The hero of the following memoir was born in Newport, Rhode Island, August, 1785. His father, who also was in the service of the United States, anxious that his son should lead a seafaring life, obtained for him a commission as midshipman on board of the sloop-of-war General Greene, in 1798, at a time when our commercial difficulties with France caused much excitement. Perry soon after joined the squadron for the Mediterranean.

He served during the Tripolitan war, and though debarred, by his extreme youth, from an opportunity of distinguishing himself, he acquired by his conduct the regard and esteem of his superior officers and the affection of his associates. Being at all times willing to be instructed, and most anxious to excel, he became very early in life an accomplished officer and navigator. In 1810 he was commissioned as lieutenant commandant in the schooner Revenge, attached to the squadron of Commodore Rogers, on Long Island Sound, to prevent infractions of the embargo laws. During his command of this vessel, a circumstance occurred which first tried the character of our young hero, though in the end it proved of advantage to him. The Revenge was wrecked in a fog near Stonington, but by the intrepidity of Perry, the crew, guns, and much other property were saved. He immediately demanded a court of inquiry into his conduct, which acquitted him of all blame, and reported, that the preservation of so much property was owing solely to his coolness and energy. The Secretary of the Navy wrote a letter to Lieutenant Perry, complimenting his admirable conduct under such trying circumstances.

In 1812 he was advanced to be master-commandant; and in 1813 he was appointed to the command of the squadron on Lake Erie. Early in August of that year, he crossed the bar with his squadron, and was soon on the deep waters of the lake. The enemy, who were nearly all the time in sight, did not molest him, although they were strictly watching his movements. More than once he cruised in sight of the enemy while at anchor, and offered battle; but the challenge was not accepted. On the 10th of September, at sunrise, the American squadron discovered the enemy making towards them. Perry’s force was two twenty-gun brigs and several smaller vessels, carrying in all fifty-four guns, and manned with six hundred men. The British force was superior both in guns and men. About eleven o’clock, A. M., the British were formed in a line for battle, but the wind veering round, Perry bore down upon them as he chose. The commander of the Lawrence led, from whose mast-head were displayed the last words of the gallant Captain Lawrence, who fell in the action between the Chesapeake and Shannon, “Don’t give up the ship!” An able historian thus relates the conduct of our hero during this most exciting battle:—“At a few minutes before twelve o’clock the British commenced their fire, and some damage was done to the Lawrence before Perry could make his guns to bear upon the enemy; at length he opened his battery and stood the force of the enemy’s fire for two hours. The other part of his fleet not coming to his assistance, and the Lawrence becoming unmanageable, her decks strewed with dead and her guns dismounted, Perry conceived a most bold and daring design, which he put in execution. Giving the command of the Lawrence to Lieutenant Yarnall, he, with his flag under his arm, jumped into his boat, and amidst a shower of shot from the enemy, made his way to the Niagara, the second ship of his squadron. He went off from the Lawrence standing up in his boat supporting his flag, until his seamen seized him with affectionate violence and pulled him down to a seat. His flag was soon seen flying from the mast-head of the Niagara, and in this moment of extreme peril our hero was as calm as he was adventurous. He soon brought his ship in a position to break the line of the enemy, giving two of their ships a raking fire with his starboard guns, pouring a broadside into a schooner from his larboard tier, and brought his ship alongside the British commodore. The effect of his terrific fire soon silenced the enemy’s battery; when bringing up the small American vessels, the contest was decided, having lasted nearly three hours. The enemy was not entirely subdued, but all his vessels were taken and brought to the American side of the lake. Commodore Barclay, commander of the British squadron, was a man of no ordinary fame; he had gained laurels at the battle of Trafalgar and other memorable battles by sea, where Englishmen had bled and won the victory; but this day his experience did not avail him—he was forced to yield. The loss was great on both sides, but much more severe on the British. They had two hundred killed and wounded, the Americans about one hundred and twenty-three.”

Commodore Barclay lost his remaining hand in the fight; the other had been shot off in some previous battle. This victory has given Perry a permanent place in the history of his country, and his merit is greatly enhanced by the reflection, that, whilst no victory was ever more decidedly the result of the skill and valor of the commander, this was the first action of the kind he had ever seen.

In testimony of his merit, Commodore Perry received the thanks of Congress and a medal, (see Plate XI.,) and the like marks of honor from the senate of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of the war Commodore Perry was appointed to the command of the Java, a frigate of the first class, and dispatched with Commodore Decatur to the Mediterranean, to chastise the Dey of Algiers, who, during the war with Great Britain, had plundered our commerce, and taken several of our small vessels. Perry shortly after returned to the United States, and the Java was laid up at Newport, in the middle of winter. The following anecdote is related of him:—“Information was hastily brought to him that a merchant vessel was on a reef, about five or six miles from that place, and that the crew were still on the wreck, at the mercy of the winds and waves. He manned his barge and said to his rowers, ‘Come, my boys, we are going to the relief of shipwrecked seamen, pull away.’ They returned him a look of fearless determination, which seemed to say, where you go, we will go. The vessel had gone to pieces, but eleven men were on her quarter-deck, which had separated from the hull of the vessel, and was floating as a raft on the billows. This act may not be thought to belong to the class of heroic deeds by some, who are attracted only by the blaze of military glory; but the great mass of his countrymen declared that he was as deserving of the civic as of the naval crown.” In 1819 Commodore Perry received the command of a squadron destined for the West India station, for the capture of pirates who swarmed on those seas. This was a most important command, and required the utmost vigilance and energy; but he was not long to enjoy such an honorable post, for the yellow fever was raging in the squadron, and of this disease he died on the 23d of August, 1820, in the thirty-fifth year of his age.

The remains of Commodore Perry were brought to his native country and interred at Newport, where a handsome monument has been erected by an appropriation from the legislature of Rhode Island. Every tribute of national grief was paid to his memory in the United States. Congress made a liberal provision for his family, including his mother, who was leaning on him for support. Commodore Perry married early in life the accomplished daughter of Doctor Mason, of Newport, who made him a devoted and affectionate wife. He was a man of splendid talents, blended with a kind and tender heart; of superior tact in his profession, and every way fitted for the position Providence intended him to fill.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.

Occasion.—Victory on Lake Erie.

Device.—A bust of Commodore Perry.

Legend.—Oliverus H. Perry, princeps stagno Eriensi classim totam contudit.

Reverse.—A fleet closely engaged.

Legend.—Viam invenit virtus aut facit.

Exergue.—Inter class. Ameri. et Brit. Die 10th Sept. 1813.