Oliver Hazard Perry

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Oliver Hazard Perry

Commodore

Commodore (USN)

Commodore is a former Military rank and a current honorary title in the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard with an intricate history....
Oliver Hazard Perry (August 20, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an officer in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the navy of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy currently has approximately 331,682 personnel on active duty as of 31 December 2008 and 124,000 in the United States Navy Reserve....
. He served in the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S....
against Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
and earned the sobriquet "Hero of Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time....
" for leading American forces in a decisive naval victory at the Battle of Lake Erie

Battle of Lake Erie

The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September, 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812....
. The city of Perrysburg, Ohio

Perrysburg, Ohio

Perrysburg is a city in Wood County, Ohio, Ohio, United States, along the Maumee River. The population was 17,042 according to the United States Census 2007....
is named after him.

He was born in South Kingstown

Kingston, Rhode Island

Kingston is an unincorporated area village and national historic district in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island in the United States. Kingston sits at above sea level at Latitude: 41.48 N, Longitude: 71.53 W....
, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a U.S. state in the New England region of the United States....
, the son of Captain Christopher Raymond Perry

Christopher Raymond Perry

Captain Christopher Raymond Perry was an United States officer in the United States Navy. He married Sarah Wallace Alexanderon August 2, 1784 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
(December 4, 1760—June 8, 1818) and Sarah Wallace Alexander (1764—December 4, 1830), and older brother to Matthew Calbraith Perry

Matthew Perry (naval officer)

Matthew Calbraith Perry was the Commodore of the United States Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854....
.

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Quotations

We have met the enemy and they are ours— two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.

Dispatch to General William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie, (10 September 1813)

Encyclopedia

Commodore

Commodore (USN)

United States Navy

War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S....
against Britain

United Kingdom

Lake Erie

Battle of Lake Erie

Perrysburg, Ohio

Kingston, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Christopher Raymond Perry

Matthew Perry (naval officer)

Matthew Calbraith Perry was the Commodore of the United States Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854....
. Through their maternal lineage, Oliver and Matthew were able to trace their ancestry back to William Wallace

William Wallace

William Wallace was a Scotland knight and landowner who is known for leading a resistance during the Wars of Scottish Independence and regarded as a patriot and national hero....
of Scotland.

Educated in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island....
, Perry was appointed a midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is a subordinate officer, an officer cadet, or alternatively a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the navy of several English-speaking countries....
on April 7, 1799 and assigned to his father's frigate, General Greene

USS General Greene (1799)

The second USS General Greene was a frigate in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France.General Greene was built under government contract by Benjamin Talman and James De Wolf, Warren, Rhode Island; launched on 21 January 1799; and placed under command of Captain Christopher Raymond Perry....
. He first experienced combat on February 9, 1800 off Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
. During the First Barbary War

First Barbary War

The First Barbary War , also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two Barbary Wars fought between the United States and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States....
, he served on the Adams

USS Adams (1799)

The first USS Adams was a 28-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy. She should not be confused with ....
and commanded Nautilus

USS Nautilus (1799)

Nautilus was a schooner Ship naming and launching in 1799 and purchased by the United States Navy in 1803 as USS Nautilus, the first ship to bear that name....
during the capture of Derna

Derna

Derna is a Commune in Romania in northeastern Bihor County, Romania, 50 km from the county town, Oradea and 35 km from Marghita. It borders the communes of Popesti, Bihor, Chislaz, Brusturi and Spinus....
.

At his request during the War of 1812 he was given command of U.S. Naval forces on Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time....
. He supervised the building of a small fleet at what is now Erie County, Ohio

Erie County, Ohio

Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio, United States. As of 2000, the population was 79,551. Its county seat is Sandusky, Ohio and is List of Ohio county name etymologies for the Erie , whose name was their word for "wildcat"....
. On September 10, 1813 Perry's fleet defended against an attacking British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie

Battle of Lake Erie

The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September, 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812....
. During the battle Perry's flagship

Flagship

A flagship is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, a designation given on account of being either the largest, fastest, newest, most heavily armed or, for publicity purposes, the most well known....
the Lawrence was destroyed and Perry rowed a half-mile through heavy gunfire to transfer command to the Niagara

USS Niagara (1813)

The first USS Niagara, also known as US Brig Niagara, was a brig in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Niagara was built at Erie, Pennsylvania, along with her sister ship, the USS Lawrence , by Adam Brown and Noah Brown under the supervision of Sailing Master Daniel Dobbins and Master Commandant Oliver Hazard...
, carrying his battle flag

War flag

A war flag is a variant of a national flag for use by the nation's military forces on land. Under this strict sense of the term, few nations currently have war flags, most preferring to use instead their state flag or standard national flag for this purpose....
which read "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP" [sic], the famous final words of Captain James Lawrence

James Lawrence

James Lawrence was an United States United States Navy officer. During the War of 1812, he commanded the USS Chesapeake in a single-ship action against HMS Shannon ....
. His battle report to William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was an Military history of the United States and Politics of the United States, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the first president to die in office....
after victory is famous: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop".

While this opened Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
up to possible invasion, it simultaneously protected the entire Ohio Valley. It was one of only two significant fleet victories of the war. See Battle of Plattsburgh

Battle of Plattsburgh

The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final invasion of the northern states during the War of 1812....
for the other.

In 1819, during an expedition to the Orinoco River in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a country on the northern coast of South America.The country comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea....
, he died of yellow fever contracted from mosquitos while aboard the Nonsuch

USS Nonsuch (1813)

USS Nonsuch was an armed schooner in the United States Navy during the War of 1812....
. His body was originally buried in Port of Spain

Port of Spain

Port of Spain is the Capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third largest municipality, after San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago and Chaguanas....
, Trinidad

Trinidad and Tobago

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an island country in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American country of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles....
but his remains were later reinterred in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island....
. After briefly resting in the Old Common Burial Ground in Newport, his body was moved a final time to Newport's Island Cemetery where his brother Matthew C. Perry is also buried.

External links

by Sailing Master William Taylor
"Information about the epic battle painting by Julian O. Davidson"