Existing comment:
On Inland Waters:
The frigate battles on the high seas brought glory to the fledgling United States Navy and fame to its captains, but it was two battles, fought between small fleets on lakes, that earned strategic and long-lasting gains for the Nation.
One object in going to war with England was to seize Canada and use it as a bargaining chip. This plan collapsed almost immediately when Gen William Hull surrendered Detroit to an inferior British army. The threat of invasion from the west and down the Lake Champlain-Hudson River water highway turned attention to the northern frontier. |