WAR ON THE LAKES. -- THE ATTACK ON SACKETT'S HARBOR. --
OLIVER HAZARD PERRY ORDERED TO LAKE ERIE. -- THE BATTLE OF
PUT-IN-BAY.

Let us now abandon for a time our consideration of the progress of the
great naval war on the ocean, and turn our attention to a humbler
theatre, in which the drama of battle was proceeding with no less
credit to the American participants, though with less grand and
inspiring accessories. On the great fresh-water lakes which skirt the
northern frontier of the United States, the two warring powers
contended fiercely for the mastery. But there were no desperate duels
between well-matched frigates; nor, indeed, did either the British or
American squadron of the lake station boast a craft of sufficient
armament to be termed a frigate, until the war was nearly at an end.
Barges, gunboats, sloops, schooners, and brigs made up the squadrons
that fought for the possession of the fresh-water seas; and few either
of the jackies of the forecastle or the officers of the quarter-deck
were bred to the regular service. With such forces it could only
happen that the encounters of the foes should be little more than
skirmishes, and that neither in immediate loss of life nor in direct
results should these skirmishes be important. Such, in fact, was the
general character of the hostilities on the lakes, with two noteworthy
exceptions,--Perry's victory at Put-in-Bay, and McDonough's successful
resistance of the British on Lake Champlain.

That the war should invade the usually peaceful waters of Ontario,
Erie, and Champlain, was inevitable from the physical characteristics
of the northern frontier of the United States. Great Britain held
Canada; and an invasion of her enemy's territory from that province
was a military measure, the advisability of which was evident to the
most untaught soldier. No overland expedition could hope to make its
way through the dense forests of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, or the
Adirondack region of New York. But the lakes offered a tempting
opening for invasion. Particularly did the placid, navigable waters of
Lake Champlain, stretching, from the Canada line far into the heart of
New York, invite the invader; while Lakes Erie and Ontario afforded an
opportunity for attacking the Americans on what was then, practically,
their western frontier.

The Americans were not slow in perceiving the dangers that threatened
their north-western frontier, and began to prepare for i