Ohio History Journal

476        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

"The Functions of Museums and the Question of Special Exhibi-

tions", by Frederic A. Lucas, American Museum of Natural History.

"The Museum Point of View in Botany", by E. L. Morris, Brooklyn

Institute Museum.

"A Celestial Sphere-An Appartus Installed to Promote Interest in

Astronomy", by Dr. W. W. Atwood, Chicago Academy of Sciences.

"The Educational Work of a Natural History Museum", by W. W.

Atwood, Chicago Academy of Sciences.

"The Deutaches Museum at Munich", by Mr. Charles R. Toothaker,

Philadelphia Museum.

"Legislation in the Interest of the Ohio State Museum", by William

C. Mills, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, Columbus, 0.

The Association adjourned at 1:00 P. M. to Memorial Hall, Fairmont

Park for luncheon. After luncheon the members inspected the Museum

and were given an automobile ride through Fairmont Park visiting the

Zoological Gardens and ending the ride at the Wagner Free Institute of

Science.

 

 

NOTES ON PERRY'S VICTORY.

The centennial celebration of Perry's Victory has practically occupied

the summer on the Great Lakes. The recovery of Perry's second flagship,

the Niagara, from the depths of Little Bay, and its rejuvenation has been

the chief sensational event and formed the central attraction. From Erie

to Chicago it has been the central figure in the naval procession of triumph.

The culmination of all these celebrations will be on September 10, the

centennial anniversary of the battle of Lake Erie.

Governor James M. Cox will go to Put-in-Bay to preside at the

exercises in celebration of the anniversary of Perry's victory.

President Woodrow Wilson will speak for the United States and a

distinguished Canadian for the Dominion of Canada. The oration of the

day will be delivered by former President Taft, and addresses will also

be delivered by Lieutenant Governor R. B. Burchard of Rhode Island, and

Rev. J. A. Carey of Chicago.

After these exercises the invited guests will go to Cedar Point, where

a banquet, given by the interstate board, will be held.

On the morning of September 11 the guests will return to Put-in-

Bay. On this day will take place the impressive ceremony of the removal

from their present graves of the bones of the American and British officers

killed in the battle of Lake Erie, to the crypt in the Perry memorial,

where they will be reinterred with international honors.

Delegations consisting of the governors and their staffs, state officials,

members of the United States senate and house of representatives, and

other distinguished citizens from the states participating in this centennial

will be present.

• 1
 

Editorialana.                       477

 

This celebration will be international in its scope, as it will com-

memorate the equal valor and heroism of the sailors of both fleets partici-

pating in the battle of Lake Erie, which was fought on September 10,

1813; and also the fact that this battle marked the end of naval warfare

on the Great Lakes and was a herald of the century of peace between the

English-speaking people that will have ensued since the signing of the

Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814.

*    *   *

These celebrations have the great merit of being incentives to his-

torical study, and they form milestones in our recurrence to the past.

This generation has almost forgotten the War of 1812. Two of its events,

however, are stamped upon the popular mind, these are Perry's Victory

and the Battle of New Orleans. Every other fact seems to belong to the

historian alone. Perry on Lake Erie and General Jackson at New Orleans

are the people's recollections of the War of 1812. Of the two events the

former is the most important because it was the decisive factor of results.

Every war has determining battles. A great historian has written a book

on "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World." In this work, written

in 1851, Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy has described what he considered

the great engagements that determined human history. He would have

broadened his scope of vision and surrendered nothing to the truth of his-

tory if he had included Perry's Victory on Lake Erie in his work. The

War of 1812 was practically and truly a second War of Independence. If

Great Britain had won it would have been at the cost of American Nation-

ality. It would have resulted in a loss of National territory and National

power. Already through Hull's disgraceful surrender, Michigan was a

British possession. Ohio was invaded, and it was only at frightful cost

that Proctor and Tecumseh were repulsed at Forts Meigs and Stephenson.

Up to the time that Perry defeated the British on Lake Erie, the cam-

paigns in the Northwest were purely defensive without positive results.

General Harrison had created a splendid army for the invasion of Canada

but it was impossible until the British were destroyed on the Lakes.

Proctor and Tecumseh were at Maiden with an army of five thousand

ready to pounce upon Ohio in case Perry was defeated. Harrison and

his army were at Sandusky Bay ready to recover Michigan and invade

Canada. Both were within sound of the guns of the hostile fleets. When

Perry sent to Harrison his famous message the whole situation was re-

lieved and solved. The direct results were Harrison's invasion of Canada,

his victory over the British and Indians under Tecumseh at the Thames,

the overthrow of English power in Michigan and the peninsula and the

protection of the whole Northwestern frontier from British invasion and

Indian depredation. The effect was positive and electric. It was recog-

nized, as it was, as the decisive battle of 1812. It was so regarded by the

British press. And it did not fail to strike the American mind in the

same way. Washington Irving in the Analectic Review for December,

1813, only a few months after the battle, thus wrote concerning it: "The

• 2
 

478        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

last roar of cannon that died along her shores was the expiring note of

British domination. Those vast internal seas will perhaps never again

be the separating space between contending nations, but will be embosomed

within a mighty empire; and this victory, which decided their fate, will

stand unrivalled and alone, deriving lustre and perpetuity from its single-

ness. In future times, when the shores of Erie shall hum with busy pop-

ulation; when towns and cities shall brighten where now extend the dark

and tangled forests; when ports shall spread their arms and lofty barks

shall ride where now the canoe is fastened to the stake; when the present

age shall have grown into antiquity, and the mists of fable begin to gather

round its history, then will the inhabitants look back to this battle we

record as one of the romantic achievements of the days of yore. It will

stand first on the page of their local legends and in the marvelous tales

of the borders."

Surely Irving's vision has been realized beyond its most extravagant

hopes or dreams, and to the decisive battle of Lake Erie can it truthfully

ascribe it.

*    *   *

There is an interesting incident in connection with Perry's departure

from Erie, where his fleet started from, which shows how unimportant

events may control powerful results. There was a bar in the harbor of

Erie that offered to Perry a dangerous and almost insuperable obstruc-

tion to the floating of his vessels into the Lake; this was especially dan-

gerous and doubtful to the Lawrence and the Niagara. Captain Robert

Heirot Barclay, the British commander, had been blockading the harbor

for a week. He felt that Perry could not cross the bar without much

labor and time-if at all. Barclay was right in this assumption, for when

the vessels were towed to the bar Perry found to his disappointment that

the lake was below its usual level; that there was only four feet of water,

instead of six, and that even the smaller vessels could not be towed over.

Feeling secure in this situation Barclay on Tuesday, August 2nd, sailed

away to a point in Canada where he and his officers were invited to a

dinner. On this occasion he responded to a toast in which he said: "I

expect to find the Yankee brigs hard and fast on the bar at Erie when I

return, in which predicament it will be but a small job to destroy them."

While these festivities were held the young American commander was

busy. J. Fennimore Cooper, in his "History of the Navy of the United

States," (Vol. II, p. 289) thus describes how the vessels were towed over

the bar: "Without any appearance of unusual preparation, Captain Perry

privately gave the order to repair on board their respective vessels and to

drop down to the bar. This command was immediately obeyed; and at

about 2 P. M., the Lawrence had been towed to the point where the deep-

est water was known to be. Her guns were whipped out, loaded and shot-

ted as they were, and lowered on the beach; two large scows, prepared

for the purpose, were hauled alongside, and the work of lifting the brig

proceeded as fast as possible. Pieces of massive timber had been run

• 3
 

Editorialana.                       479

 

through the forward and after parts, when the scows were sunk to the

water's edge; the ends of the timbers were blocked up, supported by these

floating foundations. The plugs were now put in the scows, and the water

was pumped out of them. By this process, the brig was lifted quite two

feet, though when she got over the bar it was found that she still drew too

much water. It became necessary to 'come up' everything, sink the scows

anew, and block up the timbers afresh. This duty occupied the night."

When Barclay returned from his banquet at 8 A. M. on the 5th of

August, he found the Lawrence over the bar, and the other vessels on their

way. He turned away, to meet them on the 10th of September, in a defeat.

Thus an unwise dinner engagement gave Perry that liberty which resulted

in his victory. He was securely "bottled up," and nothing but the con-

vivial inclinations of Barclay gave him the opportunity to free himself.

*    *   *

Perry's Victory has been celebrated in song and story, and on the

painter's canvas. Indeed, as Washington Irving wrote, "The mists of

fable begin to gather round its history." It was made the subject of

countless ballads; the Nation, states and cities vied in honoring the hero

of the Lakes. The city of New York ordered the famous artist, John W.

Jarvis, to paint a portrait of Perry in his boat on his way to the Niagara.

He is represented with the banner of the Lawrence floating from his

shoulders to the breeze. As a matter of fact it is closely wrapped about

him under his arms. The most famous and best known picture of the

historical event is that of William H. Powell, executed in response to a

joint resolution of Ohio Legislature passed April 17, 1857. The State paid

ten thousand dollars for this painting. The payment was authorized April

13, 1865. Every Ohioan is familiar with this noble production which hangs

in the rotunda of the Capitol. But it is purely idealistic in its construction.

Some critics have undertaken to name the sailors in the boat. The only

portrait in the painting is that of Perry. His young brother is shown

by his side; he was not in the boat but remained on the Lawrence with

the balance of the crew. Lossing states that he went with Perry to the

Niagara, and Roosevelt adopts this statement in his "Naval War of 1812."

It is absolutely unfounded in fact. Henry T. Tuckermann in his "Book

of the Artists," (1867) a study and progress of art in America, gives an

interesting history of the painting. He says the sailors "are genuine nau-

tical types, models from the Brooklyn Navy Yard."  Powell painted his

masterpiece in New York. He subsequently painted an enlarged copy for

the Federal government and it is now on the East stairway leading to the

Senate galleries. The painting is dated 1873. His studio for this work

was in the Capitol, and he took as his models men engaged in work in

that building. So that historically speaking, the famous painting of Perry's

Victory, outside of the central figure, is purely ideal.

*    *   *

One of the most impressive facts of the battle was the youth of the

officers of the American squadron. Perry himself was but twenty-seven

• 4
 

480         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

years old; his subordinate commanders were younger still. Dr. Usher

Parsons, the medical officer of the flag-ship Lawrence, says that "The

average age of the commissioned officers of Perry's squadron was less

than twenty-three; the average age of the warrant officers was less than

twenty years." On the other side, Barclay was one of the British veterans

of the sea. He had served with honor and distinction with Nelson at

Trafalgar and was desperately wounded in that memorable sea fight. Sub-

sequently he lost an arm in a naval battle with the French. His second

in command was Captain Finnis, of experience and honorable standing in

the British navy. The rank and file of his sailors were from the Royal

Navy. The termination of the Napoleonic wars enabled Britain to send

some of her most seasoned veterans to the States. Perry faced as for-

midable a British fleet as any American in history, and for the first and

only time in the history of Great Britain a British fleet was defeated, and

the Union Jack hauled down.

*    *   *

The sanguinary character of the conflict has not been exceeded in

American naval warfare. This was especially true on board the flag-ship

Lawrence. It was literally cut to pieces and its crew was practically mas-

sacred by the British cannon. Blood, brains and bodies were strewn on

the deck. When Perry left his ship twenty-two of his crew were killed

and sixty-one wounded. He aided in firing the last gun himself so badly

was he situated. When left in the small boat with four of sailors, for

the Niagara then were only fifteen sound men aboard. This terrible re-

sult was due to the fact that for two hours the full force and weight of

the enemy's fire was directed upon the Lawrence.

• 5