Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was the
Commodore of the
U.S. Navy who compelled the
opening of Japan to the West with the
Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.
Early life and naval career
Matthew Perry was the son of Navy Captain,
Christopher R. Perry and the younger brother of
Oliver Hazard Perry. Matthew Perry received a midshipman's commission in the Navy in 1809, and was initially assigned to the
USS Revenge, under the command of his elder brother. Under his brother's command, Matthew was a combatant in
The Battle of Lake Erie aboard the Flagship
Lawrence and the replacement flagship,
Niagara.
Matthew's early career saw him assigned to several ships, including the USS President, which had been in a victorious engagement over a British vessel, HMS Little Belt, shortly before the War of 1812 was officially declared. Aboard the USS President he served as aide to Commodore John Rodgers. He transferred to the USS United States, and saw little fighting in the war after that, since the ship was trapped in port at New London, Connecticut. Following the signing of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the conflict, he served on various vessels in the Mediterranean. Perry served under Commodore William Bainbridge during the Second Barbary War. He then served in African waters aboard USS Cyane during its patrol off Liberia from 1819-1820. After that cruise, Perry was 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 Imperial Russian Navy, which he declined.
Command assignments, 1820s-1840s
Opening of Key West
at the
United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis, MD. The original bell was returned to Japan in 1987.]]
Perry commanded the
USS Shark, a
schooner with 12 guns, from 1821-1825.
In 1763, when Britain possessed Florida, the Spanish contended that the
Florida Keys were part of
Cuba and North Havana. Certain elements within the United States felt that
Key West (which was then named Cayo Hueso, meaning "Bone Key") could potentially be the "Gibraltar of the West" because it guarded the northern edge of the 90 mile (145 km) wide
Straits of Florida -- the deep water route between the
Atlantic and the
Gulf of Mexico.
In 1815 the Spanish governor in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas of Saint Augustine. After Florida was transferred to the United States, Salas sold Key West to U.S. businessman John W. Simonton for $2,000 in 1821. Simonton lobbied the U.S. Government to establish a naval base on Key West, both to take advantage of its strategic location and to bring law and order to the area.
On March 25, 1822, Perry sailed the Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, physically claiming the Keys as United States property.
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.
From 1826-1827 Perry acted as fleet captain for Commodore Rodgers. Perry returned to Charleston, South Carolina for shore duty in 1828, and in 1830 took command of a sloop-of-war, the USS Concord. He spent the years 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.
Father of the Steam Navy
Perry 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. He was a vocal proponent of modernizing the Navy. Once promoted to captain, he oversaw construction of the Navy's second steam frigate the
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 in 1839-1841 off
Sandy Hook on the coast of
New Jersey.
Promotion to Commodore
Perry received the title of
Commodore in June 1840, when the
Secretary of the Navy appointed him commandant of New York Navy Yard. The United States Navy did not have ranks higher than captain until 1862, so the title of commodore carried considerable importance. Officially, an officer would revert to his permanent rank after the squadron command assignment had ended, although in practice officers who received the title of commodore retained the title for life, and Perry was no exception.
During his tenure in Brooklyn, he lived in Quarters B at Admiral's Row, a building which still stands today, but is threatened with demolition by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. In 1843, Perry 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.
The Mexican-American War
In 1845, Commodore
David Connor's length of service in command of the
Home Squadron had come to an end. 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 Connor, was made second-in-command and captained the
USS Mississippi. Perry captured the Mexican city of
Frontera, demonstrated against
Tabasco and took part in the
Tampico Expedition. 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. gave his superiors the chance to finally give him orders to succeed Commodore Connor in command of the Home Squadron. Perry returned to the fleet during the
siege of Veracruz and his ship supported the siege 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 July 1847 he
attacked Tabasco personally, leading a 1,173-man landing force ashore and attacking the city from land.
The Perry Expedition: Opening of Japan, 1852-1854
of Perry (center) and other high-ranking American seamen]]
In advance of his voyage to the Far East, Commodore Perry read widely amongst available books about Tokugawa Japan. His research even included consultation with the increasingly well-known Japanologist Philipp Franz von Siebold, who had lived on the Dutch island of Dejima for eight years before retiring to Leiden in the Netherlands.
Precedents
Perry's expedition to Japan was preceded by several naval expeditions by American ships:
From 1797 to 1809, several American ships traded in Nagasaki under the Dutch flag, upon the request of the Dutch, who were not able to send their own ships because of their conflict against Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Japan limited foreign trade to the Dutch and Chinese at that time, under the policy of sakoku.
In 1837, an American businessman in Canton named Charles W. King saw an opportunity to open trade by trying to return to Japan three Japanese sailors (among them, Otokichi) who had been shipwrecked a few years before on the coast of Washington. He went to Uraga Channel with Morrison, an unarmed American merchant ship. The ship was attacked several times, and sailed back without completing its mission.
In 1846, Commander
James Biddle, sent by the United States Government to open trade, anchored in
Tokyo Bay with two ships, including one warship armed with 72 cannons, but his requests for a trade agreement remained unsuccessful.
In 1849, Captain
James Glynn sailed to
Nagasaki, leading at last to the first successful negotiation by an American with "
Closed Country" Japan. James Glynn recommended to the
United States Congress that negotiations to open Japan be backed up by a demonstration of force, thus paving the way for Perry's expedition.
First visit, 1852-1853
battery at the entrance of Tokyo, built in 1853-54 to prevent an American intrusion]]
, now at the
Yasukuni Shrine. 80-pound bronze, bore: 250mm, length: 3830mm.]]
In 1852, Perry embarked from
Norfolk, Virginia for
Japan, in command of the
East India Squadron in search of a Japanese trade treaty. Aboard a black-hulled steam frigate, he ported
Mississippi,
Plymouth,
Saratoga,
and
Susquehanna
at
Uraga Harbor near
Edo (modern
Tokyo) 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 could be known about the Japanese hierarchical culture. He 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 (see
Sakoku).
Threat of force and negotiation
built by the Daimyos at the Bakufu's order for Commodore Perry's arrival. 1853-54.]]
As he arrived, Perry ordered his ships to steam past Japanese lines towards the capital of
Edo, and position their guns towards the town of
Uraga. Perry refused to abide to demands to leave. Perry's ships were equipped with new
Paixhans shell guns, capable of wreaking great destruction with every shell. The term "
Black Ships", in Japan, would later come to symbolize a threat imposed by Western technology.
After the Japanese agreed to receive the letter from the American President, Perry landed at Kurihama (in modern-day Yokosuka) on July 14, 1853 presented the letter to delegates present, and left for the Chinese coast, promising to return for a reply.
Fortifications were built in Tokyo Bay at Odaiba in order to protect Edo from possible American naval incursion.
Second visit, 1854
Perry 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
Convention of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854 and departed, mistakenly believing the agreement had been made with
imperial representatives. The agreement was made with the Shogun, the de facto ruler of Japan.
On his way to Japan, Perry anchored off Keelung in Formosa (modern day Taiwan), for ten days. Perry and crew members 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. Formosa was also very defensible. It could serve as a base for exploration as Cuba had done for the Spanish in the Americas. Occupying Formosa could help the US to counter European monopolization of the major trade routes. President Franklin Pierce declined the suggestion, remarking such a remote possession would be an unnecessary drain of resources and that he would be unlikely to receive the consent of Congress.
Return to the United States, 1855
When Perry returned 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 was also advanced to the grade of
rear-admiral on the retired list (when his health began to fail) as a reward for his services in the Far East. Perry was known to have suffered severe arthritis that left him in frequent pain, that on occasion precluded him from his duties.
Last years
Island in the Narrative of the Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry's Expedition to Japan.]]
Perry spent his last years preparing for publication 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
rheumatism that had spread to the heart, compounded by complications of
gout.
Initially interred in a vault on the grounds of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, in New York City, his remains were moved to the Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island on March 21, 1866, along with those of his daughter, Anna, who died in 1839.
A diplomatic note
Among other mementos, Perry presented
Queen Victoria with a breeding pair of
Japanese Chin dogs, previously owned only by Japanese nobility.
Perry's flag and legacy
to Tokyo for display at the surrender ceremonies which officially ended World War II]]
A replica of Perry's US flag is on display on board the
USS Missouri (BB-63) memorial in
Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii. It is attached to the
bulkhead just inboard of the
Japanese surrender signing site on the
port side of the ship. The original flag was brought from the
U.S. Naval Academy Museum to Japan for the Japan surrender ceremony and was displayed on that occasion at the request of
Douglas MacArthur, who was himself a blood-relative of Perry. Some photographs of the signing ceremony show that this flag was actually displayed backward—reverse side showing (stars in the upper right corner). The cloth of the historic flag was so fragile that the conservator at the Museum directed that a protective backing be sewn on it, leaving its "wrong side" visible; and this was how Perry's 31-star flag was presented on this unique occasion. Today, the flag is preserved and on display at the Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland.
The pattern for the Union canton on this flag is different from the standard 31-star flag then in use. Perry's flag had columns of five stars save the last column which had six stars. Perry's US flag was unique when it was first flown in Tokyo Bay in 1853-1854. A replica of this historic flag can be seen today on the Surrender Deck of the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor. This replica is also placed in the same location on the bulkhead of the veranda deck where it had been initially mounted on the morning of September 2, 1945
Memorials
In his birthplace, Newport, Rhode Island, there is a memorial plaque in Trinity Church, Newport, and a statue of Perry in Touro Park designed by John Quincy Adams Ward erected in 1869 and dedicated by his daughter. He was buried in Newport's Island Cemetery, near his parents and brother. There are also exhibits and research collections concerning his life at the Naval War College Museum and at the Newport Historical Society.
There is a Perry Park in
Kurihama, Japan which has a
monolith monument (dedicated July 14, 1901) to the landing of Perry's forces. Within the park there is a small
museum dedicated to the events of 1854. Admission is free, and the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.
Matthew C. Perry Elementary and High School can be found on Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan.
The U.S. Navy's Perry-class frigates (purchased in the 1970s and 1980s) were named after Perry's brother, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.
On December 2, 2008, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced that the ninth ship of the Lewis and Clark class of dry-cargo-ammunition vessels would be named USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE-9) for Commodore Perry.
Fictional depictions
of Commodore Perry, c. 1854. The caption reads "North American" (top line, written from right to left in
Chinese character) and "Perry's portrait" (first line, written from top to bottom). |thumb]]
The story of the opening of Japan was the basis of Stephen Sondheim & John Weidman's Pacific Overtures.
Actor Richard Boone played Commodore Perry in the highly fictionalized 1981 film The Bushido Blade.
The coming of Commodore Perry's ships was indirectly part of a plot in one of the arcs of the anime series Rurouni Kenshin, and in the first episode of Hikaru no Go. Another anime series in which Perry briefly appears is Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan. The manga Fruits Basket also refers to the event while the main character is studying. The anime Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei also depicts Commodore Perry as a "troubled foreigner who isn't satisfied by opening ports and needs to open everything".
The anime series, Samurai Champloo, in an episode entitled "Baseball Blues", depicts a fictional character named 'Admiral Joy Cartwright' who challenges the Japanese locals to a baseball (Yakyū) game in order to establish trade relations. The character is named after Alexander Joy Cartwright ("the father of baseball") and obviously modeled after Commodore Perry.
Perry's visit is also mentioned in the 1965 Hideo Gosha film Sword of the Beast.
The faster-than-light spaceship in the novel Homeward Bound is named Commodore Perry.
The manga Rozen Maiden plays homage to Perry through the eyes of the character Suiseiseki.
Popotan has several references to Perry throughout the series.
The 2010 NHK Taiga drama Ryōmaden, which deals with the Bakumatsu period, portrayed Perry as a menacing, steadfast military commander who was able to subjugate the then-seemingly invincible Bakufu through blunt negotiation. He was played by Timothy Harris.
See also
Gunboat diplomacy
History of Japan
Meiji Restoration
Yokohama Archives of History
Notes
References
Cullen, Louis M. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82115-X (cloth) ISBN 0-521-529918-2 (paper)
Griffis, William Elliot. (1887). Matthew Calbraith Perry: A Typical American Naval Officer. Boston: Cupples and Hurd.
Hawks, Francis. (1856). Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan Performed in the Years 1852, 1853 and 1854 under the Command of Commodore M.C. Perry, United States Navy. Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson by order of Congress, 1856; originally published in Senate Executive Documents, No. 34 of 33rd Congress, 2nd Session. [reprinted by London:Trafalgar Square, 2005. ISBN 1-84588-026-9 (paper)]
Sewall, John S. (1905). The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas. Bangor, Maine: Chas H. Glass & Co. [reprint by Chicago: R.R. Donnelly & Sons, 1995] ISBN 0-548-20912-X
Further reading
Perry, Matthew Calbraith. (1856). Narrative of the expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, 1856. New York : D. Appleton and Company. digitized by University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, "China Through Western Eyes."
External links
A short timeline of Perry's life
Perry -- 90% name recognition among primary school students in Japan, 2008.
Perry Visits Japan: A Visual History
Matthew Calbraith Perry memorial at Find a Grave.
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