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43 chapters
CHAPTER I. THE CHILD CALBRAITH.
CHAPTER I. THE CHILD CALBRAITH.
When in the year 1854, all Christendom was thrilled by the news of the opening of Japan to intercourse with the world, the name of Commodore Matthew Perry was on the lips of nations. In Europe it was acknowledged that the triumph had been achieved by no ordinary naval officer. Consummate mastery of details combined with marked diplomatic talents stamped Matthew Calbraith Perry as a man whose previous history was worth knowing. That history we propose to outline. The life of our subject is intere
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CHAPTER II. BOYHOOD’S ENVIRONMENT.
CHAPTER II. BOYHOOD’S ENVIRONMENT.
In the year 1797, war between France and the United States seemed inevitable, and “Hail Columbia” was sung all over the land. The Navy Department of the United States was created May 21, 1798. Captain Perry, having offered his services to the government, was appointed by President Adams, a post-captain in the navy June 9, 1798, and ordered to build and command the frigate General Greene at Warren, R. I. The keels of six sloops and six seventy-four gun ships were also laid. In May, 1799, the Gene
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CHAPTER III. A MIDSHIPMAN’S TRAINING UNDER COMMODORE RODGERS.
CHAPTER III. A MIDSHIPMAN’S TRAINING UNDER COMMODORE RODGERS.
The schooner Revenge , commanded by his brother Oliver, to which Matthew Perry was ordered for his first cruise, had been purchased in 1807. She mounted twelve guns, had a crew of ninety men, and was attached to the squadron under Commodore John Rodgers, which numbered four frigates, five sloops, and some smaller vessels. His duty was to guard our coasts from the Chesapeake to Passamaquoddy Bay, to prevent impressment of American sailors by British cruisers. The Revenge was to cruise between Mon
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CHAPTER IV. MEN, SHIPS AND GUNS IN 1812.
CHAPTER IV. MEN, SHIPS AND GUNS IN 1812.
Commodore John Rodgers was a man of the time, a typical naval officer of the period. He was minutely careful about the food and habits of his men, and made the President as homelike as a ship could be. He was not precisely a man of science, as was the case with his son in the monitor Weehawken , for this was the pre-scientific age of naval warfare. Indeed, it can scarcely be said with truth that he had either patience with or appreciation of Robert Fulton, the Pennsylvanian whose inventions were
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CHAPTER V. SERVICE IN THE WAR OF 1812.
CHAPTER V. SERVICE IN THE WAR OF 1812.
In these days of submarine cables, the European armies in South Africa or Cochin China receive orders from London or Paris on the day of their issue. To us, the tardiness of transmission in Perry’s youth, seems incredible. Although war was declared on the 12th of June, official information did not reach the army officers until June 20th, and the naval commanders until the 21st. In Perry’s diary of June 20th 1812, this entry is made: “At 10 a. m. news arrived that war would be declared the follow
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CHAPTER VI. FIRST VOYAGE TO THE DARK CONTINENT.
CHAPTER VI. FIRST VOYAGE TO THE DARK CONTINENT.
An act of Congress passed March 3, 1819, favored the schemes of the American Colonization Society. A man-of-war was ordered to convoy the first company of black colonists to Africa, in the ship Elizabeth , to display the American flag on the African coast, and to assist in sweeping the seas of slavers. The vessel chosen was the Cyane , an English-built vessel, named after the nymph who amused Proserpine when carried off by Pluto. One of the pair captured by Captain Stewart of the U. S. S. Consti
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CHAPTER VII. PERRY LOCATES THE SITE OF MONROVIA.
CHAPTER VII. PERRY LOCATES THE SITE OF MONROVIA.
On the 5th of July 1821, Perry was doubly happy, in his first sole command of a man-of-war, and in her being bound upon a worthy mission. The Shark was to convey Dr. Eli Ayres to Africa as agent of the United States in Liberia. He was especially glad that he could now enforce his ideas of ship hygiene. His ambition was to make the cruise without one case of fever or scurvy. The Shark sped directly through the Canaries. Here, the human falcons resorted before swooping on their human prey. At Cape
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CHAPTER VIII. FIGHTING PIRATES IN THE SPANISH MAIN.
CHAPTER VIII. FIGHTING PIRATES IN THE SPANISH MAIN.
James , the Spaniard’s patron saint, has been compelled to lend his name as “Iago” to innumerable towns, cities and villages. From Mexico to Patagonia in Spanish America, “Santiago,” “San Diego,” “Iago” and “Diego” are such frequently recurring vocables that the Yankee sailor calls natives of these countries “Dago men,” or “Diegos.” It is his slang name for foreigners of the Latin race. It is a relic of the old days when he knew them chiefly as pirates. Perry’s next duty was to lend a hand again
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CHAPTER IX. THE AMERICAN LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP.
CHAPTER IX. THE AMERICAN LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP.
The line-of-battle ship, which figured so largely in the navies of a half century or more ago, was a man-of-war carrying seventy-four or more guns. It was the class of ships in which the British took especial pride, and the American colonists, imitating the mother country, began the construction of one, as early as the Revolution. Built at Portsmouth, this first American “ship-of-the-line” was, when finished, presented to France. Humpreys, our great naval contractor in 1797 carried out the true
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CHAPTER X. THE CONCORD IN THE SEAS OF RUSSIA AND EGYPT.
CHAPTER X. THE CONCORD IN THE SEAS OF RUSSIA AND EGYPT.
The stormy administration of Andrew Jackson, which began in 1829, and the vigorous foreign policy which he inaugurated, or which devolved upon him to follow up, promised activity if not glory for the navy. The boundary question with England, and the long-standing claims for French spoliations prior to 1801, also pressed for solution. The pacific name of at least one of the vessels selected to bear our flag, and our envoy, John Randolph of Roanoke, into Russian waters, suggested the olive branch,
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CHAPTER XI A DIPLOMATIC VOYAGE IN THE FRIGATE BRANDYWINE.
CHAPTER XI A DIPLOMATIC VOYAGE IN THE FRIGATE BRANDYWINE.
In his next cruise which we are now to describe, Perry was to take a hand directly in diplomacy, and rehearse for the more brilliant drama of Japan twenty years later. It was part of the foreign policy of Jackson’s administration to compel the payment of the long standing claims for spoliations on American commerce by the great European belligerents. During the years from 1809 to 1812, the Neapolitan government under Joseph Bonaparte and Murat, kings of Naples, had confiscated numerous American
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CHAPTER XII. THE FOUNDER OF THE BROOKLYN NAVAL LYCEUM.
CHAPTER XII. THE FOUNDER OF THE BROOKLYN NAVAL LYCEUM.
An English writer [7] in the Naval College at Greenwich thus compares the life on shore of British and American officers. “The officers of the United States navy have one great advantage which is wanting to our own; when on shore they are not necessarily parted from the service, but are employed in their several ranks, in the different dockyards, thus escaping not only the private grievance and pecuniary difficulties of a very narrow half-pay, but also, what from a public point of view is much m
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CHAPTER XIII. THE FATHER OF THE AMERICAN STEAM NAVY.
CHAPTER XIII. THE FATHER OF THE AMERICAN STEAM NAVY.
Matthew Perry was now to be called to a new and untried duty. This was no less than to be pioneer of the steam navy of the United States. When a boy under Commodore Rodgers, he had often seen the inventor, Fulton, busy with his schemes. He had heard the badinage of good-natured doubters and the jeers of the unbelieving, but he had also seen the Demologos , or Fulton 1st , moving under steam. This formidable vessel was to have been armed, in addition to her deck batteries, with submarine cannon.
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CHAPTER XIV. PERRY DISCOVERS THE RAM.
CHAPTER XIV. PERRY DISCOVERS THE RAM.
An accident which happened to the Fulton belongs to the history of modern warfare. It revealed to Perry’s alert mind a valuable principle destined to work a revolution in the tactics of naval battles. Like the mountaineer of Potosi who when his bush failed as a support, found something better in the silver beneath, so Perry discovered at the roots of a chance accident a new element of power in war. The Fulton was rather a massive floating battery than a sea-steamer. Once started, her speed for t
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CHAPTER XV. LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINATION, LENSES OR REFLECTORS?
CHAPTER XV. LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINATION, LENSES OR REFLECTORS?
The water-ways leading to New York are such as to make Manhattan Island unique in its advantages for commerce. Already the metropolis of the continent, it is yet to be the commercial centre of the world. Until 1837 these highways of sea, river, and bay were greatly neglected, and on all except moonlight nights, vessels had great difficulty in approaching the city. Raritan and Newark bays were so destitute of buoys and beacons, that pilots charged double rates for navigating ships in them, rocks
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CHAPTER XVI. REVOLUTIONS IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
CHAPTER XVI. REVOLUTIONS IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
On his return from Europe, in 1839, Captain Perry purchased a plot of land near Tarrytown, New York. He built a stone cottage, to which he gave the appropriate name of “The Moorings.” The farm comprised about 120 acres; and, needing much improvement, he set about utilizing his few leisure hours with a view to its transformation. Revelling in the exercise of tireless energy, he set out trees and planted a garden. To get time for his beloved tasks he rose early in the morning, and long before brea
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CHAPTER XVII. THE SCHOOL OF GUN PRACTICE AT SANDY HOOK.
CHAPTER XVII. THE SCHOOL OF GUN PRACTICE AT SANDY HOOK.
The French Navy was at this time leading the British in improved ordnance. A French man-of-war of twenty-six guns was armed entirely with cannon able to fire “detonating shot.” She was reckoned equal to two old line-of-battle ships. Her visit to American ports created great interest among our naval officers, and the Navy Department awoke to the necessity of improving our ordnance. On the 4th of May, 1839, Perry received orders which he was glad to carry out. He was directed to give his attention
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CHAPTER XVIII. THE TWIN STEAMERS MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE TWIN STEAMERS MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI.
The activity of American inventors kept equal pace at this period in the two directions of artillery and steam appliances. In 1841 the sum of fifty thousand dollars was appropriated by Congress for experiments in ordnance, and a possible one million dollars for the “shot-and-shell proof” iron-clad “Stevens Battery” then building at Hoboken, N. Y. Perry was frequently called upon to pronounce upon the various methods of harnessing, improving, and economizing the new motor. We find him in April, 1
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CHAPTER XIX. THE BROAD PENNANT IN AFRICA.
CHAPTER XIX. THE BROAD PENNANT IN AFRICA.
The work to which Matthew Perry was assigned during the next three years grew out of the famous treaty made by Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton. Of this treaty we, in 1883 and 1884, on account of the transfer of so much of our financial talent across the Canadian border, heard nearly as much as our fathers before us in 1842. In addition to the rectification of the long-disputed boundary question, the eighth and ninth articles contained provisions for extirpating the African slave-trade. By the
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CHAPTER XX. PERRY AS A MISSIONARY AND CIVILIZER.
CHAPTER XX. PERRY AS A MISSIONARY AND CIVILIZER.
Perry , in his report written Jan. 21, 1844, on the settlements established by the Colonization Society expresses the feelings that came over him as he gazed on Cape Mesurado (Montserrado) after a lapse of nearly a quarter of a century. When, as first Lieutenant on the Cyane , he first looked upon the site of Monrovia, the beautiful promontory was covered with dense forests, of which the wild beasts were the only occupants. On this, his third visit, he found a thriving town full of happy people.
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CHAPTER XXI. THE MEXICAN WAR.
CHAPTER XXI. THE MEXICAN WAR.
The long agitation, in behalf of the establishment of a Naval Academy, by leading American naval officers, prominent among whom was Captain Perry, bore fruit in the year 1845. Mr. George Bancroft, another of the eminent literary men who have acted as Secretaries of the Navy, convened a board of officers at Philadelphia, June 24, and directed them to make suggestions in regard to a naval school. In this board were Commodores George C. Read, T. ap. Catesby Jones, M. C. Perry, Captains E. A. F. Lav
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CHAPTER XXII. “COMMODORE PERRY COMMANDS THE SQUADRON.”
CHAPTER XXII. “COMMODORE PERRY COMMANDS THE SQUADRON.”
The precise methods and almost immutable laws of military science required that the American invasion of Mexico in 1847 should be at the exact spot on which Cortez landed two centuries before, and where the French disembarked in 1830, and in 1865. This was at the only port on the Gulf coast of Mexico, in which large vessels could anchor. Ships entered by the North channel or fastened to rings in the castle walls. Our war vessels lay a little south of the Vera Cruz founded by the Spanish buccanee
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CHAPTER XXIII. THE NAVAL BATTERY BREACHES THE WALLS OF VERA CRUZ.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE NAVAL BATTERY BREACHES THE WALLS OF VERA CRUZ.
Perry’s first order being that the navy should give the army the most efficient coöperation, by transferring part of its heavy battery from deck to land, the six guns of the size and pattern most desired by Scott were selected. With a view to distribute honors impartially among the ships, and to cheer the men, a double crew of sailors and officers was assigned to each gun; one of the crews being the regular complement for the gun. As everyone wanted to accompany the guns, lots were drawn among t
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CHAPTER XXIV. THE NAVAL BRIGADE. CAPTURE OF TABASCO.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE NAVAL BRIGADE. CAPTURE OF TABASCO.
Commodore Matthew C. Perry was one of the first American naval officers to overcome the prejudice of seamen against infantry drill, and to form a corps of sailor-soldiers. Under his predecessor, the navy had lost more than one opportunity of gaining distinction because [they were] unable to compete with infantry, or to face cavalry in the open field. Perry formed the first United States naval brigade, though Stockton in California employed a few of his sailors as marines in garrison. The men of
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CHAPTER XXV. FIGHTING THE YELLOW FEVER. PEACE.
CHAPTER XXV. FIGHTING THE YELLOW FEVER. PEACE.
After his exploits at Tuspan, Tabasco and Yucatan, Perry, having captured every port and landing place along the whole eastern coast of Mexico, and established a strict blockade, thereby maintaining intact the base of supplies for the army in the interior, turned his attention to new foes. Bands of guerrillas, the fragments of the armies which Scott had destroyed, were not the only things to be feared. Mosquitoes and winged vermin of many species, malarial, yellow and other fevers—two great host
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CHAPTER XXVI. RESULTS OF THE WAR. GOLD AND THE PACIFIC COAST.
CHAPTER XXVI. RESULTS OF THE WAR. GOLD AND THE PACIFIC COAST.
From his home at the “Moorings” by the Hudson, Perry gave his attention to the curiosities and trophies brought home from Mexico. Ever jealous for the honor of the navy, he noted with pain a letter written by General Scott to Captain H. Brewerton, superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, which was published in the newspapers October 16th, 1848. General Scott had presented sections of several Mexican flag-staffs captured in the campaign that commenced at Vera Cruz and terminated in t
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CHAPTER XXVII. AMERICAN ATTEMPTS TO OPEN TRADE WITH JAPAN.
CHAPTER XXVII. AMERICAN ATTEMPTS TO OPEN TRADE WITH JAPAN.
We propose here to summarize the various attempts by Americans to re-open Japan to intercourse with other nations. For two centuries, after Iyéyasŭ and his successors passed their decree of seclusion, Japan remained the new Paradise Lost to Europeans. Perry made it Paradise Regained. In The Japan Expedition , the editor of Perry’s work has given, on page 62, in a tabulated list, the various attempts made by civilized nations to open commerce with Japan from 1543 down to 1852. In this, the Portug
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CHAPTER XXVIII. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO JAPAN.
CHAPTER XXVIII. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO JAPAN.
Though as a student and a man of culture, Perry was familiar with the drift of events in China, and was interested in Japan, yet it was not until the year 1850, that his thoughts were turned seriously to the unopened country in the eastern seas. The receipt of news about the Preble affair crystallized his thoughts into a definitely formed purpose. He began to look at the problem, of winning Japan into the comity of nations, with a practical eye, from a naval and personal view-point. Highly appro
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CHAPTER XXIX. PREPARATIONS FOR JAPAN. AN INTERNATIONAL EPISODE.
CHAPTER XXIX. PREPARATIONS FOR JAPAN. AN INTERNATIONAL EPISODE.
The charts used in the Japan expedition came mostly from Holland, and cost our government thirty thousand dollars. Perry does not seem to have been aware that Captain Mercator Cooper of Sag Harbor, Long Island, had brought home fairly good Japanese charts of the Bay of Yedo, more accurate probably than any which he was able to purchase. Captain Beechey of the B. M. S. Blossom , had surveyed carefully the seas around Riu Kiu. The large coast-line map of Japan, in four sheets, made on modern scien
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CHAPTER XXX. THE FIRE-VESSELS OF THE WESTERN BARBARIANS.
CHAPTER XXX. THE FIRE-VESSELS OF THE WESTERN BARBARIANS.
Among the many names of their beautiful country, the Japanese loved none more than that of “Land of Great Peace,”—a breath of grateful repose after centuries of war. The genius of Iyéyasŭ had, in the seventeenth century, won rest, and nearly a quarter of a millennium of quiet followed. The fields trampled down by the hoof of the war-horse and the sandal of the warrior had been re-planted, the sluices and terraces repaired, and seed time and harvest passed in unintermitting succession. The mercha
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CHAPTER XXXI. PANIC IN YEDO. RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER.
CHAPTER XXXI. PANIC IN YEDO. RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER.
Opening upon the beautiful bay ( yé ), like a door ( do ), the great city in the Kuantō, or Broad East of Japan, was well-named Bay-door, or Yedo. Founded as a military stronghold tributary to the Shō-gun at Kamakura in the fourteenth century, by Ota Dō Kuan, it was made in 1603 the seat of the government by Iyéyasŭ. This man, mighty both in war and in peace, and probably Japan’s greatest statesman, made the little village a mighty city, and founded the line of Shō-guns of the Tokugawa family, w
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CHAPTER XXXII. JAPANESE PREPARATIONS FOR TREATY-MAKING.
CHAPTER XXXII. JAPANESE PREPARATIONS FOR TREATY-MAKING.
The Mississippi touching at Napa, found there the Supply , and met the Vandalia on the way to Hong Kong, where the Commodore arrived on the 7th of August. The Powhatan returned from a futile visit to Riu Kiu on the 25th. To protect American lives and property against the imminent dangers of the Tai-ping rebellion, the Supply was sent to Canton and the Mississippi anchored off Whampoa. The remainder of the squadron was ordered to Cum-sing-moon, between Macao and Hong Kong, where the machinery whi
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CHAPTER XXXIII. THE PROFESSOR AND THE SAILOR MAKE A TREATY.
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE PROFESSOR AND THE SAILOR MAKE A TREATY.
The morning of March 8th, 1854, dawned clear and beautiful. The bay was alive with gorgeous state barges, swift punts, and junks with tasseled prows. On land, in the foreground were a few hundred feudal retainers in gay costumes, while on the bluffs beyond stood dense masses of spectators. These were kept back with rope-barriers, and by petty officials of prodigious self-importance. The sunbeams glittered on the bare heads and freshly-pomatumed top-knots of country folk, and was reflected dazzli
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CHAPTER XXXIV. LAST LABORS.
CHAPTER XXXIV. LAST LABORS.
For over two years, since leaving his native country, Perry had been under a constant burden of responsibility incurred in anxiety to achieve the grand object of his mission. His close attention to details, the unexpected annoyances in a sub-tropical climate, and the long strain upon his nerves had begun to wear upon a robust frame. He now looked eagerly for his successor, and to the rest of home. To his joy he found at Hong Kong orders permitting him to return either in the Mississippi , or in
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CHAPTER XXXV. MATTHEW PERRY AS A MAN.
CHAPTER XXXV. MATTHEW PERRY AS A MAN.
The active life of Matthew Perry spanned the greater part of our national history “before the war.” He lived to see the United States grow from four to thirty-two millions of people, and the stars in her flag from fifteen to thirty-one. He sailed in many seas, visited all the nations of Christendom, saw most of the races of the earth, and all flags except that of the stars and bars. He saw the rise and fall of many types of naval architecture. He was familiar with the problems of armor and ordna
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I. AUTHORITIES.
I. AUTHORITIES.
WRITINGS OF M. C. PERRY. Autograph. Diary, Remarks, etc. (on board the United States frigate President , Commodore Rodgers), made by M. C. Perry. [From March 19, 1811, to July 25, 1813]. Letters of M. C. Perry to his superior officers, and to the United States Navy Department, in the United States Navy Archives, Washington D. C.; in all, about two thousand. These are bound up with others, in volumes lettered on the back Officers' Letters , Master Commandants’ Letters , Captains' Letters . As
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II. ORIGIN OF THE PERRY NAME AND FAMILY.
II. ORIGIN OF THE PERRY NAME AND FAMILY.
In answer to an inquiry, Hext M. Perry, Esq., M.D., of Philadelphia, Pa., who is preparing a genealogy of the Perry family, has kindly furnished the following epitome:— Dear Sir ,—I have no doubt of our name being of Scandinavian origin. The Perrys were from Normandy, the original name being Perier which has in course been reduced to its present—and for many hundred years past in England and America—Perry. A market town in Normandy, France, is our old Perry name—Periers. The name doubtlessly ori
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III. THE NAME CALBRAITH.
III. THE NAME CALBRAITH.
It is interesting to inquire whether the family of Calbraith is still in existence. An examination of the directory of the city of Philadelphia during the years 1882, 1883, 1884 recalls no name of Calbraith, and but one of Calbreath, though fifty-two of Galbraith are down in the lists. The spelling of the name with a C is exceedingly rare, the name Galbraith, however, is common in North Ireland and in Scotland. Arthur, the father of our late president of the same name, in his “Derivation of Fami
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IV. THE FAMILY OF M. C. PERRY.
IV. THE FAMILY OF M. C. PERRY.
Of Matthew C. Perry , born in Newport, April 10, 1794, and Jane Slidell born in New York, February 29, 1797, who were married in New York, October 24, 1814, there were born four sons and six daughters:— John Slidell Perry , died March 24, 1817. Sarah Perry (Mrs. Robert S. Rodgers.) Jane Hazard Perry (Mrs. John Hone) died December 24, 1882. Matthew Calbraith Perry , Jr., died November 16, 1873. Susan Murgatroyde Perry , died August 15, 1825. Oliver Hazard Perry , died November 17, 1870. William F
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V. OFFICIAL DETAIL OF M. C. PERRY, UNITED STATES NAVY.
V. OFFICIAL DETAIL OF M. C. PERRY, UNITED STATES NAVY.
(Furnished by the Chief Clerk United States Navy Department, 1883.) Matthew C. Perry was appointed a Midshipman in the United States Navy, January 16th, 1809; March 16th, 1809, ordered to the naval station, New York; May 11th, 1809, furloughed for the merchant service; October 12th, 1810, ordered to the President ; February 22d, 1813, appointed Acting Lieutenant; July 24th, 1813, appointed Lieutenant; November 16th, 1813, ordered to New London; December 20th, 1815, granted six month’s furlough;
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VI. THE NAVAL APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM.
VI. THE NAVAL APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM.
Matthew C. Perry may be called the founder of the apprenticeship system in the United States Navy, however much the present improved methods may differ from his own. He was the first officer to attempt a systematic improvement on the hap-hazard and costly method of recruiting formerly in vogue. Under the old plan, one-fourth the men and boys picked up at random became invalided or were discharged as unfit. It took four month’s work at five recruiting stations to get a crew for the “ North Caroli
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VII. DUELLING.
VII. DUELLING.
Matthew Perry never fought a duel, or acted as a second, though duelling was part of the established code of honor among naval men of his school and age, and provocation was not lacking. On his return from the cruise in the North Carolina , an unpleasant episode occurred, growing out of idle gossip and the malignant jealousy felt towards an officer of superior parts by inferiors unable to understand one so intensely earnest as Matthew Perry. The manner in which Perry dealt with the man and the m
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VIII. MEMORIALS IN ART OF M. C. PERRY.
VIII. MEMORIALS IN ART OF M. C. PERRY.
Portraits. By William Sidney Mount in 1835, when M. C. Perry was forty years old, now in possession of one of the Commodore’s children. One at the time of his marriage. One painted from a photograph by Brady, about 1864. One at the Brooklyn Naval Lyceum. One at the Annapolis Naval Academy, by J. R. Irving. A painting from a daguerreotype was made in Japan by a Japanese artist. Photographs. Of these, there are several taken from life, from one of which the frontispiece of this volume has been mad
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