Commodore Matthew Cabraith Perry

Inducted: 1966
Born: 04/10/1794
Died: 03/04/1858

Matthew C. Perry was an American naval officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. He played a leading role in the Perry Expedition that ended Japan’s isolationism and the Convention of Kanagawa between Japan and the United States in 1854. He was born April 10, 1794, in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, a son of Sarah Wallace (Alexander) and Navy Captain Christopher Raymond Perry. 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 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 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, 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 transferred to the USS President, where he served as an aide to Commodore John Rodgers. President was in a victorious engagement over a British vessel, HMS Little Belt, shortly before the War of 1812 was officially declared. Perry continued aboard President during the War of 1812 and was present at the engagement with HMS Belvidera. Rodgers fired the first shot of the War at Belvidera. A later shot resulted in a cannon bursting, killing several men and wounding Rodgers, Perry, and others. Perry transferred to the USS United States, commanded by Stephen Decatur, and saw little fighting in the War afterward since the ship was trapped in port at New London, Connecticut.

Following the signing of the “Treaty of Ghent,” which ended the War, Perry served on various vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. He also served under Commodore William Bainbridge during the Second Barbary War. He then served in African waters aboard the 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.

Perry married Jane Sidwell, sister of U.S. Senator John Sidwell, in New York on Dec. 24, 1814, and they had 10 children. Perry commanded the USS Shark, a schooner with 12 guns, from 1821 to 1825. He deployed to the West Africa Station to support the American and British joint patrols to suppress the 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 to take advantage of its strategic location and 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 and, in 1830, 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 through 1837 as second officer of the New York Navy Yard (later the Brooklyn Navy Yard), gaining 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 the 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 and conducted the first U.S. naval gunnery school while commanding Fulton from 1839 to 1841 off Sandy Hook on the coast of New Jersey.

Perry received the title of commodore in June 1840, when the Secretary of the Navy appointed him a New York Navy Yard commandant. 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. However, in practice, officers who received the title of commodore retained the title for life, as did Perry.

While in Brooklyn, he lived in Quarters A in Vinegar Hill, which still stands today. In 1843, Perry took command of the Africa Squadron, whose duty was to prevent the slave trade under the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and continued in this endeavor through 1844. In 1845, Commodore David Conner’s length of service in command of the Home Squadron ended. However, the coming of the Mexican-American War persuaded the authorities not to change commanders in the face of the War. Perry, who would eventually succeed Conner, was made second-in-command and captained the USS Mississippi. Perry captured the Mexican city of Frontera, demonstrated against Tabasco, was defeated in San Juan by Colonel Juan Bautista Traconis in the First Battle of Tabasco, and took part in the capture of Tampico on November 14, 1846.

He had to return to Norfolk, Virginia, to make repairs and was still there when the amphibious landings at Veracruz took place. His return to the U.S. allowed his superiors to finally 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.

In 1852, Perry was assigned a mission by American President Millard Fillmore to force the opening of Japanese ports to American trade through gunboat diplomacy if necessary. The growing commerce between the United States and China, the presence of American whalers in waters offshore Japan, and the increasing monopolization of potential coaling stations by European powers in Asia were all contributing factors. Shipwrecked foreign sailors were either imprisoned or executed, and the safe return of such persons was one demand. The Americans were also driven by concepts of manifest destiny and the desire to impose the benefits of Western civilization and the Christian religion on what they perceived as backward Asian nations. The Dutch forewarned the Japanese of Perry’s voyage but were unwilling to change their 250-year-old policy of national seclusion. There was considerable internal debate in Japan on how best to meet this potential threat to Japan’s economic and political sovereignty.

On November 24, 1852, Perry embarked from Norfolk, Virginia, for Japan, in command of the East India Squadron in pursuit of a Japanese trade treaty. He chose the paddle-wheeled steam frigate Mississippi as his flagship, making port calls at Madeira (December 11–15), Saint Helena (January 10–11), Cape Town (January 24 – February 3), Mauritius (February 18–28), Ceylon (March 10–15), Singapore (March 25–29) and Macao and Hong Kong (April 7–28), where he met with American-born Sinologist Samuel Wells Williams, who provided Chinese language translations of his official letters, and where he rendezvoused with Plymouth. He continued to Shanghai (May 4–17), where he met with the Dutch-born American diplomat Anton L. C. Portman, who translated his official letters into the Dutch language, and where he rendezvoused with Susquehanna.

Perry then switched his flag to Susquehanna and called at Naha on Great Lewchew Island (Ryukyu, now Okinawa) from May 17 to 26. Ignoring Satsuma Domain’s claims to the islands, he demanded an audience with the Ryukyuan King Shō Tai at Shuri Castle. He secured promises that the Ryukyu Kingdom would be open to trade with the United States. Continuing to the Ogasawara islands in mid-June, Perry met with the local inhabitants and purchased a plot of land.

Perry reached Uraga at the entrance to Edo Bay in Japan on July 8, 1853. His actions at this crucial juncture were informed by a careful study of Japan’s previous contacts with Western ships and what he knew about the Japanese hierarchical culture. As he arrived, Perry ordered his ships to steam past Japanese lines towards the capital of Edo and turn their guns towards the town of Uraga. Perry refused Japanese demands to leave or to proceed to Nagasaki, the only Japanese port open to foreigners.

Perry attempted to intimidate the Japanese by presenting them with a white flag and a letter that told them that if they chose to fight, the Americans would destroy them. He also fired blank shots from his 73 cannon, which he claimed was in celebration of the American Independence Day. Perry’s ships were equipped with new Paixhans shell guns, cannons capable of wreaking great explosive destruction with every shell. He also ordered his ships to commence survey operations of the coastline and surrounding waters over the objections of local officials.

Meanwhile, shōgun Tokugawa Ieyoshi was ill and incapacitated, which resulted in governmental indecision on handling the unprecedented threat to the nation’s capital. On July 11, Rōjū Abe Masahiro bided his time, deciding that simply accepting an American letter would not violate Japanese sovereignty. The decision was conveyed to Uraga, and Perry was asked to move his fleet slightly southwest to the beach at Kurihama, where he was allowed to land on July 14, 1853. After presenting the letter to attending delegates, Perry departed for Hong Kong, promising to return the following year.

On his way back to Japan, Perry anchored off Keelung in Formosa, known today as Taiwan, for ten days. Perry and crewmembers landed on Formosa and investigated the potential of mining the coal deposits in that area. He emphasized in his reports that Formosa provided a convenient, mid-way trade location. Perry’s reports noted that the island was very defensible and could serve as a base for exploration like Cuba had done for the Spanish in the Americas. Occupying Formosa could help the United States counter European monopolization of the major trade routes. The United States government failed to respond to Perry’s proposal to claim sovereignty over Formosa.

Perry chose officers with whom he had served in the Mexican–American War to command his fleet. Commander Franklin Buchanan was captain of Susquehanna, and Joel Abbot (Perry’s second in command) was captain of Macedonian. Commander Henry A. Adams was chief of staff with the title “Captain of the Fleet.” Major Jacob Zeilin (future commandant of the United States Marine Corps) was the ranking Marine officer and was stationed on Mississippi.

Perry returned on February 13, 1854, after only half a year rather than the promised year, with ten ships and 1,600 men. American leadership designed the show of force to “command fear” and “astound the Orientals.” After initial resistance, Perry was permitted to land at Kanagawa, near the site of present-day Yokohama, on March 8, and the Convention of Kanagawa was signed on March 31. Perry signed as an American plenipotentiary, and Hayashi Akira, also known as Daigaku-no-kami, signed for the Japanese side. The celebratory events for the signing ceremony included a Kabuki play from the Japanese side and, from the American side, U.S. military band music. 

Perry departed, mistakenly believing the agreement had been made with imperial representatives, not understanding the true position of the shōgun, the de facto ruler of Japan. Perry then visited Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido and Shimoda, the two ports that the treaty stipulated would be opened to visits by American ships. A handscroll with pictorial record from the Japanese side of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry’s second visit to Japan in 1854 is retained in the British Museum in London.

When Perry returned to the United States, Congress voted to reward him $20,000 (equivalent to $520,000 in 2023) in appreciation of his work in Japan. He used part of this money to prepare and publish a report on the expedition in three volumes: Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan. As a reward for his service in the Far East, he was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list when his health began to fail.

Perry spent his last years preparing for the publication of his account of the Japan expedition, announcing its completion on December 28, 1857. Two days later, he was detached from his last post, an assignment to the Naval Efficiency Board. He died awaiting further orders on March 4, 1858, in New York City, of rheumatic fever that had spread to the heart, compounded by complications of gout.

 Perry was buried in the Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island, next to his daughter, Anna, who died in 1839. Japan erected a monument to Perry on July 14, 1901, where the commodore first landed. The monument survived World War II and is now the centerpiece of a small seaside park called Perry Park at Yokosuka, Japan. Within the park is a small museum dedicated to the events of 1854.

There is a memorial plaque in Trinity Church, Newport, and a statue of Perry in Touro Park. The former was designed by John Quincy Adams Ward, erected in 1869, and dedicated by his daughter. The Naval War College Museum and the Newport Historical Society also have exhibits and research collections concerning his life.

Commodore Perry was inducted into The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1966.

For additional reading:

  • The Makers of Modern Rhode Island by Patrick T. Conley, History Press, 2012.
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