On 10 September 1813, near Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie, an American squadron under Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry fought the British squadron of Robert Heriot Barclay, a lieutenant serving as acting commander. Perry's flagship, the brig Lawrence, was shot into a wreck. He crossed by boat to the Niagara, took her through the British line, and that afternoon the whole British squadron was taken. His note to General William Henry Harrison, "We have met the enemy and they are ours", is counted by the US Navy's documentary history among the most celebrated words in American naval history. Also on this day, in 1547, an English army routed the Scots at Pinkie, near Musselburgh.
The Battle of Lake Erie, 1813: we have met the enemy and they are ours
10 September 1813 · 213 years ago
At the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry led an American squadron to a decisive victory over the British on Lake Erie, capturing their entire fleet, the first time in history a whole British squadron surrendered.
Read the full story of The Battle of Lake Erie, 1813: we have met the enemy and they are ours ›Also on this day
Battle of Pondicherry
10 September 1759 · 267 years ago
Off Pondicherry on India's Carnatic coast, George Pocock's British squadron engaged the Comte d'Aché's French squadron, which carried troops and money for French India, in the Seven Years' War. The lines traded fire for hours, but accounts of the outcome differ.
1547: at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, the English army of the Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector, routed the Scots under the Earl of Arran, the governor. William Patten heads the day "Saturday, the 10th of September. The day of the battle"; the Scottish Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents has "Wpoun the tent day, being Sattirday, callit blak Sattirday" ("upon the tenth day, being Saturday, called Black Saturday"; our translation). Patten writes that "thirteen thousand were slain thus in field" and that 500 were taken, among them the Earl of Huntly; the Diurnal also lists Huntly among the captured and gives "of Ingliſmen ſlane ſex hundreth" ("of Englishmen slain six hundred"; our translation). Historic Environment Scotland notes that claims of up to 15,000 Scots killed would mean around 75% fatalities, which it finds "difficult to believe", and thinks the official English loss of 250 was more likely double.1
