The hero of the following memoir was born in Newport, Rhode Island,
August, 1785. His father, who also was in the service of the United
States, anxious that his son should lead a seafaring life, obtained for
him a commission as midshipman on board of the sloop-of-war General
Greene, in 1798, at a time when our commercial difficulties with France
caused much excitement. Perry soon after joined the squadron for the
Mediterranean.
He served during the Tripolitan war, and though debarred, by his
extreme youth, from an opportunity of distinguishing himself, he
acquired by his conduct the regard and esteem of his superior officers
and the affection of his associates. Being at all times willing to be
instructed, and most anxious to excel, he became very early in life
an accomplished officer and navigator. In 1810 he was commissioned as
lieutenant commandant in the schooner Revenge, attached to the squadron
of Commodore Rogers, on Long Island Sound, to prevent infractions of
the embargo laws. During his command of this vessel, a circumstance
occurred which first tried the character of our young hero, though in
the end it proved of advantage to him. The Revenge was wrecked in a
fog near Stonington, but by the intrepidity of Perry, the crew, guns,
and much other property were saved. He immediately demanded a court
of inquiry into his conduct, which acquitted him of all blame, and
reported, that the preservation of so much property was owing solely to
his coolness and energy. The Secretary of the Navy wrote a letter to
Lieutenant Perry, complimenting his admirable conduct under such trying
circumstances.
In 1812 he was advanced to be master-commandant; and in 1813 he was
appointed to the command of the squadron on Lake Erie. Early in August
of that year, he crossed the bar with his squadron, and was soon on
the deep waters of the lake. The enemy, who were nearly all the time
in sight, did not molest him, although they were strictly watching his
movements. More than once he cruised in sight of the enemy while at
anchor, and offered battle; but the challenge was not accepted. On the
10th of September, at sunrise, the American squadron discovered the
enemy making towards them. Perry’s force was two twenty-gun brigs and
several smaller vessels, carrying in all fifty-four guns, and manned
with six hundred men. The British force was superior both in guns and
men. About eleven o’clock, A. M., the British were formed in a line
for battle, but the wind veering round, Perry bore down upon them as
he chose. The commander of the Lawrence led, from whose mast-head were
displayed the last words of the gallant Captain Lawrence, who fell
in the action between the Chesapeake and Shannon, “Don’t give up the
ship!” An able historian thus relates the conduct of our hero during
this most exciting battle:--“At a few minutes before twelve o’clock the
British commenced their fire, and some damage was done to the Lawrence
before Perry could make his guns to bear upon the enemy; at length he
opened his battery and stood the force of the enemy’s fire for two
hours. The other part of his fleet not coming to his assistance, and
the Lawrence becoming unmanageable, her decks strewed with dead and her
guns dismounted, Perry conceived a most bold and daring design, which
he put in execution. Giving the command of the Lawrence to Lieutenant
Yarnall, he, with his flag under his arm, jumped into his boat, and
amidst a shower of shot from the enemy, made his way to the Niagara,
the second ship of his squadron. He went off from the Lawrence standing
up in his boat supporting his flag, until his seamen seized him with
affectionate violence and pulled him down to a seat. His flag was soon
seen flying from the mast-head of the Niagara, and in this moment of
extreme peril our hero was as calm as he was adventurous. He soon
brought his ship in a position to break the line of the enemy, giving
two of their ships a raking fire with his starboard guns, pouring a
broadside into a schooner from his larboard tier, and brought his ship
alongside the British commodore. The effect of his terrific fire soon
silenced the enemy’s battery; when bringing up the small American
vessels, the contest was decided, having lasted nearly three hours.
The enemy was not entirely subdued, but all his vessels were taken and
brought to the American side of the lake. Commodore Barclay, commander
of the British squadron, was a man of no ordinary fame; he had gained
laurels at the battle of Trafalgar and other memorable battles by
sea, where Englishmen had bled and won the victory; but this day his
experience did not avail him--he was forced to yield. The loss was
great on both sides, but much more severe on the British. They had
two hundred killed and wounded, the Americans about one hundred and
twenty-three.”
Commodore Barclay lost his remaining hand in the fight; the other had
been shot off in some previous battle. This victory has given Perry a
permanent place in the history of his country, and his merit is greatly
enhanced by the reflection, that, whilst no victory was ever more
decidedly the result of the skill and valor of the commander, this was
the first action of the kind he had ever seen.
In testimony of his merit, Commodore Perry received the thanks of
Congress and a medal, (_see_ Plate XI.,) and the like marks of honor
from the senate of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of the war Commodore
Perry was appointed to the command of the Java, a frigate of the first
class, and dispatched with Commodore Decatur to the Mediterranean, to
chastise the Dey of Algiers, who, during the war with Great Britain,
had plundered our commerce, and taken several of our small vessels.
Perry shortly after returned to the United States, and the Java was
laid up at Newport, in the middle of winter. The following anecdote
is related of him:--“Information was hastily brought to him that a
merchant vessel was on a reef, about five or six miles from that place,
and that the crew were still on the wreck, at the mercy of the winds
and waves. He manned his barge and said to his rowers, ‘Come, my boys,
we are going to the relief of shipwrecked seamen, pull away.’ They
returned him a look of fearless determination, which seemed to say,
where you go, we will go. The vessel had gone to pieces, but eleven
men were on her quarter-deck, which had separated from the hull of
the vessel, and was floating as a raft on the billows. This act may
not be thought to belong to the class of heroic deeds by some, who
are attracted only by the blaze of military glory; but the great mass
of his countrymen declared that he was as deserving of the civic as
of the naval crown.” In 1819 Commodore Perry received the command of
a squadron destined for the West India station, for the capture of
pirates who swarmed on those seas. This was a most important command,
and required the utmost vigilance and energy; but he was not long to
enjoy such an honorable post, for the yellow fever was raging in the
squadron, and of this disease he died on the 23d of August, 1820, in
the thirty-fifth year of his age.
The remains of Commodore Perry were brought to his native country and
interred at Newport, where a handsome monument has been erected by an
appropriation from the legislature of Rhode Island. Every tribute of
national grief was paid to his memory in the United States. Congress
made a liberal provision for his family, including his mother, who
was leaning on him for support. Commodore Perry married early in
life the accomplished daughter of Doctor Mason, of Newport, who
made him a devoted and affectionate wife. He was a man of splendid
talents, blended with a kind and tender heart; of superior tact in his
profession, and every way fitted for the position Providence intended
him to fill.