biography
| name: |
Perry, Matthew C(albraith)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1794–1858)
|
| biography:
| US naval officer, born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, USA. The younger brother of Oliver Hazard Perry, he entered the navy in 1809 and served in the War of 1812. He was the second officer of the New York navy yard (1833–7), became a captain (1837), and commanded the first American steam warship, the USS Fulton (aboard which he conducted the navy's first gunnery school). He commanded the Africa Squadron (1843–6) and the Home Squadron during the last phase of the Mexican War (1847–8). Following four years of shore duty in New York, he sailed for Japan aboard the USS Mississippi (1852), and arrived off Edo (now Tokyo) the next year, demanding that Japan accept diplomatic relations and trade with the USA. He returned to Japan in 1854 and accepted a treaty signed at Yokohama. His report of the expeditions were published as Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan. |
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