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Page 32
"Erie and Presque Isle Bay," announced the Historian. "A famous place.
From it sailed Oliver Hazard Perry with his fleet of nine sail to most
unmercifully drub the British lion on that tenth day of September, 1813.
The battle took place some distance from here over against Sandusky. I
will tell you all about it when we get there. My grandfather was one of
the actors."
He said no more, and for a long time the conversation was sustained by
Vincent and myself. The steamer put in at Cleveland just at dusk. The
stop was brief, however, and we left the beautiful and thriving city
looking like a queen on the Ohio shore under the bridal veil of night.
The evening was brilliant with moonlight. The lake was like a mirror or
an enchanted sea. Hour after hour passed, and we still sat on deck
gazing on the scene. Far to the south we saw the many lights of a city
shining. It was Sandusky.
"How delightful it is!" murmured Vincent.
"Beautiful," I replied. "If it were only the Ionian Sea, now, or the
clear �gean"--
"Those classic waters cannot match this lake," interrupted Hugh.
"The battle of Erie will outlive Salamis or Actium. The laurels of
Themistokles and Augustus fade even now before those of Perry. He was
a hero worth talking about, something more human altogether than any
of Plutarch's men. I feel it to be so now at least. It was right here
somewhere that the battle raged."
"He was quite a young man, I believe," said I, glad to show that I knew
something of the hero. I had seen his house at Newport many times, one
of the old colonial kind, and his picture, that of a tall, slim man,
with dash and bravery in his face, was not unfamiliar to me.
"Yes; only twenty-seven, and just married," continued the Historian,
settling down to work. "Before the battle he read over his wife's
letters for the last time, and then tore them up, so that the enemy
should not see those records of the heart, if victorious. 'This is the
most important day of my life,' he said to his officers, as the first
shot from the British came crashing among the sails of the Lawrence;
'but we know how to beat those fellows,' he added, with a laugh. He had
nine vessels, with fifty-four guns and four hundred and ninety officers
and men. The British had six ships mounting sixty-three guns, with five
hundred and two officers and men.
"In the beginning of the battle the British had the advantage. Their
guns were of longer range, and Perry was exposed to their fire half an
hour before he got in position where he could do execution. When he had
succeeded in this the British concentrated their fire on his flag-ship.
Enveloped in flame and smoke, Perry strove desperately to maintain his
ground till the rest of his ships could get into action. For more than
two hours he sustained the unequal conflict without flinching. It was
his first battle, and, moreover, he was enfeebled by a fever from which
he had just risen; but he never lost his ease and confidence. When most
of his men had fallen, when his ship lay an unmanageable wreck on the
water, 'every brace and bowline shot away,' and all his guns were
rendered ineffective, he still remained calm and unmoved.
"Eighteen men out of one hundred stood alive on his deck; many of those
were wounded. Lieutenant. Yarnell, with a red handkerchief tied round
his head and another round his neck to stanch the blood flowing from two
wounds, stood bravely by his commander. But all seemed lost when,
through the smoke, Perry saw the Niagara approaching uncrippled.
"'If a victory is to be won I will win it,' he said to the lieutenant.
He tore down his flag with its glorious motto,--'Don't give up the
ship,'--and leaping into a boat with half a dozen others, told the
sailors to give way with a will. The Niagara was half a mile distant to
the windward, and the enemy, as soon as they observed his movement,
directed their fire upon his boat. Oars were splintered in the rowers'
hands by musket-balls, and the men themselves covered with spray from
the roundshot and grape that smote the water on every side. But they
passed safely through the iron storm, and at last reached the deck of
the Niagara, where they were welcomed with thundering cheers. Lieutenant
Elliot of the Niagara, leaving his own ship, took command of the Somers,
and brought up the smaller vessels of the fleet, which had as yet been
little in the action. Perry ran up his signal for close action, and from
vessel to vessel the answering signals went up in the sunlight and the
cheers rang over the water. All together now bore down upon the enemy
and, passing through his line, opened a raking crossfire. So close and
terrible was that fire that the crew of the Lady Prevost ran below,
leaving the wounded and stunned commander alone on the deck. Shrieks and
groans rose from every side. In fifteen minutes from the time the signal
was made Captain Barclay, the British commander, flung out the white
flag. The firing then ceased; the smoke slowly cleared away, revealing
the two fleets commingled, shattered, and torn, and the decks strewn
with dead. The loss on each side was the same, one hundred and
thirty-five killed and wounded. The combat had lasted about three hours.
When Perry saw that victory was secure he wrote with a pencil on the
back of an old letter, resting it on his navy cap, the despatch to
General Harrison: 'We have met the enemy, and they are ours: two ships,
two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.'
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