Flagship Niagara
Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This restored vessel was used by Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry as his flagship in the Battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 10, 1813 after the Lawrence was disabled. From the Niagara's deck Perry sent the message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
Perry's triumph on the Niagara secured Lake Erie for the United States and helped save the Northwest frontier, making the restored vessel a tangible link to a defining naval victory.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Oliver Hazard Perry
Related events
- · Battle of Lake Erie, 1813
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
African American Sailors in the Battle of Lake Erie
Erie, PA · est. 1996
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.
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.
Captain Daniel Dobbins
Erie, PA · est. 2003
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.
Erie County
Erie, PA · est. 1981
Erie County was carved from Allegheny County on March 12, 1800, taking its name from Lake Erie and, through it, from the Erie Indians who once lived along its shores. The county seat, laid out in 1795, grew into a bustling Great Lakes port and became a city in 1851. During the War of 1812, ships of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet were built here before winning the decisive 1813 Battle of Lake Erie.