The Battle of Lake Erie, fought during the War of 1812, secured control of Lake Erie for the United States. Lead by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, American soldiers defeated and captured British warships enabling General William Henry Harrison to invade Canada. The Americans success in Battle of Lake Erie provided the United States with a strong bargaining position in peace talks.

Peaceful relations have remained between the United States and Canada since The Treaty of Ghent ended The War of 1812 and the Rush-Bagot Agreement with Great Britain was signed. Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial on the Lake Erie island of Put-In-Bay was completed in 1915 serving not only to remember the Battle of Lake Erie, the men who fought the battle and Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry but to also serve as a reminder of international peaceful arbitration.

The Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was established as a unit of the National Park Service by a President Roosevelt in 1936.

Perry's Monument stands 352 feet above Lake Erie and provides a 317 foot high panoramic observation deck with views of Lake Erie as well as the shorelines of Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario.

History inside of Perry's Monument includes the names of Perry's ships along with the names of the Americans who were killed or wounded in the Battle of Lake Erie carved into the walls of the rotunda while the remains of three American officers and three British officers are buried beneath the floor.

Living history demonstrations by rangers in 1812 period uniform are given at at the base of Perry's Monument as well as talks about the Battle of Lake Erie, the War of 1812 and construction of the Perry's Monument.