PERRY AND LAKE ERIE
Amid the prolonged vicissitudes of these western campaigns, two
subordinate officers, the boyish Major Croghan at Fort Stephenson and
the dashing Colonel Johnson with his Kentucky mounted infantry,
displayed qualities which accord with the best traditions of American
arms. Of kindred spirit and far more illustrious was Captain Oliver
Hazard Perry of the United States Navy. Perry dealt with and overcame,
on a much larger scale, similar obstacles and discouragements--untrained
men, lack of material, faulty support--but was ready and eager to meet
the enemy in the hour of need. If it is a sound axiom never to despise
the enemy, it is nevertheless true that excessive prudence has lost many
an action. Farragut's motto has been the keynote of the success of all
the great sea-captains, "_L'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours
de l'audace._"
It was not until the lesson of Hull's surrender had aroused the civil
authorities that Captain Chauncey of the navy yard at New York received
orders in September, 1812, "to assume command of the naval force on
Lakes Erie and Ontario and to use every exertion to obtain control of
them this fall." Chauncey was an experienced officer, forty years old,
who had not rusted from inactivity like the elderly generals who had
been given command of armies. He knew what he needed and how to get it.
Having to begin with almost nothing, he busied himself to such excellent
purpose that he was able to report within three weeks that he had
forwarded to Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario, "one hundred and forty
ship carpenters, seven hundred seamen and marines, more than one hundred
pieces of cannon, the greater part of large caliber, with musket, shot,
carriages, etc. The carriages have nearly all been made and the shot
cast in that time. Nay, I may say that nearly every article that has
been forwarded has been made."
It was found impossible to divert part of this ordnance to Buffalo
because of the excessively bad roads, which were passable for heavy
traffic only by means of sleds during the snows of winter. This
obstacle spoiled the hope of putting a fighting force afloat on Lake
Erie during the latter part of 1812. Chauncey consequently established
his main base at Sackett's Harbor and lost no time in building and
buying vessels. In forty-five days from laying the keel he launched a
ship of the corvette class, a third larger than the ocean cruisers
_Wasp_ and _Hornet_, "and nine weeks ago," said he, "the timber that she
is composed of was growing in the forest."
Lieutenant Elliott at the same time had not been idle in his little navy
yard at Black Rock near Buffalo, where he had assembled a small brig and
several schooners. In December Chauncey inspected the work and decided
to shift it to Presqu' Isle, now the city of Erie, which was much less
exposed to interference by the enemy. Here he got together the material
for two brigs of three hundred tons each, which were to be the main
strength of Perry's squadron nine months later. Impatient to return to
Lake Ontario, where a fleet in being was even more urgently needed,
Chauncey was glad to receive from Commander Oliver Hazard Perry an
application to serve under him. To Perry was promptly turned over the
burden and the responsibility of smashing the British naval power on
Lake Erie. Events were soon to display the notable differences in
temperament and capabilities between these two men. Though he had
greater opportunities on Lake Ontario, Chauncey was too cautious and
held the enemy in too much respect; wherefore he dodged and parried and
fought inconclusive engagements with the fleet of Sir James Yeo until
destiny had passed him by. He lives in history as a competent and
enterprising chief of dockyards and supplies but not as a victorious
seaman.
To Perry, in the flush of his youth at twenty-eight years, was granted
the immortal spark of greatness to do and dare and the personality which
impelled men gladly to serve him and to die for him. His difficulties
were huge, but he attacked them with a confidence which nothing could
dismay. First he had to concentrate his divided force. Lieutenant
Elliott's flotilla of schooners at that time lay at Black Rock. It was
necessary to move them to Erie at great risk of capture by the enemy,
but vigilance and seamanship accomplished this feat. It then remained to
finish and equip the larger vessels which were being built. Two of these
were the brigs ordered laid down by Chauncey, the _Lawrence_ and the
_Niagara_. Apart from these, the battle squadron consisted of seven
small schooners and the captured British brig, the _Caledonia_. In size
and armament they were absurd cockleshells even when compared with a
modern destroyer, but they were to make themselves superbly memorable.
Perry's flagship was no larger than the ancient coasting schooners which
ply today between Bangor and Boston with cargoes of lumber and coal.
Through the winter and spring of 1813, the carpenters, calkers, and
smiths were fitting the new vessels together from the green timber and
planking which the choppers and sawyers wrought out of the forest. The
iron, the canvas, and all the other material had to be hauled by horses
and oxen from places several hundred miles distant. Late in July the
squadron was ready for active service but was dangerously short of men.
This, however, was the least of Perry's concerns. He had reckoned that
seven hundred and forty officers and sailors were required to handle and
fight his ships, but he did not hesitate to put to sea with a total
force of four hundred and ninety.
Of these a hundred were soldiers sent him only nine days before he
sailed, and most of them trod a deck for the first time. Chauncey was so
absorbed in his own affairs and hazards on Lake Ontario that he was not
likely to give Perry any more men than could be spared. This reluctance
caused Perry to send a spirited protest in which he said: "The men that
came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set, blacks, soldiers, and boys. I
cannot think you saw them after they were selected."
As the superior officer, Chauncey resented the criticism and replied
with this warning reproof: "As you have assured the Secretary that you
should conceive yourself equal or superior to the enemy, with a force of
men so much less than I had deemed necessary, there will be a great deal
expected from you by your country, and I trust they will not be
disappointed in the high expectations formed of your gallantry and
judgment."
The quick temper of Perry flared at this. He was about to sail in search
of the British fleet with what men he had because he was unable to
obtain more, and he had rightly looked to Chauncey to supply the
deficiency. Impulsively he asked to be relieved of his command and gave
expression to his sense of grievance in a letter to the Secretary of the
Navy in which he said, among other things: "I cannot serve under an
officer who has been so totally regardless of my feelings.... The
critical state of General Harrison was such that I took upon myself the
responsibility of going out with the few young officers you had been
pleased to send me, with the few seamen I had, and as many volunteers as
I could muster from the militia. I did not shrink from this
responsibility but, Sir, at that very moment I surely did not anticipate
the receipt of a letter in every line of which is an insult." Most
fortunately Perry's request for transfer could not be granted until
after the battle of Lake Erie had been fought and won. The Secretary
answered in tones of mild rebuke: "A change of commander under existing
circumstances, is equally inadmissible as it respects the interest of
the service and your own reputation. It is right that you should reap
the harvest which you have sown."
Perry's indignation seems excusable. He had shown a cheerful willingness
to shoulder the whole load and his anxieties had been greater than his
superiors appeared to realize. Captain Barclay, who commanded the
British naval force on Lake Erie and who had been hovering off Erie
while the American ships were waiting for men, might readily have sent
his boats in at night and destroyed the entire squadron. Perry had not
enough sailors to defend his ships, and the regiment of Pennsylvania
militia stationed at Erie to guard the naval base refused to do duty on
shipboard after dark. "I told the boys to go, Captain Perry," explained
their worthless colonel, "but the boys won't go."
Perry's lucky star saved him from disaster, however, and on the 2d of
August he undertook the perilous and awkward labor of floating his
larger vessels over the shallow bar of the harbor at Erie. Barclay's
blockading force had vanished. For Perry it was then or never. At any
moment the enemy's topsails might reappear, and the American ships would
be caught in a situation wholly defenseless. Perry first disposed his
light-draft schooners to cover his channel, and then hoisted out the
guns of the _Lawrence_ brig and lowered them into boats. Scows, or
"camels," as they were called, were lashed alongside the vessel to lift
her when the water was pumped out of them. There was no more than four
feet of water on the bar, and the brig-of-war bumped and stranded
repeatedly even when lightened and assisted in every possible manner.
After a night and a day of unflagging exertion she was hauled across
into deep water and the guns were quickly slung aboard. The _Niagara_
was coaxed out of harbor in the same ingenious fashion, and on the 4th
of August Perry was able to report that all his vessels were over the
bar, although Barclay had returned by now and "the enemy had been in
sight all day."
Perry endeavored to force an engagement without delay, but the British
fleet retired to Amherstburg because Barclay was waiting for a new and
powerful ship, the _Detroit_, and he preferred to spar for time. The
American vessels thereupon anchored off Erie and took on stores. They
had fewer than three hundred men aboard, and it was bracing news for
Perry to receive word that a hundred officers and men under Commander
Jesse D. Elliott were hastening to join him. Elliott became second in
command to Perry and assumed charge of the _Niagara_.
For almost a month the Stars and Stripes flew unchallenged from the
masts of the American ships. Perry made his base at Put-in Bay, thirty
miles southeast of Amherstburg, where he could intercept the enemy
passing eastward. The British commander, Barclay, had also been troubled
by lack of seamen and was inclined to postpone action. He was
nevertheless urged on by Sir George Prevost, the Governor General of
Canada, who told him that "he had only to dare and he would be
successful." A more urgent call on Barclay to fight was due to the lack
of food in the Amherstburg region, where the water route was now
blockaded by the American ships. The British were feeding fourteen
thousand Indians, including warriors and their families, and if
provisions failed the red men would be likely to vanish.
At sunrise of the 10th of September, a sailor at the masthead of the
_Lawrence_ sighted the British squadron steering across the lake with a
fair wind and ready to give battle. Perry instantly sent his crews to
quarters and trimmed sail to quit the bay and form his line in open
water. He was eager to take the initiative, and it may be assumed that
he had forgotten Chauncey's prudent admonition: "The first object will
be to destroy or cripple the enemy's fleet; but in all attempts upon the
fleet you ought to use great caution, for the loss of a single vessel
may decide the fate of a campaign."
Small, crude, and hastily manned as were the ships engaged in this
famous fresh-water battle, it should be borne in mind that the proven
principles of naval strategy and tactics used were as sound and true as
when Nelson and Rodney had demonstrated them in mighty fleet actions at
sea. In the final council in his cabin, Perry echoed Nelson's words in
saying that no captain could go very far wrong who placed his vessel
close alongside those of the enemy. Chauncey's counsel, on the other
hand, would have lost the battle. Perry's decision to give and take
punishment, no matter if it should cost him a ship or two, won him the
victory.
The British force was inferior, both in the number of vessels and the
weight of broadsides, but this inferiority was somewhat balanced by the
greater range and hitting power of Barclay's longer guns. Each had what
might be called two heavy ships of the line: the British, the _Detroit_
and the _Queen Charlotte,_ and the Americans, the _Lawrence_ and the
_Niagara_. Next in importance and fairly well matched were the _Lady
Prevost_ under Barclay's flag and the _Caledonia_ under Perry's. There
remained the light schooner craft of which the American squadron had six
and the British only three. Perry realized that if he could put ship
against ship the odds would be largely in his favor, for, with his
batteries of carronades which threw their shot but a short distance, he
would be unwise to maneuver for position and let the enemy pound him to
pieces at long range. His plan of battle was therefore governed entirely
by his knowledge of Barclay's strength and of the possibilities of his
own forces.
With a light breeze and working to windward, Perry's ship moved to
intercept the British squadron which lay in column, topsails aback and
waiting. The American brigs were fanned ahead by the air which breathed
in their lofty canvas, but the schooners were almost becalmed and four
of them straggled in the rear, their crews tugging at the long sweeps or
oars. Two of the faster of these, the _Scorpion_ and the _Ariel_, were
slipping along in the van where they supported the American flagship
_Lawrence_, and Perry had no intention of delaying for the others to
come up. Shortly before noon Barclay opened the engagement with the long
guns of the _Detroit_, but as yet Perry was unable to reach his opponent
and made more sail on the _Lawrence_ in order to get close.
The British gunners of the _Detroit_ were already finding the target,
and Perry discovered that the _Lawrence_ was difficult to handle with
much of her rigging shot away. He ranged ahead until his ship was no
more than two hundred and fifty yards from the _Detroit_. Even then the
distance was greater than desirable for the main battery of carronades.
A good golfer can drive his tee shot as far as the space of water which
separated these two indomitable flagships as they fought. It was a
different kind of naval warfare from that of today in which
superdreadnaughts score hits at battle ranges of twelve and fourteen
miles.
Perry's plans were now endangered by the failure of his other heavy
ship, the _Niagara_, to take care of her own adversary, the _Queen
Charlotte_, which forged ahead and took a station where her broadsides
helped to reduce the _Lawrence_ to a mass of wreckage. A bitter dispute
which challenged the courage and judgment of Commander Elliott of the
_Niagara_ was the aftermath of this flaw in the conduct of the battle.
It was charged that he failed to go to the support of his
commander-in-chief when the flagship was being destroyed under his eyes.
The facts admit of no doubt: he dropped astern and for two hours
remained scarcely more than a spectator of a desperate action in which
his ship was sorely needed, whereas if he had followed the order to
close up, the _Lawrence_ need never have struck to the enemy.
In his defense he stated that lack of wind had prevented him from
drawing ahead to engage and divert the _Queen Charlotte_ and that he had
been instructed to hold a certain position in line. At the time Perry
found no fault with him, merely setting down in his report that "at
half-past two, the wind springing up, Captain Elliott was enabled to
bring his vessel, the _Niagara_, gallantly into close action." Later
Perry formulated charges against his second in command, accusing him of
having kept on a course "which would in a few minutes have carried said
vessel entirely out of action." These documents were pigeonholed and a
Court of Inquiry commended Elliott as a brave and skillful officer who
had gained laurels in that "splendid victory."
The issue was threshed out by naval experts who violently disagreed, but
there was glory enough for all and the flag had suffered no stain.
Certain it is that the battle would have lacked its most brilliantly
dramatic episode if Perry had not been compelled to shift his pennant
from the blazing hulk of the _Lawrence_ and, from the quarter-deck of
the _Niagara_, to renew the conflict, rally his vessels, and snatch a
triumph from the shadow of disaster. It was one of the great moments in
the storied annals of the American navy, comparable with a John Paul
Jones shouting "_We have not yet begun to fight!_" from the deck of the
shattered, water-logged _Bon Homme Richard_, or a Farragut lashed in the
rigging and roaring "_Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!_"
Because of the failure of Elliott to bring the _Niagara_ into action at
once, as had been laid down in the plan of battle, Perry found himself
in desperate straits aboard the beaten _Lawrence_. Her colors still flew
but she could fire only one gun of her whole battery, and more than half
the ship's company had been killed or wounded--eighty-three men out of
one hundred and forty-two. It was impossible to steer or handle her and
she drifted helpless. Then it was that Perry, seeing the laggard
_Niagara_ close at hand, ordered a boat away and was transferred to a
ship which was still fit and ready to continue the action. As soon as he
had left them, the survivors of the _Lawrence_ hauled down their flag in
token of surrender, for there was nothing else for them to do.
As soon as he jumped on deck, Perry took command of the _Niagara_,
sending Elliott off to bring up the rearmost schooners. There was no
lagging or hesitation now. With topgallant sails sheeted home, the
_Niagara_ bore down upon the _Detroit_, driven by a freshening breeze.
Barclay's crippled flagship tried to avoid being raked and so fouled her
consort, the _Queen Charlotte_. The two British ships lay locked
together while the American guns pounded them with terrific fire.
Presently they got clear of each other and pluckily attempted to carry
on the fight. But the odds were hopeless. The officer whose painful
duty it was to signal the surrender of the _Detroit_ said of this
British flagship: "The ship lying completely unmanageable, every brace
cut away, the mizzen-topmast and gaff down, all the other masts badly
wounded, not a stay left forward, hull shattered very much, a number of
guns disabled, and the enemy's squadron raking both ships ahead and
astern, none of our own in a position to support us, I was under the
painful necessity of answering the enemy to say we had struck, the
_Queen Charlotte_ having previously done so."
It was later reported of the _Detroit_ that it was "impossible to place
a hand upon that broadside which had been exposed to the enemy's fire
without covering some portion of a wound, either from grape, round,
canister, or chain shot." The crew had suffered as severely as the
vessel. The valiant commander of the squadron, Captain Barclay, was a
fighting sailor who had lost an arm at Trafalgar. In the battle of Lake
Erie he was twice wounded and had to be carried below. His first
lieutenant was mortally hurt and in the critical moments the ship was
left in charge of the second lieutenant. In this gallant manner did
Perry and Barclay, both heirs of the bulldog Anglo-Saxon strain, wage
their bloody duel without faltering and thus did the British sailor
keep his honor bright in defeat.
The little American schooners played a part in smashing the enemy. The
_Ariel_ and _Scorpion_ held their positions in the van and their long
guns helped deal the finishing blows to the _Detroit_, while the others
came up when the breeze grew stronger and engaged their several
opponents. The _Caledonia_ was effective in putting the _Queen
Charlotte_ out of action. When the larger British ships surrendered, the
smaller craft were compelled to follow the example, and the squadron
yielded to Perry after three hours of battle. It was in no boastful
strain but as the laconic fact that he sent his famous message to the
nation. He had met the enemy and they were all his. It was
leadership--brilliant and tenacious--which had employed makeshift
vessels, odd lots of guns, and crews which included militia, sick men,
and "a motley set of blacks and boys." Barclay had labored under
handicaps no less heavy, but it was his destiny to match himself against
a superior force and a man of unquestioned naval genius. Oliver Hazard
Perry would have made a name for himself, no doubt, if his career had
led him to blue water and the command of stately frigates.
On Lake Ontario, Chauncey dragged his naval campaign through two
seasons and then left the enemy in control. Perry, by opening the way
for Harrison, rewon the Northwest for the United States because he
sagaciously upheld the doctrine of Napoleon that "war cannot be waged
without running risks." Behind his daring, however, lay tireless,
painstaking preparation and a thorough knowledge of his trade.