I would otherwise prefer fighting them on the lake and would wait until our force is in an efficient state but I fear they would take shelter up the lake and would not meet me on equal terms." Compelled to seek and offer battle in Plattsburg Bay, the British vessels rounded Cumberland Head on the morning of the 11th of September and hove to while Captain Downie went ahead in a boat to observe the American position.

He perceived that Macdonough had anchored his fleet in line in this order: the brig _Eagle_, twenty guns, the flagship _Saratoga_, twenty-six guns, the schooner _Ticonderoga_, seven guns, and the sloop _Preble_, seven guns.

There was also a considerable squadron of little gunboats, or galleys, propelled by oars and mounting one gun.
Opposed to this force was the stately _Confiance_, with her three hundred men and thirty-seven guns, such a ship as might have dared to engage the _Constitution_ on blue water, and the _Chub_, _Linnet_, and _Finch_, much like Macdonough's three smaller vessels, besides a flotilla of the tiny, impudent gunboats which were like so many hornets.
Macdonough was a youngster of twenty-eight years to whom was granted this opportunity denied the officers who had grown gray in the service.
The navy, which was also very young, had set its own stamp upon him, and his advancement he had won by sheer ability.

Self-reliant and indomitable, like Oliver Hazard Perry, he had wrestled with obstacles and was ready to meet the enemy in spite of them.

His fame among naval men outshines Perry's, and he is rated as the greatest fighting sailor who flew the American flag until Farragut surpassed them all.
The battle of Plattsburg Bay was contested straight from the shoulder with little chance for such evolutions as seeking the weather gage or wearing ship.