We have met the enemy, and they are ours

Cultural  

1. A message sent from the naval Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, announcing a victory for the United States. The naval commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, addressed the words to the American land armies.

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Example Sentences

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We have met the enemy, and they are ours

It seems to me that the words ascribed to Perry ran: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."

From Time Magazine Archive

During the war, however, the U. S. Canadian operations were a dismal failure, relieved chiefly by Perry's famed "We have met the enemy and they are ours" victory on Lake Erie.

From Time Magazine Archive

Oliver Hazard Perry made American history with his famous phrase, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," after his defeat of the British squadron on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813.

From Time Magazine Archive

On Lake Erie, September 12, Commodore Perry fought the famous battle which he thus reported: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop."

From The Scrap Book. Volume 1, No. 2 April 1906 by Various

We have met the enemy, and they are ours.

From Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by Bartlett, John