*Includes pictures
*Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts
*Includes a bibliography for further reading
"We have met the enemy and they are ours." - Oliver Hazard Perry
Sandwiched between the Revolution and the Civil War, the War of 1812 is one of America's forgotten conflicts, and the stalemated nature of the war (which resolved virtually none of either side's war aims) has also ensured that it is often given merely a cursory overview. Great Britain, as the leader of several coalitions of conservative European countries trying to isolate and snuff out the revolutionary spirit and the ambitions of Napoleon, had been at war with France almost continuously since 1792. Under President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and James Madison (1809-1817), the United States tried to steer a course that would keep it from being drawn into the European war and defend its neutrality on the high seas. However, both Britain and France wanted to hurt the other side economically by keeping goods out of their enemy's hands. Thus, they did not faithfully respect the rights of neutral nations. The British government in 1807 had issued the "Orders in Council," which enforced a naval blockade against France, and with a shortage of seamen to man the Royal Navy, Britain also felt justified in stopping and sometimes firing on ships flying the American flag in the name of apprehending escaped British sailors.
Americans had few things to celebrate during the War of 1812, and fighting on the frontier against the British and their native allies didn't go any better than the conflict did in other theaters, but one of the only major victories the Americans won came at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. That action made Oliver Hazard Perry, a veteran of the Barbary Wars and commander of the USS Lawrence, a legend whose name has endured for over 200 years. Perry was so instrumental in the victory that British historian C.S. Forester noted "it was as fortunate for the Americans that the Lawrence still possessed a boat that would float, as it was that Perry was not hit." As one of the biggest naval battles of the war, the results meant that America maintained control of Lake Erie, an important location from which they could recover Detroit and be better positioned to confront the British and Shawnee leader Tecumseh's confederacy. For his part, Perry would forever be remembered as the "Hero of Lake Erie," even as he and compatriot Captain Jesse Elliot would feud over their respective actions during the battle for the rest of Perry's life.
On July 8, 1853, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry led four American warships into Uraga Harbor near Edo (later renamed Tokyo), presenting the Japanese with a letter from President Millard Fillmore. The Japanese couldn't know they were at the end of their long withdrawal from the rest of the world, but they were quite aware that the conditions in China and in Asia generally were being forced to change. They were also certainly aware that the Americans, as a result of the Gold Rush, had made California a state (in 1852) and extended the United States to the Pacific Ocean. They were also aware that American ships dominated the Pacific whaling industry, and that they commonly sailed to China. Japan was further aware of the British and French colonial incursions into China, and they were looking across the Sea of Japan where the Russians were actively occupying territory that was uncomfortably close to Japan. Thus, the appearance of an American naval force was obviously ominous.
Perry remains a fairly familiar name in America as a result of his time in Asia, but that legacy actually belies just how influential he was for the U.S. Navy back at home. Known as the "Father of the Steam Navy" in America, Perry not only modernized America's naval forces, but literally wrote the book on it. By the time he died in 1858, he was considered a national hero.