A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812-1813

Incorporating British, Canadian, and American archival and published documents, David Skaggs and Gerard Altoff provide a wealth of new insights while at the same time offering a totally impartial analysis of all sides of the struggle to control the lake. New diagrams of the battle are included that reflect the authors' modification of traditional positions of various vessels. A thorough discussion is also presented of the positive and negative aspects of the command leadership exercised by Perry and his British opponent, Robert H. Barclay. The authors also take a close look at the post-battle controversy between Perry and his second-in-command, Jesse Duncan Elliott.

Amazon.com Review
"We have met the enemy and they are ours," declared Oliver Hazard Perry after his decisive victory over the British navy on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Authors Gerard Altoff (chief park ranger and historian for the National Park Service at Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in Ohio) and David Skaggs (a professor at Bowling Green University) provide a detailed account of this great sea battle, which was one of the few events during the War of 1812 that Americans of the time could celebrate. A series of helpful maps shows how ship positions changed on an hour-by-hour basis, and the text provides strategic context and a blow-by-blow description of the encounter. A Signal Victory is a skillful piece of American naval history.