February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The victory and Perry’s famous communique to Gen. William Harrison (“We have met the enemy, and they are ours”) earned him national fame. More important, it won for the Americans full control of Lake Erie, setting the stage for a successful American invasion of Canada.
Oliver Hazard Perry was born on Aug. 23, 1785 in South Kingston, R.I. Irish on his mother’s side, Perry followed his father’s footsteps into the U.S. Navy at age 13, signing on as a midshipman. These were tense times on the high seas for the young nation as American merchant shipping faced constant harassment and seizure by British and French ships on the Atlantic and the Barbary Pirates in the Mediterranean. But for Perry it meant an opportunity to gain valuable experience sailing the Atlantic and Mediterranean aboard such well-known vessels as the Adams, Constitution, and Nautilus. By 1809 he was promoted to lieutenant and given command of his own ship, the 14-gun schooner Revenge.
Over the next few years Perry had a rather difficult time in the Navy. His ship was badly damaged in a storm in 1810 en route to Washington, D.C., and once there he developed a prolonged illness that his doctor attributed to his unfamiliarity with the extreme heat of the Chesapeake region. Then in 1811 his ship was wrecked while conducting maritime surveys off Rhode Island. A subsequent court martial hearing exonerated him (the pilot was found to be negligent), but Perry left the Navy and married.
Perry’s naval career began anew in June 1812 when the U. S. declared war on Britain over the latter’s persistent harassment of American shipping and the policy of seizing sailors and impressing them into the British navy. Perry offered his services to the Navy and was given a command over 12 gunboats patrolling the waters between New London, Conn., and Newport, R.I. But when that assignment produced little serious action, Perry petitioned the Navy for a command on the high seas. When none was forthcoming, he reluctantly accepted transfer to the Great Lakes. The latter was of vital strategic importance because Canada was then a British possession. But as far as Perry was concerned, all the real action was on the Atlantic.
Perry reported to his new assignment under the command of his friend Isaac Chauncey. His first task — overseeing construction of a fleet of warships — confirmed his belief that only command on the high seas would afford him an opportunity to win glory. Nonetheless, Perry threw himself into the task and built the fleet in less than six months. Chauncey placed him in command of the squadron, augmented by several more vessels. With a British squadron already patrolling Lake Erie, a confrontation seemed inevitable.
The clash finally came on Sept. 10. Perry was aboard his flagship Lawrence, named in honor of Capt. James Lawrence, who died in an earlier battle with the British but not before uttering his famous rallying cry, “Don’t give up the ship.” In honor of Lawrence, Perry flew a flag with the slogan upon it. His men needed all the inspiration they could get because their ship took the brunt of the British assault, resulting in severe damage and 80 percent of the crew killed or wounded.
Sensing the danger of the situation, Perry signaled to a nearby ship named Niagara to pull alongside the crippled Lawrence. With the “Don’t give up the ship” flag under his arm, Perry transferred to the Niagara and immediately ordered an assault on the British line. Fifteen minutes later, the British commander surrendered. At age 28 Perry became the first American naval officer to defeat an enemy squadron and return to port with the entire fleet as a prize of war. It was then he penned his famous message to future U.S. president, Gen. William Henry Harrison: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.” Perry became a hero as word of his victory spread. With Lake Erie now in American control, Harrison soon invaded Canada and won the Battle of the Thames, a victory that all but ended the War of 1812 in the northwest.
Unfortunately, the rest of Perry’s military career was mired in controversy and ended with his premature death. He never saw significant action again in the war (it ended in 1815 while he awaited completion of a 44-gun warship he was to command) and later became embroiled in two high-profile controversies within the Navy. Still, his fame prevented his removal from the Navy and in 1819 President Monroe selected him to lead an important diplomatic mission to Venezuela. Sadly, on the return voyage he succumbed to yellow fever on Aug. 23, 1819 — his 34th birthday.
The Navy has honored Perry several times since his death by naming various ships after him. There is also an impressive memorial to Perry on South Bass Island on Lake Erie. To this day people continue to quote his famous, succinct victory announcement: “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” Indeed, another Irishman, Walt Kelly, creator of the comic strip “Pogo,” penned an almost as famous version of the statement in one of his Vietnam-era strips: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
HIBERNIAN HISTORY WEEK
Sept. 10, 1602: Red Hugh O’Donnell dies in exile in Simancas, Spain, possibly the victim of poisoning.
Sept. 11, 1649: Oliver Cromwell and his troops massacre thousands at Drogheda.
Sept. 12, 1919: the British government declares the Dail Eireann illegal.
HIBERNIAN BIRTHDATES:
Sept. 12, 1859: Social reformer Florence Kelley is born in Philadelphia.
Sept. 12, 1904: theologian John Courtney Murray is born in New York City.
Sept. 14, 1879: Birth control advocate and feminist Margaret Higgins Sanger is born in Corning, N.Y.