General
Harrison, he writes: "Dear General--We have met the enemy and they
are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. Yours,
with very great respect and esteem. O. H. Perry." The other was to the
Secretary of the Navy: "Sir, it has pleased the Almighty to give to
the arms of the United States a signal victory over their enemies on
this lake. The British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs,
one schooner, and one sloop, have this moment surrendered to the force
under my command, after a sharp conflict. I have the honor to be, sir,
very respectfully, your obedient servant. O. H. Perry." In consonance
with this simple eloquence, the mark of a master-mind, was his
chivalrous care of his wounded and conduct toward his prisoners.

The victory having been gained, and the lake thus cleared of the foe,
Perry was enabled to act in concert with General Harrison in driving
the British from Michigan, and when his fleet was of no avail to
follow them in their rapid flight, he joined that officer's land
expedition, and was present, acting as his aid, at the battle of the
Thames. "The appearance of the brave commodore," writes Harrison in
his official report, "cheered and animated every heart." Perry also
gained the gratitude of the Moravians, in whose district the contest
took place, by his care in relieving the inevitable evils of war. He
met everywhere on his homeward route with complimentary toasts and
resolutions, gathering volume as he reached his native State, where he
was received at Newport with military and civic honors. The city of
New York paid him a grateful attention in a request communicated by De
Witt Clinton, then mayor, to sit for his portrait for the civic
gallery. The portrait was painted by Jarvis, representing him in the
act of boarding the Niagara, and is preserved in the City Hall. He was
created an honorary member of the Cincinnati; Congress voted him a
medal and money; he was dined and feasted, and "blazed the comet of
the season."

Perry's next service was in August, 1814, in command of the Java, 44,
a frigate recently built at Baltimore. He was, however, not able to
get to sea, in consequence of the blockade by the enemy. On the
conclusion of peace he sailed in this vessel to join Commodore Shaw's
squadron in the Mediterranean. In 1819 he sailed as commodore in
command of the John Adams, for the West Indies, bound for the State of
Venezuela, to carry on an armed negotiation for t