Put-in-Bay Stamp Released
The US Postal Service has announced the issue of a postage stamp commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie which took place 200 years ago on Sept. 10, 1813, just a few miles away from Put-in-Bay out on the lake. The battle dramatically changed the history of the United States. The War of 1812, sometimes called “the forgotten conflict,” was a two-and-a-half-year confrontation with Great Britain that brought the United States to the verge of bankruptcy and disunion.
With this 2013 issuance, the U.S. Postal Service continues its commemoration of the bicentennial of a war that ultimately helped forge our national identity and gave us our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The Postal Service selected William Henry Powell’s famous painting, Battle of Lake Erie, for the stamp design.
The oil-on-canvas painting, completed in 1873, was commissioned by the United States Congress and placed at the head of the east stairway in the Senate wing of the Capitol. It depicts Oliver Hazard Perry in the small boat he used to transfer from his ruined flagship, the Lawrence, to the Niagara.
To evoke the times, the color and texture of a contemporary area map were used for
the stamp sheet’s background. A 19th-century engraving of Perry by William G. Jackman (after John Wesley Jarvis) appears in the margin of the verso text. After boarding and taking command of the Niagara, Perry attacked and demolished the British ships Detroit and Queen Charlotte.
He then penned one of the most memorable phrases of the war in a report to General William Henry Harrison: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” Perry’s triumph gave the U.S. control of Lake Erie and allowed the army to recover ground lost early in the war.
The British and their Indian allies abandoned their outposts on the Detroit frontier and retreated up the Thames River deeper into Upper Canada. General Harrison pursued them and won the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, less than a month after Perry’s remarkable victory.
Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp. The War of 1812: Battle of Lake Erie stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. Islanders are hoping the stamp will be issued from the Put-in-Bay post office and first-day covers for collectors will be available.
It sounds like this would be sometime in September. Interestingly, Put-in-Bay Village Councilman Kelly Faris contacted the Postal Service some time back, suggesting a stamp be issued to commemorate the battle but was told one would not be issued. He was surprised and delighted when he learned about the new stamp.
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