unmanageable. Except the
Commodore and four or five others, every man on board was either killed
or wounded. Perry abandoned her, and the colours were hauled down; but
he only left one ship to rehoist his flag in another, as yet untouched.
He boarded the _Niagara_, of twenty guns, and a breeze springing up
behind his ships, which as yet had not been in action, he obtained the
weather gage of the British, and made it necessary for them to wear
round. It was in the endeavour to execute this manoeuvre that Barclay
lost the advantage. His inexperienced and, therefore, somewhat awkward
sailors, became flurried, and the vessels fell foul of each other. They
were for the most part jammed together, with their bows facing the
enemy's broadside. Captain Perry saw his advantage and raked the
_Detroit_, the _Queen Charlotte_, and _Lady Prevost_, at pleasure. The
_Chippewa_ and _Little Belt_ had been separated from the other ships,
and were hotly engaged by the Americans. The British line was, in a
word, broken. The carnage was now dreadful, and the result awfully
disastrous to the British. Barclay fell, severely wounded. Every
officer was either killed or wounded. And two hundred out of three
hundred and forty-five men were in a like condition. For three hours
the battle raged, but at the end of that time the British squadron was
capsized, and Perry, in imitation of Julius Caesar, sent the message to
Washington:--"We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Of the
Americans, twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six wounded.

This was a sore blow and terrible discouragement to Canada. Supplies of
provisions were no longer obtainable by General Proctor from Kingston,
and Michigan was, consequently, untenable. The speedy evacuation of
Detroit, and a retreat towards the head of Lake Ontario, became
inevitable. Commodore Perry could, at any moment, land a force in
General Proctor's rear, and entirely cut him off from Kingston and
York, and the lower part of Upper Canada. General Proctor at once
retreated, abandoning and destroying all his fortified posts, beyond
the Grand River. He dismantled first Detroit and then Amherstburgh,
setting fire to the navy yard, barracks, and public stores, of the
latter place. And he had just done so in time. As soon after the
destruction of the British fleet, as circumstances would permit,
Commodore Perry transported the American forces, under General
Harrison, from Portage River and Fort Meigs, to Put-in