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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Matthew Perry Biography PERRY, Matthew Calbraith (1794–1858) An American naval officer, brother of Oliver Hazard Perry (q.v.). He was born at Newport, R. I., entered the navy as a midshipman in 1809, and early in the War of 1812 was one of the officers of the frigate President. In 1813 he was transferred to the United States, which was blockaded in the harbor of New London until the conclusion of peace. He was then for several years engaged in the merchant service, but, having reëntered the navy, he was in 1819 appointed executive officer of the Cyane, which convoyed the Elizabeth with her band of pioneers to Liberia. Two years later he was again on the African coast as commander of the Shark, and recommended the removal of the Liberian colonists from Sherbro to Monrovia. On his return from this voyage, and again in 1822, he took an active part in extirpating piracy in the West Indies. In 1824 he was appointed executive officer of the North Carolina, Commodore Rodgers's flagship on the Mediterranean station. He was promoted to the rank of commander in 1826, and in 1832 was again sent to the Mediterranean as captain of the Concord. From 1833 to 1843 he was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Under his superintendence was built the Fulton (the second of the name), a paddle wheel steamer of about 1200 tons, and the first steam vessel with a hull of ordinary type built for the United States navy. When she was completed in 1837 he took command of her, organized her personnel, and so thoroughly demonstrated the practical utility of steam as a motive power for war vessels that he earned the title of Father of the Steam Navy. In this same year he was commissioned captain and in 1839 was sent abroad to study the latest English and French steam warships. In 1841 he was promoted to be commodore and two years later was assigned to the command of the squadron on the African coast maintained by the United States for the suppression of the slave trade. During the early part of the Mexican War he served under Commodore Conner in the Gulf, but on Conner's recall in 1847 Perry succeeded him in the command of what was then the largest fleet of warships ever assembled under the American flag. In 1852 he was sent by President Fillmore with a squadron of warships to Japan to induce that country to enter into relations with the nations of the West. His flagship, the Mississippi, was the first United States steam war vessel to circumnavigate the globe. He arrived in Kurihama, in the Bay of Yeddo, on July 7, 1853, and on the 14th delivered to representatives of the Shogun the letter addressed to the ruler of Japan, which declared the nature of his mission. He then went to China, and returning in February, 1854, concluded a treaty with the Japanese by which they agreed to receive an American consul at one of their ports. This treaty, which was followed by one between Japan and Great Britain, inaugurated a new era in the history of Japan. Perry's report was printed by the government in three volumes, under the title The Report of Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan (1856). He died in New York City in 1858. A monument to his memory was unveiled at Perry Park, Kurihama, Japan, on July 14, 1901. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 366-367. |