Battle of Lake Erie

10 September 1813, Off Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie

American victory; the whole British squadron captured

Both sides spent 1813 building fleets on the lakes. At Presque Isle, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry built two 20-gun brigs, Lawrence and Niagara, and got them over the sandbar into the lake in August. The British commander, Robert Barclay, a one-armed veteran of Trafalgar, was short of guns, seamen and food at Amherstburg, and in September he had to come out and fight. The squadrons met off Put-in-Bay late in the morning of 10 September. Perry's Lawrence closed with the British flagship Detroit and Queen Charlotte, but Niagara, under Jesse Elliott, held back out of range, and after two hours Lawrence was a wreck with four-fifths of her men dead or wounded. Perry was rowed across to Niagara under fire, brought her into action, and sailed her through the British line, raking on both sides. Detroit and Queen Charlotte had fouled each other, and with their senior officers killed or wounded the whole British squadron struck. Perry's message to General Harrison read: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." With the lake lost, the British abandoned Detroit, and Harrison beat them at the Thames on 5 October, where Tecumseh was killed.