For Honour's Sake (36 page)

Perry was not much better off. Chauncey had agreed that a complement of 740 seamen was needed to man the new brigs and eight schooners that formed the Lake Erie squadron. Yet he detailed only 490 men, 140 of whom were soldiers. Still, game to draw Barclay out to fight, Perry established a makeshift base at Put-in-Bay, about 30 miles southeast of Amherstburg, and spent the end of August parading past the village and Fort Malden in a clear demonstration of his mastery of the lake. Barclay refused to be drawn.

But the British could not entirely avoid the contest. Supplies were desperately short, a point Procter impressed upon Barclay with monotonous regularity. The only way supplies and reinforcement troops reached them was by the lake. On September 6, Barclay gloomily spelled out his dilemma in a letter to Yeo. Something “must be attempted by me to
enable us to get Supplies …. I shall sail and risk every thing.”
¹⁸
Three days later, Barclay sailed forth aboard
Detroit. Queen Charlotte, Lady Prevost,
and three schooners,
Chippawa, Hunter,
and
Little Belt,
followed.
Detroit
was fit for sea, but barely for combat. Lacking naval guns, Barclay had manhandled a mixed array of cannon from the ramparts of Fort Malden and lashed them to her deck. Seventeen of her nineteen cannon were long guns, ranging from two 24-pounders to eight 9-pounders, the remaining two medium-weight carronades.

The next day, a Thursday, the British squadron sighted Perry's ships off Put-in-Bay. Knowing he was outnumbered, Barclay formed his squadron so
Chippawa
with her single 9-pounder long gun led, followed by
Detroit, General Hunter, Queen Charlotte, Little Belt,
and
Lady Prevost. General Hunter
mounted six lightweight long guns and two carronades,
Queen Charlotte
three 12-pounder longs and, making her formidable in a close fight, fourteen 24-pounder carronades.
Lady Prevost
had three 9-pounders and ten 12-pounder carronades, while
Little Belt
had one 9-pounder and two 6-pounder longs. By interspersing schooners between his brigs, Barclay hoped to increase the squadron's overall firepower directly against the two ships in the American squadron that were of concern—
Lawrence
and
Niagara.
His approach was from leeward of the Americans, riding slowly on an advantageous wind. It was 11:45 a.m.

Aboard
Lawrence,
Perry hoisted a fighting flag bearing its namesake's dying entreaty, “Don't give up the ship.” His squadron was strung out in a long column with two schooners,
Scorpion
and
Ariel,
in the van, then his flagship followed by
Caledonia, Niagara,
and the remaining four schooners in trail.
Scorpion, Ariel,
and
Caledonia
all mounted long guns, which Perry hoped would make up for the deficiency of guns aboard his bigger ships.

The wind was light, but fickle. At the pivotal moment the breeze turned, giving the Americans the weather gauge. Perry ordered his ships to close on the British. Barclay opened with the long guns, firing at
Lawrence.
Ten minutes passed before Perry was able to reply with his two 12-pounder long guns. This interlude dragged fearfully for the American crew as British shot from
Detroit's
three longer-ranged guns tore into their ship with surprising accuracy. Finally the two ships stood just 250
feet apart. Canister range, but just.
Perry
could get no closer, his rigging almost entirely shot away. Behind,
Niagara
and
Queen Charlotte
ineffectually banged away at each other with carronades, the shot falling harmlessly into the water. Then Commander Robert Finnis, aboard
Queen Charlotte,
gave the order to make sail and a few minutes later joined
Detroit's
attack on
Lawrence.

By 2:30 both flagships were in a bad way. Only one of the ten guns mounted on the broadside of
Lawrence
facing
Detroit
still fired. Eighty-three of her 142 men were dead or wounded. Blood ran like water across her deck, staining the canvas of the fallen sails. Men lay crushed under tangles of rigging, others had been torn asunder by canister. Yet Perry, remarkably untouched, refused to strike the colours.
¹⁹

Detroit
was little better off, Barclay later describing her as “a perfect wreck.” The squadron commander was weak from loss of blood, one thigh ripped open. On
Queen Charlotte,
Finnis lay dead. Lt. Robert Irvine of the Provincial Marine, too inexperienced to competently manoeuvre such a large ship, was in command. The wind was so weak that barely any of the vessels could make way. The three larger vessels locked in their deadly firefight had sails so badly rent that what breeze there was passed uselessly through the many holes.
²⁰
Farther back in the line,
Lady Prevost
drifted helplessly leeward with a damaged rudder, her captain rendered senseless and near insane by a splinter that had pierced his skull.
²¹

Throughout the fight Lt. Jesse Elliott, commander of
Niagara,
kept his ship alternately out of line or range of any serious fire from the British. Bad blood existed between Perry and Elliott, who believed command of the Lake Erie squadron had been unfairly passed to the other man despite the lieutenant's having captured
Caledonia
and burned the first
Detroit
the year before.

Finally, recognizing that
Lawrence
was finished, Perry took to a boat with four sailors after ordering the colours struck and the ship surrendered. Covered by the thick blankets of gunsmoke drifting on the lake surface, Perry was rowed to
Niagara.
Soon his personal flag was hoisted and he ordered
Niagara
to bear directly on a suddenly rising fresh breeze toward the British line so as to cut across
Detroit's
bow.

Barclay, his leg wound wrapped in a thick bandage, stood on his
bridge watching the approaching American ship with
angry
frustration. If
Niagara
crossed in front of
Detroit
he faced a raking broadside. Desperately, he ordered
Detroit
brought around, trying to bring the guns on his undamaged side into broadside position. But suddenly a volley of loosed canister shrieked across the deck. An iron ball ripped the shoulder blade of Barclay's surviving arm open, blood gushed from a large open wound, and the captain collapsed. Nearby, his second-in-command, Lt. John Garland, lay dying. Lt. George Inglis tried to carry out the captain's order, but just as the ship began to come about disaster struck.
Queen Charlotte,
blundering about under the uncertain hand of Lieutenant Irvine, strayed too close to the flagship, and the masts and bowsprits of both ships became entangled.

At this moment Perry achieved his purpose, crossing in front of the bows of the two ships. All the facing cannon aboard
Niagara
were double-shotted. The guns belched flame and smoke, causing carnage aboard the two ships. Some of the broadside struck
General Hunter
as well. On
Niagara's
port side the guns also spoke, tearing into the tiny
Chippawa
and disabled
Lady Prevost.

Detroit's
masts were gone,
Queen Charlotte's
mizzen down. An officer aboard
Detroit
hoisted a white handkerchief on a pike to signal the ship's surrender.
Queen Charlotte, General Hunter,
and
Lady Prevost
all struck their colours.
Chippawa
and
Little Belt
attempted to flee but were soon overtaken and rounded up. Perry, exultant, scribbled a signal to Harrison. “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”
²²

American losses were almost entirely confined to the
Lawrence.
Twenty-two of the 27 killed in the engagement fell aboard the flagship, as did 61 of the 96 wounded. British casualties were fewer, 41 dead and 94 wounded, but this was almost half the squadron's entire strength.

A year after the battle, Barclay appeared before a court martial required whenever a naval officer lost an entire squadron. His ruined shoulder was still wrapped in bandage. He was absolved.

When rumours persisted that Elliott had shown cowardice and failed to come to Perry's support, he demanded a court of inquiry be held in 1815. The court found no basis for the claims. Then in 1818 Perry rekindled the controversy by bringing formal charges against the officer.
Perry's death within a year of the charges being laid resulted in the matter not being pursued, but the question lingered on long after both officers had been laid in their graves.

The effect of what would be known as either the Battle of Lake Erie or the Battle of Put-in-Bay was immediate. Two days after the fateful engagement, Major General Procter wrote his superior, Major General de Rottenburg, proposing an immediate retreat east to the Thames River, which flowed into Lake St. Clair north of Amherstburg. About seventy miles up the river was Moravian Town, a small village where a stand against the Americans might be possible. But his heart was more into a further retreat that would take him overland to the British lines established by recently promoted Maj. Gen. John Vincent on the Niagara Peninsula. While awaiting an answer, Procter declared martial law to enable his commissary officers to confiscate cattle and other supplies sufficient to supply his garrison of about 900 men on an almost 200-mile-long trek through dense wilderness. Procter's letter reached de Rottenburg the evening of September 16 and caused great consternation. First there was the disastrous loss of the Lake Erie squadron, but the general could not believe that cause for “precipitate retrograde movement,” as he called it in a hurried reply the next morning. Procter was ordered to consult with Tecumseh to gauge the effect of the naval defeat on the confederacy and meanwhile concentrate his remaining force in such a way as to “prove to them the sincerity of the British Government, in its intention not to abandon them.”
²³

But Procter was panicked. He feared the Americans would soon be nipping at his heels. There was no time to await further instruction from de Rottenburg. The only course was obvious. On September 18, Procter called a meeting at the council house in Fort Malden and explained to Tecumseh and his chiefs the need to retreat.

When the British officer finished, all eyes turned to Tecumseh, who stood holding a wampum belt in his hands marked with symbols to remind him of the points he wished to make. Sixteen-year-old John Richardson, the volunteer with the 41st Regiment of Foot, described him as wearing leather jerkin and pants, “while a large plume of white
ostrich feathers, by which he was generally distinguished, overshadowing his brown, and contrasting with the darkness of his complexion and the brilliancy of his black and piercing eye, gave a singularly wild and terrific expression to his features.”

Through an interpreter Tecumseh spoke. After recapping the events of battles fought since the war's outbreak, he turned to the British promises. “Listen! When war was declared, our father stood up and gave us the tomahawk, and told us that he was now ready to strike the Americans—that he wanted our assistance; and that he would certainly get us our lands back, which the Americans had taken from us.” The entire history of British guarantees was trotted before an embarrassed Procter. “You always told us to remain here and take care of our lands; it made our hearts glad to hear that was your wish. Our great father, the king, is the head, and you represent him. You always told us you would never draw your foot off British ground; but now, father, we see you are drawing back, and we are sorry to see our father doing so without seeing the enemy. We must compare our father's conduct to a fat animal, that carries its tail upon its back, but when affrighted, it drops it between its legs and runs off.

“Listen, father! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land … we therefore wish to remain here, and fight our enemy, should they make their appearance. If they defeat us, we will then retreat with our father.”
²⁴

But Procter was in no mood to be bullied by Tecumseh into standing and fighting. Even though he still had 900 men and a formidable defensive bastion in Fort Malden, as well as about 1,500 confederacy warriors, Procter viewed the situation as already lost. He soon realized, however, that the support of Tecumseh's Indians upon which the British government staked such importance would be lost if he fled to Vincent's lines. So he proposed a compromise. The withdrawal would be only to the lower Thames. There they would turn and fight. Would Tecumseh come with him?

After some discussion with his chiefs Tecumseh assented to the plan. Supplies for the Indians and soldiers were extremely short. Together they consumed fourteen head of cattle and 7,000 pounds of flour daily, which was more than could be collected locally.
²⁵
There was the real possibility that the retreating force would starve, but Procter thought
that prospect even more likely if they stayed. And he could easily imagine being surrounded in Fort Malden. All the Americans had to do was wait them out. Eventually there would be no food and surrender inevitable. Better to retreat and save his army.

Once the decision was made, an exodus slowly began taking place. Over the next few days, as the British destroyed the Lake Erie fortifications, hundreds of Indians moved into the forests. Most headed for the Thames, others simply went their own way. About 1,200 warriors and their families announced their intention to go with the British. They represented the diversity of Tecumseh's great confederacy of tribes—Shawnee, Winnebago, Kickapoo, Wyandot, Sac, Miami, Munsee Delaware, Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Seneca, and Creek.
²⁶
Also accompanying the British were many of the Canadian settlers, fearful of being left to the questionable mercy of the Americans. A great line of carts, wagons, cattle, and horses was gathered together by all these people.