Oliver Hazard Perry

Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819), American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, the brother of Matthew Calbraith Perry. He joined the U.S. Navy as a midshipman at the age of 14. When the War of 1812 broke out, he was placed in command of a flotilla of gunboats and in 1813 ordered to Sackets Harbor, New York, for service under Commodore Isaac Chauncey. In March of the same year, Perry undertook the equipping of a fleet for service on Lake Erie and distinguished himself during the attack that resulted in the capture of Fort George. On September 10 he defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie off Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Control of Lake Erie assisted the American forces under General William Henry Harrison in the operations culminating in the Battle of the Thames. Perry later served in the Mediterranean; he died of yellow fever while cruising in the West Indies.