TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The United States Postal Service will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Eire, a decisive victory for the United States in the War of 1812, with a special forever stamp.
The Postal Service will hold a ceremony to mark the stamp's first day in circulation on September 10. The event will be held at 9 a.m. at the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in the village of Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island.
The Postal Service released the following information about the stamp:
For the stamp art, the Postal Service selected William Henry Powell's famous painting, Battle of Lake Erie. The oil-on-canvas painting, completed in 1873, was commissioned by the U.S. Congress and placed at the head of the east stairway in the Senate wing of the Capitol in Washington, DC. It depicts Perry in the small boat he used to transfer from his ruined flagship, the Lawrence, to the Niagara. A 19th-century engraving of Perry by William G. Jackman (after John Wesley Jarvis) is shown on the reverse of the stamp pane. Greg Breeding of Charlottesville, VA, served as art director and designer for the stamp.
In addition to contributing the battle cry 'Don't Give Up the Ship,' to our national lexicon, the battle gave us the 'Hero of Lake Erie,' Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry. Perry's courage and gallantry earned him a place in history as one of our country's greatest Naval heroes. His decisive victory over the Royal Navy at Lake Erie prevented the British from penetrating further along the Great Lakes."
Joining Colin in dedicating the stamp will be Northwest Ohio representative for Senator Sherrod Brown Ann Longsworth Orr; National Park Service Midwest Regional Director Michael Reynolds; .U.S. Navy (Ret.) Captain/Naval Sea Cadet Corps Executive Director Captain James Monahan; Put-In-Bay Mayor Ruth Scarpelli; and WPIB and WPCR Radio President and General Manager Greg Pfeiffer.
The War of 1812, sometimes called "the forgotten conflict," was a two-and-a-half-year confrontation with Great Britain that brought the United States to the verge of bankruptcy and disunion.
After boarding and taking command of the Niagara, Perry attacked and demolished the British ships Detroit and Queen Charlotte. He then penned one of the most memorable phrases of the war in a report to General William Henry Harrison: "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Perry's triumph gave the U.S. control of Lake Erie and allowed the army to recover ground lost early in the war. The British and their Indian allies abandoned their outposts on the Detroit frontier and retreated up the Thames River deeper into Upper Canada. General Harrison pursued them and won the Battle of the Thames on Oct. 5, 1813, less than a month after Perry's remarkable victory.
