For more than two hours the battle had been fought with a bulldog endurance not often equaled in the grim pages of naval history.
And more nearly than any other incident of the War of 1812 it could be called decisive.
The American victory made the position of Prevost's army wholly untenable.

With the control of Lake Champlain in Macdonough's hands, the British line of communication would be continually menaced.

For the ten thousand veterans of Wellington's campaigns there was nothing to do but retreat, nor did they linger until they had marched across the Canada border.

Though the way had lain open before them, they had not fought a battle, but were turned out of the United States, evicted, one might say, by a few small ships manned by several hundred American sailors.

As Perry had regained the vast Northwest for his nation so, more momentously, did Macdonough avert from New York and New England a tide of invasion which could not otherwise have been stemmed.
[Illustration: _THOMAS MACDONOUGH_ Painting by J.W.Jarvis.