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THAMES, BATTLE OF THE

THAMES, BATTLE OF THE. The American effort to reclaim the upper Great Lakes, lost to the British in August 1812, was led by Gen. William Henry Harrison, who established Fort Meigs (above Toledo) as an advance base, and Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry, who built the fleet that, on 10 September, won the Battle of Lake Erie. Harrison's troops, convoyed by Perry's fleet, pursued British Gen. Henry A. Procter's forces into the interior of Ontario. The Americans engaged and defeated Proctor and his Indian allies, led by Tecumseh, a few miles east of Thamesville on 5 October 1813. Harrison's victory added to the future president's reputation as a military hero and restored American dominance in the Northwest.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Morison, Samuel E. "Old Bruin": Commodore Matthew C. Perry, 1794–1858. Boston: Little, Brown, 1967.

Peterson, Norma Lois. The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.

Skaggs, David Curtis. A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812–1813. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1997.

Sugden, John. Tecumseh's Last Stand. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.

———. Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Holt, 1998.

M. M. Quaife/A. R.

See also "Don't Give Up the Ship"; Ghent, Treaty of; Great Lakes Naval Campaigns of 1812; Lake Erie, Battle of; Tecumseh's Crusade; Tippecanoe, Battle of; War of 1812.