The Perry Centennial

In September of 1910 the Interstate Board of The Perry’s Victory Centennial Commissioners was organized to create a permanent tribute to Commodore Perry and enable a worthy celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, and of course do it in grand style. From Milwaukee to Buffalo over a dozen Port cites and ten states planned events and then participated in the Battle of Lake Erie Centennial Celebration. Erie’s participation begun long before the Celebration; without it, there wouldn't have been the fleet of ships that brought Perry to victory. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 Erie was a frontier settlement of a few dozen buildings and about 400 settlers. It was first settled in 1795, shortly after the federal government decided a land dispute between New York, Pennsylvania, and other states over the Erie Triangle — a triangular tract of land that fits roughly over present-day Erie county. The residents were mostly farmers, and merchants and sailors dealing in salt, fur, and the lumber trade. Daniel Dobbins first saw Erie in 1795, as part of a surveying party, he remained and settled in Erie to work aboard ships that traded on Lake Erie. By 1803 he was captain of a merchant sloop, the Good Intent, which was one of only a dozen on the Lake. Several years later, in 1809, he would buy his own ship, the schooner Salina.

Dobbins made routine trips to Fort Mackinac in the Strait of Mackinac between Lakes Michigan and Huron. In 1812, while he was at Fort Mackinac, on July 17, some 300 British regulars and hundreds of Indian allies took the fort without a shot. The British troops informed the surprised Americans that war had been declared between their two nations nearly a month earlier. Dobbins was captured there, and then granted parole in exchange for transporting paroled Americans to Cleveland. While transporting the parolees his ship was commandeered as a transport vessel at Fort Detroit, which was captured earlier in mid-August. Dobbins, again captured, was in danger of being executed for violating his parole, but he appealed to an old friend — John Nichol, a Scots-born Canadian trader who was now a Colonel of a provincial militia — for a pass to Cleveland, which was promptly granted.

Dobbins first brought the news of the capture of Fort Mackinac and Detroit to Erie, then to Washington, where he spoke to President James Madison and his cabinet. There, the president asked Dobbins where was the best location to build a fleet on Lake Erie, and Dobbins, with no hesitation, answered: Presque Isle.

Over the next six months, Erie hustling and bustling with activity, its population nearly doubled. The sudden influx of militia, boat builders, and the workers needed to support them, attracted laborers from the rest of the county who cut the timber for the ships, fed the troops, and transported the iron and other material needed for the ships, everyone working furiously to build six ships to challenge the British fleet.

The wartime expansion begun with $2,000 in funds given to Dobbins by President Madison. Four gunboats were being built at the mouth of Lee's run — near where the present-day Myrtle Street ends, when the regional naval commander, Isaac Chauncey, visited, and expanded production. He ordered two of the gunboats to be lengthened and two brigs to be built by the New York City shipwright, Noah Brown, whom hired some 200 workers to work on the brigs at the mouth of Cascade Creek.

Oliver Hazard Perry arrived on March 26, 1813, to take control of the operation. Dobbins took charge of procurement, all of which had to be hauled in from Buffalo or Pittsburgh. With prices in Erie beginning to skyrocket, with all the money brought to the area by the federal contracts and the workers, Dobbins had to impose price controls and rationing.

But by the end of the summer of 1813 the ships were built, and together with some ships from Black Rock, near Buffalo, a small fleet was assembled and ready to enter the lake. But one major obstacle lied in their path: a sandbar sitting at the mouth of the harbor.

Normally only six feet under water, the sandbars were what made Presque Isle Bay an ideal location to build the fleet. The British ships' draft were too deep to enter the harbor, and any attempt would risk being stuck on the sand in the harbor’s mouth, vulnerable to capture or destruction. But now the Lawrence and the Niagara would have to cross that same sandbar to engage the British. They had been built with shallow drafts — only 8 feet — for the very purpose of being able to get over the sandbars. But at the beginning of August, winds pushing the Lake’s waters westward, drifted sand, raising the sandbar, leaving only four and a half feet of water over the sand.

On the morning of August 1 the Lawrence was the first to try to cross the sandbar. Two camel-scows – box barges were placed alongside her, filled with water. When the Lawrence struck the bar, the camels were drained of water so that they would float and lift the brig. Her guns and two smaller anchors were removed, and her anchor was dropped ahead of her; her crew at the capstans pulled the ship to the anchor, inch-by-inch. Twelve hours later, the Lawrence passed the first sandbar. The next day, the process was repeated for the second bar, and twenty-two hours later, on August 3, the Lawrence had successfully passed it.

The next day, on August 4, the British had arrived. The Lawrence was still being refitted after her trip across the sand bars, and the Niagara was as good as a hundred miles away, just inside Presque Isle Bay. From the vantage-point of the British fleet commander, Robert Barclay, it appeared as if both brigs were over the bars and ready for action. Perry sent out his schooners, the Ariel and Scorpion, to fire on the British, confirming their impression that the Americans were ready for battle. Barclay left, fearful of the larger American fleet.

In the following day, August 5, the Niagara crossed the sandbars in only one day, The American Fleet was finally on the lake.

The Battle of Lake Erie was fought on a Friday, September 10, 1813. During the initial conflict the Niagara was not engaged. After two hours of heavy fighting the U.S. Brig Lawrence, Perry’s first flagship and the Niagara’s sistership, had been bombarded and battered into a defenseless hulk. Perry then transferred his battle flag to the Niagara and assumed command. Sailing the Niagara between the British battle line, Perry unleashed his new flagship’s firepower to the fullest, devastating the enemy fleet and capitulating the entire British force into surrendering. For her victorious efforts the Niagara lost 2 men, killed in action, and 25 wounded. Perry’s offensive and the Niagara’s heavy guns together, successfully ended the British dominance of Lake Erie.

Following the Battle of Lake Erie the brig assisted with the transporting of Harrison’s army to the Canadian shore, and her guns covered the landing of American troops. After the Battle of the Thames the Niagara returned to Erie and spent the winter in Presque Isle Bay. The weather-related exhaustion of the brig’s officers, while encased in the 1813-14 winter blanket of ice was much heavier than during the tumult of battle, resulting in two deaths from disease and one suicide. In 1814 the Niagara participated in the ill-ventured raid at Port Dover, Upper Canada, and the ill-fated campaign against Fort Michilimackinac.

The 1814 Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve ending any real demand for warships on Lake Erie. The need for the gun brigs were made even more pointless after the Rush-Bagot Agreement was signed with Great Britain in 1818, a treaty which called for disarmament on the Great Lakes. For the next two years the Niagara served as a station ship at Presque Isle, but as the Erie Naval Station was phased out there was nothing that could be done to save the brig. Built specifically as a shallow draft gun vessel, it was impractical to sell the Niagara for conversion to a merchant vessel. In the possibility that the brig might be needed at some future point in the event that hostilities were to erupt with Canada the U.S. Brig Niagara was sunk for preservation purposes by the U.S. Navy in Misery Bay.

The Niagara remained at the bottom of Misery Bay for the next ninety-three years. Then in 1913, as part of the Perry Centennial, the Niagara was raised and restored by a group of Erie citizens and the Perry Centennial Commission. Original plans could not be found at either the Navy Department or the National Archives, so the restoration was based on a design conceived by the noted naval historian, Howard I. Chapelle. The reconstructed Niagara was then towed, by the USS Wolverine, to different ports on the Great Lakes for the variety of centennial activities that were to be held.

The idea of raising the Niagara won the supported of the Perry Centennial Commission in the autumn of 1912, and in the early spring on March 6, 1913, divers were sent down for a thorough examination of her condition. The old ship was found with many of her original timbers intact, the hand-forged iron nails in most cases still adhering firmly. The vessel had laid for nearly a century on her side, partly embedded in the clean white sand of Misery Bay, with decaying vegetation entirely absent. The waters had tended to preserve her, the only disintegration being on the side nearest the surface, where the waves had washed away the gun ports. She was discovered to have been built mainly of oak, and the frame part of the bulwarks of oak, cedar and black walnut. Shortly after the examination she was raised from her long resting place and launched with proper patriotic ceremonies, on June 7, 1913. Afterwards, the work of her restoration continued rapidly in preparation for her cruise of the Great Lakes, in the Perry's Victory Centennial Celebration.

On July 4, 1913, the Perry Centennial Celebration begun at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, with the laying of the corner stone of the Perry Memorial monument. Celebrations were planned for the cities of Erie, Toledo, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, Sandusky, Lorain and Green Bay, with Put-in-Bay being the focus of the celebration culminating September 10-11th.

During her tour of the ports of the Great Lakes which held the celebrations, the Niagara was convoyed by a fleet consisting of the representative naval militia ships of the Great Lakes and United States revenue cutters. Her debut was scheduled for the 6th of July at Erie, from there she set forth on her long voyage on July 13th, pursuing the following itinerary: Fairport, Ohio, one day, July 14th; Lorain, Ohio, July 15-20th; Put-in-Bay, Ohio, July 20-25th ; Monroe, Michigan, July 26-27th; Toledo, Ohio, July 27th-August 1st; Detroit, Michigan, August 1st-3d ; Green Bay, Wisconsin, August 7-9th ; Milwaukee, Illinois, August ll-16th ; Chicago, Illinois, August 17th-22d ; Buffalo, New York, September 1st-6th; Sandusky, Ohio, September 8-9th ; Put-in-Bay, Ohio, September 10-11th; Returning to Erie on September 21, 1913, to be cribbed up just out of the water.

Erie’s Celebration

Erie had its own itinerary for its own celebration, which was a week long.

Sunday, July 6. — 11:00 o'clock a.m., special services in all churches, with international peace as the leading theme of pulpit utterances; 3:00 o'clock p.m., a great mass peace meeting of churches, Sunday schools and other organizations, preceded by a grand parade terminating at the grand stands between the post office and public library, where the marching hosts will be seated and costumed in such manner as to form the American flag. Thereupon the musical and oratorical program will be carried out.

Monday, July 7. — Reception day. In the forenoon the mercantile establishments of Erie will be dressed in gala attire for the reception of visitors; 3:00 p.m., reception of the DuPont powder wagon, which is to be escorted by a detachment of Pennsylvania militiamen of the USS Wolverine, the Navy’s first iron vessel, built in Erie in 1884; 4:00 o'clock p. m., baseball at Perry Field, Erie vs. Akron; 7:30 p.m., guard mount at state encampment. Arrival of Commodore Perry at Erie with an address of welcome by Major W. J. Stem; 8:00 o'clock p.m., parade of decorated and illuminated automobiles.

Tuesday, July 8. — Mothers' and Children's Day; 2:00 o'clock p. m., grand parade of 10.000 school children; 4:00 o'clock p.m., baseball at Perry Field, Erie vs. Canton; 7:30 o'clock p.m., guard mount at state encampment; 8:00 o'clock p.m., grand concert and pageantry parade.

Wednesday, July 9. — Governor's day; 2:00 o'clock p.m., grand military parade of 5,000 soldiers and sailors of the National Guard and naval militia of Pennsylvania, to be reviewed by Governor and staff; 4:00 o'clock p.m., baseball at Perry Field, Erie vs. Canton; 9:00 o'clock p.m., grand display of fireworks, with fire portraits and elaborate set pieces, including a picture of the Battle of Lake Erie.

Thursday, July 10. — Naval day; 2:00 o'clock p.m., military parade to be reviewed by Honorable Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy; 3:00 o'clock p. m., naval parade, followed by boat races on the Bay. Entries of 150 yachts and motor boats; 4:00 o'clock p. m., baseball at Perry Field. 7:30 o'clock p. m., guard mount at state encampment; 8:00 o'clock p.m., pageantry parade of historical floats. Grand concert of massed bands.

Friday, July 11. — Fraternal day; 2:00 o'clock p. m., monstrous fraternal parade composed of all uniformed bodies of the city, with beautiful floats emblematic of historical events; 4:00 o'clock p.m., baseball at Perry Field, Erie vs. Steubenville; 7:30 o'clock p.m., guard mount at state encampment; 8:00 o'clock p. m., grand massed band concert; 8:30 p.m., street carnival or Mardi Gras.

Saturday, July 12. — Industrial day; 2:00 o'clock p. m., grand civic and industrial parade by manufacturers, merchants and organizations, with floats representing the progress of Erie in the industrial world; 4:00 o'clock p. m., baseball in Perry Field, Erie vs. Steubenville; 7:30 p.m., guard mount at state encampment;

8:00 o'clock p.m., band concerts in the different parks.

During the celebration the restored flagship Niagara was at the public dock for general inspection by the public without charge. From July 6th to the departure of the Niagara her convoys of the naval militia was also at anchor in the harbor.

Historic Facts About The Battle Of Lake Erie

"Don't give up the ship" was not said by Perry. These were the the dying words of Captain James Lawrence for whom Perry's flagship was named. A group of Erie women made the flag for Perry in July 1813, prior to the sortie of his squadron from Presque Isle Bay enroute to Put-in-Bay. This famous flag is now exhibited in a place of honor at the United States Naval Academy.

Ironically - the only way Perry was able to win the Battle of Lake Erie was to haul down the "Don't Give up the ship" flag and do just that; leave the LAWRENCE for the NIAGARA .

Perry's report of victory in the Battle of Lake Erie to General Harrison, "We have met the enemy and they are ours..." has become a classic quote from American history.

Within 15 minutes after Perry's transfer from LAWRENCE to NIAGARA, the Battle of Lake Erie was over with the surrender of the entire British squadron. Within those 15 minutes, Perry put every ounce of energy into the fight. The real motto was "Don't Give Up."

Commodore Perry not only won the first United States Navy fleet action, but with the victory at Lake Erie, he defeated and captured an entire British squadron for the first time in British history.

On the day of the battle, Perry's entire squadron numbered between 500 and 600 crew. One hundred sixteen of them were incapacitated with lake fever, greatly reducing his numbers. At the time lake fever was believed to be caused by spoiled food. Today it is thought the lake fever, was caused by contaminated lake water.

A significant number of the sailors who manned the U.S. squadron during the Battle of Lake Erie were African-Americans, perhaps as many as one-fourth.

In naval battles, prize money for each vessel captured was awarded to the victorious crews. Although Daniel Dobbins was responsible for initiating construction in Erie of the Lake Erie fleet, he did not take part in the actual battle as his ship was enroute from Erie to Perry with vital supplies. After the battle, however, Dobbins and his crew did receive shares of the prize money.

Perry was awarded a Congressional medal for his actions during the battle, and he was finally given command of the frigate, USS Java.

US Brig Niagara being raised out of Misery Bay (1913)

US Brig Niagara being raised out of Misery Bay (1913)

The crew of shipwrights that rebuilt the Flagship Niagara in 1913 after the remains of the ship were raised from Misery Bay.

US Brig Niagara under tow of the tug, Buffalo, during the Perry Centennial Naval Parade (1913)

Monroe, Michigan residents thronged to the harbor, in 1913, for a glimpse at the original US Brig Niagara.

Perry Centennial Parade, City of Erie (1913)

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