The command of the Great Lakes was very important; being on the boundary between the United States and the English colony of Canada, they controlled the entrance to each country. When the war opened, the English had a naval force on the Great Lakes, the Americans had none. A fleet could not be made ready without delay, and an American army under General Hull was sent to invade Canada. General Hull surrendered the fort at Detroit without attempting to defend it, and the English took also Fort Dearborn, on the site of Chicago. To protect the northern coast, Lieutenant Oliver Perry was sent to build a fleet on Lake Erie and to fight the British there. This was a great undertaking. There was no railroad or canal connecting the western with the eastern part of New York. Nails, sails, guns, powder, shot, and supplies of all kinds had to be carried on ox wagons along the rough roads and on boats up the streams. Perry did not lose time bemoaning the difficulty of the task. The very day that he received his orders he started carpenters to the lake; having arranged about men and supplies, he himself set forth in the depth of winter. In the spring, followed men bringing needed stores. In a few months Perry had a little fleet built of trees which were standing in the forest the summer before. “Give me men,” he wrote, “and I will acquire both for you and for myself honor and glory on this lake, or die in the attempt.” In September, 1813, the American ships sailed forth and the English fleet, which was about equal in men and guns, made ready to attack. Lieutenant Perry hoisted a flag bearing the words, “Don’t give up the ship,” the dying speech of brave Captain Lawrence for whom the flag-ship was named. The English attacked gallantly, and Perry’s ship was so injured that “hammered out of his own ship,” he had to go in a row-boat to the Niagara. With him he took his flag and Captain Lawrence’s brave words waved as a signal from the Niagara. The Americans raked the English decks with a deadly broadside. The British fought bravely till their ships were crippled and most of their officers and many of their men were wounded. Then the whole squadron was surrendered,--the first time that this fate ever befell the British in a naval battle. In honor of Captain Lawrence, Perry was determined that the surrender should take place on the Lawrence, so he returned to that vessel and there received the swords of the British officers. On the back of an old letter he wrote his famous dispatch to General Harrison: “We have met the enemy and they are ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. Yours with very great respect and esteem, O. H. Perry.” This battle of Lake Erie prevented the English and French invasion of the United States and made it possible for the Americans to invade Canada. Perry was made captain, then the highest rank in the American navy. This ended his service in the war of 1812.