William Henry Harrison Letter to John Armstrong Regarding Perry's Victory

              Head Quarters/Camp Meigs 
No				Miami Rapids 24th July 1813 
Sir 
I have not the honor to receive the 
letter of Col. Monroe of the 21st [illegible] until this Evening. 
I am still occupied in fortifying the camp at this 
place, a few days will place it in a situation with 
twelve or fifteen hundred men to bid defiance to all 
the forces in Upper Canada. 
The destruction of the enemys naval force in 
Lake Erie has never ceased to occupy my attention 
and after having examined in my mind every pro 
spect which occurred to myself or those whom I con- 
sulted - There appears to me to be no other prac 
ticable but that of crossing over Lake Erie from 
the mouth of the Sandusky Bay along the chain 
of Islands which extends at small intervals 
from that bay to within eighteen miles of Mal 
dew.  The intention is to put from one hundred & 
fifty to two hundred men in slides to hop to the 
Northernmost island in one night and on the