USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania > Part 20
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Previous to the war the English had upon the lakes what was termed a Provincial Marine; the vessels had a slight armament, and were used to transport troops, Indian goods, and sometimes the property of individuals. This squad- ron was now commanded by Captain Finnis, of the Royal Navy, and consisted of the ship Queen Charlotte, 17 guns, between 200 and 300 tons; the schooner Lady Prevost, 13 guns, 96 tons; the brig Hunter, 10 guns, 73 tons; schooner Little Belt, 3 guns; and Chippeway, 1 gun. Several of these vessels, and those of the Americans, were in sight from the same point on the bank of the lake, and just as the last vessel entered the harbor the enemy ap- peared in the distance. They must have greatly under- rated the spirit as well as strength of their adversary, and
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supposed they could be crushed without difficulty at any moment.
A letter awaited Captain Perry, on his arrival at Erie, from the Secretary of the Navy, highly complimenting his conduct at Fort George, as well as his exertions at Erie. In reply to this, Captain Perry expressed diffidence as to his own capabilities, and "that no exertion should be want- ing on his part to promote the honor of the service." He informed the secretary "that one of the brigs was completely rigged and had her battery mounted, the other would be equally far advanced in a week; the sails of both vessels were nearly completed, and on the arrival of the shot and anchors from Pittsburg, which were confidently expected soon, all the vessels would be ready for service in one day after the reception of the crews." Lieutenant Brooks, of the marines, was engaged in recruiting, and had succeeded in enlisting thirty men at Erie and Pittsburg. In place of an increase of forces which Captain Perry so much needed, General Dearborn, in consequence of an order from the Secretary of War, recalled the two hundred soldiers which had been loaned from Fort George to assist in bringing up the vessels. Captain Brevoort, if it were agreeable to himself and Captain Perry, he consented might be retained, and, as he had navigated the lakes, he would be particu- larly useful.
But five days after this reduction of forces, instructions came from the Secretary of the Navy, to co-operate with General Harrison in the Northwest for the recovery of Michigan. This presupposed that the squadron was pro- vided with officers and men, and ready for action, when, in reality, Commodore Chauncey had retained the crews at Sackett's Harbor. The plan of the commodore appeared to be to overpower the enemy on Lake Ontario, and then repeat the action in person on Lake Erie. He seemed to forget the disadvantage of keeping officers and men strangers to one another and their vessel, until they were to encounter
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the enemy, and that but a handful of men, and these re- duced by sickness, were expected to equip the vessels. Captain Perry immediately wrote to Commodore Chaun- cey, expressing a very great desire to have .the officers and men that were to join him, especially a commander for the second brig. He had but seldom the satisfaction of a direct reply from the commodore, but it was rumored that three hundred and fifty men would soon be on the way, and ac- cordingly two boats were dispatched to Buffalo, on the eighteenth of July, in addition to the two that had con- veyed the Fort George men to their destination. The sail- ing-master that had charge of the boats was directed to proceed with the greatest caution on account of the enemy's squadron, which was daily in sight of Erie, and nearly block- aded the port. On their return they were advised to keep close in shore, and call at Chataqua and Twenty-mile Creek for instructions.
On the nineteenth of July Captain Perry informed Gen- eral Harrison that he had but one hundred and fifty men fit for service, with fifty others on the sick list. On the same day he received a second order from the Secretary of the Navy, to co-operate with Harrison, under the belief that the squadron was manned, and also a letter from General Harrison, stating that the enemy would soon launch their new ship, the Detroit, and that they had just received a reinforcement of experienced officers and prime seamen. Perry could only reply to the secretary, "that the enemy were then off the harbor, and the moment he had a suffi- cient number of men he would be able to sail, and trusted that the issue of the contest would be favorable." He then wrote to Commodore Chauncey as follows :-
"DEAR SIR :--
"The enemy's fleet of six sail are now off the bar of the harbor. What a golden opportunity if we had men ! Their object is no doubt either to blockade or attack us, or to
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carry provisions and reinforcements to Malden. Should it be to attack us, we are ready to meet them. I am con- stantly looking to the eastward; every mail and every traveler from that quarter is looked to- as the harbinger of the glad tidings of our men being on their way. I am fully aware how much your time must be occupied with the important concerns of the lake. Give me men, sir, and I will acquire both for you and myself honor and glory on this lake, or perish in the attempt. Conceive my feelings; an enemy within striking distance, my vessels ready, and not men enough to man them. Going out with those I now have is out of the question. You would not suffer it were you here. I again ask you to think of my situation; the enemy in sight, the vessels under my command more than sufficient, and ready to make sail, and yet obliged to bite my fingers with vexation for want of men. I know, my dear sir, full well you will send me the crews for the vessels as soon as possible ; yet a day appears an age. I hope that the wind or some other cause will delay the enemy's return to Malden until my men arrive, and I will have them."
A day or two after this, the enemy were becalmed off Erie, and Captain Perry pulled out to the bar with three gunboats to annoy them. A few shots were exchanged, and one of them struck the mizzen-mast of the Queen Char- lotte, when a breeze springing up, they stood off.
On the twenty-third, Captain Perry received another com- munication from the secretary, urging the importance of immediately destroying the enemy's squadron. Again he replied, "that he was fully aware of the importance of the object-that his ships were ready but without crews." Had the men been sent directly from Philadelphia, in place of having to undergo what was familiarly called the "Sackett's Harbor examination," the object would have been better and more speedily effected. However, the same day that he
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replied to the secretary, seventy men and officers arrived from Lake Ontario, and Perry wrote Commodore Chauncey ac- knowledging the receipt of his letter and the seventy men, and earnestly requesting a full supply of officers and men for his vessels.
About this time a concentration of the enemy's troops took place at Long Point, directly opposite Erie, at the distance of forty miles, and fears were entertained lest an attack should be made upon Erie and the squadron destroyed before the arrival of the crews. Great consternation pre- vailed among the inhabitants of the village, many of them removing their families and goods back from the lake. Major-General Mead was called upon for a reinforcement of the militia, who made a show of defense by parading the high bank, when the enemy were in sight. The officers were all kept aboard, and boats rowed guard throughout the night. Captain Perry apprised the Secretary of the Navy and Commodore Chauncey of the fact, and also that he had no apprehension for the fleet even though the enemy should get possession of the town, which he did not expect. It proved afterward that an attack had been planned, but failed for the want of troops at the proper time.
On the twenty-seventh of July, Captain Perry received a letter by express from General Holmes, by order of General Harrison, stating that the enemy had invested Fort Meigs a second time with a heavy force, and that the presence of the enemy's squadron off Erie was unfortunate, unless Cap- tain Perry could either elude or fight them. He urged in strong terms, for General Harrison, that Captain Perry's great object should be to co-operate with the army by sail- ing up Lake Erie, and concluded his letter with "assurances of the perfect conviction of the general, that on his part no exertion would be omitted to give the crisis an issue of pro- fit and glory to the arms of our country." Captain Perry immediately inclosed the letter of General Holmes to Com- modore Chauncey with the following, indicating his distress of mind in being so unnecessarily hampered :-
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" SIR :-
"I have this moment received by express the inclosed letter from General Harrison. If I had officers and men, and I have no doubt you will send them, I could fight the enemy and proceed up the lake. But having no one to command the Niagara, and only one commissioned lieu- tenant and two acting lientenants, whatever my wishes may be, going ont is out of the question. 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. I am, however, pleased to see anything in the shape of a man."
On the thirtieth of July he received from Lake Ontario an additional reinforcement of sixty officers and men, and soon after opened a rendezvous for landsmen, to serve four months or until after a decisive battle, at ten dollars a month. He had now three hundred officers and men to man two twenty-gun brigs (each brig carried one hundred and thirty- two men) and eight smaller vessels, and an aggregate of fifty-five guns. The men were in general of an inferior description, and more than one-fifth incapacitated for duty by disease incident to a change of climate. The able-bodied had been incessantly engaged in duties not relevant to their essential ones in a naval engagement, as gunners, boarders, pikemen, sail trimmers, etc.
The disposition throughout the country to recognize a Providence in the war deserves attention. Dr. Parsons says : "On Sunday, the eighteenth of July, two respect- able missionaries, who were passing through Erie, were in- vited by the commodore on board one of the large ships, where as many officers and men as could be spared from all the vessels were assembled to hear prayers that were offered up for the success of the expedition. I shall never forget their fervent pleadings in our behalf, that we might subdue the hostile fleet, and thereby wrest from savage hands the tomahawk and scalping knife, that had been so crnelly 22*
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wielded against the defenseless settlers on the frontiers, and that in the event of a victory, mercy and kindness might be shown to the vanquished."
Several of the States appointed days of "thanksgiving, fasting, and prayers, that He in whose hands are the mighty, would in the hour of battle be their strength and deliver- ance."
A resolution is recorded in the Pamphlet Laws of 1812, requesting the President of the United States to recommend a day of public humiliation. It reads as follows :-
"It being a duty peculiarly incumbent in a time of public calamity and war, humbly and devoutly to acknowledge our dependence in Almighty God, and to implore his aid and protection ; therefore,
" Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that a joint committee of both houses wait on the Presi- dent of the United States, and request that he recommend a day of public humiliation and prayer, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity, and the offering of fervent supplication to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, his blessings upon their arms, and the speedy restoration of peace.
" H. CLAY, Speaker of the H. R. "WM. H. CRAWFORD, President of the Senate pro. tem."
The bay of Presqu'ile, as before mentioned, had a bar of light sand at its entrance, where the water, on an average eighteen feet in depth, varied from six to ten feet, and sometimes in a gale of wind was as low as five feet. Major Jas G. Totten, who surveyed the harbor in 1824, says : "In continuation of Presqu'ile, there is a sandbank under water, nearly a mile wide, which runs in a southeast direction to the shore of the main, a little eastward of the town of Erie, reducing the depth of the water in this part (the mouth of the basin) to about six feet on the average.
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A narrow and winding channel runs through this bank, in which there is from five to nine feet water." On Sunday, the first of August, the large vessels arrived at the bar, and were visited by General Mead and staff in full dress, about noon, and received a national salute, fired by Lieutenant Holdup, in an excellent style. The firing drew people in from the country in great numbers, who lined the shore of the lake, filled with astonishment, as they had never before seen a square-rigged vessel. In the evening all hands en- gaged in the work of lightening the vessels preparatory to crossing the bar. The draught of the brigs required that they should be lifted at least four feet, and Mr. Brown had planned to effect this by scows or camels. Captain Dob- bins, who was present and actively engaged, says : "There was less water in the channel by three feet than the vessels required, and after the guns and stores of the Lawrence had been taken ashore, (the guns being laid upon timbers on the sand-beach,) the two lighters or scows were placed on each side of her and large timbers put across the vessel and secured to the lighters. There were four holes in the bottom of the lighters, eight inches square, and plugs fitted to them, which reached above the tops of the lighters; these plugs were taken out and the lighters sunk. The timbers were then blocked upon the lighters, the plugs placed in the holes and the lighters pumped and bailed out, which raised the vessel to the height required to float her over. Before daylight on Tuesday, the vessel was afloat; by two o'clock, her armament was all on board, mounted, a salute fired, and ready for action. The same plau was the next day pursued with the Niagara, and by incessant labor, day and night, she was in twenty-four hours also ready for action. When the Niagara was on the bar with the lighters under her, the British squadron hove in sight, standing in for Erie. It fortunately happened that the wind caused the Lawrence to head in the same direction with the Niagara on the bar, and the weather being quite hazy, the
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enemy must have supposed them both afloat. The head- most of the British vessels hove her main-top-sail to the mast, and lay by until the rest came up, and, after having exchanged signals, they hauled their wind and stood for Long Point. Here they put a courier ashore to proceed to Malden, with orders to get the Detroit out as soon as possible."
"The entire management pertaining to getting the vessels over the bar was of the most judicious kind, both in facilitat- ing the work and protecting the Lawrence and Niagara when aground. While the Lawrence was on the bar, the Niagara and smaller vessels were moored inside, with their broadsides toward the roadstead and within point-blank range of the enemy, should they attempt to approach near enough to destroy her. Besides this, three long 12-pounders were placed upon the bank about one hundred feet above the water, (where the lighthouse now stands,) protected by an earthen entrenchment; this was not more than three hun- dred yards from a line ranging directly over, and could have kept up a destructive fire upon the enemy before they could have reached the vessel."
It has been said that Commodore Barclay lost the ascendency on Lake Erie, by attending a dinner given him and his officers at Port Dover, which is situated on Ry- erson's Creek, below Long Point. It appears there was a dinner given the officers there, about that time, and that Commodore Barclay replied to a complimentary toast in rather boastful and contemptuous terms when alluding to the "Yankee brigs hard and fast upon the bar." The com- pliment of a dinner was undoubtedly accepted by the British officers, but that the day of battle was deferred on that ac- count is scarcely worthy of belief. Captain Perry had looked forward with great anxiety to the passage of the bar. In a letter dated twenty-seventh of July, to the secretary, he says : "We are ready to sail the instant officers and men arrive; and as the enemy appear determined to dispute the
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passage of the bar with us, the question as to the command of Lake Erie will soon be decided."
On the twenty-eighth of July another urgent appeal came from General Harrison. Captain Perry replied : "I am of opinion that in two days the naval superiority will be decided on Lake Erie. Should we be successful, I shall sail for the head of the lake immediately, to co-oper- ate with you, and I hope that our joint efforts will be pro- ductive of honor and advantage to our country. The squadron is not much more than half manned; but as I see no prospect of reinforcement, I have determined to commence my operations. * My anxiety to join you is very great, and had seamen been sent me in time, I should now in all probability have been at the head of the lake acting in conjunction with you." A call was made for volunteers, and a sufficient number offered to man the ves- sels for a cruise to Long Point, where the enemy were sup- posed to be. At three o'clock, on the morning of the sixth of August, the signal was made for the squadron to weigh anchor, and at four the vessels were all under sail. From daylight on the second to the fourth of August, Captain Perry, though in feeble health, had not closed his eyes, and not an officer or man of the squadron had enjoyed a mo- ment's rest, excepting such as could be snatched upon the deck. As they were in search of the enemy, the vessels were cleared for action, and there could consequently be little opportunity for repose. In twenty-four hours the squadron returned to Erie without having seen the enemy, and they afterward heard that they had sailed up the lake to Malden. The list of vessels and commanders on this cruise were-the Lawrence, Captain Perry; Niagara, Lieu- tenant D. Turner; Caledonia, Purser Magrath; schooner Ariel, Lieutenant J. Packett; Scorpion, Sailing-master S. Champlin; Tigress, Master's Mate A. McDonald; Porcu- pine, Midshipman G. Senat. The Ohio and Trippe were left behind for want of crews.
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The evening of the eighth, it was Captain Perry's inten- tion to set sail for the head of the lake, but he was happily detained by the arrival of officers and men from Lake Ontario. Mr. Hambleton, who was purser of the Law- rence, and Captain Perry's confidential friend, has in his journal the following: "Went on shore and transacted a variety of business; paid off the volunteers, so that we have none but the four months' men who signed articles. Captain Perry has just received a letter from General Har- rison, informing him of the raising of the siege of Camp Meigs, and of the unsuccessful attack on the fort at San- dusky, commanded by Lieutenant Croghan. The prisoners taken there state that the new ship Detroit was launched at Malden, on the seventeenth day of last month. Cap- tain Perry and I dined on shore. After dinner, being alone, we had a long conversation on the state of our affairs. He confessed that he was now much at a loss what to do. While he feels the danger of delay, he is not insensible to the danger of encountering an enemy without due preparation. His officers are few and inexperienced, and we are short of seamen. His repeated and urgent requests for men have been treated with the most mortify- ing neglect; he declines making another. While thus en- gaged, a midshipman, Mr. J. B. Montgomery, entered and handed him a letter. It was from Lieutenant Elliot on his way to join him, with several officers and eighty-nine seamen. He was electrified by this news, and as soon as we were alone, he declared he had not been so happy since his arrival." On the tenth, the party from Lake Ontario arrived at Erie, numbering one hundred and two souls, in- cluding two acting lieutenants, eight midshipmen, a mas- ter's mate, and a clerk.
On the twelfth of August, Commodore Perry's squadron again set sail from Erie, with a few short of four hundred officers and men, for the headquarters of the Northwestern army, which were then at Seneca, on the banks of the San-
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dusky. The order of sailing established by Perry's squad- ron was in a double column-the Lawrence, Porcupine, Caledonia, Ohio, and Ariel being on the right, and the Niagara, Trippe, Tigress, Somers, and Scorpion on the left. At first the Ariel and Scorpion, the best sailers of the small vessels, were placed opposite the enemy and near the com- . modore; in a situation to render support in any part of the line. Afterward the Scorpion was brought into the line, and the distance between the vessels was fixed at a half- cable's length, (three hundred and sixty feet. ) Finally, there was an order of attack, in which each vessel had an antagonist assigned to it in the British squadron. Perry reserved to himself the privilege of fighting the largest of the enemy's ships, and, accordingly in his diagram, placed the Lawrence opposite the Detroit, and the Niagara oppo- site the Queen Charlotte. Provision was made in case the vessels should be separated in the night, to recognize each other by the following signal: Hoist one light and hail the vessel to windward; first answer "Jones," to which the leewardmost would reply "Madison." These with others were well conceived to promote concerted action and prevent surprise, and indicated judgment and forethought. On the sixteenth the squadron arrived off Cunningham's or Kelly's Island, and on the seventeenth the Scorpion, which was in advance of the squadron, reconnoitering the islands, in look- ing into Put-in-Bay discovered a small vessel of the enemy. This was the Ottawa, of twenty-five tons, that had pre- viously been captured at Maumee. She at onee attempted to escape, but was closely pursued by the Scorpion, and would have been taken, but the Scorpion grounded in rounding a point off Middle Bass Island, and the little craft made good her escape to the Canada shore. The squadron being under way at the time, working up to the islands, had a full view of the chase.
"The fleet on the seventeenth sailed to the mouth of San- dusky Bay, and on ·anchoring fired three guns, waited ten
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minutes, and fired three more, which was the signal pre- viously agreed upon by letter between Captain Perry and General Harrison. Colonel Gaines the same evening came aboard the Lawrence with a number of officers and Indians, and reported General Harrison twenty-seven miles distant with an army of eight thousand militia, regulars, and Indians. Boats were sent to bring the general and his suite ; the party arrived late in the evening, and consisted of Generals Cass and McArthur, Colonel Gaines, Major Croghan, with his numerous staff and twenty-six chiefs of the Shawnee, Wyandot, and Delaware Indians. Among these were three highly influential ones, Crane, Blackhoof, and Captain Tommy; the Indians were brought that they might inform their friends among the British of the great force of the Americans. On the morning of the twentieth a salute was fired in honor of the general's visit. General Harrison not being ready to advance at this time, Captain Perry resolved immediately to pursue the enemy and offer battle. General Harrison and the commodore spent the day in reconnoitering, and concerted a plan for removing the army to this point when it should assemble, previous to invading Canada. On the twenty-first the general re- turned to his camp, and Captain Perry proceeded to Put- in-Bay and stood out for Malden, where he discovered the British squadron within Bar Point. At Put-in-Bay Gen- eral Harrison had furnished Captain Perry with a rein- forcement of thirty-six volunteers, which, after deducting a few deaths, carried the total of his muster roll to four hun- dred and ninety souls. Of the reinforcement a small num- ber were river boatmen, and were mostly to serve as marines. Many of them were militia from Kentucky, and men who had volunteered from a love of adventure, having never seen a vessel until their arrival at Sandusky, and their
astonishment and curiosity knew no bounds. They un- ceremoniously visited every part of the ship, from the mast- head to the bottom of the hold, and expressed themselves
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in rapturous and enthusiastic terms. Dressed in the favor- ite Kentucky hunting-shirt of blue linsey-woolsey fringed, they themselves were a curiosity to most of the officers and men, some of whom had never before seen a backwoods- man. After being allowed to indulge their curiosity, Commodore Perry stated to them their duties, which they . cheerfully undertook to perform. On their return from Malden, a few days were profitably employed in teaching the ill-assorted crews their duty, and in training them in their various evolutions preparatory to battle. They had returned to Put-in-Bay, as the wind was not favorable to their entering Malden; and they could here watch the
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