Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that ended Japan's isolationism and signed the Convention of Kanagawa between Japan and the United States in 1854.
Perry was interested in the education of naval officers and assisted in the development of an apprentice system that helped establish the curriculum at the United States Naval Academy. With the advent of the steam engine, he became a leading advocate of modernizing the U.S. Navy and came to be considered "The Father of the Steam Navy" in the United States.
Matthew Perry was a member of the Perry family, a son of Sarah Wallace (née Alexander) (1768–1830) and Navy Captain Christopher Raymond Perry (1761–1818). He was born April 10, 1794, in Newport, Rhode Island. His siblings included Oliver Hazard Perry, Raymond Henry Jones Perry, Sarah Wallace Perry, Anna Marie Perry (mother of George Washington Rodgers), James Alexander Perry, Nathaniel Hazard Perry, and Jane Tweedy Perry (who married William Butler).
His mother was born in County Down, Ireland and was a descendant of an uncle of William Wallace, the Scottish knight and landowner. His paternal grandparents were James Freeman Perry, a surgeon, and Mercy Hazard, a descendant of Governor Thomas Prence, a co-founder of Eastham, Massachusetts, who was a political leader in both the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, and governor of Plymouth; and a descendant of Mayflower passengers, both of whom were signers of the Mayflower Compact, Elder William Brewster, the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony, and George Soule, through Susannah Barber Perry.
In 1809, around age 15, Perry received a midshipman's warrant in the Navy and was initially assigned to USS Revenge, under the command of his elder brother. He was then assigned to USS President, where he served as an aide to Commodore John Rodgers. President attacked the neutral Royal Navy post ship HMS Little Belt in the Little Belt affair. Perry continued to serve aboard President during the War of 1812 and was present at her inconclusive engagement with HMS Belvidera on August 23, 1812. One of President's cannon burst during the engagement, killing and wounding several men including Perry. Perry subsequently transferred to USS United States and saw little active service for the rest the war since his ship was blockaded at New London, Connecticut by the British navy.
Following the signing of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the war, Perry served on various vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. Perry served under Commodore William Bainbridge during the Second Barbary War. He then served in African waters aboard USS Cyane during its patrol off Liberia from 1819 to 1820. After that cruise, Perry was sent to suppress piracy and the slave trade in the West Indies.
From 1821 to 1825, Perry placed in commission and commanded USS Shark, a schooner with 12 guns. He was sent to the West Africa Station as part of the Anglo-American blockade of Africa to suppress the Atlantic slave trade.
In 1815, the Spanish governor in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. After Florida was transferred to the United States, Salas sold Key West to American businessman John W. Simonton for $2,000 in 1821. Simonton lobbied Washington to establish a naval base on Key West, both to take advantage of its strategic location and to bring law and order to the area.
On March 25, 1822, Perry sailed Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, physically claiming the Florida Keys as United States territory. Perry renamed Cayo Hueso "Thompson's Island" for the Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson and the harbor "Port Rodgers" for the president of the Board of Navy Commissioners. Neither name stuck however.
From 1826 to 1827, Perry acted as fleet captain for Commodore Rodgers. In 1828, Perry returned to Charleston, South Carolina, for shore duty. In 1830, he took command of a sloop-of-war, USS Concord. During this period, while in port in Russian Kronstadt, Perry was offered a commission in the Imperial Russian Navy, which he declined.
He spent 1833 to 1837 as second officer of the New York Navy Yard, later the Brooklyn Navy Yard, gaining a promotion to captain at the end of this tour.
Perry had an ardent interest in and saw the need for naval education, supporting an apprentice system to train new seamen, and helped establish the curriculum for the United States Naval Academy. He was a vocal proponent of modernizing the Navy. Once promoted to captain, he oversaw construction of the Navy's second steam frigate USS Fulton, which he commanded after its completion.
He was called "The Father of the Steam Navy", and he organized America's first corps of naval engineers. Perry conducted the first U.S. naval gunnery school while commanding Fulton from 1839 to 1841 off Sandy Hook on the New Jersey coast.
In 1841, Perry received the title of commodore, when the Secretary of the Navy appointed him commandant of New York Navy Yard. The United States Navy did not have ranks higher than captain until 1857, so the title of commodore carried considerable importance. Officially, an officer would revert to his permanent rank after the squadron command assignment had ended, although in practice officers who received the title of commodore retained the title for life, as did Perry.
During his tenure in Brooklyn, he lived in Quarters A in Vinegar Hill, a building which still stands today. In 1843, Perry took command of the Africa Squadron, whose duty was to interdict the slave trade under the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and continued in this endeavor to 1844.
In 1845, Commodore David Conner's length of service in command of the Home Squadron had come to an end. However, the coming of the Mexican–American War persuaded the authorities not to change commanders in the face of the war. Perry, who eventually succeeded Conner, was made second-in-command and captained USS Mississippi. Perry captured the Mexican city of Frontera, demonstrated against Tabasco, being defeated in San Juan Bautista by Colonel Juan Bautista Traconis in the First Battle of Tabasco, and took part in the capture of Tampico on November 14, 1846.
Perry had to return to Norfolk, Virginia, to make repairs and was there when the amphibious landings at Veracruz took place. His return to the U.S. gave his superiors the chance to give him orders to succeed Commodore Conner in command of the Home Squadron. Perry returned to the fleet, and his ship supported the siege of Veracruz from the sea.
After the fall of Veracruz, Winfield Scott moved inland, and Perry moved against the remaining Mexican port cities. Perry assembled the Mosquito Fleet and captured Tuxpan in April 1847. In June 1847 he attacked Tabasco personally, leading a 1,173-man landing force ashore and attacking the city of San Juan Bautista from land, defeating the Mexican forces and taking the city.