Matthew Perry (naval officer)
Matthew Calbraith Perry (
April 10,
1794 -
March 4,
1858) was the
Commodore of the
U.S. Navy who forced the opening of
Japan to the West with the
Convention of Kanagawa in
1854, under the threat of military force.
Born in
South Kingstown, Rhode Island, he was the younger brother of
Oliver Hazard Perry. Matthew Perry obtained a midshipman's commission in the Navy in
1809, and was initially assigned to USS
Revenge, which was under the command of his elder brother.
Perry's early career saw him assigned to several different ships, including the
President, where he was aide to Commodore
John Rodgers, which was in a victorious engagement over a
British vessel, HMS
Little Belt, shortly before the
War of 1812 was officially declared. During that war Perry was transferred to
USS United States, and consequently saw little fighting in that war afterward since the ship was trapped at
New London, Connecticut. After the war he served on various vessels in the Mediterranean and Africa (notably aboard
USS Cyane during its patrol off
Liberia in
1819-
1820), sent to suppress piracy and the slave trade in the West indies. Later during this period, while in port in
Russia, Perry was offered a commission in the Russian navy, which he declined.
Perry commanded
USS Shark from
1821-
1825, and from
1826-
1827 acted as fleet captain for Commodore Rodgers. Perry returned for shore duty to
Charleston, South Carolina in
1828, and in
1830 took command of USS
Concord. He spent the years of
1833-
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.
He had a considerable interest in naval education, supporting an apprentice system to train new seamen, and helped establish the curriculum for the
United States Naval Academy. Additionally, he was a vocal proponent of modernization of 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 organized America's first corps of naval engineers, and conducted the first U.S. naval gunnery school while commanding
Fulton in
1839-
1840 off
Sandy Hook on the coast of
New Jersey.
Perry acquired the courtesy title of commodore in
1841, and was made chief of the New York Navy Yard in the same year. In
1843 he took command of the African Squadron, whose duty was to interdict the
slave trade under the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and continued in this endeavor through
1844.
During the
Mexican-American War Perry was in charge of the Gulf Fleet, and commanded the force that captured Frontera,
Tabasco and Laguna in
1846. In 1847 the forces under Perry's command supported the siege of
Veracruz.
In
1852, Perry embarked from
Norfolk, Virginia for
Japan, in command of a squadron in search of a Japanese trade treaty. Aboard a black-hulled steam frigate, he ported four ships at Uraga Harbor near Edo (modern
Tokyo) on
July 8,
1853, and was met by representatives of the
Tokugawa Shogunate who told him to proceed to
Nagasaki, where there was limited trade with the
Netherlands and which was the only Japanese port open to foreigners at that time. Perry refused to leave and demanded permission to present a letter from President
Millard Fillmore, threatening force if he was denied. Japan had been living reclusely apart from modern technology, and the Japanese military forces could not resist Perry's modern weaponry; the "black ships" would then become, in Japan, a symbol of threatening Western technology and
colonialism. The Japanese government, so as to avoid naval bombardment, had to accept Perry's coming ashore. Perry proceeded ashore at Kurihama (near present
Yokosuka) on
July 14, presented the letter to delegates present and left for the China coast, promising to return for a reply. He returned in
February,
1854 with twice as many ships, finding that the delegates had prepared a
treaty embodying virtually all the demands in Fillmore's letter. Perry signed the document on
March 31,
1854 and departed, mistakenly believing the agreement had been made with
imperial representatives.
Upon Perry's return to the United States in
1855, Congress voted to grant him a reward of $20,000 in appreciation of his work in Japan. Perry used part of this money to prepare and publish a report on the expedition in three volumes, titled
Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan. He died three years later in
New York City. His remains were removed to the Island Cemetery in
Newport, Rhode Island in
1866.
Perry's middle name is often misspelled as
Galbraith.
See also: History of Japan
External link
Perry, Matthew\nPerry, Matthew
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