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.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the opening years of the 1800s the United States was still a young and untested nation, and the War of 1812 pressed hard on its northern frontier. The Great Lakes were not scenic backdrops then but strategic highways — whoever controlled the water controlled the movement of troops, supplies, and trade between the settled East and the contested Northwest.
Lake Erie mattered more than most. British forces and their allies operated out of the north shore, and as long as their ships ruled the lake, the American hold on the region around Detroit and the Ohio country remained precarious.
Erie, Pennsylvania, on the lake's southern shore, became an unlikely shipyard. Here a squadron was built almost from scratch, hammered together from local timber by crews racing the season and the enemy. The vessel remembered by this marker was part of that effort — proof that the war on the lakes would be decided by ships that did not yet exist when the fighting began.
People & events
The name tied to this place is Oliver Hazard Perry, a young officer given the daunting job of building and then leading an American squadron on Lake Erie. On September 10, 1813, that squadron met the British fleet in open battle.
Perry began the fight aboard his first flagship. When that vessel was battered into helplessness under heavy fire, he did something few commanders would risk: he left the wreck of his flagship and crossed the water to a second ship still fit to fight, then carried the battle forward from her deck.
From that second flagship Perry pressed the engagement to a decisive American victory — and sent back a report whose plain, triumphant words became one of the most quoted lines of the era. It is the kind of moment that turns a naval officer into a household name, and it happened here, on the lake this ship was built to command.
Its place in the American story
The victory on Lake Erie did far more than win a single day. By breaking British control of the lake, it secured a vital supply line and helped turn the tide in the wider struggle for the Northwest frontier.
For a nation still unsure of its own strength, a clear win at sea — even an inland sea — was a powerful thing. It gave Americans a hero, a rallying phrase, and evidence that their improvised navy could stand against one of the world's great maritime powers.
That is why a restored fighting ship is more than a curiosity. It is a physical link to the moment the young republic proved it could hold its northern door, and it anchors Erie's identity to a chapter of American history that reached far beyond Pennsylvania.
If you visit
Come to the Erie waterfront and let the setting do some of the work. The lake stretching out in front of you is the same water the squadron fought on, and it helps to imagine wooden ships maneuvering under sail and smoke where pleasure boats now drift.
Look for the vessel itself as the centerpiece — a restored flagship is a rare thing to stand beside. Notice the scale of the masts and the tightness of the decks, and remember that men built, sailed, and fought a war on something this size.
This stop fits naturally into a Lake Erie road trip that mixes maritime history with lakeshore scenery. Give yourself time to walk the harbor, read the marker slowly, and picture the day this quiet shoreline decided the fate of a frontier.
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, 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.