U.S. Brig Niagara

During the Battle of Lake Erie, Oliver Hazard Perry's ship Lawrence led the American attack on the British fleet that controlled the lake. After Lawrence was disabled by enemy fire, Perry and four crewmen rowed through cannon and musket fire to Niagara. Niagara and several other American ships then regrouped, engaged the British ships, and forced their surrender, in a decisive victory that became a key turning point in the War of 1812. Perry had supervised the building of the American fleet in Erie Harbor and commanded it in the battle, later writing to General William Henry Harrison, "We have met the enemy and they are ours ..." Niagara was built in 1813, was disarmed in 1817 under the Rush-Bagot Treaty, and was scuttled in Misery Bay in 1820. Raised in 1913, rebuilt for the centennial of the battle, and later reconstructed again, Niagara exists today as a reproduction that can be seen in and sails from Erie Harbor, still containing some timbers salvaged from the original ship.

Erie, Pennsylvania · United States