Volume 12, Issue 07
The PEACEKEEPER
Page 15
Trivia From the Library Computer
RADM Thomas Pawelczak Security & Morale Officer
The Ba le of Lake Erie. The Ba le of Lake Erie was the most important ba le in the Old Northwest . Master Commandant Oli? ver H. Perry's squadron sailed from its base at Put?in?Ba y, South Bass Island, to challenge the Bri sh squadron under Command? er Robert H. Barclay. The Bri sh were over matched but lost only when Perry changed ships in the middle of the ba le. A er the guns on his ?agship, U.S. Brig Lawrence , were knocked out com? mission, Perry was rowed to the U.S. Brig Niagara, and this ena? bled him to bring fresh ba eries to bear on the enemy, which turned the d e in the ba le. Perry's victory gave the U.S. control of Lake Erie and enabled Major General William Henry Harrison to defeat an Anglo?Indian force the i n Ba le of the Thames/Moraviantown . This ba le gave the U.S. control over most of the region. Perry's celebrated victory had all the necessary ingredients to a great American legend: a decisive ba le on water that led to a signi?cant victory on land, one of the highest casualty rates in the history of naval warfare, a great American hero with a reputa on for luck, a drama c moment (Perry’s changing of ships), a s rring ba le??ag mo o — “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP”, an inspired ship name (the U.S. Brig Lawrence was named a er fallen naval hero James Lawrence), a celebrated a er?ac on report ("We have met the enemy and they are ours"), and a long and bi er postwar feud between the two American principals in the ba le (Perry and Jesse Ellio ). The Ba le of Lake Erie itself guaranteed Perry's place in American history, and the mys que a ached to the ba le has been fed by the survival of a very powerful symbol of the ba le: Perry's ba le ?ag. It has long been on display in the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where it has inspired genera ons of midshipmen. The Ba le of Lake Erie itself was certainly decisive. It was the ?rst me the United States had ever defeated an en re enemy squadron and one of the few mes that Great Britain had ever lost a squadron. Not only did it se? cure American naval superiority on Lake Erie, but it also paved the way for American victory on land. The land ba le, in turn, produced addi onal American heroes (most notably William Henry Harrison and Richard M. Johnson) and lead to the death of Indian great Tecumseh, and the disgrace of the Bri sh commanding o?ce, Major General Henry Proctor. Although all this is true, the Ba le of Lake Erie lacked any broader signi?cance because it was fought far from the centers of power, popula on, and commerce in the East. No American victory in this remote wilderness could wrest Canada from the Bri sh, nor could any Bri sh victory here secure Canada. Although the Ba le of Lake Erie was decisive in this theater, it did not a?ect the outcome of the war and probably did not even a?ect the peace nego a? ons at Ghent.