he English vessels, the Chippewa and the Little
Belt, sought to escape to Maiden, but were pursued and captured by the
sloop Trippe and the Scorpion.[2] Perry proceeded to the Lawrence, and on
the decks of his flagship, still slippery with blood, he received the
surrender of the English officers. Perry wrote with a pencil on the back
of an old letter his famous dispatch: "We have met the enemy, and they
are ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." The
Americans lost in the battle twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded,
of whom twenty-two were killed and sixty-one wounded on board the
Lawrence. Twelve of the American quarter-deck officers were killed. The
British lost forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded, making a total of
one hundred and thirty-five. Commander Barclay, one of Nelson's veterans,
had lost an arm in a previous naval engagement. He gave his men an
admirable example of courage, being twice wounded, once in the thigh and
once in the shoulder, thus being deprived of the use of his remaining
arm. Captain Finnis, of the Queen Charlotte, was mortally wounded, and
died on the same evening.

[2] "At half past two, the wind springing up, Captain Elliott was
enabled to bring his vessel, the Niagara, into close action. I
immediately went on board of her, when he anticipated my wish by
volunteering to bring the schooners, which had been kept astern by
the lightness of the wind, into close action. At forty-five minutes
past two the signal was made for close action. The Niagara being
very little injured I determined to pass through the enemy's line,
bore up and passed ahead of their two ships and a brig, large
schooner and sloop from the larboard side, at half pistol shot
distance. The smaller vessels at this time having gotten within
grape and canister distance, under the direction of Captain Elliott,
and keeping up a well-directed fire, the two ships, a brig and a
schooner, surrendered, a schooner and a sloop making a vain attempt
to escape."--_Perry's account of the battle._

Thousands on the American and British shores witnessed or listened to the
conflict, conscious that upon the result depended the future of the
Northwest. None listened with more patriotic eagerness than John Kinzie,
already mentioned as the first resident of Chicago, then a prisoner at
Maiden, having been removed from Detroit on suspicion th