PERRY, Oliver Hazard, naval officer, D. in South Kingston, Rhode
Island, 23 August, 1785 died in Port Spain, Island of Trinidad, 23 August, 1819,
was carefully trained by his mother, who "fitted him to command others by
teaching him early to obey," narrated to him the deeds of her military
ancestors, and taught him how and what to read. His favorite books were the
Bible. Plutarch's "Lives," Shakespeare, and Addison. In the private
schools of Kingston, Tower Hill, and Newport he made rapid progress, and
excelled in the study of mathematics and navigation. lib was the pupil of Count
Rochambeau.
At the age of eleven he was confirmed in the Protestant Episcopal church. In
1797 he removed with his father to Warren, Rhode Island, where the latter
supervised the building of the frigate "General Greene," and Oliver
received his commission as midshipman, 7 April, 1799. He cruised in the West
Indies, visiting also Louisiana, and in the "Adams," " Constellation,"
"Constitution," and "Essex" served twice in the Tripolitan war.
He was made a lieutenant, 15 January, 1807, and, after building a fleet of
gun-boats, commanded the schooner "Revenge," cruising off the southern
coast of the United States. He was honorably acquitted by a court of inquiry
that was summoned to examine into the loss of the "Revenge" by wreck off
Watch Hill, Rhode Island, 8 January, 1811. In command of the Newport flotilla of
gun-boats, in waiting for the war of 1812, he gave prolonged and detailed study
to the science and art of gunnery and naval tactics. When the French engineer
Toussard, at the request of Gem Washington, wrote, and in 1809 published, his
"Artillerist," the name of Oliver Hazard Perry was among the first on the
list of subscribers. When the war with England began there was probably no
better ordnance officer in the American navy, and in the training" of his crews
he was unwearied in personal attention to details. By assembling his gun-boats
occasionally, he gained actual knowledge of the evolutions of a fleet. He also
practiced sham battles by dividing his force into two nominally hostile
squadrons, and thus acquired facility in maneuvering several vessels, and a
knowledge of how and when to take advantage of critical moments and situations.
He applied repeatedly for a sea command, but being disappointed in obtaining
either the "Argus" or the " Hornet," he tendered his services to
Commander Isaac Chauncey on the lakes, at whose request he was ordered to Lake
Erie. Within twenty-four hours after receipt of orders, on 17 February he had
sent off a detachment of fifty men, and on the 22d he set; out with his younger
brother, Alexander. Traveling chiefly in sleighs, he reached Erie on 27 March.
There he found Noah Brown, shipwright, and Sailing-Master Dobbins, awaiting the
arrival of fifty carpenters from Philadelphia, who were more than five weeks in
making the wintry journey. From the virgin forest the squadron was to be built,
but the keels of two twenty-gun brigs and three gun-boats had already been laid.
Incredible toil and protracted attention to details, in a country little better
than a, wilderness, enabled Perry to collect a force of nine vessels of 1,671
tons, with 54 guns capable of throwing a broadside of 936 pounds of metal, of
which 288 pounds could be fired at long range. In his squadron, only the "
Lawrence" and "Niagara," of 500 tons burden, could be considered
men-of-war. These carried each 20 guns, 2 being long twelve-pounders, and 18 of
them thirty-two-pounder carronades. The other vessels were of slight
construction, without bulwarks, but were armed with heavy long guns, which
constituted their excellence. The long-range guns were the chief dependence of
the Americans, as their carronades were useless except at very short range.
These fired a scattering charge at a low velocity, but with frightful effect at
a few rods' distance, and could be worked by small squads rapidly. In the
"yard-arm engagements" of the British these weapons had been very effective
since their invention in 1769. They took their name front the Carron iron-works
in Scotland. To make his carronade fire most effective, Perry relied not only on
grape and canister shot. but on the favorite American ammunition, langrage. This
dismantling shot was made out of scraps of iron sewed up in leather bags.
Encouraging apparent prodigality at the anvils, though real economy in fixed
ammunition, a large quantity of bits of bolts, bars, hoops, chisel-cut-tings,
and splinters were collected and made into carronade cartridges. As the aim of
the naval artillerist of to-day is to pierce the boiler or disable the rudder,
so in the days of sailing-ships the purpose was to cut away masts, sails, and
rigging, converting the enemy's ship into a helpless hulk.
In addition to numerical superiority in ships and weight of metal thrown, the
Americans were destined to have the advantages of wind and the smooth water,
which enabled the small vessels to he off safely at long range and damage the
enemy. Perry's force in men consisted of about 500 landsmen and sailors, many of
whom had never seen salt water. These were, after five months' constant
drilling, changed into good artillerists. On the British side, Captain Robert
Heriot Barclay, surmounting almost equal difficulty, dismantling the fort at
Amherstburg to equip his largest ship, finally succeeded in collecting a
squadron of six vessels of 1,460 tons, manned by nearly 500 men. His cannon were
63 in number, nine more than the American. but most of his metal was carronade,
his total broadside was but 459 pounds, and of this only 195 pounds could be
fired at long range. In long-gun metal the Americans excelled the British three
to two, in carronades two to one, in ships three to two.
Perry moved out from Put-in Bay on the morning of 15 September, 1813, with
all his squadron, including the " Lawrence," "Niagara," "Caledonia,
Scorpion," " Porcupine," "Tigress," "Ariel," " Seiners," and "Trippe,"
to meet the British force, , consisting of the "Chippewa," "Detroit,"
"Hunter, "Queen Charlotte," "Lady Prevost," and "Little Belt."
Barclay, one of Nelson's veterans, though "confronted by famine and Indian
treachery," expected easy victory. As the fleets approached each other at
about eleven o'clock, the bugle sounded from the flag-ship, the men of the whole
British line gave three cheers, and the long guns of the "Detroit" opened
on the "Lawrence" at the distance of a mile and a half. By noon the
battle began in earnest, in the form of a duel, the heaviest vessel in each
fleet confronting the other. Being able to employ at once a heavier battery in a
smaller space, Barclay had at first a manifest advantage With more enthusiasm
than science, the gunners of the "Lawrence," depending too much on their
carronades, fired too fast, and, overshotting their stumpy guns, were unable
seriously to harm the "Detroit," though pitting" and denting her sides
The "Lawrence." on the contrary, was reduced by the steady British fire
to a hulk. After two hours only one gun was left mounted, the cockpit was
crowded with wounded, and only eighteen unharmed men. including commander and
surgeon, were left on board.
Meanwhile the most effective gunnery on the American side had been done
by the heavy cannon of the " Caledonia." " Scorpion," and " Ariel,"
which had nobly assisted Perry, while the "Nigara", for some reason, had
remained in the rear, and the more distant vessels were able to do little to
prevent what seemed an imminent British victory. At this moment, with the
audacity of genius, Perry called four sailors to man the boat, and with his
brother Alexander, the flag of the "Lawrence" wrapped round his arm, he
left his ship. At first shielded by the battle smoke, and then safely escaping
the volley of the enemy, he reached, after a fifteen minutes' pull, the
"Niagara." Sending Captain Elliot to bring up the laggard vessels, he
ordered sail to bring his best ship close to the " Detroit." The breeze
now freshened, quickly speeding the "Niagara" and the American schooners
into action. The " Queen Charlotte," in endeavoring to get a position for
a broadside, to be followed by boarding the coining "Niagara," was
disabled in her sail-gear by the langrage shot of Perry's carronades, and,
falling foul of the " Detroit," the two ships became entangled. Taking
advantage of this, the American schooners took raking positions. The full
battery of the "Niagara," joining in the steady and rapid fire, swept the
British decks, and filled the air with canister, grape, ball, and scrap-iron,
while the Kentucky riflemen in the tops, acting as marines, picked off every
enemy visible. At three o'clock the British flag was hauled down, and
for the first time in her history Great Britain lost an entire squadron, which
surrendered to a young man of twenty-seven. On the deck of the
"Lawrence" Perry dispatched to the secretary of the navy a brief account of
the victory, and shortly afterward to General William H. Harrison, the famous
line "We have met the enemy, and they are
ours."
In the military operations at Detroit and in the battle of the Thames, 5
October, 1813, he took an important part, both with his fleet and as commander
of the naval battalion on the land, and on his return to the east he was honored
by public demonstrations in many towns and cities. Congress voted him thanks, a
medal, and the rank of captain. The city of Boston presented him with a set of
silver, and other cities voted him thanks. He assisted in the defence of
Baltimore, and in the squadron that was sent to the Mediterranean in 1815 he
commanded the frigate "Java." In June, 1819, while in command of the
"John Adams" and other United States vessels in the West Indies, he was
attacked by the yellow fever in the Orinoco, and died after a brief illness. His
remains, removed by act of congress in a ship-of-war, were buried in Newport, 4
December, 1826. In addition to the granite obelisk erected by the state of Rhode
Island and a marble statue by Walcutt, which was dedicated in Cleveland, Ohio,
in September, 1860, a bronze statue of Perry by William G. Turner was unveiled
on 10 September, 1885. It stands opposite his old home, and was erected by
citizens of Newport. The state of Ohio has also placed in the capitol at
Washington a picture of the battle of Lake Erie and of Perry leaving the
"Lawrence " for the " Niagara."
Biographies of Perry have been written by John M. Niles (Hartford, 1820)"
Alexander S. Mackenzie (2 vols., New York, 1843)" and James Fenimore Cooper, in
his " Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers" (Philadelphia,
1846).
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