CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The War of 1812 was not going well for the United States but a battle on one of the Great Lakes changed that.
“It’s hugely important for the War of 1812.” said John Thompson, Manager of Historic Programing at Fort Meigs and also President of the Western Lake Erie Historical Society. “What the Americans really need is the use of the Great Lakes not only for transport of men, the Army and supplies and things like that just securing their border with Canada.”
The British occupied Detroit but the U.S. Navy had the British bottled up on the Detroit River. At daybreak on September 10, 1813, the British tried to break through the blockade with six ships against Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s nine U.S. ships. Perry made a decision
“Perry is very aggressive,” Thompson continued. “He will sail right at them. Perry has short range carronades, which are devastating weapons but they’re only good at short range. The Brits have long-range guns so they can engage the Americans from a greater, safer distance.”
The wind had died and the ships sat in the water and fired on each other for three hours, doing devastating damage to both sides.
“Perry, himself, his flagship, the USS Lawrence is going to be so badly damaged and men dying and bleeding everywhere, most of his cannons useless,” Thompson explained. “Perry is going to have to transfer his flag and his command to the sister vessel, the USS Niagara, which had stayed out of the fight for the most part and so he has a fresh vessel at his disposal and will cross through the British lines.”
Admiral Perry, a fiery leader immortalized in monuments and memorials, didn’t spend much here in the area and died on this birthday in 1819 at the age of 34 after getting contracting yellow fever in Venezuela.
“His time in Ohio and Pennsylvania very very brief, he’s out here just for that year,1813” recounted Thomason. “He has done his job.”
In that short time doing his job on Lake Erie, Perry immortalized two phrases: “Don’t give up the ship” and “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”
But his greatest legacy is his victory on Lake Erie.
“It is really a shining moment in American history,” Thompson concluded. “It really turned the tide in the western war here so it really really changes the page of American history here in the Great Lakes region.”
For more information, you can plan a visit to Fort Meigs – Ohio’s War of 1812 Battlefield
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