Part 54 (1/2)
s.h.i.+p Detroit 19 guns: 1 on pivot and 2 howitzers.
Queen Charlotte 17 ” 1 ”
Schooner Lady Prevost 13 ” 1 ”
Brig Hunter 10 ”
Sloop Little Belt 3 ”
Schooner Chippeway 1 ” 2 swivels.
-- 63 guns.
NOTE: The Detroit is a new s.h.i.+p, very strongly built, and mounts long twenty-fours, eighteens and twelves.
_Statement of the force of the United States squadron._
Brig Lawrence 20 guns.
” Niagara 20 ”
” Caledonia 3 ”
Schooner Ariel 4 ” (1 burst early in action.) ” Scorpion 2 ”
” Somers 2 ” and 2 swivels.
Sloop Trippe 1 ”
Schooner Tigress 1 ”
” Porcupine 1 ”
-- 54 guns.
The exact number of the enemy's force has not been ascertained, but I have good reason to believe that it exceeded ours by nearly 100 men.
S. HAMBLETON, _Purser_.
O. H. PERRY, _Captain and senior officer_.
_____
_The Secretary of the Navy to George Harrison._
To George HARRISON, Esq., Navy Department, Navy Agent, Philadelphia. July 4th, 1814.
Sir: In order to have made the swords and medals contemplated by the inclosed resolutions of Congress, I have to request that you will engage artists for that purpose whose abilities and (p. 181) taste will insure their being executed in the best manner.
You will perceive by the resolution that the device for the medal for Captains Perry and Elliott must be emblematical of the action on Lake Erie; and, it appears to me, that representations of the several engagements are the most suitable devices for the others.
The best representations of those engagements yet engraved may be seen, I understand, in the Academy of Arts at Philadelphia, where the artists and amateurs might readily determine on the devices.
The number of dies for the medals will be as follows, viz.:
Capture of the Guerriere by the Const.i.tution 1 ” ” Macedonian by the United States 1 ” ” Frolic by the Wasp 1 ” ” Java by the Const.i.tution 1 ” ” Peac.o.c.k by the Hornet 1 ” ” Boxer by the Enterprize 1 Victory on Lake Erie 1 -- Dies 7
The reverse of the medals will be properly appropriated to the respective portraits of the several commanders, which, I believe, have all been published. These, however, ought to be correct likenesses. Of the number of medals of each kind to be struck, you will be informed in due time.