FORTISVEX Commodore Perry Flag 3x5 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets

History of the Commodore Perry Flag: Resolve on Lake Erie

The Commodore Perry design presents a direct challenge to discouragement: DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP, in white lettering against a dark blue field. Its spare layout keeps attention on the words. This modern interpretation commemorates Oliver Hazard Perry and the War of 1812, rather than claiming to reproduce every physical detail of the surviving historical flag.

A Command Remembered

The phrase belongs first to Captain James Lawrence, commander of the American frigate Chesapeake. In June 1813, his ship fought HMS Shannon outside Boston and was captured after a brief, devastating engagement. Mortally wounded, Lawrence urged his men to keep fighting. The familiar words became associated with his dying command, although describing them as a verbatim record of his very last breath goes beyond what the evidence securely establishes. The National Park Service records his death on June 4, several days after the battle. Read the National Park Service biography of Lawrence.

Perry made that memory part of his squadron’s identity. Purser Samuel Hambleton suggested the motto, and Margaret Forster Steuart, assisted by other women in Erie, helped make the flag. Their contribution joined work on shore to the sailors’ coming struggle. The Navy recounts the flag’s creation.

The Battle Behind the Banner

On September 10, 1813, nine American vessels confronted six British vessels near Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. The waterway carried supplies needed by British forces farther west, making control of it strategically important. The fleets also had different fighting strengths. British long guns could reach farther, while the Americans relied heavily on shorter-range carronades that were formidable at close quarters. Perry therefore had to bring his ships within effective range while enduring enemy fire. The National Park Service explains the ships, weapons and stakes.

Perry’s flagship, Lawrence, suffered such severe damage that it could no longer carry the fight effectively. He crossed by boat to Niagara and continued directing the battle from there. The change of ships was a decision to keep command functioning under fire, not an abandonment of the struggle. The National Archives describes the transfer.

Whether the motto flag itself accompanied Perry in that boat is less certain. The Navy notes that most accounts say it did, while some later accounts disagree. Perry’s transfer is established; that particular detail deserves qualification.

The action ended with the British squadron’s surrender. In his same-day report to Secretary of the Navy William Jones, Perry enumerated two ships, two brigs, a schooner and a sloop. Preserved by the National Archives, that short report anchors the familiar patriotic story in an actual contemporary document. The victory strengthened American control of the lake and encouraged a country that had endured serious early reverses in the war.

The Original and the Modern Blue Design

The blue field is familiar today, but it should not be advertised as the original’s authenticated color. Conservation discussed by the Navy found that blue had been added later; the earlier flag may have been tan, brown or black. The surviving artifact reached the Naval Academy in 1849 and is preserved in its museum; Memorial Hall displays a replica.

For a patriotic display, the strength of this design is its reminder of perseverance, responsibility and service to the republic. Understanding the differences between the modern pattern and the original artifact gives that tribute greater substance. The motto carries more meaning when the sailors, civilian makers and difficult decisions behind it remain part of the story.