The Battle of Lake Erie, also called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, took place on September 10, 1813, on Lake Erie near the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine ships from the United States Navy defeated and captured six ships from the British Royal Navy. This victory made sure that the United States controlled the lake for the rest of the war. This helped the Americans take back Detroit, Michigan, and win the Battle of the Thames, which ended the alliance of Native American tribes led by Tecumseh. It was one of the biggest naval battles during the War of 1812.
Background
When the war began, the British quickly took control of Lake Erie. They already had two warships there: the sloop-of-war Queen Charlotte and the brig General Hunter. A third ship, the schooner Lady Prevost, was being built and later put into service after the war started. These ships were managed by the Provincial Marine, a military transport group, not a naval force. However, the Americans had no ships to challenge the British on the lake. The only American warship on Lake Erie, the brig Adams, was not ready for battle at the start of the war. When the American army led by Brigadier General William Hull abandoned its attack on Canada, Adams was trapped in Detroit by British forces at Sandwich on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. British Major-General Isaac Brock used his control of the lake to defeat Hull’s army during the Siege of Detroit by cutting American supply lines and moving reinforcements from Amherstburg to launch a successful attack on the American side of the river.
The British captured the brig Adams when Detroit was surrendered, renaming it Detroit. Along with the brig Caledonia, which had been taken from the Canadian North West Company, both ships were captured near Fort Erie on October 9, 1812, by American forces led by Lieutenant Jesse Elliott. Detroit ran aground on an island in the middle of the Niagara River and was set on fire to stop the British from taking it again. Caledonia was taken to the navy yard at Black Rock and added to the United States Navy. At Black Rock, the schooners Somers and Ohio and the sloop-rigged Trippe were also present. These ships had been bought by the U.S. Navy and were being turned into gunboats. However, the British controlled Fort Erie and nearby batteries that dominated the Niagara River, so all these ships were stuck at Black Rock and could not leave.
Late in 1812, Paul Hamilton, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, met with Daniel Dobbins, an American sailor who had escaped capture at Detroit and brought information about British forces on Lake Erie. Dobbins suggested using the bay of Presque Isle in Pennsylvania as a naval base. Dobbins was sent to build four gunboats there, but Lieutenant Elliott disagreed because the area lacked proper facilities. Another problem was a sandbar blocking the entrance to Presque Isle’s harbor, which would make it hard for new ships to leave the bay. In September, Dobbins started cutting trees for construction. By November, Ebenezer Crosby, a shipbuilder, was hired to begin building the four wooden ships. Commodore Isaac Chauncey, who had been assigned to lead U.S. naval forces on the Great Lakes, visited Erie in January 1813, approved Dobbins’s work, and suggested gathering materials for a larger ship. He then returned to Lake Ontario.
In January 1813, William Jones, who replaced Hamilton as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, ordered the construction of two brig-rigged corvettes at Presque Isle. He also sent Noah Brown, a shipwright from Sackets Harbor, to oversee the work. The ships were built quickly and used wooden pegs instead of nails because of a shortage of nails. The heaviest weapons came from foundries on Chesapeake Bay, which were difficult to transport to Presque Isle. Some of the U.S. Navy’s largest cannons had been sent to Presque Isle before British forces destroyed a foundry at Frenchtown. Other materials were obtained from Pittsburgh, a growing industrial center, and smaller guns were borrowed from the Army.
Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry was appointed to lead U.S. forces on Lake Erie after lobbying by Senator Jeremiah B. Howell. He took command at Presque Isle in March 1813. He arranged defenses for Presque Isle and then went to Lake Ontario to get more sailors from Commodore Isaac Chauncey. After leading American ships at the Battle of Fort George, Perry returned to Black Rock, where the American vessels had been freed when the British abandoned Fort Erie in May. He had the ships pulled by oxen up the Niagara River, a process that took six days, and then sailed them to Presque Isle.
Meanwhile, Commander Robert Heriot Barclay was assigned to lead the British squadron on Lake Erie. Another officer had refused the job because success seemed unlikely. Barclay missed a meeting with Queen Charlotte at Point Abino and had to travel overland to Amherstburg, arriving on June 10. He brought only a few officers and sailors. When he took command, his squadron had only seven British sailors, 108 Provincial Marine members, 54 Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, and 106 soldiers from the 41st Foot. Despite these limited forces, Barclay immediately sailed in Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost. He surveyed Perry’s base at Presque Isle, where 2,000 Pennsylvania militia defended the area with batteries and forts. He then searched the eastern end of Lake Erie for American ships but failed to find them because of poor visibility.
During July and August, Barclay received two small ships, the schooner Chippeway and the sloop Little Belt, which had been rebuilt at Chatham. He also tried to complete the ship-rigged corvette HMS Detroit at Amherstburg. However, because the Americans controlled Lake Ontario and occupied the Niagara Peninsula, supplies for Barclay had to be brought overland from York. American forces had captured guns meant for Detroit during the Battle of York earlier in the year. The British also struggled to get supplies after retreating from Fort George, making it hard to send materials from Lower Canada. Detroit had to be completed using a mix of guns from Amherstburg’s fortifications. Barclay later claimed these guns lacked flintlock mechanisms and could only be fired by using flintlock pistols over powder in the gun vents.
Barclay repeatedly asked Commodore James Lucas Yeo, who commanded on Lake Ontario, for more men and supplies but received little. Major-General Henry Procter, who led British troops on the Detroit frontier, also faced shortages of soldiers and supplies from his superiors. He refused to attack Presque Isle unless he received reinforcements and instead suffered heavy losses in a failed attack on Fort Stephenson, which some of his Native American allies had encouraged.
By mid-July, the American squadron was nearly complete, though not fully manned (Perry reported having only 120 men ready for duty). The British squadron blockaded Presque Isle for ten days, from July 20 to 29. A sandbar at the harbor’s entrance, with
Battle
On the morning of September 10, American ships saw Barclay’s vessels approaching and left their anchorage at Put-in-Bay/South Bass Island. The wind was weak. Barclay had an early advantage due to wind direction, but the wind changed, letting Perry move closer and attack. Both fleets formed lines of battle, with their strongest ships near the center. The first shot was fired from the British ship Detroit at 11:45. Perry aimed to quickly bring his two largest brigs, Lawrence and Niagara, into close combat range, but the light wind slowed his ships. Lawrence was heavily damaged by Detroit’s long guns for at least 20 minutes before it could respond effectively. By 12:45, Lawrence was finally within range, but its gunners had overloaded the cannons, reducing their effectiveness.
Behind Lawrence, Niagara, commanded by Elliott, moved slowly and stayed far from effective range. It may have been because Elliott was ordered to fight Queen Charlotte, and Niagara was blocked by Caledonia. Elliott’s actions later caused disagreements with Perry. On Queen Charlotte, the British ship opposing Niagara, the commander and first officer were killed. Lieutenant Irvine of the Provincial Marine noticed Niagara and the American gunboats were too far to fight effectively and sent General Hunter to attack Lawrence up close.
While American gunboats at the back of the line fired long-range shots at British ships in the center, Lawrence was severely damaged by two British vessels. Four-fifths of Lawrence’s crew were killed or wounded. Both surgeons were ill with “lake fever” (malaria), so wounded sailors were cared for by assistant Usher Parsons. When Lawrence’s last gun became unusable, Perry moved his command to Niagara. He was rowed half a mile through heavy gunfire to Niagara while Lawrence surrendered. It is said Perry’s Black servant, Cyrus Tiffany, helped protect him during this move.
Later, it was claimed Perry left Lawrence after its surrender, but he had only removed his personal flag, a blue banner with the motto “DONT [sic] GIVE UP THE SHIP.” When Lawrence surrendered, gunfire stopped briefly. Detroit collided with Queen Charlotte, both ships nearly uncontrollable due to damaged rigging and heavy losses among officers. Barclay was seriously wounded, and his first lieutenant died, leaving Lieutenant Inglis in charge. Most British smaller ships were also damaged and drifting. Despite this, the British expected Niagara to lead American schooners in retreat. Instead, Perry ordered Elliott to bring the schooners closer, while he steered Niagara toward Barclay’s damaged ships, helped by stronger winds.
Niagara broke through the British line ahead of Detroit and Queen Charlotte, firing powerful broadsides from the front while Caledonia and American gunboats attacked from behind. The crews of Detroit and Queen Charlotte could no longer fight effectively after their ships became tangled. Both ships surrendered around 3:00 pm. Chippeway and Little Belt tried to escape but were caught and surrendered too. Although Perry won the battle on Niagara, he accepted Barclay’s surrender on the deck of Lawrence.
Casualties
The British had 41 soldiers killed and 94 injured. The total number of surviving crew members, including those who were wounded, was 306. Captain Barclay, who had previously lost his left arm in 1809, suffered a leg injury and the loss of part of his thigh during the battle. His remaining arm was permanently unable to move. The Americans had 27 soldiers killed and 96 injured, with 2 of those injured later dying. The most severe American injuries occurred on the ship Lawrence, where 2 officers and 20 men were killed, and 6 officers and 55 men were wounded.
The three most heavily damaged ships—the American brig Lawrence and the British ships Detroit and Queen Charlotte—were turned into hospital ships to care for the injured. A strong windstorm hit the lake on September 13, breaking the masts of Detroit and Queen Charlotte, causing further damage to the already injured vessels. After the wounded were moved to Erie, Lawrence was repaired and put back into service in 1814. However, the two British ships were no longer useful and were left as broken, unusable ships.
Aftermath
Perry’s ships and captured vessels were anchored near West Sister Island when he wrote a famous message to General Harrison. He wrote this message in pencil on the back of an old envelope.
Perry then sent another message to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones.
After fixing his damaged ships, Perry transported 2,500 American soldiers to Amherstburg, which was taken without resistance on September 27. At the same time, 1,000 soldiers on horseback, led by Richard Mentor Johnson, traveled by land to Detroit, which was also recaptured without fighting on or around the same day. The British army, led by Procter, had already planned to leave its positions before learning the outcome of the battle. Despite Tecumseh’s efforts to encourage the Native American allies to stay, Procter had already abandoned Amherstburg and Detroit and began retreating up the Thames River on September 27. Tecumseh’s Native American allies had no choice but to follow him because they lacked supplies. Harrison caught up with Procter’s retreating forces and defeated them on October 5 at the Battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh and his second-in-command, Wyandot Chief Roundhead, were killed.
The American victory on Lake Erie had a major impact on the war. The United States controlled Lake Erie for the rest of the war, which helped them achieve success in the Niagara Peninsula in 1814 and removed the threat of a British attack on Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Western New York. However, an American attempt in 1814 to recapture Mackinac Island, Michigan, failed and caused many American losses. The Americans also lost eight smaller ships and captured vessels. Four were destroyed when the British captured Black Rock after the Battle of Buffalo at the end of 1813, and four were captured in separate incidents on Lake Erie and Lake Huron. After the war, Perry and Elliott had a disagreement about their roles in the battle, which was discussed in newspapers.
On the British side, Barclay and his surviving officers faced a court-martial. The court found that they and their men had acted bravely and cleared all officers of blame. The court also concluded that the British loss was due to American numbers, a lack of skilled sailors, and the early loss of senior officers during the battle. However, Barclay was too seriously injured to return to active duty for several years.
Legacy
In 1820, the ships Lawrence and Niagara were deliberately sunk near Misery Bay in Lake Erie because they were left to decay. In 1875, Lawrence was recovered and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it was shown at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Later that year, the ship burned when the building that housed it caught fire. Although Niagara was recovered and restored in 1913, she later fell into poor condition. Eventually, parts of her were used to rebuild a version of Niagara, which is now displayed in Erie, Pennsylvania. The 352-foot (107 m) Perry's Monument, part of the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial, stands at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island. It honors the men who fought in the battle. Another 101-foot (31 m) Perry Monument is located at the eastern end of Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania. This monument sits on a peninsula in Presque Isle Bay, where Niagara and Lawrence were built, stationed with the rest of the American Squadron, and then deliberately sunk after the war.
Most historians credit the American victory to what Theodore Roosevelt called "superior heavy metal," referring to the greater number of American ships and heavy cannons. Perry's leadership, especially during the later part of the battle, is also noted as a key factor. British author C. S. Forester wrote that "it was as fortunate for the Americans that the Lawrence still had a boat that could float, as it was that Perry was not hit." On the British side, William Bell was the constructor of the ship Detroit, which was the best-built ship on the lake. However, Detroit took a long time to build because of Bell's focus on perfection. It was the only British warship specifically designed for Lake Erie during the war. The guns meant for Detroit were taken by the Americans during their raid on Fort York the year before. This imbalance in shipbuilding, combined with the fact that six American ships were built in the same time frame, contributed to the American victory. However, it could be argued that even if Barclay had more ships, he might not have had enough guns or crew members to use them.