CHAMPLAIN. -- END OF THE
WAR UPON THE LAKES.

In considering the naval operations on the Great Lakes, it must be
kept in mind, that winter, which checked but little naval activity on
the ocean, locked the great fresh-water seas in an impenetrable
barrier of ice, and effectually stopped all further hostilities
between the hostile forces afloat. The victory gained by Commodore
Perry on Lake Erie in September, 1813, gave the Americans complete
command of that lake; and the frozen season soon coming on, prevented
any attempts on the part of the enemy to contest the American
supremacy. But, indeed, the British showed little ability, throughout
the subsequent course of the war, to snatch from the Americans the
fruits of the victory at Put-in-Bay. They embarked upon no more
offensive expeditions; and the only notable naval contest between the
two belligerents during the remainder of the war occurred Aug. 12,
1814, when a party of seventy-five British seamen and marines
attempted to cut out three American schooners that lay at the foot of
the lake near Fort Erie. The British forces were at Queenstown, on
the Niagara River; but by dint of carrying their boats twenty miles
through the woods, then poling down a narrow and shallow stream, with
a second portage of eight miles, the adventurers managed to reach Lake
Erie. Embarking here, they pulled down to the schooners. To the hail
of the lookout, they responded, "Provision boats." And, as no British
were thought to be on Lake Erie, the response satisfied the officer of
the watch. He quickly discovered his mistake, however, when he saw his
cable cut, and a party of armed men scrambling over his bulwarks. This
first prize, the "Somers," was quickly in the hands of the British,
and was soon joined in captivity by the "Ohio," whose people fought
bravely but unavailingly against the unexpected foe. While the
fighting was going on aboard the vessels, they were drifting down the
stream; and, by the time the British victory was complete, both
vessels were beyond the range of Fort Erie's guns, and safe from
recapture. This successful enterprise certainly deserves a place as
the boldest and best executed cutting-out expedition of the war.

[Illustration: On the Way to Lake Erie.]

Long before this occurrence, Capt. Arthur Singleton, who had succeeded
to Perry's command, despairing of any active service on Lake Erie, had
taken his squadron of five vessels into Lake Huron, where the