the Navy made his meeting the enemy a necessity.

The outcome of the attempts which had been made by the Government for
the defence of this section of the country had not been such as to
inspire sanguine hopes of the result of this action.

The Adams, the only vessel the United States had upon the Lake before
the construction of Perry's ships, had been captured. General Hull had
ignobly surrendered his force to the enemy at the head of the Lake,
General Winchester's army had been lost to the Government, and General
Van Rensselaer had been defeated at Niagara.

Perry was to act in conjunction with the northwestern army, under
General Harrison, then awaiting the result of the battle to be
transported across the Lake, in the event of a victory, to operate
against the enemy in his own territory.

Perry's earnest appeal to Chauncey for men, backed by the promise that
if he got them he would acquire honor and glory both for Chauncey and
himself, or he would perish in the attempt, should be considered in
connection with his appeal to the same officer to bring the men, and
take command of the fleet. Together they show that the first appeal was
not the result of an ambitious desire for vain glory; no mere impulse of
emotion or passion; but the outcome of a high resolve wrought in the
laboratory of a noble soul, born of that deliberate purpose which
permeated his subsequent conduct in the action and which is recorded in
the bronze before us.

The men from the army were animated for a desperate exertion; with
them the slaughter at the river Raisin was to be redressed, and its