor, and the result 
 was that the gunboats were floated early in 
 May and the brigs launched toward the close 
 of the month. As it happened, however, Perry 
 did not witness the launching of the brigs. 
 Having learned of the projected attack on Fort 
 George, he was rowed in a small boat to Buf- 
 falo, descending the river within musket shot 
 of the enemy, and reached a village near Grand 
 Island. Here his sailors captured an old pacing 
 
120 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 horse grazing on the public common. They 
 fashioned a bridle of rope and found a dilapi- 
 dated saddle without stirrups. Given the sorry 
 means to an honorable end, Perry complacently 
 swung aboard, and clutching his charger's mane 
 was ultimately racked into camp, where he per- 
 formed the brilliant service previously recorded 
 in the attack on Fort George. His successful 
 bringing of the five vessels at Black Rock to 
 Erie, which has been referred to, was followed 
 by his effort, despite the discouragement of 
 physical ailments and the difficulty of securing 
 anything like proper equipment, to get his 
 squadron in shape to effectually dispute with 
 the British the supremacy of the lake. 
 
 The American squadron was completed July 
 10, but as yet it could be used for purposes 
 of exhibition only. All told. Perry had but 
 officers and men enough to man one brig. The 
 squadron lay helpless enough in the harbor, 
 while the ships of the enemy swaggered inso- 
 lently outside. It was gall and wormwood to 
 Perry, who dispatched vehement requests ' for 
 assistance that it seemed would never be for- 
 warded. To add to his troubles, he fell ill of 
 bilious remittent fever, but while he suffered in 
 
THE FRONTIER 121 
 
 body his indomitable spirit still asserted itself, 
 and he retained his strong grasp of affairs 
 and continued his efforts to obtain equipment. 
 In these desperate straits, without men to man 
 his ships, sans everything required for effective 
 service, the young commander received a con- 
 tinual pounding from the Government, calling 
 upon him to co-operate with Harrison. Under 
 the circumstances the orders spelled irony. 
 The Government asked that Perry play Aladdin 
 and furnish his own lamp. Washington was 
 fully aware of the sore straits he was in, for he 
 had besieged the powers for relief, and besieged 
 in vain. As added climaxes, came messages 
 from Harrison, justly fearful for the menacing 
 fate of the little arniy, also the receipt of intel- 
 ligence that the enemy's new powerful De- 
 troit was nearly ready for service at Maiden, 
 and that Captain Robert H. Barclay, with vete- 
 ran officers and men, had arrived to take charge 
 of the naval forces of the British. The final 
 item was most sinister, for Barclay, who had 
 lost an arm in the service of his King, bore a 
 justly high reputation, and had been at Tra- 
 falgar with the great Nelson. The impatience 
 of Perry now found vent in urgent letters to 
 
122 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Chauncey."^ On July 19 he wrote: '*The 
 enemy's fleet of six sail are now at the bar of 
 this harbor. What a golden opportunity if 
 we had men ! . . . Should their object be to 
 attack us, we are ready to meet them. I am 
 constantly looking to the eastward; every 
 mail and every traveler from that quarter is 
 looked upon as the harbinger of the glad tid- 
 ings of our men being on the way . . . Give 
 me men, sir, and I will acquire ])oth for you 
 and myself honor and glory on this lake or 
 perish in the attempt. Conceive my feelings; 
 an enemy within striking distance, my vessels 
 ready and not men enough to man them. Go- 
 ing out with those I now have is out of the 
 question. You would not suffer it if you were 
 here. Think of my situation : the enemy in 
 sight . . . and yet obliged to bite my fingers 
 with vexation for want of men." Sailing-Master 
 Champlin soon arrived with only seventy men, 
 which caused Perry to write Chauncey : " For 
 God's sake and yours and mine, send me men and 
 officers, and I will have them all (the British 
 squadron) in a day or two. Commodore Bar- 
 clay keeps just out of reach of our gunboats. 
 *Lossing, p. 513. 
 
THE FRONTIER 123 
 
 The vessels are all ready to meet the enemy 
 the moment they are officered and manned. 
 Our sails are bent, provisions on board, and in 
 fact everything is ready. Barclay has been 
 bearding me for several days; I long to be at 
 him." And then, with characteristic generosity : 
 "However anxious I am to reap the reward 
 of the labor and anxiety I have had on this 
 station, I shall rejoice, whoever commands, 
 to see this force on the lake, and surely I had 
 rather be commanded by my friend than by 
 any other. Come then, and the business is 
 decided in a few hours." 
 
 But it took longer. The inertia lingered. 
 The Government was deaf to all pleadings ; the 
 recruits from Ontario were few and inferior for 
 the most part, Chauncey retaining the picked 
 men for his game of I-spy with Yeo upon On- 
 tario. The despairing Perry gave his true rea- 
 son to Harrison for the inability to co-operate 
 with him, and was gravely rebuked by the 
 Naval Secretary for "exposing his weakness," 
 which, by the way, the Secretary did not inti- 
 mate would be strengthened. 
 
 Such help as he received from Ontario, drew 
 from him the complaint to Chauncey that he 
 
124 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 had been sent "a motley set, blacks, soldiers 
 and boys.'' The Commodore, through continual 
 practice in the framing of lengthy reports of 
 things left undone on Ontario, was becoming 
 an adept in letter writing, and the reply he 
 dispatched was sufficiently sarcastic to draw 
 from the indignant Perry a request for a re- 
 moval from the station because '*he could not 
 serve longer under an officer who had been so 
 totally regardless of his feelings." Then fol- 
 lowed, however, "a manly, generous letter 
 from Chauncey which later restored the kindli- 
 ness of feeling between them." 
 
 The enemy engaged in movements during July 
 that seriously alarmed Erie. Word was received 
 from General Porter, at Black Rock, that a Brit- 
 ish Military force was collecting at Long Point, 
 opposite Erie. A British diversion occurred to- 
 ward Fort Meigs, and Barclay's ships suddenly 
 disappeared. A combined military and naval 
 attack on Erie was anticipated and a panic 
 resulted. Many citizens fled from the town. 
 Under the directions of Perry a considerable 
 defending military force was collected, but the 
 enemy, which had found it difficult to mass as 
 large a force as they desired, did not attack. 
 
THE FRONTIER 125 
 
 By the end of July Perry had in the neigh- 
 borhood of 300 fit officers and men. He had to 
 man two brigs of 20 guns each, and eight 
 smaller craft. Mild weather prevailed and the 
 ships of the enemy ceased temporarily to men- 
 ace Erie. Perry, despairing of getting what he 
 required, showed his heroic mettle by resolving 
 to go out upon the lake with what he had. 
 August 1, which fell on a Sunday, he moved his 
 flotilla down to the entrance of the harbor, 
 intending to cross early the next morning. 
 But an unexpected difficulty had now to be 
 met. 
 
 A sand bar lay across the entrance of the 
 harbor. There had been a depth of six feet 
 of water over it, but the wind had been at 
 work and reduced it to four, such variations 
 being common in this lake as well as in some 
 parts of Ontario. The smaller vessels were 
 lightened and managed to squeeze over the 
 bar. They were then judiciously placed, with 
 broadsides toward the open lake, to afford pro- 
 tection against a possible British attack, while 
 the problem of getting the larger ships over 
 the bar was wrestled with. The brigs Law- 
 rence and Niagara drew nine feet of water; 
 
126 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the greatest depth over the bar was six feet. 
 To obviate the difficulty, the assistance of 
 camels" was invoked. Two scows 50 feet long, 
 10 feet wide, and 8 feet deep, especially pre- 
 pared for the purpose, were filled with water 
 and floated, parallel on either side with the 
 vessel to be helped. They were secured by 
 large timbers extending from the port holes 
 of the brig across the scows. The space between 
 the timbers and boats was made secure with 
 additional timbers, and the scows were then 
 laboriously pumped out. Buoyancy and the 
 lifting power developed succeeded in landing 
 the brigs safely over the bar. While it takes 
 but a moment to relate this exploit, it occu- 
 pied four days of the most arduous work, 
 days filled with exhausting labor and keen 
 anxiety lest the British squadron appear while 
 the brigs were on the bar. That they did not 
 so appear was probably due to the fact that 
 the citizens of Port Dover, a small village on 
 Ryason's Creek, a little below Long Point, in 
 Canada, had offered Commodore Barclay and 
 his officers a public dinner, which invitation 
 had been accepted. The dinner occurred while 
 Perry was successfully getting his brigs over 
 
THE FRONTIER 127 
 
 the bar. It is related that Captain Barclay, 
 in response to a toast, said on this occasion : 
 "I expect to find the Yankee brigs hard and 
 fast on the bar at Erie when I return, in which 
 predicament it will be but a small job to de- 
 stroy them." As it was, the absence of the 
 British squadron at that time seemed provi- 
 dential for the national cause. Barclay's vessels, 
 hastening to destroy the ships they supposed 
 were grounded, came in sight the 5th, just in 
 time to see the last American ship, the Niagara, 
 sliding off the bar into deep water. The enemy 
 abruptly bore away toward Long Point. Perry 
 had put his flotilla in perfect order by night, 
 when it weighed anchor and stood away to- 
 ward Long Point on its first cruise. Perry 
 searched for the opposing fleet for three days, 
 but it had sailed for Maiden to await the com- 
 pletion of the Detroit. The Americans also re- 
 ceived some belated accessions. Captain Jesse 
 D. Elliott arrived at Erie with 100 officers and 
 desirable men, manning the Niagara, of which 
 Elliott assumed command. Perry now resolved 
 to sail up the lake and report himself in readi- 
 ness to co-operate with Harrison. His confi- 
 dence was increased by the fact that some of 
 
128 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 4^ the men Elliott brought were veterans of the 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 Perry sailed from Erie August 12, fully pre- 
 pared for mischief if any arose, and rendez- 
 voused at Put-in Bay three days later. This 
 ^ is a picturesque stretch of water, affording 
 safe anchorage for vessels from gales, the har- 
 bor hedged from the sweep of the open lake 
 by a number of islands, large and small. The 
 islands lie off Port Clinton, the capital of Ot- 
 tawa County, Ohio. The bay is 34 miles from 
 Maiden. The enemy had not been seen, but in 
 the evening of the following day a British 
 schooner, scouting in the neighborhood, was 
 chased by Sailing-Master Champlin, of the 
 Scorpion. A thunderstorm came up and the 
 scout escaped among the islands. 
 
 The next day the squadron sailed to the point 
 of the peninsula off Sandusky Bay, and Perry 
 had signal gims fired, per arrangement, to let 
 Harrison, who was at Camp Seneca, know he 
 was there. Perry, being informed that Harri- 
 son, with 8,000 regulars, militia and Indians 
 was twenty-seven miles away, dispatched boats 
 for the General and his staff. They arrived the 
 night of the 19th, the company including chiefs 
 
THE FRONTIER 129 
 
 of adjacent tribes of Indians whose friendship 
 Harrison had secured. Perry and Harrison 
 talked over their campaign and inspected the 
 bay the next day with a view toward concen- 
 trating the miUtary force there for transporta- 
 tion to Maiden. On the 21st Harrison returned 
 to his camp to begin preparations for moving. 
 Perry sent a small vessel to Erie for stores 
 and sailed with the squadron toward Maiden. 
 He discovered the rival fleet to be inside the 
 mouth of the Detroit River. As the new De- 
 troit had not yet joined the enemy's squadron, 
 Perry projected attacking Barclay there. Un- 
 favoring winds arose, however, and Perry's 
 malady returned with such force as to confine 
 him to his bunk, while others of his men also 
 fell ill. An attack was reluctantly deferred and 
 the squadron returned to Put-in Bay, arriv- 
 ing there August 27. Here a reinforcement of 
 thirty-six soldiers came from Harrison, to act 
 as marines and supply vacancies caused by sick- 
 ness. Perry was ill a full week, but recovered 
 so that the squadron sailed September 1 for 
 Maiden. Barclay's fleet was there and Perry 
 hoped for an engagement, but Barclay was 
 sensibly awaiting the completion of the Detroit 
 9 
 
130 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 and was not to be cajoled. As the British 
 ships lay under the protection of the shore 
 batteries, and manifested no disposition to move 
 out into the open, Perry's squadron drew off 
 and sailed for Sandusky Bay, for communica- 
 tion with Harrison. Then the fleet returned to 
 Put-in Bay, where it anchored, to remain inac- 
 tive until the great event of a few days later. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 
 
 GIBRALTAR ISLAND, aptly named, rug- 
 ged and picturesque, buttressed with 
 rock masses and sentineled by out- 
 posts of guarding trees, afforded an eminence 
 that has become historic. A limestone pile 
 some fifty feet in height faced the lake, the 
 waters of which lapped the base of the natural 
 arch that formed its front. As "Perry's Look- 
 out" the pile is known to-day; for the young 
 commander, awaiting the issue which was to 
 make or mar his fortune, was wont to spend 
 long hours upon its summit, glass at eye, 
 anxiously sweeping the wide water that lay 
 beyond the scattered hemming islands, for a 
 glimpse of the hostile sails whose coming would 
 spell action. He was prepared at any moment, 
 for he had received word that Barclay, because 
 of the scarcity of provisions for Proctor's 
 army at Maiden, was preparing to sail out and 
 
132 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 open communication with Long Point, that chief 
 depot of British supphes on the Detroit River. 
 
 The days passed without result, and a con- 
 ference occurred between Perry and his officers 
 on the evening preceding the battle, the com- 
 mander having determined to attack Barclay 
 at his anchorage if he should fail to sail out. 
 Written instructions were given each officer of 
 which vessel of the enemy to engage, and the 
 young commander accentuated significantly 
 the school in which he sought instruction with 
 the remark : " Gentlemen, remember your in- 
 structions. Nelson has expressed my idea in 
 the words, * If you lay your enemy close along- 
 side, you cannot be out of your place.' Good 
 jiight." Which parting words, coupled with 
 the fact that Barclay was made of the same 
 gallant stuff as his opponent, indicate clearly 
 enough the reason for the wide divergence 
 between the naval records of Erie and Ontario 
 during that war. 
 
 It was during this conference, too, that Perry 
 exhibited to his officers that battle-flag whose 
 fame will endure with time; the banner which, 
 at the Commodore's request, Samuel Hamble- 
 ton, the purser, had caused to be privately 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 133 
 
 prepared at Erie. It was square in shape and 
 there appeared in great white letters upon a 
 field of blue the words of the dying Lawrence, a 
 thrilling heritage, ''Don't Give Up the Ship!" 
 This flag, hoisted to the main-royal mast-head 
 of the flagship that was christened for the hero, 
 whose stiffening lips had framed those final, 
 immortal words, was to serve as the signal for 
 the fleet to engage the enemy. 
 
 And though the brave blue banner was des- 
 tined to come drooping down to the bloody 
 deck of a shivering hulk, that staggered help- 
 less in a stifling smother of murderous broad- 
 sides; broadsides that had made of the poor, 
 doomed bark a shambles, a weltering hell of 
 blood and agony and death, there was to fol- 
 low a thing that must ever thrill the blood 
 of the American. The desertion of the derelict, 
 the dash of a rowboat across a shot-rent sea 
 (an indomitable figure erect in the stern, the 
 shoulders draped in a white-lettered banner 
 with a field of blue), the trampling of resolute 
 feet upon a sound, as yet uncrimsoned deck, 
 the white letters again appealing from a lofty 
 mast-head, the magnificent response the final 
 terrific, irresistible, crunching dash that wrenched 
 
134 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the most signal victory fairly out of the gasp- 
 ing jaws of bitterest defeat. Truly, the blue 
 flag made history ! 
 
 During the anxious days that preceded the 
 decisive trial of the issue, the young American 
 commander kept to his post through the ex- 
 ercise of an iron will. The fever had not re- 
 laxed its hold upon him, and it was by sheer 
 resolution that he remained at his arduous 
 task. Each day he watched with keen con- 
 cern for the expected appearance of Barclay. 
 It was the look-out in the mast-head of the Law- 
 rence whose "Sail ho!" electrified Perry's fleet 
 on the pleasant morning of Sept. 10, 1813, a 
 date familiar to every schoolboy for the epi- 
 tome of effort which it spells. 
 
 Rapidly the ships of the squadron were sig- 
 naled "Enemy in sight," and "Get underway," 
 while, under the added impetus of the shouted 
 orders of boatswains, all hands scrambled in 
 preparation to leave anchorage. It was still 
 very early. The mists yet rose over the waters 
 while the air was tinged with the first faint 
 autumnal chill. A light wind blew softly from 
 the southwest, and a few dark, ragged clouds 
 rolled across the sky, spitting fine showers of 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 135 
 
 rain; but presently the sun, having cleared 
 the eastern horizon, peered through the murk, 
 routing the shrouding masses and the mists, 
 so that soon the British sails appeared, small 
 but distinct, far to the northwest. Toward 
 them, beating up against a light wind, enlist- 
 ing the aid of oars, worked Perry's ships, 
 threading their way among interminable islands 
 to the open lake; while the last breath of the 
 mists vanished, the chill crept from the air 
 before the steady flare of the rising sun, and the 
 rear-guard of the fleeing clouds disappeared 
 from view beyond the distant line of merging 
 sky and sea. At ten o'clock, when the squad- 
 ron had wholly emerged from between the en- 
 vironing islands of Put-in Bay into the open 
 lake, with the British fleet a half-dozen miles 
 away, the day was redolent of rare autumnal 
 beauty : a grim contrast indeed to the red, 
 ensuing scenes that were to be inseparably 
 associated with its immortal glory. 
 
 To Perry, distressingly ill with his malady, 
 the cry of the look-out had been a veritable 
 elixir. From that moment he forgot his ailing 
 body; his unconquerable spirit dominated it 
 and made of the man that aggressive, dynamic 
 
136 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 fighting machine which, insensible to reverses, 
 fought on and on, unwearied, unrelaxing, until 
 what for most would have been the end, was 
 to him only the beginning; a beginning that 
 could have no other end than that of ultimate 
 victory. For it was the almost incredibly com- 
 pelling personality of this man, the exertion 
 of an influence as powerful in the time of stress 
 as that of the great Englishman whom he emu- 
 lated, that won for the Americans, against 
 gallant odds, on that memorable day upon the 
 waters of Erie. 
 
 The variability of the wind made it a diffi- 
 cult matter for the American squadron to get 
 within favorable striking distance of Barclay's 
 waiting fleet. An attempt to gain the weather- 
 gage by beating to windward, because of the 
 light airs, proved abortive. Perry ordered his 
 sailing-master, William Vigeron Taylor, to run 
 to the leeward of the islands. '*You will, in 
 that case, have to engage the enemy to lee- 
 ward," remonstrated the sailing-master. "To 
 windward or to leeward, they shall fight to- 
 day," replied the Commodore grimly. 
 
 And they waited to fight, these British ships 
 stationed in readiness, as doggedly determined 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 137 
 
 as the fearless opponents that essayed to reach 
 them, confident in the masterful leadership of 
 a maimed veteran who had served with honor 
 under that great chief whom the untried young 
 American opposite had taken for his model. 
 No farcical demonstration here, no fruitless 
 jockeying, no bootless shots exchanged at illim- 
 itable range, no wild scurryings after one an- 
 other up and down a lake, which afforded, in 
 spoils, little more than a few helpless, discour- 
 aged merchantmen; no retirement of each to 
 his own port to await the building of another 
 ship or two to "equalize the forces," nothing 
 of unfettered loquacity in the shape of intermi- 
 nable reports, transmitted by each to his Gov- 
 ernment, reciting the multitudinous reasons 
 for not doing the things that ought to have 
 been done. Nothing of these, and the absence 
 of them made the name of Erie immortal. 
 Headed by such men, it was but natural that 
 the flotillas should sweep with the first fair 
 wind into a death-grapple whose finish should, 
 in its decisiveness, afford a shining opportunity 
 for the employment of words of graphic brevity 
 in its announcement. 
 Preparations had been made to sail to lee- 
 
138 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 ward, when a sudden favorable shift of the wind 
 allowed the American squadron to keep the 
 weather-gage, clearing the islands. In the mean- 
 time, Perry, on the Lawrence, had addressed a 
 few earnest words to his men, who cheered. 
 He then hoisted the battle-flag, with its white- 
 lettered appeal, to the mast-head. It was the 
 battle-signal, and cheers were roared from the 
 deck of every ship in the squadron. The ships, 
 moving slowly toward the enemy, were wholly 
 prepared; the final gruesome touch was ad- 
 ministered in the wetting of the decks and the 
 sprinkling of sand upon them, that they might 
 not be too slippery when blood should flow. 
 It was the lull before the storm, and Perry, 
 knowing well that there would be grim business 
 afoot at the dinner-hour, ordered refreshments 
 distributed. 
 
 The Americans had nine vessels engaged in 
 the action of that day, the Lawrence, com- 
 manded by Commodore Perry, and having 
 20 guns; the second, brig Niagara, 20 guns, 
 commanded by Captain Elliott ; the Caledonia, 
 Purser McGrath, 3; schooner Ariel, 4 guns (one 
 of which burst early in the action), Lieutenant 
 Packet commanding; Scorpion, 2, Sailing-Mas- 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 139 
 
 ter Champlin; Somers, 2, and 2 swivels, Sail- 
 ing-Master Almy; sloop Trippe, 1, Lieutenant 
 Smith; schooner Tigress, 1, Master's Mate 
 McDonald; Porcupine, 1, Midshipman Senat. 
 The Ohio, Sailing-Master Dobbins, did not 
 participate, having been sent to Erie for sup- 
 plies. The American squadron had 54 guns, 
 all told. 
 
 The British fleet comprised the ship Detroit, 
 new and strongly built, mounting long 24's, 
 18's and 12's, 19 guns, one on pivots, and 2 
 howitzers; Queen Charlotte, 17; schooner Lady 
 Prevost, 13; brig Hunter, 10; sloop Little 
 Belt, 3; schooner Chippewa, 1, and 2 swivels; 
 total, 63 guns. 
 
 The engagement occurred at a point ten miles 
 north of Put-in Bay. As the American squad- 
 ron moved up, Barclay, awaiting the attack, 
 stretched his fleet in a line square across the 
 wind, as close together as possible to work 
 effectively, with the Detroit at the head and 
 the small Chippewa under her bows. The De- 
 troit was the flagship. Next her was the 
 Hunter. The Lawrence, flanked by the Scorpion 
 and Ariel on the left and by the brig Cale- 
 donia on the right, moved forward to engage 
 
140 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the three British boats named above. The 
 Niagara was to take care of the Queen Char- 
 lotte, while the Somers, Porcupine, Tigress and 
 Trippe were to remain discreetly astern and 
 engage the Lady Prevost and Little Belt. 
 
 In order to employ his armament to the best 
 advantage, it was necessary for Perry to engage 
 the enemy as closely as possible. On the other 
 hand, it was for Barclay's interest to wage the 
 battle from a further distance, if he could. 
 The crews on the American ships and their 
 British opponents found the long wait trying 
 enough, as the squadron of Perry slowly drifted 
 with the light wind toward the enemy. The 
 American Commodore paced the deck of the 
 Lawrence incessantly, the calm, impassive face 
 in strange contrast to the eyes, which fairly 
 burned with excitement. From time to time he 
 paused a moment to speak to some of his eager 
 men. He stopped by one long gun. The men 
 who manned it were lounging in easy attitudes, 
 waiting the word. In appearance they were 
 picturesque enough. Stripped to the waist, 
 full-muscled and with folded arms, handkerchiefs 
 bound about their tousled heads to keep their 
 long hair from falling over their eyes, they were 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 141 
 
 watching the British ships with an air oddly 
 impersonal, mildly nonchalant. It was enough 
 then; a little later they would be veritable 
 loosed demons, firing like mad and with deadly 
 aim, swearing great, round oaths with every 
 fresh charge rammed home. They were all 
 veterans from the immortal Constitution. 
 
 Perry surveyed them in silence for a moment. 
 "I need not say anything to you," he finally 
 observed. "You know how to beat those fel- 
 lows." And the men grinned. 
 
 He halted a moment by another little group, 
 comprised of men who had accompanied him 
 from Newport. "Ah," said he, "here are the 
 Newport boys. They will do their duty, I 
 warrant." A ringing cheer made a satisfactory 
 reply. 
 
 At a quarter before noon, when the flagships 
 were still over a mile apart and the little Ameri- 
 can gunboats had fallen far behind, the sound 
 of a bugle was heard from the deck of the De- 
 troit, and the British bands fell with spirit to 
 the playing of "Rule, Brittania." A little 
 later a hearty British cheer roared out, and, 
 with a thunderous detonation, a solid shot from 
 one of the flagship's long guns came bound- 
 
142 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 ing over the water toward the advancing Law- 
 rence. It fell short, but the next, which arrived 
 five minutes later, was well aimed, and passed 
 through the bulwarks of Perry's ship. The 
 crew, eager for retaliation, sprang to the guns, 
 but Perry stayed them. Steady, boys! 
 Steady !" he cried and they fell back. He had 
 determined to engage the enemy closely, and 
 the fleet moved on in silence, whilst signals were 
 sent from the flagship for each ship to engage 
 its specified antagonist. For ten minutes fol- 
 lowing the initial shot the squadron swept on, 
 when Stephen Champlin,"^ the Commodore's 
 cousin, in command of the little Scorpion, fired 
 the first American shot, as he w as destined also 
 to fire the last in this engagement. 
 
 Barclay had concentrated his fleet to the best 
 advantage, which fact was made apparent 
 during the interval after the initial shot, while 
 the Lawrence and the other American ships 
 
 * Stephen Champlin was at this time 24 years old, hav- 
 ing been born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, No- 
 vember 17, 1789. His father was a volunteer soldier in 
 the Revolution. His mother was a sister of Commodore 
 Perry's father, making the two commanders first cousins. 
 He was the last survivor of the nine commanders in Perry's 
 squadron at the Battle of Lake Erie. 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 143 
 
 were holding their fire till they should sail up 
 to conveniently close quarters. The American 
 squadron while attempting to get up within 
 satisfactory range, became scattered. The 
 smaller vessels had fallen so far behind that 
 when the battle began the Trippe was more 
 than two miles away from the enemy. The 
 Lawrence was making every effort to get close 
 to the Detroit. Barclay's squadron was so 
 placed that the Hunter and the Queen Char- 
 lotte were enabled, together with the Detroit, to 
 pour in a destructive fire upon the Lawrence, 
 which the British Commodore had determined 
 to first destroy, and then cut the remainder 
 of the American fleet to pieces. By the time 
 Champlin's shot opened Perry's battle, the Law- 
 rence was already the worse for wear ; and she 
 soon was bearing the brunt of the attentions of 
 thirty-four heavy guns, with an occasional ad- 
 ditional morsel, byway of dessert, from the Lady 
 Prevost, which stood fifth in Barclay's battle 
 line. Flanked by the schooners Ariel and Scor- 
 pion, without bulwarks, and with but six guns 
 between them, the doomed Lawrence moved un- 
 falteringly into a veritable smoke-laden, roaring 
 pit of death. The Detroit, the Hunter and the 
 
144 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Queen Charlotte had formed a crescent around 
 one side and the stern of the Lawrence, the 
 Hunter being able to fairly rake the flagship 
 fore and aft. The murderous crescent, with 
 occasional broadsides from the Lady Prevost, 
 had already worked awful havoc with the 
 Lawrence by the time Perry had worked his 
 ship to within half a musket shot of the De- 
 troit. Then, wholly undismayed, though the 
 carnage was already terrific, his men giving 
 blow for blow, working like fiends, poured 
 broadside after broadside into the Detroit; 
 while the furious storm that was tearing out 
 the very vitals of the Lawrence continued, re- 
 morseless, unabated. 
 
 The little schooners, which had accompanied 
 the flagship, kept to their posts, fighting 
 bravely though comparatively unharmed. The 
 grim attentions of the enemy in that entire 
 quarter were wholly devoted to the Lawrenpe: 
 and the fight that was made by the men on 
 that battered brig, against hopeless odds, will 
 live on as one of the most stirring traditions 
 of the nation's histories of naval warfare. 
 
 It was a quarter past noon when the Law- 
 rence had gotten into the thickest of the fire. 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 145 
 
 Soon after Champlin's shot had opened the 
 battle for the Americans, the flagship, while 
 advancing toward the Detroit, had begun 
 firing upon her with her long bow-gun, a 12- 
 pounder, after which the action speedily became 
 general. The Caledonia was equipped with 
 long guns, and her work was effective from the 
 beginning against the Chippewa, Detroit and 
 Hunter, to which trio she had been assigned. 
 Captain Elliott, in the Niagara, instructed to 
 engage the Queen Charlotte, was some distance 
 back and was unable to make adequate use of 
 his carronades. Though she had twenty guns, 
 but a single long 12 was of use at first until 
 Elliott wheeled another into position. The 
 pair were served vigorously until most of the 
 ammunition of their caliber was gone. The 
 smaller vessels were still too far back to render 
 any efficient service. Perry, seeing early in the 
 engagement that his ships would have to draw 
 closer to the enemy, transmitted trumpeted 
 orders for all the ships of the squadron to make 
 sail and engage Barclay at close quarters. 
 This order was transmitted by Captain Elliott, 
 the second in command, but the Niagara re- 
 mained well back, continuing to work her long 
 
 lO 
 
146 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 guns. The Lawrence, Scorpion, Ariel and Cale- 
 donia had sailed up into close quarters. Perry 
 supposed at noon that he was close enough for 
 good service with his carronades and opened 
 with the first division of his battery upon the 
 Detroit's starboard side. His shots fell short, 
 however, while the concentrated fire of the 
 enemy worked terrible havoc with the Lawrence. 
 The Caledonia and Hunter were now hotly en- 
 gaged. The Niagara had failed to come to close 
 quarters with the Queen Charlotte, which ves- 
 sel took advantage of the opportunity to place 
 herself in a position where she could assist in 
 the annihilation of the American flagship, 
 which, at a quarter past noon, had gotten 
 within musket-shot distance of her desired 
 quarry, the Detroit. The Queen Charlotte 
 passed the Hunter and took a position astern 
 of the Detroit, from which point of vantage 
 she poured in broadsides upon the buffeted 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Barclay's tactics, well planned, were up to 
 now eminently successful. The smaller ships 
 of Perry's squadron were far to the rear, of 
 scarcely any service, and the Niagara was 
 rendering but little more. The Caledonia was 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 147 
 
 working gallantly, but was too busily occupied 
 with her own antagonist to be able to do much 
 for the Lawrence. The assistance rendered the 
 latter by the Scorpion and Ariel, while gallant 
 enough, through their size could be but small 
 against such odds. As for the American flag- 
 ship herself, she was fairly hemmed within a 
 crashing, detonating wall of smoke-enshrouded, 
 fiery death. Barclay had planned well. It was 
 a masterly conception judged by the grim stand- 
 ards of war. With his opponent's flagship 
 sunk or forced to strike her flag, with the lead- 
 ing spirit disposed of, it would be a compara- 
 tively easy matter, he reckoned, to capture or 
 disperse the remainder of a fleet disorganized 
 because robbed of its mainstay. So, to this 
 grim end, an end which for a time seemed in- 
 evitable of accomplishment, the British ships 
 poured swift death and the torments of 
 anguished wounds into the staggering, fight- 
 ing hulk, which the worst furies of the raging 
 storm could not subdue. 
 
 Given many another man than Oliver Hazard 
 Perry, many another of proved gallantry and 
 honorable career, to have walked the deck of 
 the Lawrence that day, and the issue of Erie 
 
148 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 had resulted differently. It was a fight in which 
 men's souls were tried by fire; any faltering 
 in high places would have been fatal. Many 
 a gallant man in Perry's place, counting his 
 cause as lost, would have early in that seeth- 
 ing storm lost heart of hope and hauled his 
 colors down. But just as relentlessly as Barclay, 
 with his gallant crews behind him, pursued the 
 well-planned means to the sanguinary end, so 
 did the shell-torn brig, dominated by a lion 
 heart, indomitably resist as long as a glazing 
 eye was left to aim the shots or hands to ram 
 them home. 
 
 For two long hoiu"s, hours crowded with hope- 
 lessness and horror, the flagship weathered 
 the storm, until, helpless and done, her last 
 gun silenced, the abandonment occurred which 
 was to lead to victory. A grim record indeed, 
 the tale of that stubborn, losing fight against 
 overpowering odds. The wardroom of the ves- 
 sel, used as a cockpit, was mostly above water, 
 the brig being shallow. The wounded were 
 taken there and shots from the enemy pierced 
 their refuge and added to the horrors of the 
 situation. The deck planks thinly roofed them 
 from the din above; while crimson streams 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 149 
 
 continually dripped down upon them through 
 the seams of the flooring. Instances could be 
 multiplied of the horrors which reddened those 
 decks, but few will suffice. Lieutenant Brooks, 
 of the marines, while speaking confidently to 
 Perry in the midst of the engagement, was 
 struck in the thigh by a cannon-ball and hurled 
 to the opposite side of the deck. In his an- 
 guish he shrieked for his commander to kill 
 him. The Commodore directed marines to carry 
 him below, where he shortly died, gasping some 
 pathetic instructions concerning his affairs. 
 Perry's yoimg brother, a boy of thirteen^ 
 beginning his career as a midshipman, was 
 knocked down by a hammock which had been 
 driven in by a cannon-ball. The Commodore 
 feared that he was killed, but he leaped to his 
 feet uninjured, and remained upon the deck. 
 Previous to this, two musket balls had passed 
 through the lad's hat and his clothing had 
 been torn by splinters. Perry stepped up to a 
 seaman, the captain of one of the gun crews 
 who was having difficulty with his piece, the 
 forelock being broken. The seaman exclaimed, 
 "Sir, my gun behaves shamefully!" He then 
 leveled the gun, and, while taking aim, was 
 
150 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 rent by a cannon-ball; while Perry, who stood 
 next him, was unharmed. Again, while the 
 Lawrence's Second Lieutenant was standing 
 close by the Commodore, he was struck in the 
 breast by a chain shot. Having passed through 
 the bulwark it but knocked him down, stunning 
 him. Perry assisted him to his feet, when the 
 Lieutenant, with the utmost nonchalance, thrust 
 the shot into his pocket, remarking, "A sou- 
 venir!" and resumed his duties. Lieutenant 
 Yarnell, intrepidly associated with the story 
 of that day, dressed like a common seaman, 
 had his neck and head bound with red ban- 
 danas, stanching previous wounds. A splinter 
 had been driven through his nose, swelling it 
 hideously. The blood from his wounds covered 
 his face and neck. In this plight he came to 
 the Commodore, at the height of the action, 
 coolly informing him that every officer of his 
 division had been killed. Perry detailed men to 
 take the vacant places. Soon afterward Yar- 
 nell, bleeding from fresh wounds, returned to 
 say that the reinforcements were all dead or 
 wounded. "You must make out for yourself," 
 returned Perry, "I have no men left to give 
 you." Yarnell returned to aim and fire his 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 151 
 
 guns with his own hands, as his chief was to 
 do later. And through it all, with men drop- 
 ping on every side mangled and dying, the spirit 
 to do and die raged in a veritable flame. One 
 seaman in command of a gun rushed frenziedly 
 to Perry, and bringing his blackened hands 
 down upon the Commodore's shoulders, cried, 
 " For God's sake, sir, give me some more men !" 
 Every man of his crew had been killed or 
 wounded. With the action at its worst, with 
 the decimated deck no longer able to furnish 
 men enough for the work at hand, Perry called 
 for the surgeon, busy in the cockpit, to send 
 up one of his six assistants. In a few minutes 
 another was summoned, and so on till all had 
 come. Perry summoned once again, but the 
 surgeon replied that he was now alone. "Are 
 there any of the wounded able to pull on a 
 rope?" cried the Commodore. And crawling 
 blindly, painfully up to the deck came two or 
 three blood-drenched heroes to lay hold with 
 their ebbing strength and assist in pulling 
 the last gun into position. When Perry, cool 
 and unshaken in the midst of the hurricane 
 of death, chanced to glance at the bleeding 
 wounded who lay stretched upon the deck, he 
 
152 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 invariably found their faces turned toward 
 him; a tribute moving enough in those awful 
 hours. Out of all the Lawrence's officers, Perry 
 and his young brother were the only ones un- 
 hurt in the engagement, though in the thick 
 of it from first to last. Down in the cockpit, 
 where the wounded were taken, mortality en- 
 tered and worked havoc. Midshipman Lamb, 
 with a shattered arm, was attended by the sur- 
 geon, and, while moving forward to lie down, 
 was struck by a round-shot which crashed 
 through the brig's side and killed him instantly. 
 Another shot killed a Narragansett Indian 
 who had been wounded, and others sustained 
 grievous additional wounds while those received 
 previously upon the deck were receiving atten- 
 tion. And meanwhile gun after gun of the Law- 
 rence was dismounted ; great splinters of wood 
 torn from the brig's timbers launched forth, 
 jagged javelins of death, tearing quivering 
 human flesh; rigging and sails swung and 
 flapped in severed strands and tattered shreds ; 
 crunching missiles bored and ground through 
 bone and vitals; oaths died in fleeting, gasp- 
 ing prayers; death stalked the deck, while 
 always there grew in appalling reverber- 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 153 
 
 ations the rolling thunder of the murderous 
 storm. 
 
 And so on without pause or respite, until 
 the Lawrence had left but a single gun; that 
 gun which the wounded crawled from the cock- 
 pit to assist in hauling into position. With 
 the Commodore himself helping to heave at the 
 ropes of the gun-tackles, she was drawn up 
 and her muzzle rolled out through the port, 
 Perry himself aiming and firing the last shot 
 from the brig. The next hostile broadside 
 silenced the remaining gun and severely 
 wounded Purser Hambleton, who stood close 
 by Perry. With that the Commodore turned 
 from the final forlorn hope to look about his 
 stricken brig. Dead men lay upon the deck 
 and the groans and cries of the wounded 
 sounded from it and from the cockpit below. 
 The vessel was riddled with gaping holes; she 
 rolled with the swells, a helpless wreck. Twenty, 
 two men had been killed and sixty-one wounded ; 
 but fourteen remained unhurt, nine of whom 
 were common seamen. Of all the execution sus- 
 tained by individual ships that day, and both 
 squadrons suffered severely, all paled by com- 
 parison with that inflicted upon the Lawrence. 
 
154 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 The guns of the Lawrence were now stilled 
 and no more signals came from her commander. 
 It is probable that Elliott now believed Perry 
 to be slain, and himself commander of the 
 squadron. The Niagara had kept far away; 
 she and her crew were yet fresh. Though Elliott 
 had personally passed Perry's order for close 
 conflict, he had not himself taken advantage 
 of it, but had continued to comply with his 
 original order to keep at half-cable length be- 
 hind the Caledonia on the line. He had been 
 ordered likewise to engage the Queen Charlotte ; 
 but when that vessel had left her original 
 station to join in the destruction of the Law- 
 rence, the Niagara had not followed her. 
 
 But when the growl of the Lawrence's last 
 gun had sounded, and she seemed a dead thing 
 rolling on the waters, Elliott hailed the Cale- 
 donia, ordering Lieutenant Turner to leave the 
 line and approach the Hunter in close conflict, 
 affording the Niagara an opportunity to re- 
 lieve the Lawrence. The Caledonia responded 
 and was soon desperately engaged with the 
 Hunter at close quarters. The breeze had fresh- 
 ened. The Niagara's spare canvas unfurled in 
 white, billowing clouds, and she leaped ahead; 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 155 
 
 but not toward the Lawrence. Instead, she 
 bore away toward the head of Barclay's squad- 
 ron, passing the Lawrence, still withered by 
 a galling fire, to windward. Elliott sent a 
 boat to the Lawrence for ammunition to re- 
 plenish his dwindling stock. As the Niagara 
 bore down, returning vigorously the defiant 
 broadsides flung at her from the Queen Char- 
 lotte, Lady Prevost and Hunter, and as she 
 drew abreast of the Lawrence's larboard beam, 
 a half-mile distant from that unheeded vessel, 
 there occurred the sublimest passage in the 
 Epic of Erie; the passage whose recital will 
 thrill the blood of the generations as long 
 as the world shall love her heroes; which 
 will be at the end as it has been from the 
 beginning. 
 
 To Perry, aboard the shattered Lawrence, 
 even yet indomitable, unconquered; still stand- 
 ing erect, unsubdued, amid the debris of his 
 poor, smashed ship, the crashing broadsides of 
 the fighting Caledonia were renewed alarums; 
 the spread of the sails of the rushing Niagara 
 were wide-flung wings of Hope. The Commodore 
 watched the approach eagerly; relief was at 
 hand. When he saw that she was passing him, 
 
156 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 a sudden grim inspiration fired his soul; an 
 inspiration that was fraught with the issue 
 of that momentous day. 
 
 From the decks of the batthng, implacable 
 British ships rose deep-throated cheers that 
 rivaled the din of the guns, which lessened per- 
 ceptibly for a space. From the masthead of 
 the helpless Lawrence, the big blue burgee, 
 the white-lettered bugle call upon an azure field, 
 had come fluttering down. The pennant fol- 
 lowed ; but the Stars and Stripes remained. It 
 was then not a surrender, as the enemy had 
 thought. What then was it? The next moment 
 furnished a reply. For out from under the lee 
 of the battered hulk darted a small boat, pro- 
 pelled by oars in the hands of brawny seamen, 
 straight for the passing Niagara. Erect in the 
 stern stood a splendid stalwart figure, the folds 
 of the big blue burgee and the pennant draped 
 over the broad shoulders, the face still calmly 
 impassive, the eyes smouldering. Commodore 
 Perry was transferring his flag. 
 
 On sped the boat, followed at first by a few 
 pitiful quavering cheers from poor dying devils 
 on the deck of the abandoned hulk, watching 
 the departing boat with wistful eyes. Then, 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 157 
 
 from the decks of the other ships of the Ameri- 
 can squadron, their crews now thoroughly com- 
 prehending, arose a very tempest of mad cheers. 
 Half surrounded as it was by the enemy's ships, 
 the boat swept on through a perfect roaring 
 tornado, the commander, still strangely im- 
 passive, erect in the stern. Cannon balls, grape, 
 canister and musket-shot fairly poured from 
 the enemy's decks. Perry's young brother 
 pleaded with the Commodore to sit down, but 
 he seemed oblivious. Finally his oarsmen, fear- 
 ful for his safety, flatly refused to row longer 
 unless he sat down, when he complied. The 
 men then redoubled their efforts, speeding to- 
 ward the now waiting Niagara. The storm 
 from the British guns, if possible, grew in vio- 
 lence ; the oars were splintered by musket balls ; 
 heavy shot plunged into the water close at 
 hand, drenching the crew with spray; death 
 hovered hungrily about the boat, his grisly 
 clasp seemingly restrained by a higher Power. 
 As by a miracle the small craft's tenants es- 
 caped unscathed. A round shot finally came 
 tearing through the boat's side. In a trice 
 Perry had slipped off the epauletted coat of 
 his rank, the garment he had donned upon 
 
158 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 leaving the Lawrence's deck, replacing the blue 
 nankeen jacket he had worn up to that time, 
 and stopped the hole with it. The boat reached 
 the side of the Niagara in safety, a quarter 
 of an hour after leaving the Lawrence. The 
 cheers of the Americans, grown stilled by 
 anxiety during the perilous trip, once more 
 rang out jubilantly. 
 
 Perry, disheveled, smoke-begrimed, quickly 
 boarded the Niagara. He was met at the gang- 
 way by Elliott, who saw in the man whom he 
 had supposed dead, evidence enough of un- 
 diminished vigor. 
 
 "How goes the day?" asked Elliott. It was 
 as though he realized that he had been too 
 far away to tell for himself. 
 
 "Bad enough," replied Perry, grimly. "Why 
 are the gunboats so far astern?" 
 
 "I'll bring them up," said Elliott, quickly. 
 
 "Do so," responded the Commodore, shortly; 
 and Elliott, springing into the boat just va- 
 cated by his chief, set off to hurry the lagging 
 smaller vessels. Meanwhile Perry quickly pre- 
 pared for the master stroke which won for his 
 squadron the battle. 
 
 When Perry left the Lawrence he placed her 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 159 
 
 in charge of Yarnell, with discretionary powers 
 to hold out or surrender as his judgment and 
 the circumstances should dictate. The Lieu- 
 tenant, after consulting with Lieutenant For- 
 rest and Sailing-Master Taylor, had hauled 
 down the flag of the helpless brig, that, for 
 humanity's sake, the opposing fire should 
 cease. A triumphant cheer arose from the Brit- 
 ish, which was heard by the wounded in the 
 flagship's cockpit. Being sadly informed of 
 the reason, there arose despairing cries of 
 " Sink the ship ! " Their spirits, indomitable in 
 maimed, suffering bodies, were to be gladdened 
 a half-hour later, when the Commodore was 
 once more to tread the bloody deck. 
 
 Elliott hurried in his small boat to accelerate 
 the gunboats. Ordering them to use sails and 
 oars with vigor and join the larger ships ahead, 
 he went aboard the Somers, displaying gal- 
 lantry," says an account, "till the close of the 
 action." Perry had rapidly inventoried the 
 Niagara. She was in perfect condition for bat- 
 tle. The pennant and burgee were quickly 
 hoisted, the signal displayed for close action, 
 while the crews of the squadron cheered. The 
 Niagara hove to, her course was altered, her 
 
160 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 guns double-shotted, and she bore down upon 
 the British hne, now but half a mile away. 
 Perry had resolved upon one supreme effort to 
 break that deadly line. 
 
 He succeeded. The Niagara, sweeping irre- 
 sistibly on, passed at half pistol-shot distance 
 between the Lady Prevost and Chippewa on 
 her larboard, and the Detroit, Queen Charlotte 
 and Hunter on her starboard, pouring in with- 
 ering broadsides as she passed. The Queen 
 Charlotte, having lost her commander and 
 several of her principal officers, in a moment 
 of confusion fouled the Detroit, both of them 
 being prevented through this mishap from 
 returning with any effect the terrible fire now 
 poured into them. Perry, having pierced the 
 line, now ranged ahead, rounded to and raked 
 the two distressed vessels with terrific broad- 
 sides. As the Niagara dashed through the line 
 her fire literally cut the Lady Prevost to pieces. 
 The men, fairly swept from the deck, had to 
 take refuge below, excepting the ship's com- 
 mander. Lieutenant Buchan, who had distin- 
 guished himself under Nelson in the Battle of 
 the Nile. Buchan had been shot through the 
 face with a musket ball, fired by one of a corps 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 161 
 
 of marines. Perry saw him standing alone, 
 leaning on the companionway, his wounded 
 face in his hands. He was watching the Niagara 
 with a fixed glare so strange that Perry at 
 once ordered the marines to cease their fire, 
 as it was evident that resistance had ended 
 aboard the Prevost, and her commander was 
 seriously injured. It developed that the strange 
 appearance of Buchan was due to the fact 
 that he had become suddenly crazed with his 
 wound. In the meantime, the rest of Perry's 
 fleet had responded nobly to the Niagara's 
 stirring example. The disabled Lawrence hav- 
 ing drifted astern of her place in the line, the 
 Caledonia took her position against the Detroit, 
 while the Trippe took the Caledonia's place 
 against the Hunter. Turner and Holdup, com- 
 manding the Caledonia and Trippe, respectively, 
 had exchanged signals to board the Detroit, 
 which project was abandoned when they saw 
 the Niagara, with the Commodore's pennant 
 aloft, begin the dash that broke the British line. 
 So the Caledonia quickly followed the Niagara 
 into the thick of it. The stiffening breeze had 
 meanwhile brought up the Somers, the Tigress 
 
 and the Porcupine, so that the entire squadron, 
 II 
 
162 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 sans the exhausted Lawrence, was now for the 
 first time adequately in the battle. The inspir- 
 ing example of their commander had done its 
 work; the crews fought as if unwearied. The 
 result was appalling in its swiftness. Eight 
 minutes after the Niagara's dash through 
 the British line; the Detroit struck her colors. 
 She was quickly followed by the Queen Char- 
 lotte and Lady Prevost, and a little later by 
 the Hunter. The Chippewa and Little Belt 
 attempted their escape toward Maiden, but 
 Champlin in the Scorpion and Holdup in the 
 Trippe overtook and brought them back; 
 Champlin firing the last gun of the battle dur- 
 ing the chase. It was tliree o'clock when the 
 flag of the Detroit was lowered; but the fugi- 
 tives had so nearly escaped, that it was ten 
 at night before the pursuing American vessels 
 returned with them. 
 
 When the embattled roar ceased, and the thick 
 smoke drifted away, the two squadrons found 
 themselves intermingled. While, to preserve 
 what life remained aboard of her, the flag of the 
 Lawrence had been struck, the hulk had not 
 been boarded by the enemy. When the shroud- 
 ing smoke lifted, revealing the victory, shouts 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 163 
 
 of joy sounded from her deck and the national 
 banner was again hoisted to the mast-head. 
 The wounded in the wardroom added their 
 feeble cheers. 
 
 The joy of the American crews when the sur- 
 render occurred may be imagined, when it is 
 reflected that it was the first time an Ameri- 
 can squadron had encountered one of a rival 
 nation in battle alignment, and it was the first 
 capture recorded of an entire British fleet. So 
 that one can sense in some measure, the uplift 
 of spirit in which, when the feat had been ac- 
 complished. Perry penciled on the back of an 
 old letter held upon his navy cap, that sim- 
 ple, stirring message to General Harrison : 
 
 "We have met the enemy and they are ours; 
 two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one 
 sloop. Yours, with great respect and esteem, 
 
 ^'0. H. Perry." 
 
 A little later followed the second dispatch, 
 to the Secretary of the Navy, as follows : 
 
 "U. S. Brig Niagara, 
 "off the Western Sister, Head of Lake Erie," 
 
 Sept. 10, 1813, 4 p. m. 
 "Sir — It has pleased the Almighty to give 
 to the arms of the United States a signal vie- 
 
164 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 tory over their enemies on this lake. The Brit- 
 ish squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, 
 one schooner and one sloop, have this moment 
 surrendered to the force under my command 
 after a sharp conflict. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 ''0. H. Perry." 
 
 It had been a hard, fierce fight, with equal 
 honor to both. Vessels of both squadrons had 
 been shattered, especially the flagships. There 
 had been 68 persons killed and 190 wounded 
 in the three hours of the engagement. Of these 
 the Americans lost 123, 27 of whom were 
 killed; and the British 135, 41 being killed. 
 Next to the Lawrence, the Niagara sustained 
 the greatest loss, most of which occurred in 
 those final few minutes. While she had but 
 2 men killed, there were 25 wounded. The 
 losses of the other ships were inconsiderable 
 on the American side. For the British the 
 Detroit was the greatest sufferer. Commodore 
 Barclay, who had lost an arm at Trafalgar, 
 w^as first wounded in the hip, but gallantly re- 
 mained upon the deck. Later a shot crushed 
 the blade of his right shoulder, depriving him 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 165 
 
 of his remaining arm. His wounds were for 
 some days considered mortal. Captain Finnis, 
 of the Queen Charlotte, the second in command 
 of the squadron, was mortally wounded and 
 died that night. 
 
 Following the sending of his dispatches, the 
 American Commodore started for the melan- 
 choly wreck of the Lawrence, having deter- 
 mined to receive the formal surrender from the 
 brave foemen upon her deck. As he stepped 
 upon it, greeting his friend. Purser Hamble- 
 ton, he said, "The prayers of my wife have 
 prevailed in saving me."^ Dr. Parsons says, 
 "It was a time of conflicting emotions when 
 he stepped upon deck. The battle was won 
 and he was safe, but the deck was slippery 
 with blood and strewn with the bodies of 
 twenty officers and men, seven of whom had sat 
 at table with us at our last meal, and the ship 
 resounded everywhere with the groans of the 
 wounded. Those of us who were spared and 
 able to walk met him at the gangway to wel- 
 come him on board, but the salutation was a 
 
 *She was originally Miss Elizabeth Mason, daughter of 
 Dr. Mason, of Newport, to whom the Commodore was 
 married in 1810. She survived him. Three sons and a 
 daughter were born to them. 
 
166 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 silent one on both sides ; not a word could find 
 utterance." 
 
 Then, standing upon the crimsoned deck, 
 Perry received the British officers, one from 
 each of the captured vessels. One by one these 
 saddened visitors presented their swords; one 
 by one the conqueror gently refused them. 
 With deep concern he made inquiry for their 
 wounded commander and their mates, and they 
 retired feeling to the full the strange duality 
 of the rarely great nature, the heart that is 
 at once savagely leonine and deep in exhaust- 
 less wells of human sympathies. When they 
 had gone, at last overcome with the fatigue 
 that numbed his fever-wasted body, the Com- 
 modore stretched himself upon the deck, in the 
 midst of that grim, guarding cordon of the 
 dead, and slept for hours as deep as they. 
 
 With the coming of the twilight of that day, 
 the dead seamen of the two squadrons, wrapped 
 in rude shrouds and weighted with a cannon 
 ball at the feet of each, were, after the reading 
 of the simple, sublime burial service of the 
 Anglican Church, lowered over the ship's sides 
 to graves in the deep. At nine the next night, 
 the squadrons, victor and vanquished, weighed 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 167 
 
 anchor and sailed tranquilly into Put-in Bay 
 Harbor. The interval had been occupied in se- 
 curing the prisoners, repairing the ships and 
 rigging temporarily, and in other necessary 
 work. The Lawrence could make but sluggish 
 sail, and, as for the Detroit and Queen Char- 
 lotte, they were shattered from bow to stern. 
 It was impossible to place one's hand hardly 
 anywhere on their port sides without touch- 
 ing the impression of a shot. Many balls, 
 canister and grape were found lodged in their 
 bulwarks, which were too thick to be penetrated 
 by the American carronades, unless within 
 pistol-shot distance. Their masts were so 
 shattered that they fell overboard in a storm 
 after the squadrons got into the bay. 
 
 Two days after the battle three American and 
 three British officers were buried on the margin 
 of South Bass Island, with the same solemn 
 ceremonies and rites, in the presence of their 
 respective countrymen. The spot selected, wild 
 and solitary, with the picturesque beauty that 
 can only belong to such a one as untrammeled 
 nature holds in fee, was such as to deepen the 
 impressions of those witnessing the scene in such 
 force as to render them enduring for a lifetime- 
 
168 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 The heroes thus interred were Lieutenant 
 Brooks and Midshipmen Lunt and Clarke, of 
 the American service; and Captain Finnis and 
 Lieutenants Stokoe and Garland, of the Brit- 
 ish flotilla. 
 
 Perry, who was frankly sensible of the gal- 
 lantry shown by his British rival, was quick 
 to visit Barclay after the termination of the 
 engagement. He caused every attention to be 
 paid him. When the American Commodore 
 sailed for Buffalo, Barclay was sufficiently re- 
 covered to accompany him. The fleet touched 
 at Erie, whose citizens witnessed the spectacle 
 of Perry and Harrison, leading the wounded 
 Englishman, still unable to walk without as- 
 sistance, to their lodgings. And no higher 
 eulogy has been paid to Perry than that con- 
 tained in the simple words of Commodore 
 Barclay, himself of proved merit and loved by 
 his men, which were spoken at a public dinner 
 tendered him at Terrebone, in Canada. They 
 were employed in the proposal of a toast, and 
 were these : " To Commodore Perry, the gallant 
 and generous enemy." 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Com- 
 modore Perry, written to the powers while 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 169 
 
 aboard the Ariel, at Put-in Bay, September 13, 
 will serve to show his attitude toward his 
 wounded enemy : 
 
 **I also beg your instructions respecting the 
 wounded. I am satisfied that whatever steps 
 I might take, governed by humanity, would 
 meet your approbation. Under this impression 
 I have taken upon myself to promise Captain 
 Barclay, who is very dangerously wounded, 
 that he shall be landed as near Lake Ontario 
 as possible, and I had no doubt you would 
 allow me to parole him." 
 
 On the 13th, also, Perry sent his letter to 
 the Secretary of the Navy, giving the particu- 
 lars of the action Avhicli resulted to the credit 
 of his country and himself. It was in this letter 
 that the following passage occvirred — a passage 
 that later caused so much controversy over 
 the true facts of the case, and that the major- 
 ity have always believed to have owed its in- 
 troduction to Perry's native generosity : 
 
 "At half-past two, the wind springing up. 
 Captain Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, 
 the Niagara, gallantly into close action; I im- 
 mediately went on board of her, when he an- 
 ticipated my wish by volunteering to bring the 
 
 \ 
 
170 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 schooners, which had been kept astern by the 
 lightness of the wind, into close action." 
 
 Perry wrote the above letters while a furious 
 gale was sweeping the lake from the southwest- 
 He was preparing for the transportation of 
 Harrison's army to Canada. He had made the 
 Niagara his flagship, placing all the wounded 
 Americans on board the Lawrence and the 
 wounded British on board the Detroit and 
 Queen Charlotte. The Niagara and lighter 
 vessels of both squadrons were to serve as 
 transports. It was this storm that brought 
 down the masts of the disabled British vessels. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, no words can 
 more fittingly be employed than those oft- 
 quoted, prophetic ones in Washington Irving's 
 biographical sketch of Perry, issued shortly 
 after the battle. "In future times," he writes, 
 "when the shores of Erie shall hum with busy 
 population, when towns and cities shall brighten 
 where now extend the dark and tangled forests ; 
 when ports shall spread their arms, and lofty 
 barks shall ride where now the canoe is fastened 
 to the stake; when the present age shall have 
 grown into venerable antiquity, and the mists 
 
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 171 
 
 of fable begin to gather round its history, then 
 will the inhabitants look back to this battle 
 we record as one of the romantic achievements 
 of the days of yore. It will stand first on the 
 page of their local legends and in the marvel- 
 ous tales of the borders." 
 
 / 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 CONTROVERSIES 
 
 IT was a natural sequence, when the issue 
 of Erie had been decided, that there 
 should arise interminable discussions by 
 the partisans of each side concerning the rela- 
 tive strength and weakness of the opposing 
 squadrons. The conquerors had a victory to 
 glorify; the beaten a defeat to explain. The 
 years immediately following the battle were 
 filled with exhaustive presentments of both 
 sides of the shield. The natural tendency on 
 the part of both, generally considered, was to 
 exaggerate the advantages possessed by the 
 opponent and to accentuate the disadvantages 
 under which one's own side labored. It was 
 too early for an interested party, unless he 
 possessed exceptional breadth and an ideal 
 judicial temperament, to strike a just balance. 
 There is no doubt that much that was written 
 on both sides at the time, through the hot 
 spur of defiant patriotism, was nothing short 
 
CONTROVERSIES 173 
 
 of absurd. But the years have their winding 
 sheets ever in readiness for the trivial and 
 petty, and it is only the things worth while 
 that can successfully defy the withering breath 
 of time. To-day, the little contributory inci- 
 dents are forgotten in the grand ensemble of 
 a great fight well fought; of the crews of 
 warring ships that vied with each other in 
 gallantry; of a surrender with honor to an 
 intrepid foe; of great guns, a few hours pre- 
 viously, in deadly, roaring rivalry, booming 
 solemn salutes in grim accordance while Ameri- 
 can and Briton buried their dead; of the sub- 
 sequent mutual esteem of brave commanders, a 
 friendship that endured. In the contemplation 
 of these, the salient features of the battle, there 
 may well creep away the last gibing ghosts of 
 rancor and bitterness engendered by war, that 
 monster to be blotted out in the millenium of 
 God! 
 
 A volume might readily be filled with a re- 
 hearsal of the points emphasized in the various 
 arguments by writers of both nations, that 
 followed the event of Erie; but space forbids, 
 and indeed there is no need of an exhaustive 
 resume of the matter here. Something of men- 
 
174 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 tion, however, may assist the reader in a gen- 
 eral understanding of conditions, which is the 
 sole excuse offered for the disturbance of certain 
 of history's dry bones. 
 
 In the beginning, then, the Americans had 
 nine vessels engaged in the action and the 
 British six. In close action, however, which 
 Perry had ordered, the contest was more nearly 
 equal as to numbers than this statement would 
 indicate, as the Somers, Porcupine and Tigress, 
 gunboats, lagged far astern till near the close 
 of the battle. Indeed, one authority* states 
 that the Porcupine and Tigress "were unable 
 to get into action." Moreover, the Niagara 
 failed to come to close quarters, as ordered, 
 till Perry had transferred his flag to her from 
 the Lawrence, and Elliott had gone to bring 
 up the lagging gunboats. As for the British, 
 they had suffered seriously before Perry trans- 
 ferred his flag to the Niagara through an ac- 
 cident to the rudder of the schooner Lady 
 Prevost, 13 guns, which had caused her to 
 drop out of Barclay's line and far astern. Then, 
 too, the fouling of the Detroit and Queen Char- 
 lotte, following the Niagara's dash through 
 
 *Burge8' Perry and Elliott. Diagram No. 3. 
 
CONTROVERSIES 175 
 
 the line, contributed largely to the success of 
 that attack, backed as it was by most of 
 Perry's other vessels. 
 
 As for armament, it is estimated that the 
 American squadron threw in the battle 896 
 pounds of metal from 54 guns, the long guns 
 throwing 288 pounds. The British squadron, 
 while it had more guns, could not throw as 
 much metal. Barclay's squadron could throw 
 459 pounds of metal at a broadside from 63 
 guns, 195 pounds being from long guns. '*The 
 smart Yankees," writes Roosevelt, "although 
 Erie was in days' travel much further from a base 
 of supplies than the British were, had created a 
 fleet under the eyes of the British, whose supe- 
 riority in long-gun metal was as three to two, 
 and in carronade-metal greater than two to 
 one." In commenting upon this, however. 
 Spears says, '*but it must be observed by 
 every sailorman that this preponderance in 
 weight of metal thrown was to a great extent 
 nullified by the distribution of the American 
 heavy long guns among the little merchant 
 schooners which Perry had been forced to adopt. 
 For the small vessels formed very unstable plat- 
 forms, and a discharge from the big guns set 
 
176 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 them rolling in a way to destroy accurate 
 marksmanship. The British had nothing larger 
 than a long 12 on their little vessels, and therein 
 was wisdom.'* 
 
 Burges gives the following table, showing 
 relative opposing armaments : 
 
 AMERICAN SQUADRON. BRITISH SQUADRON. 
 Schooner Scorpion, 2 guns, Sloop Little Belt, 3 guns. 
 
 32-pounder8. Ship Detroit, 19 guns. 
 
 Schooner Ariel, 4 guns, 18's Brig Hunter, 10 guns. 
 
 and 24's. Ship Queen Charlotte, 17 
 
 Brig Lawrence 20 guns, 2 guns. 
 
 long 12's and 18 24's. Schooner Lady Prevost, 13 
 
 Caledonia, 3 guns, 24 and 32- guns. 
 
 pounders. Schooner Chippewa, one gun 
 
 Niagara, brig, same arma- and two swivels. 
 
 ment as Lawrence. 
 Schooner Somers, 2 32-pound- 
 
 ers. 
 
 Schooner Porcupine, 1 32- 
 
 pounder. 
 Tigress, 1 32-pounder. 
 Trippe, sloop, one 32. 
 
 William James, in his "History of the Naval 
 Actions of the War of 1812," published at 
 Halifax, N. S., in 1816, gives the following 
 particulars regarding the British armaments 
 The Detroit, says he, mounted two 24's, one 
 18, six 12's and eight 9's, long guns, and one 
 24 and one 18-pounder carronade. The Queen 
 Charlotte mounted three long 12's and 14 
 24-pounder carronades. The Lady Prevost 
 
CONTROVERSIES 177 
 
 mounted three long 9's and 10 12-pounaer ear- 
 ronades, one long 9 considered as shifting. 
 The Hunter mounted two 6's, four 4's, two 
 2's, long guns, and two 12-pounder carron- 
 ades. The two smaller vessels were equipped as 
 stated above. The lately launched Detroit, Mr. 
 James informs us, being destitute of armament, 
 "it became necessary to strip a neighboring 
 fort of its guns. Remoteness of situation and 
 difficulties of carriage," he continues, "almost 
 insuperable, now that the Americans had got 
 the ascendancy on the lake, may afford some 
 pretext for the half -equipped, deplorably manned 
 state of the British squadron. But had not 
 thirteen months elapsed since ministers were 
 in possession of the American declaration of 
 war?" 
 
 In the consideration of the vexed question 
 regarding the superiority in force, as far as the 
 personnel of the crews was concerned, it would 
 seem wise to consult authorities of the time 
 involved, since they must have enjoyed excellent 
 ^ opportunities for the securing of their materials 
 at first hand. Niles' "Life of Perry," published 
 in 1821, and James' "Naval Actions," referred 
 to above and issued in 1816, contain full 
 
 I 2 
 
178 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 information on this point from differing stand- 
 points. 
 
 James states that the command of the British 
 squadron on Erie had been refused by Captain 
 Mulcaster, " on account of the exceedingly bad 
 equipment of the vessels." Captain Barclay 
 was then appointed, continues the account 
 (though it is difficult to see from his pre- 
 vious record and the masterly conduct of his 
 defense on that memorable 10th of September 
 that this was anything of a retrogressive step), 
 '*and with a lieutenant, surgeon and nineteen 
 rejected seamen of the Ontario squadron, he 
 joined his command in June, 1813." Subse- 
 quently, says James, fifty-three seamen of the 
 Dover troop-ship were sent to him, but then he 
 had not more than 150 British seamen dis- 
 tributed among his six vessels, "the rest of 
 the men being Canadians and soldiers." Here 
 again the average American w^ll be conscious of 
 a feeling of irritation, caused by the proneness of 
 the British at that time to explain defeats, by 
 inference at least, by the recorded fact that 
 they had to depend upon Canadians." Since 
 the arms of Canada have been at the disposal 
 of Britain from the first, coupled with un- 
 
CONTROVERSIES 179 
 
 swerving loyalty, this disposition seems de- 
 cidedly ungracious, though to be sure it does 
 not obtain as much as formerly. As for the 
 soldiers, the ill-fated Lawrence at least was 
 close enough throughout the action of Erie 
 to suffer severely from a musketry fire as well 
 as from the more formidable sweep of broad- 
 sides. 
 
 A significant fact, when considered in con- 
 nection with the claims of Elliott made after 
 the battle, is recorded in James' work. He 
 states that the Lawrence, with her two smaller 
 companions, came to close action with the 
 Detroit, and that the Niagara, supported 
 also by two schooners, engaged the Queen 
 Charlotte, keeping so far to windward as to 
 render the latter's 24-pounder carronades en- 
 tirely useless." Yet some of Elliott's officers 
 claimed afterward that the Niagara was in 
 close conflict throughout the battle. James 
 says further that Perry left the Lawrence just 
 before she struck and proceeded on board the 
 Niagara, "then perfectly fresh from having 
 remained so far to windward. The Detroit 
 was now a perfect wreck, principally from the 
 fire of the long 32's and 24's on board the 
 
180 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 schooners, and in attempting to wear she fell 
 on board the Queen Charlotte. The Lady 
 Prevost, armed with 12-pounder carronades, 
 was far to the leeward, with her rudder injured." 
 He states that the other three vessels, owing 
 to their size and armament, "are scarcely 
 worth noticing." 
 
 Captain Barclay personally reported that 
 "the weather-gage gave the enemy a prodig- 
 ious advantage, as it enabled them not only 
 to choose their position, but their distance 
 also, which they did in such a manner as to 
 prevent the carronades of the Queen Charlotte 
 and Lady Prevost from having much effect, 
 while their long guns did great execution, 
 particularly against the Queen Charlotte." 
 
 The Detroit and Hunter, pursues James, had 
 four different calibers of guns, all on one deck, 
 and they were manned by Canadians and sol- 
 diers " wholly unacquainted with such service." 
 Still, these guns did execution, as the Lawrence 
 abundantly testified. The squadron had the 
 misfortune to lose most of its principal officers 
 and their seconds early in the action, still, as 
 this historian records, the seamen and troops 
 behaved with calmness and courage, emulating 
 
CONTROVERSIES 181 
 
 the example of the few survivors of the Law- 
 rence, the greatest sufferer of the battle. 
 
 Later on he says : " The British fleet, consist- 
 ing partly of ships, and the American of only 
 brigs and schooners, may give rise to an opin- 
 ion that the former were superior in size. So 
 far from it, the Lawrence and Niagara were 
 each 40 tons larger than the Detroit, the larg- 
 est vessel in our fleet. Of what size American 
 schooners, or even gunboats, frequently are, will 
 appear from a reference to the table of dimen- 
 sions. This being an action between more than 
 two vessels, the united tonnage on each side 
 is, however, of little consequence. Nor does 
 the relative numerical force in men afford a 
 true estimate in force, as the bulk of the British 
 crews consisted of persons totally unacquainted 
 with such service. In both long guns and 
 carronades the Americans had a decided ad- 
 vantage in the superiority of individual caliber, 
 supposing even the gross weight of metal on 
 each side to have been the same. But instead 
 of that, an excess actually appears on the 
 American side of two to one." 
 
 At close quarters the preponderance accent- 
 uated by James would have told, and did tell 
 
182 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 in the closing moments of the battle. But it 
 must be recollected that Elliott, on the Ni- 
 agara, failed to obey Perry's order to close, 
 and until shortly before the Commodore boarded 
 her she was far to windward and working but 
 two guns. Also, the smaller vessels that had 
 failed to come close enough for effective work 
 must not be forgotten. 
 
 James has this further to say in regard to 
 armament: "In transmitting a 'statement of 
 the relative force of the contending fleets,' the 
 American Commodore is quite satisfied with 
 emunerating the guns on each side. It was 
 palpably evident that sixty-three was a higher 
 number than fifty-four, and the American com- 
 mander had no doubt fully ascertained, by his 
 skill in figures, that he should obtain a much 
 less favorable result were he to particularize 
 the caliber. Suppose a British vessel, armed 
 with ten guns, 2-pounders, had been captured 
 by an American vessel, armed, like the Scorpion, 
 with two guns on pivots, and those a long 32 
 and 24-pounder. According to Commodore 
 Perry's mode of estimating force the former 
 would be superior to the latter as five to one, 
 when in reality the superiority of force would be 
 
CONTROVERSIES 183 
 
 on the opposite side in the same proportion." 
 This is a good argument, but it certainly does 
 not apply wholly until near the end of the bat- 
 tle, because of the failure of some of Perry's 
 ships to come within favorable striking distance 
 until after he had shifted to the Niagara. Then, 
 too, it will be remembered that their bulwarks 
 rendered many shots directed against certain 
 of the British ships abortive. 
 
 James states that on September 9, when 
 lying at Amherst burg. Captain Barclay was 
 anxiously waiting the arrival of a promised 
 supply of seamen. So perfectly destitute of 
 provisions was the post that there was not a 
 day's flour in store and the crews were then 
 on half-allowance of a great many things. Im- 
 pelled by dread of famine, "the fleet sailed out, 
 to risk a battle with the American squadron, 
 then cruising off the port." 
 
 To turn to the presentment of facts from an 
 American standpoint it is first necessary only 
 to remind the reader of the difficulties met by 
 Perry in the securing of men, munitions and 
 supplies that are recorded in the foregoing 
 portion of this work. If sloth dwelt in Britain's 
 places of authority, so dwelt it also in Wash- 
 
184 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 ington; if Barclay had reason to be discouraged 
 oftentimes, so also frequently had Perry; if 
 Barclay found that if things were to be done 
 he himself must do them, so also did Perry. 
 We have read how Perry, with but barely 
 enough men to man a single brig, importuned 
 the powers at Washington, and in reply received 
 sharp complaints because "he did not co- 
 operate with Harrison upon Canada." We 
 have read also of the appeals made to his 
 superior, Chauncey, on Ontario, and the atten- 
 uated results thereof; the chief commander 
 reserving the most and the pick of his chafing 
 flock at Sackets Harbor to play tag with the 
 equally futile Yeo, across at Kingston. If 
 Perry's fleet was larger than his enemy's, part 
 of it came with vigorous swiftness from the 
 lusty hewing of the forest. If his armament 
 was more formidable, it was the result of his 
 urgent and eternal pounding, and part of it had 
 to be hoisted aboard of converted merchant- 
 men, slow and unsatisfactory. 
 
 As for the force engaged, Niles states that 
 the British complement of men exceeded Perry's 
 by nearly a hundred, and that a greater portion 
 of them were experienced seamen and sailors. 
 
CONTROVERSIES 185 
 
 "The American fleet," he continues, "was 
 built, equipped and manned in about three 
 months, and consequently the crews of the 
 vessels hastily collected. They were a mixed, 
 and apparently an incongruous set of beings, 
 comprising Americans from every part of the 
 Union, Europeans and blacks. They had not 
 been together long enough to become acquainted 
 with each other or with the service. When the 
 fleet first got over the bar at Erie, there were 
 not more than half sailors enough to man 
 it, and it could not have sailed had not a 
 number of Pennsylvania militia volunteered 
 their services. Although such was the character 
 and condition of the sailors, the marines were 
 still less qualified for their situation, so far as 
 that depends upon experience and discipline, 
 most of them having never before seen a square- 
 rigged vessel. Nearly all of them were vol- 
 unteers from the Pennsylvania militia on ser- 
 vice at Erie, commanded by Colonel Rees Hill; 
 and Kentuckians, of which about seventy en- 
 tered as volunteers on board the fleet at San- 
 dusky. Such were the men who .... in 
 the first action of the kind which occurred 
 between the two nations (meaning a battle by 
 
186 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 squadrons), broke the charm of British invin- 
 cibility. ^^llat they wanted in experience they 
 made up in bravery. Yet, brave as they were, 
 it required, under the disadvantageous circum- 
 stances attending them, the cool intrepidity, 
 the consummate skill, and the exalted genius of 
 Perry to lead them to victory and glory." 
 
 Niles' opinion of advantages enjoyed is radi- 
 cally different from that of James. The former 
 says: "Not only did the enemy have the ad- 
 vantage as to the number and condition of the 
 men by whom their fleet was manned, but like- 
 wise as to the fleet itself. As appears by the 
 statement, they had the greatest number of 
 guns, and they also had an advantage from 
 their being of greater length. At the com- 
 mencement of the action, the wind was in 
 favor of the enemy, enabling them to choose 
 their own position, which, from the great length 
 of their guns, gave them great advantage." 
 
 In this matter, too, the ravages of the fever, 
 from which Perry himself suffered, should not 
 be forgotten. Shortly before the battle the 
 fleet surgeon. Dr. P. Usher Parsons, was him- 
 self so ill that he had to be carried around on 
 a cot to visit the sick, of which there were 
 
CONTROVERSIES 187 
 
 then nearly a hundred prostrated. Many, how- 
 ever, recovered sufficiently to participate in 
 that engagement. The excitement proved a 
 veritable tonic. 
 
 As for the size of the ships engaged, it is 
 stated that the big new brigs of the Americans 
 were 110 feet long and 29 feet wide. They 
 could have carried as merchantmen 300 tons. 
 The schooners could not have carried more 
 than from 60 to 80 tons of cargo and the sloop 
 was the smallest of all. The big brigs were 
 armed as salt-sea brigs are — with two long 
 12's and 18 short 32's; and the rest were 
 armed with a heavy gun each. On the day 
 of battle, according to the roll that drew 
 prize-money, the force of men and boys con- 
 nected with the fleet was 532. Of these 416 
 (the highest estimate), were on deck ready for 
 the battle, and 16 more (according to Lossing), 
 sick in their beds, left, them and went to quar- 
 ters; 432 men in all, of whom one-fourth were 
 regular naval seamen, one-fourth raw militia, 
 and one-fourth lake sailors. The short supply 
 of principal officers may be gathered from the 
 fact that midshipmen were in command of 
 some of the smaller vessels. 
 
188 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 In closing the remarks upon the merits of 
 the forces, it is quite evident that neither Perry 
 nor Barclay enjoyed the resources extended the 
 Commodores who carried on the bootless war- 
 fare on Ontario throughout the war. Sackets 
 Harbor and Kingston were principal depots 
 for their respective Governments. The import- 
 ant operations were mutually expected to occur 
 upon Ontario, and British and American energies 
 were mainly directed toward elaborate prepara- 
 tions for the series of races sailed upon those 
 waters during the war. Perry and Barclay 
 labored against odds in preparing for the 
 deciding of the issue, an issue unfalteringly 
 met by them, while Chauncey and Yeo were 
 busy dodging a similar one on the wide water 
 to the east. In discussing the result of the 
 battle, Lossing says : 
 
 "Justice to all demands the acknowledgment 
 that the Americans and British carried on that 
 terrible conflict with the greatest courage, for- 
 titude and skill. It is also just to say that the 
 British experienced what is termed *ill-luck' from 
 the beginning. First, the wind suddenly turned 
 in favor of the Americans at the commence- 
 ment of the action, giving them the weather- 
 
CONTROVERSIES 189 
 
 gage; then the two principal British com- 
 manders were struck down early in the action; 
 then the rudder of the Lady Prevost was 
 disabled, which caused her to drift out of 
 the line; the entanglement of the Detroit and 
 Queen Charlotte gave the Niagara, under Perry, 
 an opportunity to rake them severely; and 
 lastly, the men of the British squadron had 
 not, with the exception of those from the Royal 
 Navy, received the training with guns that 
 most of the Americans had just experienced, 
 for they came out of port the morning of the 
 battle." 
 
 Hon. Tristram Burges, in his Battle of Lake 
 Erie," has the following to say regarding 
 Perry's original force at Erie : " Commodore 
 Perry arrived at Erie, March 26, 1813. He 
 carried with him from Newport 149 men and 
 three boys, all of whom were volunteers. Some 
 were commissioned officers, some warrant 
 officers, some artificers, some seamen and some 
 ordinary seamen. About one-third of the petty 
 officers and men remained at Sackets Harbor, 
 for service on Lake Ontario. This was done 
 by the order of Commodore Chauncey, the com- 
 mander on that lake. It greatly retarded the 
 
190 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 operations of Perry on Lake Erie and was 
 doubtless intended by Chauncey to have that 
 effect. They had left Newport February 19, 
 with Perry, and had volunteered from pure 
 personal attachment to him." These hardy 
 Rhode Islanders, with a few more shipwrights^ 
 smiths, caulkers, riggers and sailmakers, built 
 from the stump six vessels — the Lawrence^ 
 Niagara, Ariel, Scorpion, Porcupine, and Tigress 
 — which were launched, rigged and ready to sail 
 in about ninety days after the first blow was 
 struck. Burges continues to narrate how, at 
 the pressing request of Perry, Commodore 
 Chauncey sent him 100 men up from Ontario 
 under the command of Captain Elliott. He 
 took the command of the Niagara, previously 
 commanded by Lieutenant Turner, of Newport. 
 The 100 men had seen considerable service and 
 were able-bodied. Most of them went aboard 
 the Niagara with Elliott. The gallantry of 
 that crew was at no subsequent time impugned, 
 and in point of service its members were supe- 
 rior to the force on the Lawrence. This was 
 remarked by Lieutenant Turner to Commodore 
 Perry when Elliott was calling the men who 
 came with him to their several stations, but 
 
CONTROVERSIES 191 
 
 because Elliott had brought them with him 
 Perry declined to alter the arrangement. 
 
 The circumstances that led to the publica- 
 tion in 1839 of Burges' work, which has for 
 its subtitle, "Notices of Commodore Elliott's 
 Conduct in that Engagement" (Erie), is ex- 
 plained by the author as follows: "After a 
 lapse of more than twenty-two years from the 
 day of that memorable battle, and fourteen 
 years after Commodore Perry has been laid 
 in his grave; while, during all this time, 
 America and Europe have with one voice 
 awarded to him the honor of this triumphant 
 victory. Captain Elliott has very lately claimed 
 that honor for himself. In the summer of 1836 
 a book .... was published entitled 'Bio- 
 graphical Notes of Commodore Jesse D. El- 
 liott.' .... It contains a great number of 
 letters addressed to Commodore Elliott and 
 which could be controlled by no one but him- 
 self. The book must therefore be regarded as 
 
 autobiography. Commodore Perry 
 
 says in his first dispatch to the Secretary of 
 the Navy, 'It has pleased the Almighty to give 
 the arms of the United States a signal victory 
 over their enemies on this lake.' Commodore 
 
192 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Elliott, who that day commanded the Niagara, 
 says in his book, 'It is not doing too much to 
 say that to him (Jesse D. Elliott), the country 
 is principally indebted for the honor of that 
 splendid victory.' Later he repeats that *it is 
 proved to every candid reader's satisfaction 
 that Captain Elliott was chiefly instrumental 
 in gaining the victory on Lake Erie.' These 
 are sweeping claims; they should be examined 
 with candor and without resentment." 
 
 The examination which the Hon. Tristram 
 Burges gave these claims was very searching 
 and thorough. Though there are few to-day 
 who remember that they were ever seriously 
 considered worth investigating, a brief state- 
 ment of facts connected with the old contro- 
 versy may be of some interest here. 
 
 Burges accentuates the fact that at a quarter 
 before noon of September 10, Perry gave the 
 signal for close action, and then, by trumpet, 
 sent down from ship to ship, along the whole 
 line, a repetition of the order, "Engage your 
 adversary, each as you come up, as before 
 directed." This was to be in close action at 
 half-cable's length. The Niagara was to engage 
 the Queen Charlotte. 
 
CONTROVERSIES 193 
 
 The Niagara, continues Burges, was astern 
 of the Lawrence and the Caledonia abeam of 
 the Queen Charlotte, in the line of approach, 
 when the action commenced. She at first dis- 
 charged her first division, but when their shot 
 fell short of the Queen Charlotte, Captain 
 Elliott did not order the helm put up to run 
 down to within half-cable's length of his ad- 
 versary, the Queen Charlotte, but, it is ad- 
 mitted by him in his book, that he directed 
 his lieutenant to cease firing with the carron- 
 ades and fire with the long 12's only. The 
 Queen Charlotte had 20's to the Niagara's 
 24-pound carronades, but no long guns; and 
 so, as she could neither reach the Niagara 
 with her carronades nor run up against the 
 wind and lay her alongside, she clapped on all 
 sail and ran to the aid of the Detroit. Elliott's 
 book styles this move a running away by the 
 Queen Charlotte from the Niagara, but, dryly 
 adds Burges, Elliott does not say that he 
 made sail and ran down after her, as he might, 
 for if there was wind enough for the Queen 
 Charlotte to run away there was wind enough 
 for the Niagara to run after her. He admits, 
 instead, that he threw his topsail to the mast 
 13 
 
 \ 
 
194 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 and brailed up his jib so as to keep his posi- 
 tion on the water as nearly as practicable. 
 Burges figures from the subsequent positions of 
 the British ships that the Niagara was for 
 some time firing only at the Chippewa, of one 
 gun, and that if after one o'clock the Niagara 
 fired at the Detroit or Queen Charlotte, it must 
 have been across the Lawrence and the Cale- 
 donia. Elliott observes in his work that it 
 was evidently the plan of Barclay to disable 
 the heaviest ships first, and mentions the ter- 
 rific fire upon the Lawrence in support of his 
 theory. Which passage draws the following 
 searching inquiries from Burges : 
 
 ''Why, then, in the name of bravery and fair 
 companionship, did not he (Elliott) with the 
 same wind and enough sail and as much speed 
 bear down and follow her? Why did he, as he 
 admits he did, fling his topsail to the mast, 
 furl his top-gallant sails and brail up his jib? 
 Why did he, for two hours after the Queen 
 Charlotte left him, leave the Lawrence exposed 
 to the murderous fire of 44 guns, supported 
 only by nine in the Caledonia, Ariel and Scor- 
 pion, while he had 20, with the wind whistling 
 into their muzzles, when he might have been 
 
CONTROVERSIES 195 
 
 pouring the round, grape and canister, roar- 
 ing out of them, against the enemy at half- 
 musket shot? There is no evidence that a 
 musket or more than one division of one broad- 
 side of the carronades was fired on board the 
 Niagara, or that this was more than once dis- 
 charged. It does not satisfactorily appear 
 that after this first division anything was fired 
 during the whole two hours and a half, except 
 the two long 12's, or until Perry boarded her 
 at forty-five minutes after two p. m." 
 
 During the fiery storm that burst in fury 
 upon the doomed Lawrence there was a general 
 regret, breathed by the wounded as they were 
 carried below ; by the dying as they lay welter- 
 ing upon the deck. It found voice in despairing 
 queries addressed to the commander by Yar- 
 nell, Taylor and Forrest. It was, "Why, why 
 does not the Niagara come down and help us?" 
 
 She did not come till the intrepid Perry him- 
 self brought her, sweeping like an avenging, 
 winged Nemesis, past the poor, broken Law- 
 rence, crashing with thunderous broadsides 
 through the sundered British line with her 
 electrified, roaring mates behind. 
 
 At the close of the battle criticisms were 
 
 \ 
 
196 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 quietly passed between officers, and some began 
 to write letters censuring the second in com- 
 mand upon the position held by his ship during 
 the battle. As soon as Perry heard of this he 
 sent Lieutenant Turner and Purser Hambleton, 
 the one to the fleet the other to the camp, 
 with entreaties that such criticisms should 
 cease. It would ruin Elliott, he urged. Honor 
 enough for all had been won; he desired that 
 all his companions in arms should share it. 
 By this effort tongues were stilled and all let- 
 ters but one, which had been already sent, were 
 stopped. 
 
 The famous clause in Perry's second dispatch 
 to the Secretary of the Navy, sent September 
 13, Burges characterizes as a model of "benevo- 
 lent ambiguity" for Elliott's protection. He 
 said: '*At half-past two, the wind springing 
 up. Captain Elliott was enabled to bring his 
 vessel, the Niagara, into close action." He 
 did not say that Elliott did do so. "Every 
 man in the fleet," says Burges, "knew that 
 this was done by Perry himself. The public 
 might infer that Elliott, when it was possible, 
 did bring the Niagara gallantly into close 
 action; and Elliott was willing the report 
 
CONTROVERSIES 197 
 
 should be so left in this ambiguity. For though 
 he requested Perry to place this * enabled' at 
 an earlier hour, he never requested him to say 
 that he did do what he was enabled to do ; that 
 is, that he did come gallantly into close action. 
 The time when he was so enabled was referred 
 to one of his own lieutenants, Edwards, and to 
 Lieutenant Turner, but they agreed that half- 
 past two, as the Commodore had stated, was 
 the correct time. This was the moment when 
 Perry left the Lawrence to board the Niagara, 
 and this establishes the fact that Commodore 
 Elliott, who now claims the honor of the vic- 
 tory, had not at half-past two o'clock in the 
 afternoon been in close action." 
 
 Burges introduces other facts, arrayed in 
 convincing fashion, to indicate the Niagara's 
 position previous to the time that Perry trans- 
 ferred his flag. Continuing, he explains how 
 Elliott can claim no particular credit for the 
 events which followed such transfer. He under- 
 takes to indicate where Elliott was when the 
 Detroit and Queen Charlotte surrendered. 
 Wherever the Niagara was when Perry reached 
 her, he writes, the Somers, Tigress and Por- 
 cupine were in succession and in a line a long 
 
198 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 distance astern of her. This is proved by- 
 Elliott's own officers. Elliott, to bring up 
 these boats, left the Niagara and rowed down 
 the whole length of the line, or until he could 
 hail the last boat, and rowed back and boarded 
 the Somers, and so brought the gunboats 
 down to engage in the action. Whatever dis- 
 tance these vessels, all dull sailers, were astern 
 of the Niagara, Elliott had to row twice over 
 that distance before he could get back to the 
 point where he left Perry in the Niagara ; then, 
 in two or three minutes, starting under full 
 sail, to run down over the space which he had 
 rowed up in fifteen minutes. Burges con- 
 cludes that these facts will give the where- 
 abouts of Captain Elliott when the action 
 terminated, which was in fifteen minutes, as 
 Elliott proves, and in twenty, as Yarnell 
 states, after Perry boarded the Niagara. 
 
 As Dr. Parsons was the only surgeon able to 
 do duty in the American squadron, it was not till 
 forty-eight hours after the battle that he found 
 time to visit the wounded aboard the Niagara. 
 Only two of them told him that they were 
 wounded before Perry boarded that vessel. No 
 one was killed on the Niagara while Elliott 
 
CONTROVERSIES 199 
 
 was in command. Perry left the Lawrence 
 utterly unmanageable. The Detroit, which had 
 been engaged with her and the Caledonia, was, 
 according to Commodore Barclay, "a perfect 
 wreck, and the Queen Charlotte in a condition 
 but little better." The Niagara, when Perry 
 went aboard her, was so entirely unhurt in 
 steerage, spars, rigging, sails and battery, that, 
 without stopping a minute to repair. Perry 
 immediately made signal for close action to the 
 vessels astern, and, packing on all sail, made 
 his successful dash for the enemy's line. 
 
 The position of the gunboats at the time 
 Elliott went after them is indicated relatively 
 by the fact that a trumpet was not resorted 
 to to order them up. The fact that Elliott 
 went in person after them is quite indicative 
 of their being a considerable distance away. 
 They were astern of the Niagara, and in the 
 same line with her, so that Elliott, when he 
 had rowed to the most distant craft and then 
 back to the Somers, was no nearer the enemy 
 than the Niagara was when he left her. 
 
 "How long was Elliott in rowing twice over 
 this distance?" asked Burges. "If it were but 
 one half as far as the Lawrence was from the 
 
200 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Niagara, when Perry boarded that vessel, 
 EUiott must have been fifteen minutes in those 
 two movements. Where was Perry, in the 
 Niagara, during that time? Let it be told by 
 Midshipman Montgomery, one of Elliott's own 
 witnesses. He says, *the Detroit struck in fif- 
 teen minutes after Perry came on board the 
 Niagara, and the Queen Charlotte a few min- 
 utes after.' If this be correct, Elliott had 
 that instant reached the Somers." 
 
 In the log-book of the Lawrence for September 
 10, 1813, the record being made by Sailing- 
 Master Taylor, within twenty-four hours after 
 the action, appeared the following statement in 
 the account of the battle : " Captain Perry 
 made all sail with the Niagara, which hitherto 
 had kept out of the action, and in fifteen 
 minutes passed in among the British squadron." 
 
 In Captain Barclay's official letter announc- 
 ing to his Government his defeat, he states 
 that he perceived his opponent, the Lawrence, 
 drop astern, and a boat pass from him to the 
 Niagara, which vessel was at this time per- 
 fectly fresh." 
 
 A naval court-martial was held at Ports- 
 mouth, England, in 1815, for the trial of Cap- 
 
CONTROVERSIES 201 
 
 tain R. H. Barclay and his remaining officers 
 and men for the loss of the squadron on Lake 
 Erie. There is found in the court's findings 
 the following passage: "The American Com- 
 modore was obliged to leave his ship and hoist 
 his flag on another of his squadron, which had 
 not been engaged and was making away." The 
 quoted allegation made in this report that he 
 was making away — and not anything contained 
 in the official report of Commodore Perry, nor 
 any charge made against him at home — in- 
 duced Commodore Elliott to call for a court 
 of inquiry. This court negatived the allega- 
 tion of the British court-martial, that Elliott 
 was making away from the battle, pronouncing 
 that charge malicious and unfounded in fact. 
 "On the contrary," stated the American report, 
 "it has been proved to the satisfaction of this 
 court that the enemy's ship. Queen Charlotte, 
 bore off from the fire of the Niagara, com- 
 manded by Captain Elliott." Which must be 
 acknowledged a most graceful administering 
 of whitewash. 
 
 The inconsistency of which Commodore Perry 
 was accused, because he gave a favorable ac- 
 count of Elliott's conduct in his report of the 
 
202 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 battle, and later preferred charges against 
 him of gross misconduct during the engage- 
 ment, is adequately explained in his letter to 
 the Secretary of the Navy, reproduced inBurges' 
 work, accompanying the charges and requesting 
 a court-martial. Perry states that during the 
 course of the battle he was necessarily too 
 much engaged to reflect deliberately upon the 
 cause which induced Elliott to keep his vessel 
 so distant from the Lawrence and the enemy. 
 After the battle the commander could not allow 
 himself to believe that an officer who had con- 
 ducted himself so handsomely upon a former 
 occasion (as he had been led to believe that 
 Elliott had), could possibly be guilty of cow- 
 ardice or treachery. Elliott's subsequent readi- 
 ness to undertake the most minute services 
 and his unfortunate position, which he accen- 
 tuated to Perry, also had their weight. More 
 than all else, the Commodore was actuated by 
 a strong desire for entire harmony after the 
 victory. If he omitted to name Elliott, or 
 named him without credit, the Commodore 
 might not only ruin that officer but occasion 
 dissensions which he at that time judged would 
 injure the service. As it was, his report was 
 
CONTROVERSIES 203 
 
 far different from what the officers of his fleet 
 had expected, but he entreated them to ac- 
 quiesce in it, and even furnished ElHott with a 
 favorable letter, of which he understood the 
 latter had subsequently made an unjustifiable 
 use. This first report, wrote the Commodore, 
 he would willingly abide by, but Elliott's as- 
 sailing of his (Perry's) own character, to 
 repair his own, had rendered this impossible. 
 He had long been aware of Elliott's private 
 intrigues against him, and had said nothing, 
 but had declared to his friends that if Elliott 
 ever gave publicity to his misrepresentations 
 the Commodore would demand an investigation 
 of the whole of his conduct. This necessity 
 was now forced upon him. '^Believing my 
 hands to be bound," writes the Commodore, 
 "and even braving me with the very certifi- 
 cate afforded to him in charity, this officer at 
 last addresses directly to myself, and claims my 
 acquiescence in the grossest misrepresentations 
 — not only of his own conduct on Lake Erie, 
 but of conduct and declarations which he im- 
 putes to me." In conclusion Perry states that 
 because of the dissatisfaction such inquiries 
 into the conduct of officers must entail, he had 
 
204 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 avoided asking for the investigation just as 
 long as he possibly could with any justice to 
 the service or to his own character. 
 
 The charges preferred by Perry against Elliott 
 included the allegation that he did not on the 
 day of the battle use his utmost exertion to 
 carry into execution the orders of his com- 
 manding officer; that for two hours and over 
 he kept his vessel nearly a mile astern of the 
 Lawrence, and more than that distance from 
 the whole of the enemy's fleet, despite the 
 trumpeted order at the beginning of the action 
 to engage closely; that he failed to relieve the 
 Lawrence in her time of need, and that, by his 
 failure to follow orders, the Queen Charlotte 
 was enabled to unite her force with that of the 
 Detroit against the Lawrence. 
 
 It was charged, too, that Elliott, about 
 October 1, 1813, on board the Scorpion, com- 
 manded by Sailing-Master Champlin, then on 
 Lake St. Clair, in Champlin's hearing abused 
 Commodore Perry, declaring that he, Elliott, 
 had had it in his power to destroy the fleet 
 and Perry with it, and regretting that he had 
 not done so. Elliott was alleged to have uttered 
 similar pleasant sentiments at Buffalo in No- 
 
CONTROVERSIES 205 
 
 vember and December of that year. Some cor- 
 respondence between Perry and Elliott, which 
 has been published, places the latter in any- 
 thing but a favorable light, and one can feel 
 only regret that a man whose previous record 
 had been by no means destitute of gallantry, 
 could, through palpable rancor and jealousy, 
 have later played the part he did. 
 
 Affidavits secured from the officers of Perry's 
 fleet showed a unanimity of opinion in regard 
 to Elliott's actions during the battle which 
 was by no means creditable to that officer. 
 Among them were relations of statements made 
 by Elliott to the signers, after the battle, to 
 the effect that Perry, in despair, had thrown 
 overboard his fighting flag, which had been 
 picked up by another officer ; that Perry, when 
 he came aboard the Niagara, was in despair, 
 and was only prevented from surrendering the 
 fleet by Elliott's firmness; that the Niagara 
 had been in the thick of the action throughout 
 the battle, and sundry other ridiculous contro- 
 versions of stirring and established facts. Sev- 
 eral of the officers rehearsed, too, an account 
 emanating from the Somers, which Elliott 
 boarded after going to bring up the gunboats. 
 
206 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 which was rather unfavorable to the Captain. 
 The report was that he had beaten the captain 
 of the Somers' gun very severely with a speak- 
 ing trumpet for having laughed at Elliott's 
 dodging a shot from the enemy which passed 
 over the boat. 
 
 Because of the absence upon the Mediterran- 
 ean station of a number of material witnesses, 
 the court of inquiry asked for in Perry's letter, 
 referred to above, could not be convened till 
 Perry sailed upon the cruise which terminated 
 his life. 
 
 In conclusion, it is but necessary to observe 
 that the world has forgotten that once upon a 
 time another than Perry laid claim to Erie's 
 bays; so utterly forgotten that to many a 
 reader these dry bones of a dead controversy, 
 for the moment exhumed, will wear the tran- 
 sitory aspect of life revived, for that a single 
 name glows luminously among the annals of 
 that memorable September day; a name that 
 is tradition's heritage; the name of Perry. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 HARRISON and Perry lost no time in 
 following up the signal advantage 
 obtained by the naval victory upon 
 Lake Erie. When the vessels had finished 
 landing the prisoners and wounded, they were 
 em»ployed in transporting troops from Fort 
 Meigs and the Portage River and concen- 
 trating them at Put-in Bay. On September 22 
 Commodore Perry landed about 1,200 of the 
 troops on a small island near Maiden. The 
 next day they debarked upon the Canadian 
 shore a little below that town. An hour after 
 the soldiers landed, Harrison took possession 
 of the town, which the British had evacuated 
 after burning Fort Maiden, the navy yard, 
 barracks and public storehouses. Proctor and 
 his force fled to Sandwich. Harrison hurried 
 after him, but Proctor pursued his retreat to 
 the Moravian town, on the Thames, eighty 
 miles from Detroit. Michigan had finally wholly 
 
208 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 reverted to America. On October 2, Harrison, 
 accompanied by Perry, who had volunteered as 
 his aide-de-camp, left Sandwich, pursuing Proc- 
 tor with a force of 3,500 men. They reached 
 the Thames that evening and crossed by a 
 bridge which Proctor had not chanced to de- 
 stroy. On October 4 they dispersed a large 
 force of Indians drawn up at a branch of the 
 Thames to prevent the Americans from repair- 
 ing a bridge that had been taken up, and there 
 found that the enemy were but a few miles 
 ahead. The Americans pursued them in hot 
 haste, finding conflagrations all along the line 
 of march, the British setting fire to what they 
 could not save. On the afternoon of the 5th, 
 the advance guard came up with the enemy, 
 who were formed in a strong position across 
 the line of march. A brief battle followed, in 
 which Perry figured as one of Harrison's aides. 
 As a result of Harrison's admirable arrange- 
 ments, the Americans were signally victorious, 
 the enemy being routed. There were 600 British 
 regulars taken prisoners, twelve killed and 
 twenty-two wounded. Proctor escaped with 
 forty dragoons and a number of mounted In- 
 dians. The Indians sustained severe losses. 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 209 
 
 There were thirty-three of them found dead 
 upon the field and many were killed while re- 
 treating. Six pieces of brass ordnance were 
 taken, of which three were trophies of the Revo- 
 lutionary War, being originally taken from the 
 British at Yorktown and Saratoga, and subse- 
 quently surrendered by Hull at Detroit. Other 
 munitions were taken. The Indians engaged 
 in the battle were estimated to number about 
 1,000. It was in this battle of the Thames that 
 Teciunseh, to whom none can deny the attri- 
 butes of greatness, met his end. While desper- 
 ately wounded, says an account, he aimed a 
 weapon at Colonel Johnson, who was himself 
 suffering from a serious injury. The Colonel, 
 swiftly drawing his pistol, succeeded in antici- 
 pating the chief's shot, killing him outright. 
 The principles for which this remarkable savage 
 fought were never more clearly enunciated than 
 in the speech which he made to "his Father," 
 Proctor, when urging him to make a stand 
 at Amherstburg, and refrain from seeking 
 safety in flight," an appeal that was unheeded. 
 Tecumseh said : 
 
 "Father! you have got the arms and am- 
 munition which our great father sent for his 
 14 
 
210 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 red children. If you have an idea of going 
 away, give them to us, and you may go and 
 welcome. Our lives are in the hands of the 
 Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our 
 lands, and, if it be His will, we wish to leave 
 our bones upon them." 
 
 The question has been seriously raised in 
 certain quarters whether the Indian killed by 
 Johnson was really Tecumseh. Some have said 
 that it was another, of lesser note, who met 
 his doom at Johnson's hands. But however 
 this may be, no doubt exists that Tecumseh 
 was killed during the action and his body was 
 borne quietly away by his braves. 
 
 In his report of the action, Harrison wrote, 
 "Commodore Perry and General Cass assisted 
 me in forming the troops for action. The former 
 is an officer of the highest merit. The appear- 
 ance of the brave Commodore cheered and ani- 
 mated every breast." 
 
 The Thames victory definitely terminated the 
 war on the Northwestern frontier, ending a 
 bloody record of fifteen months. The red allies 
 of the British were done with warfare. After 
 the Americans had regained the control of Michi- 
 gan a number of the hostile tribes sued for 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 211 
 
 peace, and brought in hostages for good be- 
 havior. Others quickly followed them, treat- 
 ing with the Americans at Detroit. Their peace 
 proposals were accepted by General McArthur, 
 in command there, on condition that '*they 
 should take hold of the same tomahawk with 
 the Americans and strike all who are or may 
 be enemies of the United States, whether British 
 or Indians." 
 
 After the Thames action, the American army 
 returned to Detroit, where, on October 16, Har- 
 rison issued a proclamation of amnesty to the 
 peace-seeking Indian tribes. The whites were 
 enjoined from any depredations upon the red- 
 skins. The following day a proclamation was 
 issued by Harrison and Perry, dated at Sand- 
 wich, stating in effect that a government of 
 amnesty should prevail over the conquered 
 British colonies for such time as American arms 
 should remain in possession of the District of 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 Harrison and Perry left Detroit in the Ariel 
 and arrived at Erie October 22. Public joy 
 was naturally unconfined. Celebrations were 
 continuous. The gallant pair were hailed as 
 the deliverers of the frontier. From Erie, with 
 
212 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 a part of the squadron, consisting of the 
 Niagara, Caledonia, Hunter, Ariel, Lady Pre- 
 vost, Trippe and Little Belt, having aboard 
 2,000 troops, they sailed for Buffalo, where 
 they arrived on the 24th. In compliance with 
 orders from Washington, Harrison proceeded 
 with the troops from Buffalo to Sackets Har- 
 bor. 
 
 The campaign on Ontario that year may be 
 dismissed with a few words. Wilkinson, with 
 a large force, sailed from Sackets Harbor early 
 in November. A destructive gale caused the 
 squadron to rendezvous at Grenadier Island 
 in demoralized order. A force under Hampton 
 was to march from Chateaugay and finally 
 join Wilkinson's army in a concentrated attack 
 upon Montreal. Some engagements ensued, 
 but Wilkinson's delay in starting was fatal to 
 the enterprise, as far as his force was concerned, 
 heavy gales playing havoc with the project. 
 The troops finally landed on Canadian soil 
 and the Battle of Williamsburgh was fought 
 with honors easy. The Americans proceeded 
 some distance further down the St. Lawrence, 
 but Hampton, it was learned, had put back, 
 and the campaign ended in a dreary fizzle. 
 
AFTEK THE BATTLE 213 
 
 Those in charge of it were for some time en- 
 gaged in a controversy over the question of 
 responsibiHty for failure, and some court-mar- 
 tials and relieving of commands ensued. 
 
 The naval contest on Ontario that year, be- 
 tween Chauncey and Yeo, resulted in nothing 
 decisive. There was a brush at long range the 
 day after Perry's victory; Yeo, by his own 
 confession, sailing away after a few shots had 
 been fired. On September 28 occurred another 
 engagement. The Americans assumed the 
 aggressive and knocked over some masts that 
 in falling killed a number of the enemy. Yeo 
 then made sail to escape the opposing fleet. 
 
 "Having chased the British into Burlington 
 Bay," records Spears, "Commodore Chauncey 
 missed the one great opportunity of his life- 
 time. Burlington Bay was undefended. Had 
 he sailed boldly in after the demoralized British, 
 there was every hope of a triumph as complete 
 as that of Perry on Lake Erie. But Chauncey 
 did not sail in. He said he was afraid it would 
 come on to blow and he would be caught on a 
 lee shore. That he was afraid of something is 
 undisputed. Chauncey, however, did now have 
 command of the lake, and a few days later 
 
 I 
 
214 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 retook the Julia and the Growler that Yeo had 
 captured at the head of the lake, and took 
 also the British schooners Mary, Drummond 
 and Lady Gore. These five were transporting 
 troops along the lake shore. Yeo got his war 
 ships into Kingston and Chauncey kept them 
 there. 
 
 On the whole, the British had undisputed 
 control of Lake Ontario during forty-eight 
 days. There was a sort of contest for the 
 control lasting sixty-nine days, and the Ameri- 
 cans held undisputed control for 107 days of 
 the open season of 1813." 
 
 Considering the difference in resources between 
 the naval captains of Erie and Ontario, the 
 record made on the latter cannot be considered 
 of a blood-stirring order. 
 
 Naturally the news of the victory of Erie 
 caused universal joy throughout the nation. 
 Illuminations and popular demonstrations oc- 
 cured in numberless cities and towns. The 
 President appointed Perry to the rank of Cap- 
 tain in the navy. He was presented with the 
 freedom of the cities of New York and Albany. 
 The thanks of Congress were voted to the Com- 
 modore, his officers, seamen and marines, and 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 215 
 
 medals were presented to him and his officers. 
 The City of Philadelphia held a notable celebra- 
 tion, and the thanks of the Senate of Pennsyl- 
 vania, with medals, were voted to the Commo- 
 dore and his men. The citizens of Boston gave 
 valuable presents, and a long list could be made 
 of similar honors and observances. 
 
 Perry left Harrison at Buffalo, and started 
 for Albany, where he arrived November 8. He 
 was received by the city officials with honors 
 and was presented with the freedom of the 
 city in a gold case, and a sword, voted him by 
 the Common Council. He then proceeded to 
 his home at Newport, R. I., accompanied by 
 his brother and the four tars who had rowed 
 him from the Lawrence to the Niagara. The 
 imagination can readily picture the nature of 
 his reception at home. 
 
 The Commodore left Newport early in Jan- 
 uary, 1814, for New York, where, on the 11th, 
 he was sumptuously entertained in Tammany 
 Hall. He proposed a toast on this occasion 
 which was strikingly indicative of his own un- 
 compromising position in those days of war- 
 ring factions. It was, " The Union of the States." 
 Perry proceeded to Washington, where he was 
 
216 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 officially and suitably entertained. After a few 
 days at the capital, Perry left for home, stop- 
 ping at Baltimore, where one of the most sig- 
 nal ovations of his career awaited him. The 
 popular idol now returned to Newport, having 
 at that time a command on that station. He 
 continued there during the spring and summer 
 following. It was in effect a period of repose, 
 for there was but little for him to do. His- 
 torians have not been lacking who have re- 
 corded their regrets that the Government did 
 not see fit during that year to sever the strands 
 of red tape sufficiently to place the victor of 
 Erie in command of the squadron on Ontario, 
 it being shrewdly surmised that, had this been 
 done, the record on those waters for 1814 
 would have been anything but of an indeter- 
 minate nature. As it was, Perry appeared no 
 more on the waters of the north, and, though 
 many additions rendered the opposing fleets 
 on Ontario more formidable than at any pre- 
 vious time during the war, the "struggle" 
 closed on that lake with the long drawn-out 
 issue undecided. 
 
 Some few incidents, however, occurred to break 
 the monotony of service at Newport. On May 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 217 
 
 30 a Swedish brig was chased into the eastern 
 passage at Newport and run ashore by the 
 boats of a British war vessel. Perry was 
 apprised, and at once ordered a detachment of 
 seamen, with a 6-pounder, to the assistance 
 of the brig. Some mihtia accompanied them. 
 The next morning the British brig Nimrod 
 stood close in shore, drove the crew out of the 
 Swedish vessel and succeeded in boarding and 
 setting her on fire. The Americans arrived 
 opportunely and the British vessel hastily 
 weighed anchor and set out to sea. The Ameri- 
 cans put out the fire and saved most of the 
 Swedish ship's cargo. 
 
 During the summer of 1814, the eastern 
 coast of the country was greatly harassed by 
 the British. They destroyed shipping interests 
 and entered ports and committed depredations. 
 To repel expected attacks Perry proceeded to 
 the eastward. He was at Wiscasset late in 
 June, when the enemy attacked the place. 
 Perry had meanwhile organized a resistance 
 which repelled the British. 
 
 On June 21 Perry received a communication 
 from inhabitants of Wareham, Mass., telling of 
 outrages committed by the enemy, who had 
 
218 
 
 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 entered the port under a flag of truce. At the 
 request of these citizens, the Commodore trans- 
 mitted a report of the transaction to the Sec- 
 retary of the Navy. 
 
 The capture of Washington by the British, 
 on August 24, induced Commodore Perry to 
 repair thither. The action at Bladensburg, on 
 the afternoon of the 24th, having resulted in 
 the retreat of the American troops, the enemy 
 marched to the capital without experiencing 
 further opposition. The forces in this battle 
 were about equal in figures, 5,000 each, but 
 the British had mostly regulars, while the 
 larger part of the American troops were militia- 
 men. The latter were too easily discouraged, 
 though the 350 regulars made a better record. 
 Commodore Barney, the hero of two wars, 
 made a brave stand with his volunteers, but 
 was wounded and made a prisoner. The oc- 
 cupancy of Washington on this day by Ross' 
 troops, the burning of public buildings, and 
 the departure of the British the following day, 
 are too well known to require repetition. 
 
 Soon after this, several distinguished naval 
 officers, among whom were Rodgers, Porter and 
 Perry, arrived in Washington. After the British 
 
AFTEE THE BATTLE 219 
 
 retreat from Washington, a part of the enemy's 
 naval force went up the Potomac to Alexandria 
 and threatened the destruction of that town. 
 The abandonment and destruction of Fort War- 
 burton had removed all obstructions to their 
 passage up the river. The citizens were forced 
 to agree to a capitulation, by which all naval 
 and ordnance stores, together with the shipping 
 in the harbor (including some sunken vessels 
 which the citizens were to raise), and all mer- 
 chandise, were to be delivered to the enemy. 
 Refreshments of every description were to be 
 supplied to the ships and paid for, at the mar- 
 ket price, by bills on the British Government. 
 It needed but this last touch to add the climax 
 to the irony of the situation. 
 
 While the British were plundering the unfor- 
 tunate town at their leisure, preparations were 
 afoot to annoy them upon their descending the 
 river. Commodore Rodgers proceeded down the 
 Potomac, September 3, with fire ships, meant 
 for some of the enemy's ships lying below 
 Alexandria, but the wind failed, and this enter- 
 prise did not succeed. Similar attempts, made 
 subsequently, failed for the same reasoii. Cap- 
 tain Porter erected a temporary battery at 
 
220 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the White House, on the west bank of the river, 
 to destroy some of the enemy's vessels which 
 were due to pass down the river. He was as- 
 sisted by several officers and a body of militia. 
 On September 4 and 5 the enemy fired con- 
 tinually upon the battery, and made a night 
 attack to spike the guns, but were repulsed. 
 The enemy's force moved down the river the 
 next day and the battery injured them severely, 
 though they succeeded in getting away with 
 their plunder. The fire was severe on both 
 sides for an hour. Commodore Perry com- 
 manded a battery at Indian Head, below that 
 at the White House. The cannon were of too 
 small a caliber to make much impression on 
 the enemy as they descended the river. Perry's 
 position was advantageous and his party was 
 only slightly injured by the British. Only one 
 man was wounded. None were killed. 
 
 When the British had gotten away, Rodger s 
 and Perry immediately proceeded to Baltimore, 
 a speedy attack being expected upon that 
 place. 
 
 On the morning of September 11 the enemy's 
 fleet, containing forty or fifty vessels, appeared 
 off the mouth of the Patapsco River. Some of 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 221 
 
 the ships entered the stream and others pro- 
 ceeded to North Point. The following night 
 they began the debarkation of the troops, 
 which was completed early the next morning. 
 In the meantime, the frigates, which had been 
 previously lightened, together with the bomb- 
 ketches and small vessels, approached and ar- 
 ranged themselves in line of battle, to bombard 
 the fort and town. The ships of the line lay 
 off North Point, to protect the entire force. 
 The enemy landed about 9,000 men, the forces 
 comprising 5,000 soldiers, under Major-General 
 Ross, and 4,000 marines and seamen, com- 
 manded by Admiral Cockburn. They marched 
 four miles sans opposition, when they were 
 met by a force of 3,200 men; General Strieker's 
 brigade and several companies of volunteers, 
 most of whom were from Pennsylvania. The 
 remainder of the troops, which had been col- 
 lected for defense, were stationed in the rear, 
 and at various defenses. A warm engagement 
 ensued, the Americans retiring slowly. 
 
 The next day the British advanced two miles 
 further toward the town, but resistance was 
 determined, and they retreated in the night 
 and took to their boats. An attack by the 
 
222 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 enemy's ships upon Fort McHenry was signally 
 repulsed. The attack upon Baltimore, by a 
 combined land and naval force, had failed. 
 General Ross fell early in the action. The 
 enemy's loss was about eight hundred, while 
 Americans lost but twenty killed and about 
 one hundred and forty wounded, taken prisoners 
 and missing. 
 
 Among the enemy's objects at Baltimore was 
 the destruction of the Java, then building 
 there. This ship had been equipped and fitted 
 for service by Commodore Perry, under official 
 orders. The Commodore, however, continued 
 in his Newport command, remaining there with 
 his family a large portion of his time. His 
 active career, as far as the War of 1812 was 
 concerned, was finished. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE MEDITERRANEAN 
 
 IN January, 1815, Commodore Perry re- 
 ceived a testimonial which he probably 
 prized highly in the list of honors which 
 had come to him, since it was from his own 
 townspeople. It was in the form of a hand- 
 some silver vase, of large size, surmounted 
 by an eagle, and appropriately engraved, the 
 gift of his appreciative fellow-citizens of New- 
 port. 
 
 He continued to command on the Newport 
 station and to superintend the equipping of 
 the Java during 1815. She, under his com- 
 mand, was intended to sail for the Mediterra- 
 nean, as a part of the naval force ordered there 
 by the American Government, the fleet to be 
 commanded by Commodore Chauncey. Pre- 
 paratory to commencing this cruise, the Java 
 proceeded to Newport Harbor, remaining there 
 for some time before sailing. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1816 Perry sailed in 
 
 ( 
 
^24 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 the Java for the troublesome blue sea, it being 
 his third cruise to those waters upon a martial 
 mission. The principal object of the dispatch- 
 ing of the squadron at this time, was to keep 
 alive the feeling of wholesome respect aroused 
 in the Barbary States by previous armed dem- 
 onstrations. Such an impression had been 
 produced by a squadron under Commodore 
 Decatur, which had sailed from New York, 
 April 20, 1815, for the Mediterranean. The 
 force consisted of the Guerriere, Constellation 
 and Macedonian, frigates; Ontario and Eper- 
 vier, sloops of war, and the Spark, Spitfire, 
 Touch and Flambeau, schooners. It was ex- 
 pected that this squadron would be shortly 
 followed by another, under Commodore Bain- 
 bridge. He was, upon his arrival, to assume 
 command of the whole force, and Decatur was 
 to return to the United States. The expedition 
 was designed against the Dey of Algiers, Con- 
 gress having declared war against that Regency 
 immediately after the ratification of the treaty 
 of peace with Great Britain. The cause for 
 hostilities had existed for some time, but the 
 war with Britain had provided a sufficiently 
 large mouthful for Congress to masticate, so 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 225 
 
 the chastisement of the Algerine was deferred 
 until that was disposed of. 
 
 In the treaty concluded between the United 
 States and the Regency of Algiers, in 1795, the 
 former, being put on the same footing as 
 other nations, was to pay to the Dey the an- 
 nual tribute of 12,000 Algerine sequins, to be 
 invested in naval stores. No difficulties arose 
 under this treaty, nor any infringment of it, 
 upon the part of the Algerines, occurred till 
 July, 1812, when the Dey violated its most 
 important articles. The imminence of war be- 
 tween this country and England emboldened the 
 Dey in his course of hostility toward the weaker 
 nation. When the U. S. ship Alleghany ar- 
 rived at Algiers in July, 1812, with a cargo of 
 naval stores for the payment of the tribute, 
 the Dey found fault with the consignment, com- 
 manded that the vessel leave Algiers, and that 
 Colonel Lear, the American consul there, leave 
 with it. Shortly afterward he coolly registered 
 a claim of $27,000 for alleged arrearages of 
 tribute, based for seventeen years on the differ- 
 rence between the Christian and Mahometan cal- 
 endar years. The consul expostulated, his course 
 resulting in a promise that, if the claim was 
 15 
 
 ( 
 
226 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 not paid, he would be imprisoned and placed 
 in chains, the Alleghany and her cargo confis- 
 cated, and every American citizen in Algiers 
 placed in slavery. Colonel Lear, it being the 
 only available com^se, succeeded in raising the 
 amount, which he paid the amiable ruler, and, 
 with his family and twenty other Americans, 
 embarked on board the Alleghany for America. 
 Their departure was followed by an immediate 
 commencement of depredations upon American 
 commerce in those waters. 
 
 As soon as the issue with England was con- 
 cluded, Congress, which had been chafing under 
 this intolerable course, set about paying off 
 scores, declaring war against the piratical 
 Regency. 
 
 Decatur's squadron arrived at Gibraltar May 
 15. He was informed there that the Algerine 
 squadron, which had been out in the Atlantic, 
 had passed up the straits and the news of his 
 arrival been received at Algiers. Decatur pro- 
 ceeded at once up the Mediterranean, hoping to 
 intercept the enemy's squadron before it could 
 return to Algiers, or gain a neutral port. He 
 partially realized his object. The Guerriere fell 
 in with the Algerine frigate Mazouda, June 17, 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 227 
 
 off Cape de Gatt, and captured her after a run- 
 ning engagement of twenty-five minutes. The 
 Algerine crew fired two broadsides and then ran 
 below. Thirty of them were killed, including Ad- 
 miral Hammida, long a terror of those waters. 
 Four hundred and six prisoners were taken. Four 
 members of the Guerriere's crew were wounded. 
 Two days later, off Cape Palos, the American 
 squadron fell in with an Algerine brig, which 
 they captured. The squadron then proceeded 
 to Algiers, reaching there June 28. Decatur 
 captured a frigate and a brig of the enemy's 
 squadron. Supposing the remainder had put 
 into some neutral port, he judged it a favorable 
 time to open negotiations, so sent the Dey a 
 letter from the President. The captain of the 
 port, with the Swedish consul, was soon sent 
 to the Guerriere to further the negotiation. 
 Decatur and Mr. Shaler, who had been author- 
 ized to negotiate a treaty, proposed the only 
 basis upon which an adjustment could be made, 
 which was the absolute relinquishment of any 
 demand of tribute on the part of the regency^ 
 on any pretext whatever. The Dey's agent 
 demurred, but on learning of the fatt of Ham- 
 mida, became unnerved and agreed to the 
 
228 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Americans' proposal, submitting, however, that 
 he was not then authorized to conclude a 
 treaty, but requesting the American commis- 
 sioners to name their terms. Some days of 
 negotiations followed, the Algerines squirming, 
 but the Americans refusing to yield a single 
 point. The latter won, and the Dey signed the 
 treaty, which renounced claims to tribute, pro- 
 vided for the liberation of American prisoners 
 without ransom, for compensation to this na- 
 tion for vessels seized and detained, and for 
 many other things then necessary to the com- 
 mercial comfort of the United States in those 
 harried waters. 
 
 Commodore Decatur dispatched the Epervier, 
 with the treaty, to the United States, and sailed 
 with the rest of the squadron to Tunis. Shaler 
 was left at Algiers as Consul-General to the 
 Barbary States. A misunderstanding between 
 the American consul and the Bashaw at Tunis 
 occasioned this visit. Upon his arrival Decatur 
 was informed by the American consul that the 
 Bashaw had violated the treaty, during the war 
 between the United States and Great Britain, 
 by permitting two prizes, captured by an Amer- 
 ican privateer, to be taken out of the harbor 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 229 
 
 at Tunis by a British cruiser ; and also in per- 
 mitting a company of merchants, the Bashaw's 
 own subjects, to take the property of an Ameri- 
 can citizen at their own price, which, needless to 
 say, was a small one. Decatur officially sub- 
 stantiated the facts and demanded immediate 
 satisfaction. The Prime Minister acknowledged 
 the justice of the claim, but wanted a year in 
 which to pay the money demanded. Decatur 
 peremptorily refused, and was then assured that 
 payment would be made at once. He went on 
 shore and received visits from the various 
 consuls. The money was paid by a brother of 
 the Prime Minister, who observed Commodore 
 Decatur in conversation with the British consul. 
 He threw down the money bags and upbraided 
 the consul, accusing his Government first of 
 violating neutrality, and then leaving the vic- 
 tims to pay for the aggressions or be destroyed. 
 The Bashaw later proposed to send a minister 
 to England to demand restitution of the money 
 he had been obliged to pay. 
 
 Having finished with Tunis, Decatur proceeded 
 to Tripoli, which had also violated its treaty 
 with the United States, in having permitted 
 two American vessels to be taken by a British 
 
230 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 sloop of war, from under the guns of the castle, 
 and in refusing protection to an American 
 cruiser lying within its waters. Satisfaction 
 was demanded in the sum of $25,000. The 
 Bashaw's memory was conveniently long. He 
 remembered the former war with the Americans 
 and an immediate order issued that the sum re- 
 quired be paid to the American consul. Decatur 
 procured the release of some captives of various 
 nationalities, and, late in August, the squadron 
 sailed for Carthagena. Failing to meet there 
 the reinforcement of the second division of the 
 fleet, under Bainbridge, Decatur proceeded to 
 Gibraltar. There the divisions united, and 
 Decatur, after a most honorable record, turned 
 over the command to Bainbridge, and, boarding 
 the Guerriere, returned to the United States. 
 Bainbridge exhibited his formidable fleet before 
 Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers, the demonstration 
 of force being intended to produce a desirable 
 effect, after which the squadron returned to 
 America, reaching Boston November 15, 1815, 
 three days before the arrival of the Guerriere. 
 The expedition had been most successful. De- 
 mands had been acceded to with the exercise of 
 but little force. The lawless Barbary States 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 231 
 
 had been overawed, past experience exercising 
 potent power in impelling a proper apprecia- 
 - tion of this nation's prestige. The appearance 
 of so large a squadron in their waters, flying 
 the American flag so soon after the war with 
 Great Britain, had a sobering influence upon 
 these freebooters of the Mediterranean. It was 
 in the nature of a disagreeable shock and 
 speedily produced the results hoped for. 
 
 It was for the purpose of intensifying this 
 wholesome impression that the Java and the 
 rest of the squadron under Commodore Chaun- 
 cey was sent out the next year. The treaty 
 concluded by Commodore Decatur, having 
 been ratified by the American Government, was 
 carried in the Java, to be exchanged for the 
 unratified treaty. The Java arrived at Port 
 Mahon, where that portion of the first squadron 
 which had not yet returned to the United 
 States had made their winter quarters. On 
 April 5 the Java, Constellation, Erie and John 
 Adams left there and sailed to Algiers, where 
 they found an English fleet, under Lord 
 Exmouth, anchored in the bay in battle order, 
 abreast of the batteries. The English admiral 
 demanded the unconditional liberation of all 
 
 ( 
 
232 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 Christian slaves. This was refused, and negotia- 
 tions proceeded later upon a financial basis. 
 
 The Americans proceeded to negotiations with 
 the elusive pirate power on their own account. 
 The Dey affected to consider the ratified treaty 
 entirely a new one, and coquetted with the sit- 
 uation in the inimitable way of those trouble- 
 some States, whose rulers it seemed absolutely 
 impossible to pin down to tangibilities. The 
 Dey complained that he had not been treated 
 justly in many particulars, and the negotiations 
 ended without result. Algiers' Prime Minister 
 waxed insulting the following day, and returned 
 the treaty. Mr. Shaler, the American consul, 
 now deemed it prudent to withdraw from the 
 city and took up his residence on board the 
 frigate United States. 
 
 It was time to again remind the slippery Dey 
 of the long arms of the young nation over-sea, 
 and earnest presentments were made to him of 
 what would occur if he failed to do what was 
 equitable in the matter. The result was that 
 after four days more of negotiation, under a 
 flag of truce, the Dey, again oppressed with a 
 wholesome recollection of the past, re-acknowl- 
 edged the treaty, and promised to wait till 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 233 
 
 instructions could be received from the President 
 of the United States regarding the points in 
 dispute. That part of the American squadron 
 which appeared before Algiers was under the 
 immediate command of Commodore Shaw. 
 When the negotiations were ended, the squadron 
 sailed for Barcelona, with the exception of the 
 John Adams, which returned to America. 
 
 During the stay in the Mediterranean a con- 
 troversy arose in September between Commo- 
 dore Perry and John Heath, Captain of marines 
 on board the Java. The circumstances were 
 related by Commodore Perry in a letter written 
 from the Java to his commanding officer. Com- 
 modore Chauncey, requesting an inquiry into 
 his own conduct. The Commodore wrote that 
 on the evening of September 16, while the Java 
 lay at anchor in the Harbor of Messina, two 
 of her marines jumped into the sea and swam 
 to the shore. Captain Heath was summoned 
 by the Commodore, but delayed deliberately in 
 coming on deck, and, when ordered to muster 
 the marines, responded in so indifferent a man- 
 ner that Perry told him to go below and sus- 
 pend his duties aboard the Java. Tw o evenings 
 later Heath left a disrespectful letter in his 
 
 ( 
 
234 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 superior's cabin. Perry summoned him and 
 inquired the reasons for his course. He as- 
 sumed a manner irritating and contemptu- 
 ous" and launched a lengthy, insolent tirade 
 at the Commodore. Perry ordered him to be 
 silent and summoned a marine officer to arrest 
 him. The flood of invective continued, and, 
 before the summoned officer arrived. Perry 
 struck the Captain. The Commodore was mor- 
 tified at so far forgetting himself, and offered 
 an apology, which was refused. The ensuing 
 court-martial, which tried the two men, found 
 that both had been somewhat hasty. Captain 
 Heath was found guilty of disrespectful, inso- 
 lent and contemptuous conduct toward Cap- 
 tain Perry, his superior officer, and of diso- 
 bedience to his orders. Perry was found guilty 
 of having used improper language and of strik- 
 ing Captain Heath. 
 
 The Dey of Algiers soon showed evidence of 
 desire to become slippery again, and so, on 
 Christmas Day, 1816, Commodore Chauncey 
 concluded another treaty with him that reit- 
 erated more strongly the principal features of 
 Decatur's treaty. After this the Java and the 
 Ontario (sloop of war) sailed for the United 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 235 
 
 States, leaving the rest of the squadron at Port 
 Mahon. The J ava arrived at Newport early in 
 March, 1817, bearing dispatches from Commo- 
 dore Chauncey. The Ontario proceeded to 
 Annapolis. 
 
 Commodore Perry remained at Newport. 
 The next June, together with Commodore 
 Bainbridge and Captain Evans, he was ap- 
 pointed by the President to survey and ex- 
 amine Newport Harbor, to determine its ad- 
 vantages as a site for a naval depot. In July 
 Perry retired from the command of the Java, 
 whose officers presented him with an earnest 
 address of regret at his retirement. Perry re- 
 sumed the command of the Newport station 
 during the remainder of this and a part of the 
 ensuing year. 
 
 There was still another incident to occur in 
 the Commodore's controversy with Captain 
 Heath. Heath visited Rhode Island early in 
 October, 1818, and dispatched Perry a com- 
 munication in which he demanded satisfaction 
 for his alleged injury when in the Mediterranean. 
 The men would have met then, but the State 
 authorities interfered. Commodore Perry then 
 agreed to go on to Washington to accommo- 
 
 ( 
 
236 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 date Heath. The following note, which was 
 indorsed on the preliminary arrangement re- 
 garding the meeting, explains Perry's attitude : 
 
 "Captain Perry desires it explicitly under- 
 stood that in according to Captain Heath the 
 personal satisfaction he has demanded, he has 
 been influenced entirely by a sense of what he 
 considers due from him, as an atonement to the 
 violated rules of the service, and not by any 
 considerations of the claims which Captain 
 Heath may have for making such a demand, 
 which he totally denies, as such claims have 
 been forfeited by the measures of a public 
 character, which Captain Heath has adopted 
 toward him. If, therefore, the civil authority 
 should produce an impossibility of meeting at 
 the time and place designed, which he will take 
 every precaution to prevent, he will consider 
 himself absolutely exonerated from any respon- 
 sibility to Captain Heath, touching their pres- 
 ent cause of difference." 
 
 This was signed by the seconds of the men. 
 Before this, in January, 1818, Perry had writ- 
 ten Commodore Decatur in similar vein, stating 
 that he had determined, because he had violated 
 the rules of the service, to give Heath a meeting 
 in case that officer called upon him, but adding 
 
THE MEDITERRANEAN 237 
 
 that he could not consent to return his fire, as 
 the meeting would on his own part be entirely 
 an atonement for the violated regulations. At 
 the same time he asked Decatur to act as his 
 friend, should the meeting take place. 
 
 The meeting occurred October 19, on the 
 Jersey shore of the Hudson. There Perry re- 
 ceived the fire of Captain Heath without re- 
 turning it, when Decatur stepped forward and 
 declared that Perry came to the ground with a 
 determination not to return Heath's shot. He 
 read Perry's letter, alluded to, and added that 
 he presumed Captain Heath was satisfied. 
 Heath acquiesced, and the principals and other 
 members of the party returned to New York. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE LAST CRUISE 
 
 IN the summer of 1819, Commodore Perry- 
 was ordered on an expedition to South 
 America. In June he sailed from Norfolk, 
 Virginia, with the John Adams, ship of war, and 
 the schooner Nonsuch, for Angostura, on the Ori- 
 noco River, the capital of the Republic of Vene- 
 zuela. The Commodore arrived at the River 
 Orinoco July 13. He had difficulty in locating 
 its mouth, then little known to mariners and not 
 laid down correctly in any American charts. 
 There was a bar at the mouth of the great 
 stream which precluded vessels drawing more 
 than sixteen feet of water from passing over it. 
 A pilot was procured, he being brought aboard 
 in a canoe paddled by the wretched Indians of 
 that region. The Nonsuch proceeded up the 
 river, the John Adams remaining behind. 
 
 It was a wild, picturesque region through 
 which the Nonsuch passed. For 200 miles 
 from its mouth, record the old historians, the 
 
THE LAST CUUISE 239 
 
 stream's shores were uninhabited, owing to the 
 serious inundations to which they were con- 
 stantly subjected. The banks were grown 
 densely with live oak, mahogany, cocoanut and 
 other trees. Such was the depth of the river 
 close inshore, that the Nonsuch was frequently 
 tied to a tree, where the men could readily 
 jump from the deck to dry land. The ship 
 proceeded on, through monotonous solitary 
 miles, through days that swam in tropic heat, 
 through nights that were weird with the strange 
 cries of the creatures of the forest. After an 
 interminable time, marked by the dragging dial 
 of loneliness, the vessel passed the Indian village 
 of Sanchopan, on the left bank of the river, 
 with its regular streets and buildings of clay 
 and palmetto leaves. Thirty miles above was 
 encountered the village of Baranchas, comprised 
 of a dozen houses. It was the rendezvous of the 
 patriot force's naval outfit upon the river, 
 which consisted of four gunboats, mustering a 
 total armament of one pathetic gun and a 
 combined crew of fifty men. Commodore Padi- 
 sea, the commander of the station, boarded the 
 boat at this point. The Nonsuch proceeded, 
 passing Guyana, 100 miles below Angostura, 
 
240 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 with its fifty houses thatched and painted red, 
 its ruinous fort at the foot of a hill, with five 
 guns ; its dilapidated castle on the summit, with 
 four. Passing St. Michael with its twenty 
 houses, immediately below Angostura, the Non- 
 such finally reached the latter town, firing a 
 salute of eighteen guns. The artillery of the 
 place boomed a welcome in reply, and Com- 
 modore Perry and his officers went ashore, being 
 received by the Vice-President with much state. 
 
 Angostura's location was more than 300 
 miles from the sea. Being at the head of sloop 
 navigation, and situated upon the declivity of 
 a hill, the visiting Americans viewed it with. 
 great interest. The buildings were mainly of 
 brick, the houses one story high, with tiled 
 roofs and wooden gratings, the mild weather 
 rendering unnecessary any provision against 
 cold. The town contained 10,000 inhabitants, 
 a considerable number of whom were Creoles and 
 the residue Spaniards and Europeans. 
 
 Then, as interminably since, Venezuela's af- 
 fairs were troublous. In 1811 a considerable 
 part of the territory now known by that name 
 declared itself independent of Spain. With great 
 difficulty it made good the declaration, till 
 
THE LAST CRUISE 241 
 
 1815, when, and the year following, a consider- 
 able part, both of Venezuela and New Granada, 
 was reconquered by the Spanish General, Mo- 
 rillo. In 1817, the spirit of independence reas- 
 serted itself, and the next year a systematic 
 republican government was established at An- 
 gostura, with Bolivar at its head as President 
 and Commander of the Armies. The United 
 States recognized the Government, sending a 
 mission to it in 1818, and another, by Perry, 
 in 1819. 
 
 The Commodore was received with respectful 
 official attention at Angostura. On August 14, 
 a few days after his arrival, he and the other 
 officers of the Nonsuch, received an invitation to 
 dine with the Vice-President. The following day, 
 a Sunday, the new Constitution of the republic 
 was adopted and signed, amid the booming of 
 cannon. The republic then had at its disposal 
 an entire fleet of 20 vessels, consisting of brigs, 
 schooners and gunboats. 
 
 Commodore Perry discharged his Govern- 
 ment's business with the South American repub- 
 lic to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, 
 and departed, descending the river in a tender, 
 
 the Nonsuch having left previously. Accounts 
 i6 
 
 ( 
 
242 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 state that his health was good when leaving 
 Angostura, but upon reaching the bar at the 
 mouth of the Orinoco, he was suffering slightly 
 from an attack of fever. He boarded the Non- 
 such, which was in waiting, and the schooner 
 set sail for Port of Spain, in the Island of 
 Trinidad, for which point the J ohn Adams had 
 previously sailed. After boarding the schooner 
 Perry's illness grew rapidly worse, the fever 
 increasing daily. It played havoc with his 
 splendid, vigorous frame, and the anxious crew 
 knew too well that the grasp of disease was 
 deadly. Every attempt was made to hasten to 
 Port of Spain, where adequate attendance could 
 be had, but in spite of all efforts, the passage 
 occupied more than five days. The Nonsuch 
 finally anchored in the gulf. The fever had 
 reached an alarming crisis. Perry was tenderly 
 removed to the ship of war John Adams, which 
 was in waiting. A quarter of an hour later, in 
 the evening of August 23 (his birthday), 1819, 
 after thirty-four years of a life whose record 
 spelled heroism and well-doing, the grisly hand 
 of death stilled the beating of the great, stout 
 heart, and the intrepid soul passed out through 
 the shadows into the Unseen. 
 
THE LAST CRUISE 243 
 
 As the gallantry which inspired his life, so the 
 dignity and fortitude with which he met the 
 inevitable end; the slipping out into the mists 
 of the Unknown. Clear-eyed and sanely con- 
 scious at the last, he met the grim visitor with 
 the imperturbability shown on that memorable 
 day, years gone, upon the wide water in the 
 northland, when for hours he faced death un- 
 moved, death that seemed miraculously di- 
 verted. That day, years gone, when Death, so 
 subtly ironical in his dealings with the dust of 
 the quickened flesh, passed the hero by with 
 but the ominous shadow of black, beating 
 wings, to finally reach out, when peace was 
 compassed and ere the sun of the great life had 
 reached its meridian, to claim his silent own ! 
 
 Alone, with kindred afar, near shores of a na- 
 tion whose subjugation upon the wide water to 
 the Northward had won for him an undying 
 fame, the Commodore passed away. His mourn- 
 ing officers prepared to convey his remains to 
 the land he loved, but it could not then be 
 done. So, on the ensuing day, at five in the 
 afternoon, a boat left the John Adams, amid 
 the booming of minute guns, a boat in which 
 lay the inert form of the dead commander. It 
 
244 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 drew near to the King's Wharf, where the Third 
 West India Regiment was in waiting, and, as 
 the body was removed to the wharf, solemn 
 minute guns roared out from Fort St. Andrew. 
 The cortege was formed, headed by the civil 
 authorities and the troops of that nation which 
 now paid honors to the heroic dead with whom 
 its sons had warred; and, with the regimental 
 band playing the Dead March from Saul, the 
 officers of the American vessels, the crews and 
 citizens of the town — which latter were to sub- 
 sequently erect a monument in Port of Spain 
 to the Commodore's memory — marching two 
 and two, the body was borne slowly to the 
 cemetery. There prayers were read by clergy, 
 and the troops fired parting volleys of musketry 
 ere they left him to rest from his labors. 
 
 4[f ^ 
 •TT 'TV' 'TV •yv •TV* 
 
 Seven years later the United States sloop of 
 war Lexington visited Port of Spain, in the 
 Island of Trinidad. When she quitted it, draw- 
 ing out again into the deep, she bore a precious 
 burden, a nation's heritage of honored dust. 
 Steadily she sped long leagues to the north- 
 ward, where the nation waited to receive its 
 own. The days grew gray and the air more 
 
THE LAST CRUISE 245 
 
 chill as she pushed to the north, for it was late 
 autumn. And finally, on the 27th of Novem- 
 ber, the vessel entered the harbor of that New- 
 port her slumbering passenger had loved so 
 well, that spot of God's earth which had held 
 for him, living, the dear bourne of home, and 
 whose silent city was now to hold him dead. 
 
 On Monday, December 4, the body was in- 
 terred, with befitting honors, in the Island 
 cemetery, where the State of Rhode Island 
 afterward caused to be erected a monument of 
 granite to his memory. It stands upon a 
 grassy mound, at the west side of the enclosure. 
 The remains of the Commodore and the deceased 
 of his family (whose members were amply pro- 
 vided for by Congress after the hero's death) 
 rest at the base of the shaft. 
 
 So ends the record of a life well lived, of a 
 country well served. It is a record which, 
 epitomized, spells but a simple, unswerving 
 devotion to duty; patriotism and absolute 
 courage that led to glorious achievement and 
 the winning of a deathless name; indomitable 
 perseverance that made molehills of mountain- 
 ous obstacles ; splendid, all-conquering zeal that 
 rendered the human weaknesses, to which all 
 
246 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 
 
 flesh is heir, insignificant and unnoted in the 
 grand ensemble of the man. It was such a Hfe 
 as Uves in glowing example through the unnum- 
 bered ensuing generations of any favored nation 
 which can boast such sons ; a life whose record 
 fires the eye, and awakens such a glorious 
 tlirill as comes with the sight of the flinging to 
 the breeze of that flag whose crimson stripes 
 suggest, so eloquently, the blood of uncounted 
 martyrs shed in its preservation; a life of such 
 splendid scope and power and fullness as to 
 transmit most potently, through the sum of 
 rolling ages, those throbbing, heroic traditions 
 which are the nation's heritage.