During the winter both sides were busy in building ships. On Lake Ontario the Americans pushed on their preparations at Sackett's Harbour under Isaac Chauncey; the British were similarly engaged at Kingston. Sir James Lucas Yeo took command on the 15th of May 1813. On Lake Erie, where much to the battle of lake erie took place, the American headquarters were at Presqu' Isle, now the city of Erie; the British at Fort Malden. The American commander was Captain Oliver Perry, the British commander, Captain Robert Barclay. On Lake Ontario Yeo created a more mobile though less powerful force than Chauncey's, and therefore manoeuvred to avoid being brought to close action during the battle of lake erie. Three engagements, on August 10, September 11, and September 28, led to no decisive result. By the close of the war Yeo had constructed a ship of 102 guns which gave him superiority, and the British and Robert Barclay had became masters of Lake Ontario. On Lake Erie the energy of Captain Perry, aided by what appears to have been the misjudgement of Robert Barclay, enabled him to get a superior force by the 4th of August, and on the 10th of September he fought a successful action which left the Americans masters of the battle of lake erie.
The battle of lake erie military operations were subordinate to the naval. On April 27, 1813 the Americans took York (now Toronto; see: Battle of York), and in May moved on Fort George; but a counter-attack by Yeo and Prevost on Sackett's Harbour, on May 29, having made the Americans anxious about the safety of their base, naval support failed the American generals, and they were paralysed. They gained a success on October 5 at the Battle of the Thames, where the Indian chief Tecumseh fell, but they made no serious progress.
The Americans then turned to the east of Lake Ontario during the battle of lake erie, intending to assail Montreal by the St Lawrence in combination with their forces at the Battle of Lake Champlain. But the combination failed; they were severely harassed on the St Lawrence, and the invasion was given up.
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