Twenty-seven American sailors were killed at the Battle of Lake Erie.
The battle was fought on September 10, 1813, near Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry led an American squadron of nine vessels against six British vessels commanded by Robert Heriot Barclay. After a hard-fought action, the entire British squadron was captured or surrendered.
American losses included 27 killed and 96 wounded. The heaviest casualties occurred aboard USS Lawrence, Perry’s flagship, where most of the crew were killed or wounded before Perry transferred his flag to USS Niagara and resumed the attack.
The figure can be confused with the British death toll of 41. Some accounts also note that two of the American wounded later died, but the standard battle casualty figure for Americans killed in the action is 27. The victory gave the United States control of Lake Erie and helped recover Detroit.