indefatigable in the labor of
preparation. He urged on the building of vessels already begun. He
arranged for the purchase of merchant schooners, and their conversion
into gunboats. He went to Pittsburg for supplies, and made a flying
trip to Buffalo to join Chauncey in an attack upon Fort George at the
mouth of the Niagara River. All the time, he managed to keep up a
constant fire of letters to the Secretary of the Navy and to Chauncey,
begging for more sailors. By summertime, he had five vessels ready for
service, but no men to man them. The enemy blockaded him, and he dared
not accept the challenge. In July he wrote to Chauncey: "The enemy's
fleet of six sail are now off the bar of this harbor. What a golden
opportunity if we had men!... Give me men, sir, and I will acquire
both for you and myself honor and glory on this lake, or perish in the
attempt." Again he wrote: "For God's sake, and yours and mine, send me
men and officers; and I will have them all [the British squadron] in a
day or two." When the men finally did arrive, he was much disgusted
with their appearance, pronouncing them to be "a motley set,--blacks,
soldiers, and boys." Nevertheless, this same motley crew, headed by
the critical young officer, won a victory that effectually crushed the
pretensions of the enemy to the control of Lake Erie.

[Illustration: Perry's Recruits.]

His crews having arrived, Perry was anxious to get out upon the lake,
and engage the enemy at once. But this course of action was for a long
time impossible. The flotilla lay snugly anchored within the harbor of
Erie, the entrance to which was closed by a bar. To cross this bar,
the ships would have been obliged to send all heavy ordnance ashore;
and, as the enemy kept close watch outside the harbor, the American
fleet was practically blockaded. For several weeks the Americans were
thus kept prisoners, grumbling mightily at their enforced inaction,
and longing for a chance to get at the enemy. One morning in August
word was brought to Perry that the blockading fleet had disappeared.
Instantly all was life and bustle in the harbor. The crews of all the
vessels were ordered aboard; and the flotilla dropped down to the bar,
intending to cross early in the morning. At dawn the movement was
begun. The schooners and other small craft were easily taken outside;
but, when it came to the turn of the two gun-brigs, "Lawrence" and
"Niagara," it became evident that mechanical assistance w