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.
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
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
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
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.