Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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OLIVER HAZARD PERRY AUGUST 2 3, 1785 - AUGUST 23.1819 PERRY MEMORIAL PUT-IM-BfifrOHIO. rPEHKV^ BIRTHPLACE) OATAKEFIELD / By ELMO SCOTT WATSON KE WAS BORN Just 150 years ago v ?on August 23, 1785. He died \ on the thirty-fourth anniversary J of his birth? on August 23, 1819. '/) It Is not given to many men to ' win deathless fame before they are thirty. But Fate decreed that a youthful commander In the United States navy should be one of those favored mortals. Nor was It blind chance or a mere stroke of luck which brought him his renown. When his big opportunity came, he was trained and ready for Ik The result was one of the most brilliant vic tories In the history of naval warfare? his de feat and capture of a British fleet on Lake Erie, September 10. 1813. That, plus his triumphal announcement, the laconic quality of which Is in keeping with the briefness of his career, has made the name of Oliver Hazard Perry one of the best known In American history. If ever there was an American family which exemplifies a "naval heritage" It was the Perrys of Rhode Island. That heritage began with Christopher Raymond Perry who was only thir teen years old when the Revolution began. But he immediately enlisted in the Kingston Reds and served valiantly In the Continental army. He next served on a privateer, then on board the Mifflin, was captured by the British and for three months endured the horrors of the British prison ship, Jersey. Escaping from the Jersey, Perry enlisted on the Trumbull under Capt. James Nicholson and had a part In the victory over the British privateer, Watt, in 1779. Later he was captured again and sent to Newry, Ire land, as a prisoner of war. There he became acquainted with Sarah Alex ander, a pretty Scotch girl, whose grandfather had fled from Scotland to Ireland and who had been left an orphan In her childhood. At the close of the war Christopher shipped as a sea man on a British ship bound for America. Sarah Alexander was a passenger on the same ship and upon her arrival at the home of Dr. Benjamin Rush In Philadelphia, Christopher sought her out and they were married. He took his bride to the Perry homestead at Wakefleld, R. I., a house that looked out toward the sea and from which her husband and her sons were to "go down to the sea In ships" and become ofllcers In the United States navy. There were five of them ? Oliver Hazard, Ray mond H J., Matthew Calbralth. James Alexander and Nathaneal Hazard. As If this contribution to her adopted country's sea forces was not enough, two of her three daughters married naval officers, Capt. George W. Rodgers and Dr. Wil liam Butler 1 The Influence of this mother on her sons had much to do with their later fame. She told them stories of her warrior ancestors In Scotland ; she closely supervised their educntlon, she "fitted them to command by tenchlng them to obey" and when, still in their teens, they answered the call of the sea, she sent them forth cheerfully. She lived to see all of them make honorable records In the service of their country and two of them to become famous? Oliver Hazard as the victor in the Battle of Lake Erie and Matthew Cal bralth as the commander of the expedition which, in 18f>4, opened the ports of Japan and started that nation on the rise to Its present position among the world powers. Oliver Hazard Perry entered the United Stntes navy at the age of fourteen as a midshipman. That was In 1798 when war with France seemed Inevitable. But it was not until the wor with Tripoli, when Commodore Preble was sent to subdue the Barbary pirates, that young Perry saw his first active service. In 1810 ho wos com missioned a lleutennnt and placed In command of the schooner Revenge. The Revenge was wrecked off Watch Hill, near his home, but a naval board of Inquiry not only cleared him of all blame for the disaster but also praised him for his conduct on that occasion. By the time the second war with England be gan, Perry was known as one of the best ord nance ofllcers In the navy and early In 1812 he was placed In command of a flotilla of gunbonts In Newport harbor. But bofore he had a chnnce to distinguish himself with this command, certain significant events took place In the West which determined that he would win his fame on our Inland seas rather than on the broad Atlantic. In July. 1812, General Hull surrendered to the British at Detroit and It became apparent thnt control of Lake Erie wonld be a vital factor In the war. Immediately both Americans and Brit ish began construction of war vessels and a thrilling race with time ensued. There was feverish activity In the British shipyards at Maiden, opposite Detroit, and far to the east In the harbor of Presque Isle (now Erie, Pa.) there was a similar bustling about An American fleet was to he built there under the direction of young Oliver Hasard Perry who was to take command of It, wrest control of Lake Erie from the British and co-operate with Gen. William Henry Harrison, commander in chief of the American military forces In Ohio, then threat ened with Invasion by the British and their indiatraUtaa. * Making his way through the wilderness in a Sleigh, Parry arrived at Preaqne Isle In Febru ary IMS, and found what aeemed to he a hopo lesa task en hla handa. Only the materials for hl8 ships were there and those materials were the unhewn timber of the forest Shipbuilders, sailors, naval stores, guns and ammunition had to be brought thither from distant points over roads which were little better than mere trails. Letter after letter he wrote to his superiors in the East, begging for more men, more supplies, more money, more of everything which he would need if he were to cope successfully with a powerful enemy. A lesser man than Perry would have despaired, but he refused to be daunted by his handicaps. And so. after months of labor, the last of his ships were launched at the mouth of Cascade creek and on July 10, 1813, he found himself in command of the following: the brig Lawrence, his flagship, 20 guns; the brig Niagara, 20 guns: the brig Caledonia, three guns; the schooner Ariel, four guns; the schooner Scorpion, two guns and two swivels; the sloop Trlppe, one gun ; the schooner Tigress, one gun ; the schooner Porcupine, one gun, and the schooner Somers, one gun. He had his fleet now but not enough sailors to man them ! "Think of my situation." he wrote in one letter, "the enemy in sight, the vessels un der my command more than sufficient and ready to make sail, and yet obliged to bite my fingers with vexation for want of men." But after many delays the arrival early in August of Capt. Jesse Duncan Elliott, second in command, with 100 men enabled Perry to venture out into the lake. He reached Sandusky August 17 and was met there by General Harrison who came aboard the Law rence to confer with Perry on the fall campaign. Then he sailed out Into the lake to look for the enemy. On the morning of September 10, 1813, the lookout on the Lawrence sang out "Sail hoi" and in the distance off Put-In-Bay the Americans saw the long-awaited British fleet advancing In faultless battle array. Commanded by Robert H. Barclay, who had fought with Nelson at Tra falgar and lost an arm in that historic engage menr, the enemy consisted of the ship Detroit, 19 gun?, one pivot and two howitzers; the ship Queen Charlotte, 17 guns and one howitzer; the brig Lady Provost, 13 guns and one howitzer; the brig Hunter, 10 guns; the sloop Little Belt, three guns, and the schooner Chippewa, one gun and two swivels. In ships, the British had the superiority, their vessels being stronger and their forces being more concentrated; the American gunboats at the right of the American line, separated from each other by at least a half cable's length, were not near enough for good service. In the number of guns the British had 63, the Ameri cans, 54. In action at a distance, the British, who had 35 long range guns to 15, had greatly the advantage; In close action the weight of metal would favor the Americans. The British commander had 150 men from the royal navy, 80 Canadian sailors, and 240 soldiers, mostly regulars, and some Indians, making, with their officers, a little more than 500 men, of whom at least 4fi0 were efficient. The American crews, of which about one-fourth were from Rhode Island, one-fourth regular seamen, American and cosmopolitan, about one-fourth raw volunteers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, but chiefly Kentucky, and about one-fourth blacks, numbered on the muster roll 490, but of these, 110 were sick, nearly all of whom were too weak to come on deck, so that the efficient force of the squadron was n little less than 4<X). As the American fleet led by the Lawrence ad vanced to attack, the Detroit opened fire. Its first shot fell short, but the second went crash ing through the Lawrence and before the other American vessels could come to his support, the long guns of the enemy were centered with deadly effect upon Perry's flagship. It was struck many times before he could get close enough to open flre effectively and even then, with the Niagara and other ships hanging back, his ship seemed doomed to destruction as the combined British flre raked her. For nearly two hours the battle raged furi ously until the I*awrenca lay on the waters a dismantled wreck, her rigging shot away, her ?pars battered Into splinters, all of her guns hut one dismounted and her decks, slippery with blood, strewn with the dead and dying. The masts carrying the Stars and Stripes and the blue flag, bearing the large white letters "Don't aire Up the Ship!" the dying words of Cnpt. Jamea Lawrence, for whom the flagship was named, were shot down, but Perry's sailors raised them again on spars for flagstaffs. Finally Perry saw that his cause was hopeless If he remained on the Lawrence. With the aid of a few men who were not yet disabled he loaded the remaining gun, dragged It forward and fired a last shot at the British. Then, telling those left on board to keep the Stars and Stripes floating to the last, he gave orders for a boat to be lowered to carry him to the Niagara In which he proposed to carry on the fight. Descending into this boat and carrying with him the blue flag, he was rowed amid a storm of bullets and grape-shot to the approaching Niag ara where he raised his banner and bore down swiftly upon the enemy. In the meantime the flag on the Lawrence had been shot away for the last time and, seeing It fall, the British raised a cheer. But Just then the Niagara, supported by the other vessels, closed In on the British ships and their guns raked the Detroit, the Queen Charlotte, the Lady Provost and the Little Belt. Within a short time the British ships struck their colors. The battle was over and defeat had been changed to victory. On the decks of the Lawrence the survivors of the crew raised the Stars and Stripes again and In the cabin of the Niagara Commander Perry sat down to write a letter to General Har rison. And this was the message which Mid shipman Hugh Nelson Page of the Ariel, who had been selected to bear It, carried to the com mander of the American military forces: iwo Back In the little town of Sandusky the In habitants listened to the roar of battle that came across the waters with anxious fear and wonder. If Perry won, It meant peace and security for them. If the British won It meant a British Invasion and the onslaught of their savage allies led by Tecumseh against the towns of Ohio. So there wai rejoicing when the arrival of Mid shipman Page brought them the news of a glori ous victory. One by one the British ports on Lake Erie fell Into the hands of the Americans and "hostile arms no longer vexed Erie's broad expanse and forest-fringed borders." The news of Perry's victory thrilled a nation which had begun to resign Itaelf to news of nothing but dlsoster and defeat In the West. Congress gave him a vote of thanks and awarded him a Rold medal In commemorntlon of his vic tory. He was promoted from commander to captain and at the close of the war he was placed In command of the Java, a first-class frigate. In 1819 he was made a commodore and given charge of a squadron sent to the West Indies to suppress piracy. But he goon fell 111 of yellow fever and died In Port Spain, Trinidad. He wns hurled there hut In 1820 the American government sent a sloop of war to bring his body back to his native state. He was hurled at Newport with all the honors due him and a tall granite shaft erected over his last resting place. Out on the shores of Put-In-Bay an even taller monument (In fact, the second tallost In the world) point* to the sky. Dedicated In 1931, It Is not only a memorial to Perry's victory on Lake Erie but It Is also a monument to the peace which has prevailed be tween the United States and Great Britain for more than a century. In recent yearn also the brig Niagara, hi* flagship when his victory was won, has been restored by patriotic citizens of Pennsylvania and Ohio and has been maintained as a floating museum, nnd In Wakefield, R. L, the Perry homeatead was recently thrown open to visitor* a* a patriotic shrine. So there la no lack of memorial* to keep vivid in the memory of hi* fellow-American* the - ) of Oliver Haaard Per try even Should they ever forget hi* deathless message, "We have met the enemy and they are our*.H ? WmMth Niwipiht tfalM. IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY I chool Lesson %s, twr? Institute of Chicago; O. Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for August 11 DANIEL LESSON TEXT? Daniel 1-8-10 GOLDEN TEXT-Know y. ? i ?h.? your body is the temple of the Holy Jr GodSC C^rMhr"' Wh'Ch y# hav* dTi tx/TT, . Corlnth,an8 6:19. Strong TOPIC How Dam., Or.w T,m? Strtos. I C ni .^ DlATE AND SENIOR ?0P sas-s-. Health. [n the use of this as a tern perance lesson It must be borne in o"f self nrni! 18 tem,)erance ?n the sense do z?rz, ra,"er "'?d "avi?8 <? wUh Indulgence in Intoxicating Iquors. Dane's self-mastery was clue his Godr,gff ,re,at,"n and l(>yalty to his God. It is utterly flItl,e t0 h UDon Th* " pr?Rram of temperance upon those who are in rebellion against God. non (". CaB"vl,y Bab>"<>" Onnlel with h[u companions were earned away to Babylon In the first za/6 A?/thJerU8alem by N'ebu<*adnez zar. At the command of the king cer )^taln choice young men were carried away because they were -skillful In wisdom and cunning in knowledge, ai.d understanding science, " that thev might be trained to ?and In the "klnrt palace. II. Daniel's Trials (vv. 5.7). 1. Conscience tested (v. 5). Bv the appointment of the king, a dally pro vlslon was arranged of the kings meat k ps Wtm DaU'el and hls comPan iocs. This was contrary to the custom among the godly Jews. Being con trary to the Jewish customs they could not conscientiously partake of them. i The change of name (vv. Q 71 Among the Uebrews names were given to children which were most signifi cant Daniel means "God is my Judge" The significance of this name is that all the problems of life were submit ted to God for a decision. God was made the arbitrator of his life. His name was changed to Belteshazzar which means ."Bel's prince." It meant, therefore, one whom the chief god of the Babylonians favors. Hananlah means "gift or beloved of Jehovah." His name was changed to Shadrach, which signified "Illumined by the sun god, Bach." Mlshael means "who Is as God?' His name was changed to Meshach, which means "who Is like the goddess, Sheshach. the gentle one?" Azarlah means "Jehovah Is our nelp." This was changed to Abed nego, which means "the servant of Nego." Back of the change of names was the attempt of Satan to wipe out the name of the true God. III. Daniel's Courtesy (vv. 8-13). Daniel seems to have been the spokesman for the company. Although his heart was fixed, he did not forget to be a gentleman. He requested to be excused from this meat and drink In order that he be not defiled. We should learn from this that In times even of great trials we should be courteous. When Daniel asked that a test be made as to the effect of the food upon the countenance of himself and companions, gracious considera tion was given to them. IV. Daniel's Triumph (vv. 14-21). 1. As to physical health (vv. 14-10). A test was made for ten days, and It was shown that Daniel and his com panions were fairer In countenance and fatter In flesh than those who in dulged In the eating of the king's meat. This meat and wine would have been pleasant to the palate, but would have meant a compromise of the con science. It Is obligatory upon God's children today to abstain from that which Is contrary to his law. 2. Spiritual Insight (v. 17). Because of Daniel's loyalty to God, Nebuchad nezzar's dream was revealed to him (2:81-40), and he wns given visions sketching the whole history of the world. 8. Mental growth (vv. 17-20). Dan lel and his companions were found to be ten times superior In matters of wisdom and understanding to their comrades. Those who abstain from Indulgence In the use of strong drinks have clearer minds and are thus bet ter equipped mentally for their work than those who Indulge therein. 4. Their social and political prefer once (v. 19). They stood before the king. No higher position of Influence and honor could have been given them. B. Their temporal Influence (v. 21). They were all advanced to positions of Influence, and Daniel became pres ident of the college of wise men, and the prime minister of the nation. This position he continued to hold during several dynasties. Good Action* Do you act as If you had ten thou sand years to throw away. Death stands st your elbow. Be good for something, while you live and It In In your power. What remains but to live sany and cheerful, and crowd one good action *0 clone to another that there may he the least empty space between them. Habit Habit la the magistrate of our lives; and, therefore, we should nee that we havs good habits. ? I/>rd Bacon. Versatility Here, and Also Comfort Pattern t240 No one has ever designed any thing to equal the chic and comfort of ' the "Wrap around" for efficient I performance of household duties. And In our crowded lives today, Effi ciency plays an Important part. Per haps that's why a house frock that could "go to market'' to prove lt? versatility tias been- conceived. Don't those big square buttons conform beautifully with the unique cut of the front? ? and Joys of Joys, the wrap Is ^leep enough to keep from popping out at the wrong time. Con fidentially, freedom Isn't the only virtue of those sleeves ? they're bo easy to make. Pattern '2240 Is available In sizes 14, 10, 18, 20, 32, 34, 30, 38, 40, 42 and 44. Size 10 takes 4 yards 30 Inch fabric. Illustrated step-by-step sewing Instructions Included. Send FIFTEEN CENTS (15c) In coins or stamps (coins preferred) for this pattern. Write plainly name, address and style number. BE SURE TO STATE SIZE. Address orders to Sewing Circle Pattern Department 243 West Seven teenth street, New York. EQUALITY "Women are advising equal rights for men in mutters of alimony," re marked the hostess. "We might go even further," said Miss Cayenne, "and Insist on a Blue Kagle code for gigolos." That Wa. All Judge? Now, Just what passed bo ^ tween you and the complainant? Defendant? Well, your honor, thera were two pairs of fists, one turnip, seven bricks, n dozen assorted bad nnmes and a lump of coal. ? Phila delphia Bulletin. Knew Her Mer. "Bill's girl has dropped him; he's broke?" "As usual when girls drop things, eh?" "Not exactly; she broke him be fore who dropped him." ? Exchange, Fair Warning' "What would you say, Jackie, If 1 married your mother and became your daddy?" "Don't do It, Mr. Smith." ? Leipzig Der Lustlge Raehse.