Oliver Hazard Perry
Oliver Hazard Perry was a United States Navy officer from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and Captain Christopher Raymond Perry, and older brother of Commodore Matthew C. Perry.
Perry served in the West Indies during the Quasi War of 1798–1800 against France, in the Mediterranean during the Barbary Wars of 1801–1815, and in the Caribbean fighting piracy and the slave trade, but is most noted for his role in the War of 1812 during the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. During the war against Britain, Perry supervised the building of a fleet at Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned the title "Hero of Lake Erie" for leading American forces in a decisive naval victory at the Battle of Lake Erie, receiving a Congressional Gold Medal and the Thanks of Congress.
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. He is remembered for the words on his battle flag, "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP", which was a tribute to the dying command of his colleague Captain James Lawrence of USS Chesapeake. He is also known for his message to General William 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 of, Captain Jesse Elliott, over their conduct in the Battle of Lake Erie, and both were the subject of official charges. In 1815, he successfully commanded in the Mediterranean during the Second Barbary War. So seminal was his career that he was lionized in the press. He has been frequently memorialized, and many places, ships and persons have been named in his honor.
Childhood and early life
Perry was the oldest of five boys born to Christopher and Sarah Wallace Perry. As a boy, Perry lived in Tower Hill, Rhode Island, sailing ships in anticipation of his future career as an officer in the United States Navy. 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 attend Trinity Episcopal Church regularly, where he was baptized by Reverend William Smith on April 1, 1794, at the age of nine. Reverend Theodore Dehon, rector of the church from 1797 to 1810, had a significant influence on the young Perry. He was educated in Newport, Rhode Island. His earliest ancestor to the Americas was Edward Perry, who came from Devon, England, and settled in Sandwich, Massachusetts, around 1650 with his wife, Mary Freeman.Early naval career
Through his father's influence, Perry was appointed a midshipman in the United States Navy, at the age of thirteen, on April 7, 1799. Perry sailed aboard, of which his father was commanding officer, on her maiden voyage in June 1799. The ship made its first stop in Cuba, charged with receiving American merchant ships and providing escort from Havana to the United States. Perry's service aboard General Greene continued during the Quasi-War with France. He first experienced combat on February 9, 1800, off the coast of the French colony of Haiti, which was in a state of rebellion.During the First Barbary War, he served aboard and later was first lieutenant of. He then served under Captain John Rodgers on and USS Essex. He was placed in charge of the construction of gunboats in Newport and Westerly, Rhode Island.
Beginning in April 1809, he commanded the sloop, engaging in patrol duties to enforce the Embargo Act, as well as a successful raid to regain an American ship held in Spanish territory in Florida. On January 9, 1811, Revenge ran aground off Rhode Island and was lost. "Seeing fairly quickly that he could not save the vessel, 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." The subsequent court-martial exonerated Perry, placing blame on the ship's pilot. In January 2011, a team of divers claimed to have discovered the remains of Revenge, nearly 200 years to the day after it sank. Cannons from Revenge were salvaged by the U.S. Navy in 2017.
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. They enjoyed an extended honeymoon touring New England. The couple would eventually have five children, with one dying in infancy.
War of 1812
At the beginning of the War of 1812, the British Royal Navy controlled the Great Lakes, except for Lake Huron. The United States Navy controlled Lake Champlain. The American naval forces were very small, allowing the British to make many advances in the Great Lakes and northern New York waterways. The roles played by commanders like Perry, at Lake Erie and Isaac Chauncey at Lake Ontario and Thomas Macdonough at Lake Champlain all proved vital to the naval effort.Naval historian E. B. Potter noted that "all naval officers of the day made a special study of Nelson's battles." Oliver Perry was no exception.
At his request, he was given command of the American naval forces on Lake Erie during the war. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton had charged prominent merchant seaman Daniel Dobbins with building the American fleet on Presque Isle Bay at Erie, Pennsylvania, and Perry was named chief naval officer.
Perry knew battle was coming, and he "consciously followed Nelson's example in describing his battle plans to his captains." Perry's instructions were:
Hero of Lake Erie
On September 10, 1813, Perry's squadron fought the Battle 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." Initially, the exchange of gunfire favored the British. Perry's flagship,, 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.Faithful to the words of his battle flag, "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP", a paraphrase of the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, the ship's namesake and Perry's friend, Perry, with Lawrences chaplain and purser as the remaining able crew, personally fired the final salvo. He then had his men row him a half-mile through heavy gunfire to transfer his command to. Once aboard, Perry dispatched Niagara commander, Captain Jesse Elliott, to bring the other schooners into closer action while he steered Niagara toward the damaged British ships. Like Nelson's 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 aboard Niagara, he received Barclay's surrender on the deck of the recaptured Lawrence to allow him to see the terrible price Perry's men had paid. Perry's battle report to General William Henry Harrison was famously brief: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." The six captured ships were successfully returned to Presque Isle.
Although the engagement was small compared to Napoleonic naval battles such as the Battle of Trafalgar, the victory had disproportionate strategic importance, opening Canada up to further American invasions, while simultaneously protecting the entire Ohio Valley. The loss of Barclay's squadron directly led to the critical Battle of the Thames, a victory over British and Indian forces by Harrison's army, the deaths of Tecumseh and Roundhead, and the breakup of his confederacy. Along with the Battle of Plattsburgh, it was one of only two battle of the war in which an entire squadron was defeated.
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:
Capturing Fort George, Ontario in the Battle of Fort George; Destroying the British munitions at Olde 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.
Battle flag
"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 the Chesapeake on June 1, 1813. Perry learned of Lawrence's demise at Presque Isle. He honored Lawrence with the name of a brig, called Lawrence. A battle flag was needed, and the words of Perry's good friend were suited for the coming days.Margaret Forster Steuart was enlisted to make the battle flag. She was a resident of Eri,e 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. With the help of her two daughters, three nieces, and a cousin, she had the flag ready for Perry within just a few days. As of July 2009, the flag is on display in Bancroft Hall's Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Perry–Elliott controversy
While Nelson had Collingwood, Perry had Jesse Elliott, and was considerably less well served. Elliott, while serving with Isaac Chauncey at Lake Ontario, was tasked to augment Perry's squadron with 11 officers and 91 men, "and none were sent but the worst." Subsequently, detailed by Chauncey to command Niagara, Elliott stated "that if he could have foreseen that he himself should be sent to Lake Erie, his selections would have been different." Elliott then appropriated the "best of the worst" for Niagara; and Perry "in the interest of harmony" accepted the situation, though with growing ill-will.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 allowed Lawrence to suffer the brunt of the British fire while holding Niagara back from the fight. William Vigneron Taylor, Perry's sailing master, in a letter to Taylor's wife, put it thus:
The meeting between Elliott and Perry on the deck of Niagara 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. As Perry turned Niagara 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.
In Perry's report to Secretary of the Navy William 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. 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."