FORT MEIGS

Fort Meigs overlooks the Maumee River from Perrysburg. Enjoy a hearty hike around the perimeters of the reconstructed Fort. Meigs is one of the largest reconstructed walled forts in America and contains exhibits of the War of 1812.

Fort Meigs was named for the wartime governor of Ohio whose unusual moniker was "Return Jonathan Meigs". The Fort was attacked twice by the combined forces of British and Native Americans, but was never overtaken. The stories of these trying battles earned Fort Meigs the nickname "Gilbralter of the North".

COMMODORE OLIVER HAZARD PERRY

defeated the British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie, fought off Sandusky Bay during the War of 1812.

The Battle of Lake Erie according to Ray Allen Billington and Martin Ridge in Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier. N.Y., London: MacMillan. 1982. 282. :

     Washington officials finally realizing that control of Lake Erie was essential to a successful western campaign, had entrusted twenty-seven year-old Oliver Hazard Perry with the task of building a fleet strong enough to defeat the British gunboats. Perry's sturdy vessels, painstakingly built at Erie of materials transported from the East by wagon train, sailed westward on August 12,1813, in search of the British force, which was anchored under the guns of Ft. Malden. Not daring to engage the enemy amidst the treacherous currents of the lower Detroit River, the Americans waited at Put-in-Bay Harbor on South Bass Island, knowing the enemy would have to attack or lose control of Lake Erie by default. On September 10,1813, the two fleets met in a furious three-hour engagement that ended in complete victory for the ] superior American force. Harrison heard the good news a day later when a small boat rowed furiously up the Sandusky River bearing an officer who delivered Perry's famous message scribbled on the back of an old envelope:"We have met the enemy and they are ours."

Take a short jaunt by plane or boat across Sandusky Bay to the Bass Islands. The Perry's Victory Monument and International Peace Memorial stands at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island. The monument is made of granite and stands 352 feet tall. The International Peace monument honors the enduring peace between the United States and Canada.