His leadership materially aided the successful outcomes of all nine Lake Erie military campaign victories, and the victory was a turning point in the battle for the west in the war.[3] He is remembered for the words on his battle flag, "DONT [sic] GIVE UP THE SHIP", which was a tribute to the dying command of his colleague CaptainJames Lawrence of USSChesapeake. He is also known for his message to GeneralWilliam Henry Harrison which reads in part, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Perry became embroiled in a long-standing and bitter controversy with the commander ofUSS Niagara, CaptainJesse Elliott, over their conduct in the Battle of Lake Erie, and both were the subject of official charges. In 1815, he successfully commandedJava in theMediterranean during theSecond Barbary War. So seminal was his career that he was lionized in the press (being the subject of scores of books and articles).[4] He has been frequently memorialized, and many places, ships and persons have been named in his honor.
Perry was the oldest of five boys born toChristopher and Sarah Wallace Perry (née Alexander). As a boy, Perry lived in Tower Hill, Rhode Island,[5] sailing ships in anticipation of his future career as an officer in the United States Navy.[3] Perry came from a long line of naval men from both sides of his family. His mother taught Perry and his younger brothers to read and write and had them attendTrinity Episcopal Church regularly, where he was baptized by Reverend William Smith on April 1, 1794, at the age of nine. ReverendTheodore Dehon, rector of the church from 1797 to 1810, had a significant influence on the young Perry.[6] He was educated inNewport, Rhode Island. His earliest ancestor to the Americas was Edward Perry, who came fromDevon,England, and settled inSandwich, Massachusetts, around 1650 with his wife, Mary Freeman.[7]
Through his father's influence, Perry was appointed amidshipman in the United States Navy, at the age of thirteen, on April 7, 1799. Perry sailed aboardUSS General Greene, of which his father was commanding officer, on her maiden voyage in June 1799. The ship made its first stop inCuba, charged with receiving American merchant ships and providing escort fromHavana to the United States.[3][8] Perry's service aboardGeneral Greene continued during theQuasi-War withFrance.[9] He first experienced combat on February 9, 1800, off the coast of the French colony ofHaiti, which was in astate of rebellion.[10][11]
Beginning in April 1809, he commanded thesloopUSS Revenge, engaging in patrol duties to enforce theEmbargo Act, as well as a successful raid to regain an American ship held in Spanish territory in Florida. On January 9, 1811,Revengeran aground off Rhode Island and was lost. "Seeing fairly quickly that he could not save the vessel, [Perry] turned his attention to saving the crew, and after helping them down the ropes over the vessel's stern, he was the last to leave the vessel."[13]: 61 The subsequent court-martial exonerated Perry, placing blame on the ship's pilot.[A][14] In January 2011, a team of divers claimed to have discovered the remains ofRevenge, nearly 200 years to the day after it sank.[15][16] Cannons fromRevenge were salvaged by the U.S. Navy in 2017.[citation needed]
Following the court-martial, Perry was given a leave of absence from the Navy. On May 5, 1811, he married Elizabeth Champlin Mason of Newport, Rhode Island, whom he had met at a dance in 1807.[14] They enjoyed an extended honeymoon touring New England. The couple would eventually have five children, with one dying in infancy.[17]
At the beginning of the War of 1812, the BritishRoyal Navy controlled theGreat Lakes, except forLake Huron. The United States Navy controlledLake Champlain.[18] The American naval forces were very small, allowing the British to make many advances in the Great Lakes and northern New Yorkwaterways. The roles played by commanders like Perry, atLake Erie andIsaac Chauncey atLake Ontario andThomas Macdonough at Lake Champlain all proved vital to the naval effort.[19]
Naval historianE. B. Potter noted that "all naval officers of the day made a special study ofNelson's battles." Oliver Perry was no exception.[19]At his request, he was given command of the American naval forces on Lake Erie during the war. Secretary of the NavyPaul Hamilton had charged prominent merchant seamanDaniel Dobbins with building the American fleet onPresque Isle Bay atErie, Pennsylvania, and Perry was named chief naval officer.[2][3][20]
Perry knew battle was coming, and he "consciously followed Nelson's example in describing his battle plans to his captains."[19]: 218 Perry's instructions were:
Commanding officers are particularly enjoined to pay attention in preserving their stations in the Line, and in all cases to keep as near theLawrence as possible. ... Engage your designated adversary, in close action, at half cable's length.[B][21]
Perry (standing) after abandoningLawrence, in a 1911 painting byEdward Percy Moran
On September 10, 1813, Perry's squadron fought theBattle of Lake Erie against a smaller Royal Navy squadron. It was at the outset of this battle that Perry famously said, "If a victory is to be gained, I will gain it."[22] Initially, the exchange of gunfire favored the British. Perry'sflagship,USS Lawrence, was so severely disabled in the encounter that the British commander,Robert Heriot Barclay, thought that Perry would surrender it, and sent a small boat to request that the American vessel pull down its flag.[23][24]
Faithful to the words of hisbattle flag, "DONT [sic] GIVE UP THE SHIP",[25] a paraphrase of the dying words of CaptainJames Lawrence, the ship's namesake and Perry's friend,[26][23] Perry, withLawrence'schaplain andpurser as the remaining able crew, personally fired the finalsalvo.[24] He then had his men row him a half-mile (0.8 km) through heavy gunfire to transfer his command toUSS Niagara. Once aboard, Perry dispatchedNiagara's commander, CaptainJesse Elliott, to bring the other schooners into closer action while he steeredNiagara toward the damaged British ships. Like Nelson'sVictory at Trafalgar,Niagara broke the opposing line.
Perry's force pounded Barclay's ships until they could offer no effective resistance and surrendered. Although he had won the battle aboardNiagara, he received Barclay's surrender on the deck of the recapturedLawrence to allow him to see the terrible price Perry's men had paid.[22] Perry's battle report to GeneralWilliam Henry Harrison was famously brief: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."[26][C] The six captured ships were successfully returned to Presque Isle.[27][28]
Perry's battle flag; note the missing apostrophe in "DONT"
Although the engagement was small compared to Napoleonic naval battles such as theBattle of Trafalgar, the victory had disproportionate strategic importance, opening Canada up to further American invasions, while simultaneously protecting the entireOhio Valley.[3][29] The loss of Barclay's squadron directly led to the criticalBattle of the Thames, a victory over British and Indian forces by Harrison's army, the deaths ofTecumseh andRoundhead, and the breakup ofhis confederacy.[28] Along with theBattle of Plattsburgh, it was one of only two battle of the war in which an entire squadron was defeated.[3]
Perry was involved in nine battles that led to and followed the Battle of Lake Erie, and they all had a seminal impact. "What is often overlooked when studying Perry is how his physical participation and brilliant strategic leadership influenced the outcomes of all nine Lake Erie military campaign victories:
CapturingFort George, Ontario in theBattle of Fort George; Destroying the British munitions atOlde Fort Erie (seeCapture of Fort Erie); Rescuing five vessels from Black Rock; Building the Erie fleet; Getting the ships over the sandbar; Blocking British supplies for a month prior to battle; Planning the Thames invasion with General Harrison; Winning the Battle of Lake Erie; and Winning the Battle of Thames.[3][28]
A caricature of Perry's victory on Lake Erie from the 1906 book "Men of Toledo (and Their Neighbors)"
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) flies a replica "DONT [sic] GIVE UP THE SHIP" flag in 2020.A view of the flag in Memorial Hall (in Bancroft Hall)
"Don't give up the ship!" became the battle cry of Oliver Hazard Perry. The phrase was uttered by Captain James Lawrence as he died after being wounded by enemy fire aboard theChesapeake on June 1, 1813. Perry learned of Lawrence's demise at Presque Isle. He honored Lawrence with the name of a brig, calledLawrence. A battle flag was needed, and the words of Perry's good friend were suited for the coming days.[30]
Margaret Forster Steuart was enlisted to make the battle flag.[30] She was a resident of Erie Pennsylvania, wife of Army Captain Thomas Steuart and sister to Thomas Forster, both friends of Perry's. Forster was the commander of the Erie Light Infantry that had guarded the fleet.[30] With the help of her two daughters, three nieces, and a cousin, she had the flag ready for Perry within just a few days.[30] As of July 2009, Perry's flag, Steuart's work, and Lawrence's dying words can be seen today, with the flag on display inBancroft Hall'sMemorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Mural:Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. (1959) by Charles Robert Patterson and Howard B. French, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.Niagara joins the battle.Detroit andQueen Charlotte at right.
While Nelson hadCollingwood, Perry had Jesse Elliott, and was considerably less well served. Elliott, while serving withIsaac Chauncey at Lake Ontario, was tasked to augment Perry's squadron with 11 officers and 91 men, "and none were sent but the worst."[31] Subsequently, detailed by Chauncey to commandNiagara, Elliott stated "that if he could have foreseen that he himself should be sent to Lake Erie, his selections would have been different."[31] Elliott then appropriated the "best of the worst" forNiagara; and Perry "in the interest of harmony" accepted the situation, though with growing ill-will.[31]
In his initial post-action report, Perry had praised Captain Elliott's role in the American victory at Lake Erie; and as news of the battle spread, Perry and Elliott were both celebrated as national heroes. Soon after, however, several junior officers publicly criticized Elliott's performance during the battle, charging that Elliott allowedLawrence to suffer the brunt of the British fire while holdingNiagara back from the fight. William Vigneron Taylor, Perry'ssailing master, in a letter to Taylor's wife, put it thus:
TheLawrence alone rec'd the fire of the whole British squadron 2 1/2 hours within pistol shot—we were not supported as we ought to have been. Captain Perry led theLawrence into action & sustained the most destructive fire with the most gallant spirit perhaps that was ever witnessed under similar circumstances.[32]
— William Taylor, September 15, 1813
The meeting between Elliott and Perry on the deck ofNiagara was terse. Elliott inquired how the day was going. Perry replied, "Badly." Elliott then volunteered to take Perry's small boat and rally the schooners, and Perry acquiesced.[21]: 49 As Perry turnedNiagara into the battle, Elliott was not aboard. Elliott's rejoinder to history's criticism of inaction was that there had been a lack of effective signaling. Charges were filed, but not officially acted upon. Attempting to restore his honor, Elliott and his supporters began a 30-year campaign that would outlive both men and ultimately leave his reputation in tatters.[28]
In Perry's report to Secretary of the NavyWilliam Jones, written three days after the battle, he mentioned Elliott in what, at first, seem to be complimentary terms, but, when read carefully, betray his disdain for Elliott.[33] Perry wrote, "In this action he evinced his characteristic bravery and judgement; and, since the close of the action, has given me the most able and essential assistance."[34]
Obverse – bust of Perry facing right surrounded byOliverus H. Perry Princeps Stagno Eriense. ~Classam Totam Contudit.
Reverse depicts a sea battle scene with inscriptions:
Viam Invenit Virtus Aut Facit
Inter Class. Ameri.
Et Brit Die X. Sep.
MDCCCXIII
(Valor finds or makes a way. Between the Fleets of America and Britain September 10, 1813.)[39][40]
Elliott was also recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal[35] and the Thanks of Congress for his actions in the battle. This recognition would prove to fan the flames of resentment on both sides of the Elliott–Perry controversy.[28]
In recognition of his victory at Lake Erie, in 1813 Perry was elected as an honorary member of the New YorkSociety of the Cincinnati.[41]
United States Navy engraved portrait of Commodore Perry
In May 1814, Perry took command of a squadron of seven gunboats based in Newport. He held this command for only two months as in July he was placed in command ofUSS Java, a 44-gun frigate which was under construction inBaltimore. While overseeing the outfitting ofJava, Perry participated in the defenses of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., during the British invasion of theChesapeake Bay. In a twist of irony, these land battles would be the last time the career naval officer saw combat. TheTreaty of Ghent was ratified beforeJava could be put to sea.[17]
For Perry, the post-war years were marred by controversies. In 1815, he commandedJava in theMediterranean during theSecond Barbary War. While moored in Naples, Perry slapped the commander of the ship's Marines, Captain John Heath, whom Perry charged with "disrespectful, insolent, and contemptuous conduct to me his superior officer".[42] The ensuing court-martial found both men guilty, but levied only mild reprimands. After the crew returned home, Heath challenged Perry to a pistolduel, which was fought on October 19, 1817, on the same field inWeehawken, New Jersey whereAaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton. Heath fired first and missed. Perry declined to return fire, satisfying the Marine's honor.[17]
Perry's return from the Mediterranean also reignited the feud with Elliott. After an exchange of angry letters, Elliott challenged Perry to a duel, which Perry refused. (While it was normally considered cowardly to refuse a duel, Perry's stature as a hero was such that no one doubted his physical courage and few felt that Perry had wrongly offended Elliott's honor.)[peacock prose] He instead, on August 8, 1818, filed formal court-martial charges against Elliott. Perry filed a total of six charges and twenty-one specifications including "conduct unbecoming an officer," and failure to "do his utmost to take or destroy the vessel of the enemy which it was his duty to encounter."[43]
Wishing to avoid a scandal between two decorated naval heroes, Secretary of the NavySmith Thompson andPresidentJames Monroe suppressed the matter by offering Perry a diplomatic mission toSouth America in exchange for dropping his charges. This put an official end to the controversy, though it would continue to be debated for another quarter century.[44]
In 1818 Perry purchased a large house on Washington Square in Newport which was built in 1750 for merchant Peter Buloid. The house remained in the Perry family until 1865 and now serves as an antique bookstore.[citation needed]
In 1819, Perry sailed for theOrinoco River,Venezuela, aboard of thefrigateJohn Adams with the frigateConstellation and the schoonerUSS Nonsuch, arriving on July 15 to discourage piracy, while still maintaining friendly relations withRepublic of Venezuela and theRepublic of Buenos Aires. Shifting his flag to USSNonsuch, due to its shallower draft, Perry sailed upriver toAngostura to negotiate an anti-piracy agreement with PresidentSimón Bolívar. A favorable treaty was signed on August 11 with Vice PresidentFrancisco Antonio Zea in the absence of Bolivar (who was engaged in the liberation ofNew Granada), but when the schooner started downriver, many of her crew, including Perry, had been stricken withyellow fever.[45]
Despite the crew's efforts to reachTrinidad for medical assistance, the commodore died on board USSNonsuch on August 23, 1819, his 34th birthday, as the ship entered theGulf of Paria and was nearingPort of Spain.[46] He was buried inPort of Spain.[47]
His remains were later taken back to the United States in 1826 and interred in Newport, Rhode Island. Originally interred in the OldCommon Burial Ground, his body was eventually moved to Newport'sIsland Cemetery.[48]
Perry married Elizabeth Champlin Mason in 1811. They had five children, four of whom lived to maturity. They were:
Christopher Grant Champlin Perry (1812–1854), a physician and Brigadier General who married Murial Frances Sergeant of Philadelphia (great-granddaughter ofBenjamin Franklin); their daughter Margaret Mason Perry married the artistJohn LaFarge.
Oliver Hazard Perry II (1813–1814), who died in infancy.
Oliver Hazard Perry, Jr. (1815–1878), a Lieutenant in the Navy who married Elizabeth AnnRandolph. After her death in 1847, he married Mary Ann Moseley.
Christopher Raymond Perry (1816–1848), a First Lieutenant who died unmarried.
Perry's son Christopher Grant Champlin Perry was a physician, and served as commander of theArtillery Company of Newport from April 1848 until his death in 1854. In May 1849 he was commissioned as a Brigadier General in the Rhode Island Militia and given command of the 1st Brigade encompassing Newport and Bristol Counties.[50]
Perry's son Oliver Hazard Perry, Jr. entered the Navy as a midshipman in 1829, rose to the rank of lieutenant and resigned in 1849. He served on theUnited States Exploring Expedition under CaptainCharles Wilkes from 1839 to 1842. Although he is buried in the same cemetery as his parents, for unknown reasons, he is not buried in the same plot with his parents.[citation needed]
Perry's son Christopher Raymond Perry graduated from theUnited States Military Academy at West Point in 1842. He served during theMexican War and fought at the Battle of Palo Alto on May 8, 1846, and at the Battle of Resaca-de‑la‑Palma on May 9, 1846. He died on active duty as a 1st lieutenant in 1848.[51]
Although Perry is often referred to as "Commodore Perry," it should be kept in mind that, prior to the American Civil War,commodore was not a rank in the U.S. Navy but, rather, the title of an officer in command of a squadron of two or more ships. Perry first held the title of commodore when he took command of the Lake Erie squadron in 1813.
The village of Perryville in the town ofSouth Kingstown, Rhode Island The portion ofU.S. Route 1 near Perryville is named the Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Highway. Perry Street in Newport is also named after him.[57]
Memorial plaque, Trinity Episcopal Church,Newport, Rhode Island, dedicated by Perry's widow on August 23, 1855, the 36th anniversary of his death.[62]
Perry Monument,Public Square,Cleveland, Ohio, monument and statue byWilliam Walcutt, dedicated on September 10, 1860, the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie. Walcutt's marble statue was replaced with a bronze copy in 1929. The monument was relocated to Fort Huntington Park in 1991.
Walcutt's marble Perry statue is on long-term loan to the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.
Perry Monument,Perrysburg, Ohio, dedicated in 1997, features a bronze copy after William Walcutt's 1860 statue.
The reverse of the 2013 "Perry's Victory"quarter showsWilliam Walcutt's statue of Perry (1860) with the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in the distance.[66]
In 2016, principal photography began onWe Have Met the Enemy, a feature-length documentary produced by Lou Reda (Vietnam in HD,The Blue and the Gray), for a planned spring 2017 release.[71]
USS Commodore Perry (1859), an armed side-wheel ferry built in 1859 by Stack and Joyce, Williamsburg, New York and purchased by the Navy on October 2, 1861; and commissioned later in the month, Acting Master F. J. Thomas was in command[72]
^His progression from being the subject of acourt-martial for running aground to being a formidable commander who made a real difference has a striking parallel to the career of AdmiralChester W. Nimitz.
^A "cable" is 720 feet in the Royal Navy, 600 feet (183 m) in the U.S. Navy. "Half cable's length" would be less than 330 feet (100 m).
^The British order of battle was actually two ships,one brig,two schooners and one sloop.[24]: 260–261 "Perry's message was inaccurate."[21]: Note 129, p. 97.
^There is a monument of him on the river near the PYC (Perrysburg Yacht Club). This town also is the home ofFort Meigs
^Copes, Jan M. (Fall 1994). "The Perry Family: A Newport Naval Dynasty of the Early Republic".Newport History: Bulletin of the Newport Historical Society. 66, Part 2 (227).Newport, RI: Newport Historical Society:49–77.
^abcQuoted inAltoff, Gerard T. (1993).Deep Water Sailors Shallow Water Soldiers: Manning the United States Fleet on Lake Erie – 1813.Put-in-Bay, OH: The Perry Group. pp. 23–24.ISBN978-1-887794-01-5.
^Taylor, William V. (1813).Logbook of the USSLawrence.Newport, RI: Newport Historical Society.
^Glassman, Matthew Eric (June 21, 2010).Congressional Gold Medals, 1776–2009 (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. 3. Archived fromthe original on March 15, 2011. RetrievedSeptember 3, 2011.
^Vivian, James (January 1975). "The Paloma Claim in United States and Venezuelan-Colombian Relations, 1818-1826".Caribbean Studies.14 (4):57–72.JSTOR25612653.
^Text of Perry memorial plaque, quoted in George Champlin Mason,Annals of Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island, 1698–1821, (Philadelphia: The Evans Printing House, 1890), p. 323.
Brown, John Howard (2006).The Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Comprising the Men and Women of the United States ..., V6. Kessinger Publishing. p. 700.ISBN978-1-4254-8629-7.,Book
Dodge, Robert J. (1962).The Battle of Lake Erie. National Park Service.
Dutton, Charles J. (1935)Oliver Hazard Perry (New York: Longmans, Green and Co.) 308 pp. (Scholar's Bookshelf; First Edition. 2006)ISBN978-0-945726-36-4.
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