When History and Families Collide: The 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie

4GG Elisha Gates, a few years (and a few pounds) after the march to Lake Erie

Today marks the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie.  This was the naval battle between the Americans and the British for control of the Lake that took place on September 10, 1813.

I am believed to have had an American relative there and one on the way too.

The one on the way is pretty well-documented.   According to my cousin David Armstrong in his blog Deep Roots, my fourth great grandfather, Elisha Gates, was on his way there.  Elisha had enrolled in defense of his country and, more specifically, to avenge his now-home, Kentucky.  He was among thousands of Kentucky militia men marching from Cincinnati to Lake Erie when word came down of the battle victory.

According to A History of the State of Oklahoma, a Platt ancestor was at the Battle of Lake Erie.  James Platt, my third great grand uncle, was reportedly there. 

Muster rolls show a George Platt was on the Brig Niagra that day too.  Niagra was the brig that Commodore Perry was aboard when the battle was decisively won. 

Though my third great grandfather, George Platt, served in the War of 1812, I don't have any reason to believe that was him.  I'll keep looking though.