PERRY, CALBRAITII (1794-1858). An Americ•au naval officer, brother of Oliver Haz ard Perry (q.v.). Ile was born at Newport, R. I., entered the navy as a midshipman in 1809, and in the War of 1812 was one of the officers of the frigate President. In 1813 lie was trans ferred to the United Mates, which was Iloekaded in the harbor of New London until the conclusion of peace. Ile was then for several years engaged in the merchant service, but having reentered the nary, he was in 1819 appointed executive officer of the Opine. which convoyed the Eli-Tabeth with her band of pioneers to Liberia. Two years later lie was again on the African coast as eommander of the Nhari, and recommended the removal of the Liberian colonists from Sherbro to Monrovia. 119 his return from this voyage, and again in 1822, he took an active in extirpating piracy in the West Indies. In 1824 he was appointed executive officer of the North Carolina. Commodore 11od• efs's flagship on the „Nlediterranean station. Ile was promoted to the rank of commander in 1820, and ill 1832 was again sent to the Mediterranean as captain of the Concord. From 1833 to 1S43 be was stationed at the Brooklyn navy yard. Un der his superintendence was built the Fulton, a 'steam battery' designed for the defense of New York Harbor, and the first steam vessel in the United States Navy. When she w•as completed in 1837 he took mainland of her, organized her per sonnel, and so thoroughly demonstrated the prac tical utility of steam an a motive power for war vessels that he earned the title of "Father of the Steam In this same year he was com missioned captain and in 1839 was Sent abroad to study the latest English and French steam war ships. In 1841 he Was promoted If, Ire eommo
donc and two yearn later wan assigned to the com mand of time squadron on the African coast main tained by the United States for the suppression of the slaw• trade. During the early part of the Mexican War lie served under Commodore Conner in the Gulf. but on recall in 18.17 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 dent Fillmore with a squadron of warships to ,lapan to induce that country to enter into rela tions with the nations of the West. Ills flagship, the Mississippi, was the first United States steam war vessel to circumnavigate the globe. Tle ar rived in Kuribarna, in the Bay of Yedo, 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 Febru ary, 1854, concluded a treaty with the 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 his tory of Japan. report was printed by the (government in three volumes, un der the title The Report of Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan. (1856). lie 'lied in York City. A monument to his memory was un veiled at Perry Park. Kurihania, Japan, on July 14, 1901. Consult Griffis, Matthew Galbraith. Perry, a Typical American Naval Officer (Bos ton, 1887).