Perry came of a seafaring
stock, for his father was a captain in the navy, and the boy's first
voyage was made with him in 1799. At the outbreak of the war of 1812, he
was in command of a division of gunboats at Newport, but finding that,
owing to the British blockade, there was little chance of his seeing
active service in that position, he asked to be sent to the Great
Lakes, whose possession we were preparing to dispute with England.
The importance of this mission can hardly be overestimated. By the
capture of Detroit, earlier in the war, the English had obtained
undisputed control of Lake Erie, and were in position to carry out their
plan of extending the Dominion of Canada along the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers down to the Gulf, and so shutting in the United States upon the
West. To Perry was assigned the task of stopping this project, and of
regaining control of the lake.
He arrived at Lake Erie in the spring of 1813, and proceeded at once to
build the fleet which was to sail under the Stars and Stripes. He showed
the utmost skill and energy in doing this, and by the middle of July, in
spite of many difficulties, had nine vessels ready to meet the
enemy--two brigs and two gunboats which he had built, and five small
boats which were brought up from the Niagara river. On the third of
August, he sailed out to meet the British, his ships being manned by a
motley crew of "blacks, soldiers, and boys.
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