September 10, 1813:
The Incredible True Story of Oliver Hazard Perry’s Victory
September 10 marks the anniversary of one of America’s most audacious and forgotten victories: the Battle of Lake Erie.
Two hundred and twelve years ago, a 28-year-old commander changed history with such an improbable story that Hollywood wouldn’t bother buying the script.
Couldn’t you just imagine the pitch? Help me out here; use your best “Hollywood Movie” narrator voice and read the following:
A young officer arrives at a frontier harbor with no ships, no seasoned crews, and almost no ready resources ….He cuts down trees….Builds bridges in record time….Cannons are hauled over swampy roads (Author’s Note: If you really are reading this out loud and using that voice, take a breath) …Drags ships over a sandbar using giant wooden floats ….Trains farmers and militia into fighting sailors …Hoists a battle flag …Stitched with a dying friend’s words ….Looses his flagship in a bloody shootout …Rows his flag—while taking fire—to another vessel …And captures an entire British squadron in a single afternoon.
Would any producer believe it? Dollars to donuts, if they’re a younger breed of producer, I would bet no. And I can easily provide their reasons, which would most likely be valid, ending with it sounding like it was cooked up by a drunken writer who’s forgotten how the world works.
Yet …it happened!
Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory on September 10, 1813, stunned the globe, securing America’s Northwest frontier.
A Fleet Born in the Wilderness
Back in the day, the men who lived and fished around the Great Lakes, circa 1760 to 1811, were as rough-and-ready as their work and environment demanded
They smelled like pine pitch, swore in phrases salty enough to varnish a hull, and could tie a knot faster than they could count to ten. They weren’t polished or prim and feared no man in a fight.
But when that certain sudden gale screamed out of nowhere, even the boldest would cross themselves, because a storm on the Great Lakes would sink pride faster than any British broadside.
That was the world Oliver Hazard Perry stepped into when he set about building his fleet.
Crews Without Uniforms
Because sailors were hard to find in the backwoods, Perry needed to fill his rosters with farmers, militia, freedmen, and even detachments from General William Henry Harrison’s army.
It was a rare find: locating anybody who ever worked on a rigging or fired a naval gun. However, Perry drilled them, day after day, until they became a fighting unit.
Britain had professionals with decades at sea.
America had a patchwork of men with much, much less experience at sea, but with grit.
Grit was enough.
“Don’t Give Up the Ship”
When his flagship was complete, Perry raised a blue flag stitched with the dying words of his good friend, Captain James Lawrence: “DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP.” That flag wasn’t just a decoration; it was a vow.
On September 10, 1813, his men kept it.
Lawrence Under Fire
Cannons roared near South Bass Island, opening the battle. Because the cannons Perry brought to battle packed a tremendous punch, but only at short range, he needed to close quickly.
The Lawrence proved she had a strong jaw after British long guns fired first and kept hammering her relentlessly for two hours. But every ship can take only so much: cannonballs shredded sails, smashed guns, and cut men down.
By the time Perry admitted the Lawrence was finished, blood soaked her decks, and nearly every weapon lay silent.
The Rowboat Gamble
Our entire script idea, because there’s a real fear of rolled eyes sticking to the skull, gets thrown out the window because any director worth a lick of salt would fight to film it.
Break out the “Hollywood Movie” narrator voice and read the following, because it’s honestly an incredible act of heroism.
Perry, the American commander, gathered a handful of sailors, lowered a small boat, and rowed his flag a half mile, while under enemy fire, toward Niagara.
A young commander, standing tall in an open boat, rowed straight into history. Switching flagships mid-battle was almost unheard of, but when the young Perry performed that task while under enemy fire, it marked him forever.
Niagara Breaks the Line
Perry assumed control once he boarded Niagara and ordered the supporting schooners to move closer to the British, then drove Niagara through the British formation.
Meanwhile, the collision between two British ships, Detroit and Queen Charlotte, created a greater sense of chaos on the British side.
Because the British commanders were dead or wounded, bedlam broke out. Perry’s fresh guns repeatedly shot into the broken units until, one by one, all British vessels struck their colors.
The same fleet that had pounded Perry’s flagship, the Lawrence, into silence now surrendered.
“We Have Met the Enemy”
On the back of an envelope, Perry scrawled his victory note:
“We have met the enemy and they are ours: two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.”
That simple sentence did more than share news that a battle was won; it became a mic drop in our country’s history.
- Author Notes: For me, two stories of individual American history are begging to be shared: Oliver Hazard Perry and Henry Knox. Both stories display young men in charge, overcoming Nature’s challenges.
The words became steel: It announced that America owned Lake Erie, America would retake Detroit, and over time, it announced the news that British power in the Northwest would crumble.
And, weeks later at the Battle of the Tyames, Harrison’s troops routed the British-Native alliance. Tecumseh’s death at the battle reshaped the frontier.
Final Thoughts
The Battle of Lake Erie reminds us that Perry’s triumph isn’t just a page in naval history; it’s a fantastic story of leadership, grit, and daring that defied belief.
If you’ve watched Game of Thrones, then it’s easier to soak in every element, from the shipbuilding to the engineering miracle, the blood-soaked flagship, having a rowboat shot at your arse, and shattering the enemy’s line… all of it seems like the Hollywood climax of all time.
Except all of it is true.
There are so many acts of virtue and heroism in American history that no single Hollywood director promises to tell them all.
Character is what you do when nobody is looking. What Oliver Hazard Perry accomplished in a war that, shamefully, is mostly forgotten doesn’t simply hold up against current standards; it’s what helped write our current standards.
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