Bradley A. Rogers, Guardian of the Great Lakes - The U.S. Paddle Frigate Michigan

Abstract

Numerous articles and short stories have been written about this historic vessel of 1843, but this is the first comprehensive account. Perhaps the best known of the former is the Michigan’s enrollment during the Civil War regarding the Confederate attempt at releasing prisoners held on Johnson’s Island near Sandusky, Ohio. Not so well known is the assistance the ship gave to federal authorities in controlling the timber pirates on Lake Michigan in the 1850s. And there was the miners’ strike in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the summer of 1865. The role the ship played in Erie history and social life is discussed. Also covered are its years as the renamed (1905) Wolverine, its last cruise in 1923 under the command of William L. Morrison of Erie and its unfortunate scrapping in 1949.