1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

Who said, "We have met the enemy and they are ours"?

U.S. naval captain Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) wrote these famous words in a letter to U.S. army general William Henry Harrison (1773–1841) after defeating the British navy at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. Only twenty-eight years old at the time, Perry was commander of a navy squadron (a group of navy vessels) that met and defeated the enemy during the War of 1812 (1812–15; an armed conflict between the United States and Great Britain). The message he sent to Harrison (who became the ninth U.S. president) was: "We have met the enemy and they are ours: two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." As a result of this victory, Perry received a gold medal and an official commendation from Congress for the victory.

Further Information: Dillon, Richard. We Have Met the Enemy: Oliver Hazard Perry, Wilderness...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. European Conflicts
   1. What was the Trojan War, and what did a horse have to do with it?
   2. What was the Peloponnesian War?
   3. Why was the Macedonian king Alexander known as "the Great"?
   4. How were the Romans able to conquer Greece?
   5. What were the Punic Wars?
   6. If the Roman Empire was so powerful, why did it fall?
   7. What was the Norman Conquest?
   8. What was the Hundred Years' War?
   9. Who was Joan of Arc?
   10. What were the Hussite Wars?
   11. What was the Peasants' War?
   12. What was the Gunpowder Plot?
   13. What was the Defenestration of Prague?
   14. What was the Peace of Westphalia?
   15. What was the Great Northern War?
   16. What was the Seven Years' War?
   17. What was the Oath of the Tennis Court?
   18. What was the Reign of Terror?
   19. What was the French revolutionary calendar?
   20. How long did the French Revolution last?
   21. What was the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire?
   22. When did the Napoleonic Wars begin and end?
   23. Why did Russian czar Alexander I order the burning of Moscow?
   24. What was the London Protocol?
   25. What was the Crimean War?
   26. What is the Treaty of Paris?
2. American Conflicts
   1. How did Great Britain come to control so much of North America?
   2. What was the French and Indian War?
   3. What was the Boston Tea Party?
   4. Who were Paul Revere and the minutemen?
   5. Why was the Battle of Bunker Hill an important event in the American Revolution?
   6. Was France an ally of the American colonists in their war against Great Britain?
   7. Did all American Revolution battles take place in the Northeast?
   8. What was the Battle of Tippecanoe?
   9. Who were the War Hawks?
   10. Who said, "We have met the enemy and they are ours"?
   11. What does "Remember the Alamo" mean?
   12. Why was the Mexican War fought?
   13. What did the United States gain from the Mexican War?
   14. What was the War of Reform?
   15. What was privateering?
   16. What did "Fifty-four forty or fight" mean?
   17. Was the Civil War fought to abolish slavery?
   18. How did the American Civil War begin and how did it end?
   19. What were the Union and the Confederacy?
   20. Who was Andrew Johnson, and why did he vow to burn Nashville?
   21. What was the significance of the Battle of Gettysburg?
   22. What was the Sioux uprising?
   23. What was "Custer's last stand"?
   24. Why was the Spanish-American War fought?
   25. What happened to the Philippines after the islands were given up to the United States?
3. Asian And African Conflicts
   1. What was the First Sino-Japanese War?
   2. What was the Boer War?