Difference between revisions of "Oliver Hazard Perry"

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Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) was a American naval officer and war hero for his actions in the War of 1812. He was born on August 23, 1785 at South Kingstown, Rhode Island to Christopher Raymond and Sarah Alexander Perry. At age thirteen he joined the Navy. Shortly after he joined the Navy his ship was deployed to fight in both the Quasi-War with France and the Tripolitan War against the Barbary pirates. In 1805, at age 20, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and given command of a small schooner. Not long after the promotion he was given command of a larger vessel, the 14-gun Revenge. Unfortunately for Perry, his tenure as commander of the Revenge would not be a successful one. On January 8, 1811 while surveying Rhode Island harbors on a foggy day the Revenge ran into a reef and sunk. Although Perry had to go through an obligatory court-martial for the incident he was found completely innocent of any negligence or wrongdoing.

After the court martial, Perry took a leave of absence from the Navy and on May 5, 1811 married Elizabeth Champlin Mason. He returned to active duty in May of 1812 when the threat of a war with Britain was looming. He was appointed to the position of master-commandant. One month later, the United States declared war on Britain, beginning the War of 1812, and Perry took was put in command of a 12 gunboat fleet based at Newport, Rhode Island and New London, Connecticut. The job was not active enough for Perry's tastes however and he was on his request redeployed on February 1813 to the more active Sacket's Harbor, Lake Ontario. Two weeks later, Perry was once again redeployed to Erie, Pennsylvania. There he was in charge of an effort to build a small naval force to counter the British fleet already on the lake. By July of 1813, five months after he took control of the project, six vessels had been constructed despite an acute lack of resources or men. His six ships were soon joined by six more from Buffalo, New York.

On the morning of September 10, 1813 the battle that would make Perry a American war hero began as his twelve ship squadron encountered the British squadron in a fierce battle on Lake Erie. In the battle, now known as the Battle of Lake Erie, over 80% of the crewmen on Perry's flagship, the Lawrence, were killed or wounded. The ship was in such bad condition in fact that in the middle of the battle, Perry transfered himself in a small rowboat to another vessel in his fleet the Niagara. Now in command of a relatively unscathed ship, Perry attacked the weakened British fleet and after only 15 more minutes of fighting, the commander of the British fleet, Captain Robert Barclay, surrendered. The victory marked the first time in history that an entire British squadron was captured and brought back to base as prizes. Perry is most remembered for his words that he wrote in a message to General William Henry Harrison immediately after the victory, "We have met the enemy and they are ours".

After the victory, in July of 1814, Perry was put in command of the then in construction, 44-gun frigate Java. In 1815, the Java was deployed to the Mediterranean to deal with problems caused by Barbary pirates. After a number on strange incidents while in the Mediterranean, including two duels, President James Monroe put Perry in charge of a diplomatic mission to South America. It was while on this mission that he is believed to have been contacted with the fatal disease, Yellow Fever. After completing his diplomatic mission, Perry sailed to Spain where he died at the age of 34 on August 23, 1819 (his birthday) of Yellow Fever just two days after landing. He was buried in Port of Spain, Trinidad. In 1826, his remains where moved to Newport, Rhode Island where a monument honors his service to his country.