Perry, Matthew Calbraith

Portrait
Born: Apr 10, 1794 AD
Died: 1858 AD, at 63 years of age.

Nationality: American
Categories: Naval Officer


1794 - Born in Rocky Brook, Rhode Island on the 10th of April.

1809 - Matthew Perry got a midshipman's commission in the Navy and was initially assigned to Revenge, under the command of his elder brother.

1812 - 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 was officially declared.

1821 - Perry commanded the Shark.

1822- On the 25th of March, Perry sailed the schooner Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, physically claiming the Keys as United States property.

1826-1827 - Perry acted as fleet captain for Commodore Rodgers.

1828 - Perry returned for shore duty to Charleston, South Carolina.

1830 - Took the command of USS Concord.

1833-1837 - He spent the years as second officer of the New York Navy Yard, gaining promotion to captain at the end of this tour.

1839-1840 - 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 off Sandy Hook on the coast of New Jersey.

1841 - Perry acquired the courtesy title of Commodore and was made chief of the New York Navy Yard in the same year.

1843 - He took command of the African Squadron, whose duty was to interdict the slave trade under the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

1852 - Perry embarked from Norfolk, Virginia for Japan, in command of a squadron in search of a Japanese trade treaty.

1854 - Perry returned in February 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 Convention of Kanagawa on the 31st of March and departed, mistakenly believing the agreement had been made with imperial representatives.

1855 - Perry returned to the United States, Congress voted to grant him a reward of $20,000 in appreciation of his work in Japan.

1858 - Died on the 4th of March in New York City, of liver cirrhosis due to alcoholism.







 

Page last updated: 11:29am, 27th Jun '07

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