were quickly slung aboard. The _Niagara_
was coaxed out of harbor in the same ingenious fashion, and on the 4th
of August Perry was able to report that all his vessels were over the
bar, although Barclay had returned by now and "the enemy had been in
sight all day."

Perry endeavored to force an engagement without delay, but the British
fleet retired to Amherstburg because Barclay was waiting for a new and
powerful ship, the _Detroit_, and he preferred to spar for time. The
American vessels thereupon anchored off Erie and took on stores. They
had fewer than three hundred men aboard, and it was bracing news for
Perry to receive word that a hundred officers and men under Commander
Jesse D. Elliott were hastening to join him. Elliott became second in
command to Perry and assumed charge of the _Niagara_.

For almost a month the Stars and Stripes flew unchallenged from the
masts of the American ships. Perry made his base at Put-in Bay, thirty
miles southeast of Amherstburg, where he could intercept the enemy
passing eastward. The British commander, Barclay, had also been troubled
by lack of seamen and was inclined to postpone action. He was
nevertheless urged on by Sir George Prevost, the Governor General of
Canada, who told him that "he had only to dare and he would be
successful." A more urgent call on Barclay to fight was due to the lack
of food in the Amherstburg region, where the water route was now
blockaded by the American ships. The British were feeding fourteen
thousand Indians, including warriors and their families, and if
provisions failed the red men would be likely to vanish.

At sunrise of the 10th of September, a sailor at the masthead of the
_Lawrence_ sighted the British squadron steering across the lake with a
fair wind and ready to give battle. Perry instantly sent his crews to
quarters and trimmed sail to quit the bay and form his line in open
water. He was eager to take the initiative, and it may be assumed that
he had forgotten Chauncey's prudent admonition: "The first object will
be to destroy or cripple the enemy's fleet; but in all attempts upon the
fleet you ought to use great caution, for the loss of a single vessel
may decide the fate of a campaign."

Small, crude, and hastily manned as were the ships engaged in this
famous fresh-water battle, it should be borne in mind that the proven
principles of naval strategy and tactics used were as sound and true as
when Nelson and Rodney had demonstrat