SIGNIFICANCE OF
PERRY'S VICTORY.
BY ISAAC J. COX.
[On the evening of February 23d, 1910,
the Ohio Perry's Victory
Commission, appointed by the Governor of
Ohio to make suitable
arrangements for the celebration of
Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, Sep-
tember 10, 1913, had a hearing before a
special joint meeting of both
houses of the Ohio Assembly. On this
occasion Dr. Isaac J. Cox, pro-
fessor of American History in the
Cincinnati University and President
of the Ohio Valley Historical
Association, delivered the following ad-
dress. - EDITOR. ]
Our second war with Great Britain,
usually spoken of as
the "War of 1812," was the
struggle of the United States for
industrial and social independence of
Europe. Just as the thir-
teen colonies four decades before had
thrown off the political
ties which bound them to Europe, so the
eighteen states that
in 1812 composed the American Union waged a second war
against Great Britain for the purpose of
making real and effec-
tive the independence which they had
nominally gained in 1776.
It is this struggle which emphasizes
American nationality, and
in all that went to characterize it,
with one marked exception,
the Northwest emphasizes, point by
point, its main features.
I have just stated that the war was one
which emphasized
American nationality, but it will be
necessary, at the very outset,
to call attention to certain sectional
conditions which arose
during the different years of the
struggle. It was during this
period that the New England states grew
restive under national
control and paused just short of
threatened secession. At this
time the South and the Southwest were
absorbed by the prospect
of gaining Florida, of defending
Louisiana, or of carrying fili-
bustering warfare into the heart of the
Mexican Viceroyalty.
On the Atlantic coast the struggle is
divided into petty con-
flicts during which one section after
another felt the weight
of British naval supremacy. The capture
of Washington and
the defense of Baltimore, predatory
ravages on the coast of
(460)
Significance of Perry's
Victory. 461
Maine, Virginia and of Georgia, a
brilliant series of naval con-
flicts that arouse national spirit but
achieve no noteworthy pur-
pose, a series of incompetent exploits
along our Great Lake
frontier, savage border warfare in Ohio,
Indiana, and the re-
maining portions of the Northwest-these
are some of the
distressing features of a conflict which
originated in national
desperation but happily, in its outcome
found vent in national
expansion and national glorification.
I have stated that the Northwest
represented, upon a small
scale, nearly every important feature of
this struggle. The
surrender of Detroit bears a close
comparison with the igno-
minious defense of Washington City; the
struggle to retain
Fort Erie suggests the successful
repulse of the British at Bal-
timore. These two events, at the
opposite extremes of Lake
Erie, mark out that body of water as the
real center of the
conflict with Great Britain in the
Northwest. Throughout the
Ohio Valley and the highlands to the
east of it there exists a
widespread desire for the conquest of
Canada-a desire paral-
leled by the southern determination to
obtain the Floridas. The
retaliatory raids around Lakes Erie and
Ontario suggest the
coast operations from Maine to Georgia.
The Indians of the
Northwest, under British control, form a
hostile group more
formidable than the Creeks that
terrorized the Southwest. Na-
tional humiliation and national
inefficiency, each finds its coun-
terpart within the limits of our section
but in one marked
respect, it presents no significant
example. There is no Hart-
ford convention in the Northwest; no
evidence of New Eng-
land secession can be detected even
amidst the discourage-
ments that retarded every campaign. The
Northwest Terri-
tory, the first child of the Union,
remains true to its parent
in this hour of adversity.
The series of events leading up to
Perry's victory need be
only casually mentioned. The fall of
Detroit in the fall of
1812 opened Mackinac Island and Fort
Dearborn (on the site
of Chicago) to Indian attack, and the
abandonment of Wis-
consin naturally followed. The month
of calamity in the
latter portion of 1812 led to the
deeper gloom of the following
winter when the Raisin river massacre
halted Harrison's opera-
462
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
tions in northern Ohio and rendered the
policy of the North-
west one of defense rather than
conquest. Later in the year
however, the successful defense of Fort
Meigs and Croghan's
brilliant engagement at Fort Stephenson
check the tide of Brit-
ish conquest. It was high time that this
result was brought
about. The war parties of Indians were
carrying on opera-
tions within thirty miles of Louisville,
and threatened a rever-
sion to conditions which existed thirty
years before, when on
the northern bank of the Ohio white and
Indian were contend-
ing with each other for the territory
which the new national
government had just opened to
settlement. Apparently the
struggle that had marked the years
immediately succeeding the
Revolution was to be re-enacted in all
of its horror. The
situation illustrates the fact that the
conquest of the wilder-
ness, before modern methods of
communication were known,
was a most appalling task, involving the
prospect that the terri-
tory so hardly won for civilization
might at any moment re-
lapse into the possession of its former
savage occupants. This
lack of communication was the crowning
difficulty of cam-
paigning in the Northwest, and he who
successfully solved the
question should of right be twice
crowned as victor over the
foe and over the savage wilderness.
It is upon this scene of desolation,
incompetence, and well
conceived terror, in the spring of 1813,
that young Oliver
Hazard Perry arrives and begins
preparations for that victory
which we desire to commemorate. The
administration has in-
deed turned its attention toward the
Northwest, but its interests
had not been vitalized. William Jones,
at the head of the Navy
Department in Washington, was
inefficient; Commodore
Chauncey on Lake Ontario, Perry's
immediate superior, was
indifferent to the fate of the
Northwest. The whole situation,
then, depended upon the genius and
energy of the young
Rhode Islander, and well did he execute
his formidable task
The mention of Perry's native state
suggests comparison be-
tween him and another famous Rhode Island fighter, the
Quaker blacksmith, Nathaniel Greene. Just
as Greene restored
order in the confused Commissary
Department of the Conti-
nental Army at Valley Forge and breathed
a new spirit into
Significance of Perry's Victory. 463
the forces of the South during his
Carolina campaigns, so did
Perry bring order out of the chaos of
the Northwest and affect
his associates with his indomitable
spirit. "Everything from
nothing." - This expression well
characterizes his exploit. He
must construct a fleet, and that, too,
without regard to the time
element, for haste means victory. To
construct this fleet he
must bring the iron from Pittsburg, the
tackle from Philadel-
phia, Baltimore, or New York, and
munitions of war from
Watertown or Harper's Ferry. He must
search for most of
his sailors in the forests of the
Northwest; but, luckily for
him, many of the immigrants to that
section had not forgotten
the nautical training of early years,
and, emerging from their
shaded fastnesses, re-enacted upon the
inland waters the ex-
ploits of Revolutionary
privateering. The haste that charac-
terized all of these preparations is
exemplified in the fact
that what in the morning had been green
timber standing upon
its own trunk in the forest, by
nightfall was fashioned into the
masts and spars of the embryo fleet. In
a way this is emble-
matic of the sudden blossoming maturity
of our own nation
because of a like quick and wasteful use
of our national re-
sources. Perry's energy as the prime
mover in this task is
perhaps best exemplified in the terse
phrase of Danton: "De
l'audace, encore de l'audace et toujours
de l'audace!"
Within an incredible few weeks the newly
constructed
fleet is swinging at anchor behind the
breakwater at Presqu'
Isle. Its dauntless captain simply
awaits the opportunity for
the fight that he covets. As he paced
the deck of the Law-
rence he suggests the intrepid La Salle, the pioneer
shipbuilder
of Lake Erie. Just as the suspicious
Iroquois blockaded the
"Griffon" a century and a
quarter before, so the watchful
Briton prevents his rival from reaching
the open sea, where
alone he can fight to advantage. After a
long period of delay,
the Englishman Barclay appropriately
succumbs to a dinner
invitation, and his couped-up antagonist
does not await a sec-
ond opportunity. By a clever strategem
his vessels are lifted
across the bar and float freely upon the
waters of Lake Erie;
and his rival withdraws to the vicinity
of Detroit. The long
blockade broken, Perry adopts the
initiative and begins to
464 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
search for the enemy, with the object of
giving him immediate
battle. He thus pursues a positive,
instead of a negative course
of action, and by so doing suggests a
fair comparison between
American and British policy in this
section. From the begin-
ning the American policy had been to go
in and occupy the
land; that of the British, to permit it
to lie fallow as an Indian
hunting ground. Perry, at the head of
his fleet on Lake Erie
searching for his opponent Barclay,
exemplifies this idea, and
the coming battle decides in favor of
the policy of action.
On the tenth of September, as the two
fleets bear down
on each other, the young commodore
fittingly displays as his
watchword the charge of the dying
Lawrence-"Don't give up
the ship!" In the course of the
fight, as he passes from the
deck of his sinking flagship, he appears
to be forgetting his
own watchword, but it is only the
abandonment of a dis-
mantled hulk, and not the giving up of the
fight; for raising his
colors aloft on the Niagara he
continues the conflict, and within
a few fateful minutes is penning the
thrilling despatch-"We
have met the enemy and they are
ours!"
The significance of this message is not
the material results
indicated by its closing words -
"two ships, two schooners, one
sloop, and one brig"-but the
opportunity that is now given
for American arms to undo the shameful
effects of Hull's sur-
render. Because of Perry's advance and victory Harrison
could give the order for a forward
movement against Detroit.
The occupation of that post by the
Americans was followed
by a swift pursuit of the retreating
British through Upper Can-
ada, the encounter on the Thames River,
and the death of Te-
cumseh, the last of the great Indian
organizers. When this
series of events finally cleared the
Northwest of foreign in-
vaders, the miserable alliance between
the Indians and the
British received its death-blow, and our
government began its
more confident, if less just, Indian
policy. A second series
of treaties with the Indians at
Greenville cemented the definite
alliance between Indian and American and
gave a pause to
British diplomats, who at Ghent were
demanding the establish-
ment of an Indian protectorate beyond
the Ohio River. The
recovery of the Northwest meant the
release of the men of Ken-
Significance of Perry's Victory. 465
tucky, who went home from their sister
state to the northward.
as in '65 many of them returned from
their sister states to the
southward, conscious that they had
assisted in preserving the
Union. Outside of the Northwest the
effect of the victory
and ensuing campaigns was equally
marked. Kentucky and
Tennessee could turn their attention to
the defense of the lower
Mississippi and accomplish at New
Orleans a more striking,
but not more signal victory than at
Put-in-Bay. The encounter
at the latter island inspired McDonald
on Lake Champlain to
meet an invading force of Wellington's
hitherto victorious vet-
erans. It inspired Scott and Brown and
Ripley to the defense
of the Niagara frontier, where the
daring of Perry's "Don't-
give-up-the-ship" is matched by
Ripley's confident "I-will-try,-
sir." The flag borne over the
shot-swept waters of Lake Erie
is matched by its fellow fluttering in
the morning light over the
ramparts of Fort McHenry, and the
loyalty aroused in the
Northwest by this doughty New Englander
served in a meas-
ure to dull the keen edge of New
England's later threat of
secession.
The effect of this significant encounter
was felt, not merely
within the limits of our own country but
in the far off Belgian
town of Ghent, the scene of the treaty
which closed the War.
To the haughty demand of the
representatives of Great Britain
that no American vessels should be
permitted on the Great
Lakes and that its shore should be
fortified by their govern-
ment, the American negotiators replied
that their fleet held
sway over the disputed waters. In answer
to the suggestion
that the country between the Ohio and
the Great Lakes should
continue indefinitely in possession of
the Indians, as wards of
the British government, the Americans
reported Harrison's
treaties at Greenville. To the threat of
further conquest of
American territory by Wellington's
veterans, the Americans re-
turned the opinion of the great duke
himself that England had
no just cause to continue the American
struggle. The result
of the weeks of harassing negotiations
at Ghent was a mere
agreement on the part of both contending
parties to cease hos-
tilities, but this temporary peace was
followed by negotiations
Vol. XIX. - 30.
466 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. on a more durable basis by which both authorities agreed to arm no vessels on the Great Lakes. By this significant action the great victory of Oliver Haz- ard Perry was to remain in history as an event making for international peace. The first great naval encounter between civilized nations in this region was likewise to be the last. In the vast commercial fleets which to-day throng our inland seas and which in friendly rivalry administer to the wants of adja- cent populations- under different flags, it is true, but equally devoted to the busy task of industrial democracy, - we behold the successors of Perry's hastily constructed flotilla. Thus it is fitting that we should commemorate the name of Oliver Hazard Perry and his great victory, by a monument which stands as a harbinger of perpetual peace rather than as a memento of frat- ricidal war. |
|
SIGNIFICANCE OF
PERRY'S VICTORY.
BY ISAAC J. COX.
[On the evening of February 23d, 1910,
the Ohio Perry's Victory
Commission, appointed by the Governor of
Ohio to make suitable
arrangements for the celebration of
Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, Sep-
tember 10, 1913, had a hearing before a
special joint meeting of both
houses of the Ohio Assembly. On this
occasion Dr. Isaac J. Cox, pro-
fessor of American History in the
Cincinnati University and President
of the Ohio Valley Historical
Association, delivered the following ad-
dress. - EDITOR. ]
Our second war with Great Britain,
usually spoken of as
the "War of 1812," was the
struggle of the United States for
industrial and social independence of
Europe. Just as the thir-
teen colonies four decades before had
thrown off the political
ties which bound them to Europe, so the
eighteen states that
in 1812 composed the American Union waged a second war
against Great Britain for the purpose of
making real and effec-
tive the independence which they had
nominally gained in 1776.
It is this struggle which emphasizes
American nationality, and
in all that went to characterize it,
with one marked exception,
the Northwest emphasizes, point by
point, its main features.
I have just stated that the war was one
which emphasized
American nationality, but it will be
necessary, at the very outset,
to call attention to certain sectional
conditions which arose
during the different years of the
struggle. It was during this
period that the New England states grew
restive under national
control and paused just short of
threatened secession. At this
time the South and the Southwest were
absorbed by the prospect
of gaining Florida, of defending
Louisiana, or of carrying fili-
bustering warfare into the heart of the
Mexican Viceroyalty.
On the Atlantic coast the struggle is
divided into petty con-
flicts during which one section after
another felt the weight
of British naval supremacy. The capture
of Washington and
the defense of Baltimore, predatory
ravages on the coast of
(460)