Naval History Blog

The Battle of Lake Erie was a pivotal naval engagement between British and American forces during the War of 1812. At the beginning of the War of 1812, the United States sent Oliver Hazard Perry to command the American forces on Lake Erie.

When he arrived in Presque Isle (modern-day Erie, Pennsylvania), Perry commissioned several carpenters to build a fleet of ships. Within a year, he had nine ships. However, only two, the Lawrence and the Niagara, were fit for battle. Perry had also assembled a force of about five hundred men to serve under him, and after several months of drilling, they were a capable naval unit.

In September 1813, Perry set sail for Put-In Bay to meet the British fleet, which was under the command of Robert Heriot Barclay. Like the Americans, the English had begun constructing a fleet at the war’s beginning to secure control of Lake Erie. The British were anticipating an easy victory over Perry’s force. On September 10, 1813, the Battle of Lake Erie too!

The Americans had nine ships, while the British had six. Early in the battle, the British were taking a heavy toll on the American ships, principally because the British cannons were much more accurate at long distances. When the British destroyed the Lawrence, Perry took the ship’s flag and transferred to the Niagara. After Perry moved to the Niagara, the battle began to turn for the Americans.

 Before Perry’s arrival on the Niagara, this ship had hardly engaged the British fleet. Now, the Niagara and Perry inflicted heavy cannon fire on the British ships. The commander of every British ship was killed or wounded, leaving the British ships under the command of junior officers with limited experience. Perry took advantage of this situation. The Niagara rammed the British lead ship while the sailors fired rifles at the British seamen.

By nightfall, the British had lowered their flag and surrendered to Perry, who was only twenty-seven years old. Perry sent a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, recounting the details of the battle. In the dispatch, he wrote, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” The American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie cut off the British supply lines and forced them to abandon Detroit. It also paved the way for General Harrison’s attack on the British and Indian forces at the Battle of the Thames.

Psychological and economic warfare, with the intention of deflecting American forces from the northern theater, rather than a desire to occupy territory, dominated British strategy in the Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.

The Madison administration’s decision not to harness a force strong enough to repel British raids of coastal settlements left the bay vulnerable to repeated attacks. The inability of Secretary of War John Armstrong to plan for the defense of Washington prompted the British to risk an inland march to torch the American seat of power.

A British invasion force landed at Benedict, Maryland, a port on the Patuxent River, on 19 August 1814, resulting in a chaotic scene. Secretary of the Navy William Jones directed the men in the Chesapeake Bay flotilla squadron under Commodore Joshua Barney’s command to join forces with a contingent of Marines to assist the regular army and militia forces. While the naval forces fought bravely at the Battle of Bladensburg on 24 August, the battle-tested British troops easily overran the American position, leaving the American capital vulnerable to attack, as most of the defenders scattered.

Commodore Thomas Tingey, commandant of the Washington Navy Yard since its founding in 1799, had anticipated that the enemy’s forces would target the shipping there. Fearful that valuable naval stores would fall into British hands, Secretary Jones ordered Tingey to torch the Yard. After setting fire to most of the public buildings in the capital, the British entered the Yard on the 25th and burned much of what remained there. After a scant twenty-four-hour occupation, the British left the humbled city. The Navy Yard alone had suffered half a million dollars in losses.

No significant benefit accrued to the enemy beyond humiliating the Americans, as three weeks later British forces failed in their assault on Baltimore.

SCORPION Project barge transported back down the Patuxent after the completion of the field work.

 On August 12, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB), and its partners MD SHA and MHT, successfully completed the first phase of their three-year archaeological investigation of the Patuxent shipwreck believed to be the War of 1812 U.S. block sloop SCORPION.  Firstly, a big thank you to our on-site visitors who made the trip out to Upper Marlboro, MD.  It was great to see you and we really appreciate your support!  We were also glad to welcome members of the press on site to inform them about the SCORPION project, our partnerships and the NHHC and were pleased to see the story covered in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and The Capital (Annapolis). 

Underwater archaeologists preparing to dive on the wreck.

 During the first part of the two-week project, UAB’s team of underwater archaeologists, in cooperation with MD SHA and MHT, measured the site and extent of the wreck beneath the sediment via a process called “hydroprobing.”  Based on the data from the hydroprobe, the team was then able to determine which parts of the wreck most warranted investigation.  Archaeologists then removed the overburden (overlying sediment) from specific parts of the wreck using dredge systems; the sediment pulled from the wreck was suctioned up the dredge onto the barges where it was screened by capable staff.  Some artifacts were also recovered and brought back to the UAB Conservation and Archaeology Lab for stabilization, treatment and documentation.  

Again, the UA team is very grateful to MD SHA and MHT as well as URS and SUPSALV. With their help and cooperation, significant progress was made during Phase 1 and we look forward to working with them again on the next phase of the SCORPION project in summer 2011. We’re always glad to talk about the SCORPION project and answer any questions, so feel free to stop by our offices or send us an email (NHHCUnderwaterArchaeology@navy.mil) and stay tuned for more posts!

A stretch of the Patuxent River, MD near the SCORPION Project site. Photograph courtesy of UAB.

On July 19, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) along with partners from the Maryland State Historical Trust and the Maryland State Highways Administration, initiated the first phase of a three-year archeological investigation of the shipwreck site believed to be USS SCORPION. SCORPION was the flagship of Commodore Joshua Barney’s Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, which he ordered to be scuttled and burned in the Patuxent River to prevent its capture by the British during the War of 1812.  The UAB team, led by Dr. Robert Neyland, in collaboration with SUPSALV, will spend two weeks in the field to complete a survey, limited excavation, and documentation of the site. UAB’s underwater archaeologists will carefully dredge overburden to reveal the structure of the ship, and then map the site and any artifacts uncovered in the process.  Artifacts recovered will be catalogued and transported to the UAB Archaeology & Conservation Laboratory for stabilization and treatment.

 Stay tuned for more project updates next week!