2
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
them without much scruple to destroy the American settlements and
fortified posts. No commander sent against them up to the Fall of 1813
had been able to make headway. Many posts had been lost and Indian
outrages of the most appalling description had occurred again and again.
With or without reason it was supposed that the British officers had not
tried very hard to check the savages. The government at London was
planning to bind their allies permanently to their interest by erecting an
ostensibly independent Indian Territory in the West from the region
now included in Michigan and Ohio. This land had been given to the
United States by the Treaty of Independence, but the British felt no
scruples against taking it back again if they could. They planned to
hold control over the Indians and thus set up a standing menace to the
Union. No doubt they expected to push the advantage thus gained and
win back the entire Mississippi Valley before a great while. At the
Treaty of Ghent, which closed the war, they made the erection of this
territory an indispensable condition at first, but by that time Perry’s
victory, with McDonough’s in the succeeding Summer, had altered mat
ters a good deal on the frontier and the plan was dropped.
Barclay, the British commander on Lake Erie, does not seem to have
exerted himself very actively while Perry was assembling his apology
for a fleet. He might have sailed into Erie harbor where the Americans
were at work almost any day and burned every ship Perry had. Vir
tually there was no way to defend them against a vigorous attack. The
seamen at hand were few and the Pennsylvania militia, which was de
pended upon for protection, played the old game, which was familiar to
state troops in that war. At the critical moment they refused to obey
their officers and the officers were too timid to try to compel them to do
their duty. Luckily Barclay was lethargic and the ship building went
on undisturbed until the fleet was ready. Then came the problem of
getting the vessels over the bar of Erie harbor. There were only five
feet of water while the Lawrence and Niagara required several feet
more, being vessels of 500 tons, built of green timber. To bring them
outside the harbor Perry was obliged to remove their guns and buoy
them up with hollow tanks. These he filled with water and sunk,
making them fast to the ships. Then he pumped the water out and
their lifting power raised the ships until they were able to float over
the bar. This was a difficult and perilous operation. Had Barclay
chosen to attac while it was going on everv-thing would bavebeen lost.
But he looked calmly on and did nothing. Certainly Providence seem
ed to help Perry by stupefying his enemy.
As soon as Perry was outside the bar he sailed around the lake, re
storing American prestige and cutting off the supplies of the British.
Their 14,000 Indian allies required a liberal allowance of food, which