War of 1812: Battle of Lake Erie — Oliver Perry Prevails

Perry strode the deck of his brig directing its cannon fire, miraculously unhurt while others died around him. A personal friend, Lieutenant Brooks, came over to talk to Perry and was struck down, his hip shattered. He lay in the surgeon’s wardroom screaming in agony before finally dying. Not once during the battle did Perry attempt to communicate with the rest of his squadron. In that respect, he acted more like a ship commander than a squadron commodore.

In a wardroom below deck, Lawrence’s surgeon, Usher Parsons, cared for the numerous wounded. Six times during the battle, cannon shots crashed through his makeshift hospital, sometimes killing his patients.

After two hours of pounding, 22 men lay dead aboard Lawrence, with another 61 wounded, out of an effective crew of 103. Every officer except Perry and his brother was either dead or wounded. The brig’s sailing master described a picture too horrid for description–nearly the whole crew and officers and all prostrated on the deck, intermingled with broken spars, riggings, sails. Some of the guns had been dismounted and mounted five times in action.

As they fought a losing duel, members of Lawrence’s crew reportedly cried out, Where is the Niagara? Elliott and his brig had continued to fire its two long guns and did not close to carronade range. He was technically following Perry’s battle plan, but that reluctance to close has since vexed historians. His own explanation was that no captain has a right to change, without authority, or a signal from the commanding vessel, the line of order of a battle. Was he so inexperienced that he did not have enough confidence to take the initiative? Or was his lethargy influenced by jealousy over Perry being appointed commodore instead of himself? We can never know his motivations, and he may not have known them himself, but Elliott’s later strident efforts to explain and exonerate his actions indicate a deeper sense of guilt. Late in the battle, Niagara began to move as Elliott ordered Caledonia to give way so that he could pass. Elliott intended to circle around the battle and then attack.

At 2:30, Lawrence’s crew fired their last shot. The ship was no longer capable of action, and Perry resolved to transfer to Niagara, which was half a mile away. Taking down his battle flag and changing into his uniform coat, Perry climbed into a rowboat with four crewmen. They pulled at the oars, and he stood with the flag draped over his shoulders. The British ships and riflemen began to fire at the rowboat, and after his rowers begged their commander to sit, he did so. Within minutes, the rowboat reached Niagara, Perry’s luck having graced them once again.

Elliott relinquished command of his brig, got into the rowboat and went back down the line, urging some of the lagging schooners to close into battle. Perry found Niagara in good shape. Her rigging was slightly damaged, two crewmen were dead and several more were wounded, but otherwise the ship and crew were still relatively fresh. With visible melancholy, Perry watched Lawrence strike her colors.

With the surrender of Lawrence, the British came close to achieving victory. Aboard the four largest British ships, the commanding officers and their seconds-in-command had either been killed or wounded; but if Niagara fled, victory would be theirs.

Perry, however, had no intention of retiring. Ordering the cannons to be double-shotted, and having his battle flag hoisted aloft, he turned Niagara directly at the British ships. His approach to naval warfare was not subtle or based on maneuver. Under the circumstances, with such hastily built ships, crews of mixed quality and a decided superiority in firepower, a slugfest was the best tactic.

While Perry had been transferring to Niagara, Detroit was hit by a shot from a long gun from one of the American schooners. The blast tore into Barclay’s back and he was carried below. Command of the Detroit fell to 2nd Lt. George Inglis. The new commander watched Niagara approach his bow and decided the best course of action was to swing his ship around so that his starboard cannon, unused up to that time, could be brought into action. His crew struggled with the remnants of their rigging and accidentally caused the wind to press the sails against the masts and move Detroit backward into Queen Charlotte. The two ships’ rigging tangled, rendering them helpless as Niagara crossed Detroit’s bow and raked her from stem to stern with 32-pound carronades from only 100 yards’ distance.

As Niagara passed through the British line, her crew worked both broadsides. The port fire was aimed at two British schooners, Chippewa and Lady Prevost. The latter’s crew fled the deck, leaving only their commander, Lieutenant Edward Buchan, behind. Wounded and driven temporarily insane, Buchan leaned over the rail, screaming. Seeing that, Perry ordered his gunners to avoid Lady Prevost.

Niagara’s starboard fire soon compelled Queen Charlotte to lower her flag. Detroit had already been battered by Lawrence, and the devastating raking she took from Niagara left her completely unmanageable, with all her masts down or damaged and several guns disabled. Lieutenant Inglis saw that no other British ships were in a position to return Niagara’s fire, and so surrendered his ship before she was pounded into splinters. Because the Union Jack was nailed to the mast, the surrender took the form of waving a white flag attached to the end of a boarding pike.

Hunter and Lady Prevost, which now lay vulnerable to being raked in turn by Niagara, also surrendered. The two smallest British ships tried to escape, but American schooners soon chased them down, and they, too, struck their flags. It was now a little after 3. Fifteen minutes after he reached Niagara, Perry and the American squadron had gained a complete victory.

Elliott succeeded in rallying the American schooners and bringing them into action. Afterward, he went over to Detroit to receive the surrender of her crew. He later reported that there was so much blood on the deck, that in crossing it, my feet slipped from under me, and I fell; my clothing becoming completely saturated and covered with gore!

In his after-action report, Perry informed the secretary of the navy that his squadron had won a signal victory . . . after a sharp conflict. He also sent a message to General Harrison: We have met the enemy and they are ours–two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.

The complete defeat of Barclay’s squadron immediately changed the military situation on the Western frontier. His supplies exhausted, Proctor began to retreat with his regulars and Indian allies. On September 26, the American squadron ferried 4,500 troops of Harrison’s army across the lake and landed them near Amherstburg. On October 5, Proctor would be decisively defeated and his greatest Indian ally, Tecumseh, slain in the Battle of the Thames (see Military History, October 1996). For the rest of the war, western Ontario submitted to American military rule.

Perry and his officers were treated as triumphant heroes by the nation. An enthusiastic Congress voted Perry and his men $260,000 in prize money and three months’ pay. Perry commanded other ships, but never saw combat again. Later, Elliott’s actions came under question, but he demanded a court-martial, which fully exonerated his conduct. Even so, partisans of Perry and Elliott continued to snipe at each other over the conduct of the battle. Perry died of yellow fever in 1819, and Elliott eventually commanded the Mediterranean squadron before dying in 1845.

Barclay recovered from his wound, was paroled, and traveled back to England to face a court-martial, which absolved him of blame for the defeat. Deprived of any further significant commands, Barclay retired in 1824 and died in 1837.

With the end of the War of 1812, the Great Lakes never again saw naval warfare. A later treaty demilitarized the American-Canadian border; the first success of such a practice. After the war, Niagara was scuttled in Misery Bay off Presque Isle along with other survivors of the Battle of Lake Erie. For the centenary celebration of the battle, the ship was raised and reconstructed, using the remaining keel timbers as a base. Niagara is now on display in Erie, Pa. Detroit was sent over Niagara Falls in 1841 as part of a public spectacle. A group of Canadians are currently raising funds to build a replica of Detroit in Amherstburg, Ontario.