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Jared Alessi, MMC
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Perry, Matthew (Commodore), CAPT.
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Last Address Newport
Date of Passing Mar 04, 1858
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Matthew Calbraith Perry was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on 10 April 1794, son of Captain Christopher R. Perry, a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary War, and Sarah Wallace (Alexander) Perry. In 1814 he was married to Jan Sliddell, and they had ten children. He died in New York City, on 4 March 1858, and was interred in the vaults of the Church of St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie in New York. On 21 March 1866, the bodies of Commodore Perry and his child, Anna who died in 1839, were reinterred in Newport, Rhode Island.
Appointed Midshipman in 1809, he first saw service under his brother, Oliver Hazard Perry, in the Revenge. During the War of 1812, he served in squadrons commanded by Commodores Rodgers and Decatur and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1813. He made several cruises to the coast of Africa and to the Mediterranean, and commanded the schooner Shark in the West Indies. He was promoted to master commandant in 1826 and named a captain eleven years later. From 1838 to 1840 he commanded the steam frigate Fulton in connection with experiments in steam navigation.
In 1844 he went to the coast of Africa as Commodore of the squadron assigned to those waters. During the Mexican War, he joined the Home Squadron in the Gulf of Mexico in 1846, and conducted several expeditions against the towns of Tobasco and Laguna. In March 1847 he succeeded Commodore Connor in command of the squadron, which was then engaged in besieging Vera Cruz. After the war he was ordered home on special duty, 1849-1852, after which he sailed for the East Indies on a cruise which became memorable in the annals of the U.S. Navy, and during which he carried the American flag into Japanese waters, and concluded a treaty which opened their ports to American enterprise.
His success in establishing good relations with Japan can be attributed to his combining diplomacy with dignity and a bold display of impressive force. On 8 July 1853, he unexpectedly appeared in Tokyo Bay with two steam frigates and two sloops-of-war. He declined to deal with minor officials, flatly refused to obey directions to go to Nagasaki (where the Dutch had a trading post), dispersed the swarms of guard-boats surrounding the squadron by threatening the use of force, and deliberately disregarded a prohibition against taking soundings. He insisted upon presenting to a high official on shore, a letter from President Fillmore addressed to the Japanese Emperor. This was reluctantly agreed to by uneasy Japanese. On 14 July the steam frigates Susquehanna and Mississippi moved close to the shore and landed 400 seamen and marines. The Commodore followed with special attendants, proceeded with much pomp to the council house and presented his documents very formally to the Princes Iduzu and Iwami. They gave a receipt.
Three days later Perry sailed away leaving word that he would return for an answer. After seven months he entered the bay again, and with a much more powerful squadron. His reception was most cordial, gifts and entertainments were exchanged, and the treaty was negotiated, opening two ports to American commerce.
Commodore Perry returned to Washington and was on special duty in the Navy Department for several years, connected with his expedition to Japan.
War of 1812
From Month/Year
June / 1812
To Month/Year
February / 1815
Description The War of 1812 was a military conflict that lasted from June 1812 to February 1815, fought between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, its North American colonies, and its Native American allies. Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but the British often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. By the war's end in early 1815, the key issues had been resolved and peace returned with no boundary changes.
The United States declared war for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by the British war with France, the impressment of as many as 10,000 American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy,[5] British support for Native American tribes fighting European American settlers on the frontier, outrage over insults to national honor during the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, and interest in the United States in expanding its borders west. The British government, which felt it had done everything in its power to try to avert the war, were dismayed by the American declaration, and believed it to have been an opportunistic ploy by President Madison to annex Canada while Britain was fighting a ruinous war with France. The view was shared in much of New England and for that reason the war was widely referred to there as Mr Madison’s War. As a result, the primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies.
The war was fought in three theatres. First, at sea, warships and privateers of each side attacked the other's merchant ships, while the British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the United States and mounted large raids in the later stages of the war. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U.S.–Canadian frontier. Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. At the end of the war, both sides signed and ratified the Treaty of Ghent and, in accordance with the treaty, returned occupied land, prisoners of war and captured ships (with the exception of warships due to frequent re-commissioning upon capture) to their pre-war owners and resumed friendly trade relations without restriction.
With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, the British used a defensive strategy until 1814. Early victories over poorly-led U.S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U.S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britain's Native American allies, ending the prospect of an independent Indian confederacy in the Midwest under British sponsorship. U.S. forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, and seized western parts of Upper Canada, but further American offensives aimed at Montreal failed, and the war also degenerated into a stalemate in Upper Canada by 1814. In April 1814, with the defeat of Napoleon, Britain now had large numbers of spare troops and adopted a more aggressive strategy, launching invasions of the United States; however, an invasion of New York was defeated at Plattsburgh, and a second force, although successfully capturing Washington, was ultimately repulsed during an attack on Baltimore. Both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. These repulses led Britain to drop demands for a native buffer state and some territorial claims, and peace was finally signed in December 1814, although news failed to arrive before the British suffered a major defeat at New Orleans in January 1815.
In the United States, late victories over invading British armies at the battles of Plattsburgh, Baltimore (inspiring the United States national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner") and New Orleans produced a sense of euphoria over a "second war of independence" against Britain.[10][11] This brought an "Era of Good Feelings" in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism. The war was also a major turning point in the development of the U.S. military, with militia being increasingly replaced by a more professional force. The U.S. also acquired permanent ownership of Spain's Mobile District, although Spain was not a belligerent.
In Upper and Lower Canada, British and local Canadian militia victories over invading U.S. armies became iconic and promoted the development of a distinct Canadian identity, which included strong loyalty to Britain. Today, particularly in Ontario, memory of the war retains significance, because the defeat of the invasions ensured that the Canadas would remain part of the British Empire, rather than be annexed by the United States. The government of Canada declared a three-year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012, intended to offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border. At the conclusion of the bicentennial commemorations in 2014, a new national War of 1812 Monument was unveiled in Ottawa.
Re-enactors (in UK uniforms) fire muskets toward the "Americans" in this annual commemoration of the June 6, 1813 Battle of Stoney Creek
The conflict has not been commemorated on nearly the same level in the modern-day United States, though it is still taught as an important part of early American history, and Dolley Madison and Andrew Jackson's respective roles in the war are especially emphasized. The war is remembered in Britain primarily as a footnote in the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe, which effectively ended in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo.
