But the American successes forced Britain to bring more of its fighting ships into the war with the United States. By the middle of 1813, a year after the war started, British ships controlled the East coast. No American ship could enter or leave any port south of New England.
Meanwhile, the military situation was improving for the Americans in what was then the West. William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory, formed a large force to try to capture Detroit from the British. At the same time, Captain Oliver Perry built five warships on Lake Erie. With these, and four he already had, Perry met and defeated a British naval force.
Perry reported his victory to Harrison: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."
Perry's victory and Harrison's large force caused the British to withdraw from Detroit and from a British fort at Malden, in Canada. Harrison's men continued to chase the enemy. They caught them and defeated them in the battle of the Thames. Killed in this battle was the great Indian chief Tecumseh, who had been fighting for the British.
American forces made new attempts to win control of Lake Ontario and invade Canada across the Niagara River. But none of these succeeded. Late in 1813, British soldiers crossed the river and captured Fort Niagara. They also burned the town of Buffalo.
By April 1814 Napoleon was forced from power in Europe. And the war between France and Britain was over. The end of the war in Europe permitted Britain to send many of its soldiers to fight against the United States.
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