African American Sailors in the Battle of Lake Erie
Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
These skilled seamen were among those who enabled Oliver Hazard Perry to defeat and capture a British squadron, Sept. 10,1813. Their participation--critical to victory--secured a place for African Americans in the region's history.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
When Oliver Hazard Perry's squadron met and captured a British fleet on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, African American sailors were among the skilled seamen who made the victory possible. Their labor and seamanship were critical to one of the young United States' most decisive naval triumphs in the War of 1812. This marker at Erie, where much of that fleet was built and based, restores their names to the record of that day.
Why it matters
It documents the essential yet long-overlooked service of Black Americans in the early republic's military, part of a longer story of African Americans defending a nation that had not yet granted them full freedom.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early years of the American republic, the young United States found itself again at war with Great Britain. The War of 1812 was fought on the seas, along the Canadian border, and—crucially—on the Great Lakes, where control of the water meant control of the frontier.
Lake Erie was a linchpin. Whoever commanded it could move troops and supplies, protect settlements, and threaten the enemy's grip on the Northwest. To win that command, the Americans had to build a fleet almost from scratch on the lake's own shores, at Erie, Pennsylvania, hammering warships together from green timber and sheer determination.
The crews who sailed those ships were as varied as the country itself. Among the skilled seamen were African American sailors—men whose labor and expertise the young navy could not do without, even as the nation they served had not extended to them the full freedoms it proclaimed.
People & events
On September 10, 1813, the American squadron met a British fleet on the open water of Lake Erie. The battle that followed was fierce and close-fought, the kind of clash where seamanship, nerve, and the discipline of the crews decided everything.
Commanding the Americans was Oliver Hazard Perry, whose name is forever tied to the victory. But no commander wins alone at sea. The ships had to be handled, the guns crewed and served under fire, the wounded carried and the lines kept—work that fell to the ordinary and extraordinary sailors aboard, African Americans very much among them.
When the smoke cleared, Perry had done something remarkable: he had not merely defeated but captured an entire British squadron. The Black sailors whose skill helped make that possible earned a place in the region's history that this memorial at Erie is dedicated to restoring.
Its place in the American story
The capture of a British fleet on Lake Erie was one of the most decisive naval triumphs of the War of 1812. It secured American control of the lake, reshaped the campaign for the Northwest, and became an enduring symbol of the young navy's grit.
That African Americans were essential to this victory is part of a larger and often overlooked American story. From the Revolution onward, Black Americans served and sacrificed in the nation's wars—frequently in numbers and roles far greater than the history books long acknowledged—while still being denied the equal citizenship those wars were said to defend.
By naming their contribution at the very place where the fleet was built and based, this memorial does more than honor a handful of sailors. It insists that the record of American arms is incomplete until it includes everyone who actually stood the watch.
If you visit
Come to Erie's waterfront and let the lake do some of the storytelling. This is where the fleet was born—built on these shores—so the water in front of you is the same expanse those sailors trained on and sailed out to fight upon.
Read the memorial slowly. Its purpose is restoration: to return to memory the skilled Black seamen whose part in the September 1813 victory went too long unspoken. It rewards a thoughtful pause rather than a quick photo.
Erie makes a rich stop on any Great Lakes history trip, and this marker adds a dimension many travelers miss. Stand at the edge of the harbor, look out at the horizon, and consider the full crew—every hand aboard—who made one of the era's great American victories possible.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Oliver Hazard Perry
Related events
- · Battle of Lake Erie
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Making of the Flag "Don't Give Up the Ship"
Erie, PA · est. 2015
In the summer of 1813, with British warships massing on Lake Erie, seven Erie women stayed behind while others fled south and stitched the battle flag Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry would fly at the Battle of Lake Erie. Led by Margaret Forster Steuart and her sister Dorcas, the seamstresses emblazoned it with the dying words of Perry's friend James Lawrence: "Don't Give Up the Ship." The banner survives at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, and its motto endures across the Navy.
Flagship Niagara
Erie, PA · est. 1948
During the War of 1812, control of Lake Erie was decisive for the fate of the American Northwest. On September 10, 1813, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry led a hastily built American squadron against the British fleet; when his first flagship, the Lawrence, was shot to pieces, Perry famously transferred to the Niagara and pressed the fight to victory. His terse report—"We have met the enemy and they are ours"—became one of the young republic's most quoted lines.
Captain Daniel Dobbins
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A merchant mariner turned naval officer, Daniel Dobbins carried the alarming news of the fall of Forts Mackinac and Detroit to Washington in the opening months of the War of 1812. Commissioned a sailing master, he returned to Erie to oversee the building of the very squadron that Oliver Hazard Perry would command to victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. Dobbins spent three decades in the Navy and Revenue Cutter Service.
Harry T. Burleigh
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