During the War of 1812, United States strategy hinged upon the annexation of Canada. As a result, the northern lakes arena witnessed the hardest and bloodiest fighting of the war. If the waterways comprising much of the border between the United States and British Canada could be controlled by the U.S. Navy, American forces would have ready made avenues for invasion attempts. Conversely, the lakes and rivers could just as easily serve as a back door for the enemy-vulnerable passageways allowing the British to slash through to the soft underbelly of the United States. Whoever wielded power on the lakes possessed a powerful strategic and tactical advantage.

Early in the war, the lack of United States military resources in the Great Lakes region caused the American frontier to be perilously undefended. The British, unhindered by the U.S. Navy, used the lakes as transporta-tion routes for troops and supplies during the latter half of 1812. But leaders in Washington, D.C. recognized that warships were required to form a protective shield along the country's northern and northwestern border, and by late 1812 a furious ship-building program had been inaugurated. By the summer of 1813, through new construction and the conversion of purchased merchant vessels, U.S. naval flotillas were cruising Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, and, like their counterparts on the Atlantic, warships on the lakes berthed large numbers of African-American seamen.

For the most part, general references about black seamen on the lakes are scarce. Specific citations concerning individuals are even more rare, such as the grim diary entry recorded by Surgeon's Mate Usher Parsons at the Black Rock Naval Station on 7 April 1813: "James Smith a coloured man died today." However, the role of black seamen on the lakes served as the focal point of a bitter controversy which erupted during the summer of 1813 between the overall Great Lakes commander and his subordinate on Lake Erie.

In March of 1813, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry was assigned by Commodore Isaac Chauncey to finalize construction and take command of the Lake Erie flotilla, based at Erie, Pennsylvania. By mid-July, the 11 vessels comprising Perry's squadron were built, fitted out, and ready to sail, save for one major stumbling block. Needing approximately 700 men to man his ships, Perry could muster only 120 men fit for duty. Due to limited resources at Erie, Perry was forced to depend upon his superior for reinforce-ments. The majority of naval resources destined for the lakes were channelled through Sackets Harbor, New York, the Lake Ontario headquarters for the Great Lakes Command, and Chauncey, as the overall commander of Great Lakes naval operations, was obligated to responsibly allocate those resources. On several different occasions the Lake Erie commodore communicated with Chauncey to request reinforcements, but without success. Uncertain why Chauncey was unresponsive to his queries and willing to pursue whatever methods necessary to man his ships, Perry bypassed his immediate superior and communicated his concerns directly to the Secretary of the Navy. When Chauncey discovered that Perry went over his head, an acrimonious correspondence was initiated between the principals. Chauncey felt, not without some justification, that Perry wished to rid himself of his superior's authority and gain an independent command.

The Lake Erie commodore's flagrant breach of military etiquette infuriated Chauncey, but his impolitic ploy nevertheless worked. Pressure from sources in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere ruptured the logjam of seamen, prompting Chauncey to dispatch from Sackets Harbor to Lake Erie two drafts of sailors comprising nearly 150 men. Although desperate for seamen, Perry was still less than delighted with the quality of his reinforcements. Giving little thought to his actions, Perry artlessly penned to Chauncey an indictment that asserted, "The men that came...are a motley set, blacks, Soldiers, and boys, I cannot think that you saw them after they were selected. I am however, pleased to see anything in the shape of a man."

As might be expected, the Great Lakes commander was "mortified" when he discovered that Perry ignored the chain of command and complained directly to the Navy Department. Already piqued by his subordinate's blunder, the blatant impudence of Perry's latest grievance about the reinforcements caused an incensed Chauncey to retort:

I regret that you are not pleased with the men sent you... for to my knowledge a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have on the fleet, and I have yet to learn that the Colour of the skin, or cut and trimmings of the coat, can effect a man's qualifications or usefulness. I have nearly 50 Blacks on board of this Ship [the General Pike], and many of them are amongst my best men....

Most of Chauncey's statement was undoubtedly true, but Perry was not diverted by Chauncey's seeming artifice, and he once again communicated directly with Navy Secretary Jones. Referring to the hodgepodge of soldiers and sailors that Chauncey forwarded to Lake Erie, Perry asserted, "...they may sir, be as good as are on the other Lake, but if so, that squadron must be poorly manned indeed."

This unseemly interchange has occasionally been used to insinuate that Chauncey was a progressive and Perry a bigot. Chauncey may have been truly liberal-minded, but labeling Perry as racially biased based on this one exchange is rash. Perry's words and actions must be placed in context with his own frustration and anxiety, fostered by the immediacy of the strategic situation on Lake Erie. British incursions into northwest Ohio in late April, and again in late July of 1813, generated urgent pleas for assistance from William Henry Harrison's beleaguered army, heightening Perry's distress and compelling him to initiate unorthodox measures to man his flotilla in order to assist the harried American ground forces. The circumstances do not excuse Perry's imprudence or impetuousness, but they may help to explain his behavior.

Although he had reason to be nettled, much of the grief that came Perry's way was self-inflicted. Perry was plagued with an impulsive personality and throughout the course of his dispute with Chauncey-and for that matter during most of his career-he seemed self-absorbed and oblivious to everything other than his own problems. Among other faults, Oliver Hazard Perry exercised more than a modicum of myopia in dealing with his superiors, disregard for Chauncey's situation on the lower lake, and ill-considered use of the vernacular when referring to the men from Lake Ontario as "blacks, Soldiers, and boys."

Some fault for the controversy must also attach itself to Chauncey, either directly or indirectly. The fact that none of the 50 black sailors from the General Pike were sent to Lake Erie-seamen who Chauncey described as "amongst my best men"-is evidence of the Lake Ontario commodore's desire to retain the veteran seamen for his own ships. More than likely, the task of selecting men for transfer to Lake Erie was delegated by Chauncey, and even if the individual designated for that chore did not receive specific instructions, a junior officer was not about to incur the wrath of his superior by arbitrarily consigning the Lake Ontario squadron's most highly trained and disciplined sailors to another command. Instead, human nature motivated the selecting officer to rid Chauncey's flotilla of its undesirable elements: the sick, the least trained, and those who experi-enced disciplinary problems.

There can be no doubt that a number of African-American seamen were among the men transferred from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, but it was not "the Colour of the skin" that so concerned and discouraged Perry. Since black seamen had constituted a significant percentage of the naval rank and file since the institution of the U.S. Navy in 1794, and since Perry was a 13-year veteran of the Navy, he could not have been surprised that black sailors were included among the drafts of men sent from Lake Ontario. In fact, a number of black seamen were among the 150 men who not only volunteered but were welcomed by Perry to accompany him from his previous command at Newport, Rhode Island when he transferred to the lakes.

What the Lake Erie commodore actually deplored about the Lake Ontario men was the lack of training, poor discipline, and ill-health of all the sailors, not just the black seamen. Perry was not the only individual at the Lake Erie Naval Station who noted the poor condition of the newly arrived men. When writing about the health of the crewmen sent from Lake Ontario, Sailing Master William Taylor lamented that many "were barely able to assist themselves," while Purser Samuel Hambleton complained, "Our force consisted principally of the refuse of Commodore Chauncey's fleet...."

Despite the deficiencies of his reinforcements, Perry had no choice but to accept their services, white and black, and their efforts more than sufficed. On 10 September 1813, Perry won a decisive victory, capturing Commander Robert Heriott Barclay's six-ship British Lake Erie squadron in a frenzied three-and-a-half hour battle near Put-in-Bay, Ohio. But the victory did not come easily. Two hours of incessant broadsides transformed Perry's stately flagship, the 20-gun brig Lawrence, into a blasted hulk with nearly 80% casualties. Just when defeat seemed inevitable, Perry hauled down his battle flag, upon which were emblazoned James Lawrence's dying words-Dont [sic] Give Up The Ship-and transferred to the U.S. Brig Niagara, Lawrence's sistership. With a fresh 20-gun brig under his feet, Perry broke the chaotic British battle line, hurled broadsides from Niagara's larboard and starboard sides, and forced the entire enemy squadron to capitulate. Perry's victory, in addition to sweeping the British from Lake Erie, conclusively altered the balance of power in the Old Northwest.

Whatever his feelings towards his African-American crewmen, Perry nevertheless praised his victorious black seamen to Chauncey, who in turn wrote:

Little information has passed into history pertaining to the black sailors who fought with Perry, and few have been identified. Jesse Williams was an ordinary seaman on the flagship Lawrence, where he was wounded in action. Before being sent to Lake Erie, Williams served on the U.S. Frigate Constitution, where, as the 1st sponger (assigned to "sponge" the gun tube to extinguish sparks before loading) on number 3 long gun, he participated in Old Ironsides' victory over HMS Java on 29 December 1812. In 1820, while a resident of Philadelphia, Williams was awarded a silver medal from the State of Pennsylvania for his role in the battle. Also wounded on the Lawrence was Newport Hazard, one of the seagoing Hazard family from Newport, Rhode Island. Hazard served under Perry at the Newport Naval Station and he was one of 150 volunteers from the Newport station to accompany Perry to the lakes. Anthony Williams, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, fought on board the schooner Somers. Williams moved to Meadville, Pennsylvania after the war, where he died in either 1833 or 1834. Cyrus Tiffany may be the best known black seaman from the Lake Erie fleet because of his close personal association with Perry. Tiffany, variously recorded as a seaman and a musician, also served with Perry at Newport. Perry apparently took a personal interest in Tiffany's well being. According to one account:

In some instances, references relating to individuals on board the Lake Erie flotilla are peripheral or obscure, making it difficult to ascertain their race. On the prize money list can be found the name of Jack Russell, a ship's boy who served on board the U.S. Brig Lawrence. Russell's prize money was paid to "George Mason, his master," but it is uncertain whether Russell was a slave or an indentured or apprenticed white boy. Isaac Hardy was an ordinary seaman killed in action on board the U.S. Brig Niagara. Hardy's wife later applied for a widow's pension from the government. To demonstrate her relationship to Hardy she was required to provide proof of marriage, and the marriage certificate for Isaac and Diane Hardy was signed by John Gloucester, Pastor of the First Presbyterian African Congregation in Philadelphia. Diane Hardy also retained the same lawyer as Jesse Williams when she requested her husband's silver medal from the State of Pennsylvania. The name of Jesse Walls, or Wall, not scribed on the prize money list or any other official source, can be found in three separate accounts of the dedication of the Oliver Hazard Perry statue in Cleveland, Ohio in 1860, and in other works. Benjamin Lossing, author of the comprehensive Pictorial Field-Book Of The War Of 1812, wrote that Wall was a colored man who was a fifer on board the brig Niagara. Wall was about 74 years of age when he attended the 1860 event.

Another confusing chapter of the Lake Erie story is that of the African-Americans who, like Jesse Wall, claimed to have fought in the Battle of Lake Erie, but whose names do not appear on the list of men who served on board the fleet. Muster rolls for the Lake Erie Naval Station during the period in question have not been found, so the most referred to source for determining the names of Battle of Lake Erie participants is Samuel Hambleton's prize list. Hambleton was the U.S. fleet purser who, in 1814, was detailed to compile a list of participants so that prize money appropriated by Congress could be accurately disbursed. Yet Hambleton's list is not complete; some names were omitted and numerous other errors were made.

Years later, a number of survivors and widows claims were filed at the pension office on the basis that their spouses fought at the Battle of Lake Erie. At least three of these claims emanate from African-American families. Mary Brown, wife of Robert Brown [or Bronen] filed a widow's pension application after her husband passed away. From Bedford, Pennsylvania, Brown apparently served in the Army-possibly the militia-supposedly fought on board the fleet, was wounded in action, and was discharged because of his wounds. He died in Bedford on 18 January 1865. Mary Brown's pension application was granted and she received $12.00 per month until her death in Bedford on 4 December 1895. Elizabeth Brown, wife of James Brown, filed a claim in 1871. She attested that her husband, who was originally from Somerset, Pennsylvania, where they were married in April of 1812, served with Perry in the battle. After the war, James and Elizabeth Brown made their home at Erie, Pennsylvania, where James died in August 1857. The claim was rejected because Elizabeth Brown had lost her marriage certificate and could not prove her relationship to James Brown. Margaret Boone filed a similar pension application upon the death of her husband. Brown Boone was a native of Hartford County, North Carolina, and he reportedly enlisted in the North Carolina Militia in August of 1812. At that time he was 22 years old, 5'9", and a farmer by occupation. He was sent to Norfolk, Virginia and, according to the pension application, somehow ended up on the Lake Erie fleet. Brown Boone died in Franklin County, Ohio on 9 September 1843. Margaret Boone, who was 78 when she filed her application in June of 1878, could remember no clarifying details. Her claim was denied because no official corroborating information could be found.

Then there is the case of Hannibal Collins. The Fall, 1994 issue of Newport History, the bulletin of the Newport, Rhode Island Historical Society, proclaims that Collins was a freed slave from Newport, that he fought with Perry on Lake Erie, and that he was among the smallboat crew that rowed Perry from the Lawrence to the Niagara when the commodore transferred his flag at the crucial point of the battle. Yet the name of Hannibal Collins is not found on either Samuel Hambleton's prize list or the list of men who accompanied Perry from Newport to the lakes.

Any or all of these men may have served with the American squadron on Lake Erie, and if they did, it is not known why their names were omitted from Samuel Hambleton's prize list. Since Hambleton also excluded the names of more than fifteen white participants, there seems to have been no contrived effort to discriminate against black seamen. It seems likely that Hambleton simply did not possess detailed muster rolls or other official information necessary to compile a comprehensive list.

Since there is no supporting documentation, it can only be estimated that between 10 to 20% of the sailors on board the Lake Erie squadron were African-Americans. This estimate does not represent the total fleet complement since roughly 40% of the men who served on Perry's fleet were not sailors, but soldiers and marines. In other words, of the roughly 550 or so men who served with the flotilla, about 200 should be deducted before the percentage is calculated. Even the 10 to 20% figure might be called into question. In 1862, one of the Lake Erie squadron's surgeons, Doctor Usher Parsons, recalled, "In 1814 [approximately one year after the Battle of Lake Erie], our fleet sailed to the upper Lakes to co-operate with Colonel [George] Croghan [in an attempt to recapture Fort] Mackinac. About one in ten or twelve of the crews were blacks."

At the time, Parsons was responding to a specific inquiry, and he obviously estimated his figure. It must also be remembered that nearly 50 years had passed to cloud his memory. Although the exact numbers probably will never be known, it is an indisputable fact that African-Americans did fight on board the United States flotilla during the Battle of Lake Erie, and they served with courage and distinction.