The Men of the Lake Erie Squadron: 1813–1825
Eric Eugene Johnson
Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Ohio.
The Battle of Lake Erie, which was fought near Put-in-Bay, Ohio on 10 September 1813, is ingrained in American history. This battle was not the only naval battle that was fought on the Upper Great Lakes during the War of 1812, but it is the most famous of these battles. The U.S. Navy did not withdraw from Lake Erie after the battle, but continued to protect America’s interests on the Upper Great Lakes until 1825 when the Lake Erie Station at Erie, Pennsylvania was permanently closed.
Approximately 1,336 men served in this squadron between 1813 and 1825. The squadron was not only made up of men from the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, but also from volunteers from the U.S. Army and the militia forces of Kentucky, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. At least sixty African Americans and one Native American served with the squadron.
The ‘lost’ muster rolls of the men who served during the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813 have been recreated in this work by using a variety of sources. These sources include the muster rolls from the ships and naval stations that sent men to Lake Erie, from U.S. Army and militia muster rolls, from the prize list and causality list from this battle, from the British Admiralty’s American prisoner of war records, and from naval books and county histories.
The primary focus of this book is to identify the men who served at the Lake Erie Station, and not to present to the readers a complete history of the battles and the ships. The secondary focus is to dispel the many myths and legends associated with the Battle of Lake Erie. The book is genealogical in nature in order to help researchers in discovering their ancestor’s naval participation on the Upper Great Lakes during and after the War of 1812.
Mr. Johnson is a lineal descendant of seven veterans of the War of 1812, and he is the past president of the Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Ohio (2008–2011). He is currently the Registrar General for the General Society of the War of 1812, and has served as the Historian General (2011–2014) and the Archivist General (2014–2017) for this society.
2022, 8½x11, paper, alphabetical, 196 pp
ISBN: 9780788426537
101-J2653
