Oliver Hazard Perry - Newport, Rhode Island
N 41° 29.399 W 071° 18.853
19T E 306812 N 4595737
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry is known as "The Hero of Lake Erie" for his actions during the War of 1812.
Waymark Code: WM73RM
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 08/28/2009
Views: 18
Oliver Hazard Perry Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, born August 23, 1785 in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, was an officer in the United States Navy. He served in the War of 1812 against Britain and earned the nickname "Hero of Lake Erie" for leading American forces in a decisive naval victory at the Battle of Lake Erie, where he not only commanded all U.S. Naval forces, but supervised the building of a small fleet. During the battle Perry's flagship, the Lawrence, was destroyed and Perry rowed a half-mile through heavy gunfire to transfer command to the Niagara, carrying his battle flag which read "Don't Give Up the Ship", the famous final words of Captain James Lawrence. While this opened Canada up to possible invasion, it simultaneously protected the entire Ohio Valley. It was one of only two significant fleet victories of the war. In 1819, during an expedition to the Orinoco River in Venezuela, he died of yellow fever contracted from indigenous insects while aboard the Nonsuch. His body was originally buried in Port of Spain, Trinidad but his remains were later reinterred in Newport, Rhode Island. After briefly resting in the Old Common Burial Ground in Newport, his body was moved a final time to Newport's Island Cemetery where his brother Matthew Perry is also buried.
This statue of Commodore Perry, by William Green Turner, was erected on September 10, 1885 at the foot of what is now known as Eisenhower Park in Washington Square in front of the County Courthouse. The statue sits across from Buliod-Perry House, which he purchased in November 1818, weeks before being ordered to the Caribbean. On the pedestal may be seen the words of Perry's celebrated report written on the back of an old letter, after the victory on Lake Erie --"We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Source/Credit: (
visit link)