Perry, Matthew

Perry, Matthew (1794–1858), naval diplomat and reformer.Perry entered the U.S. Navy in 1809 as midshipman under his brother, Oliver Hazard Perry, then served on the frigate USS President during the War of 1812, and was wounded when it exchanged fire with the Belvidera. In the 1830s, Perry became a leader in the movement to improve naval education and training and to have the navy adopt steamships. During the Mexican War he directed attacks on Frontera, Tabasco, and Carmen in 1846, and after assuming command of the Home Squadron in March 1847, Perry conducted the U.S. Army's amphibious landing at Vercruz; he also supervised the capture of Tuxpan and the blockade of Mexico's east coast.

After the war, in his famous expedition to open the closed society of Japan, Perry led four U.S. warships into Tokyo Bay on 8 July 1853 and delivered an invitation from President Millard Fillmore to the emperor to open relations with the United States. Returning in February 1854, he signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, providing for friendship and limited trade between the two nations. Ill health overtook the man known as “Old Bruin”; he returned to the United States and spent a year writing his account of the mission before retiring from the navy. Perry died in New York City on 4 March 1958.

Bibliography

Samuel E. Morison , Old Bruin: Commodore Matthew C. Perry, 1794–1858, 1967.
John Schroeder , Matthew Calbraith Perry: Percursor of the Steam Navy, in Captains of the Old Steam Navy, ed. James C. Bradford, 1986.

James C. Bradford