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Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry ( August 23 , 1785 – August 23 , 1819 ) 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 the decisive naval victory at the Battle Of Lake Erie . He was the son of Captain Christopher Raymond Perry ( December 4 , 1760 - June 8 , 1818 ) and Sarah Wallace Alexander ( 1764 - December 4 , 1830 ), and his younger brother was Matthew Calbraith Perry . Educated in Newport, Rhode Island , Perry was appointed a Midshipman on 7 April , 1799 and assigned to his father's frigate, ''General Greene'' . He first experienced combat on 9 February , 1800 off Haiti . During the First Barbary War , he served in ''Adams'' and commanded ''Nautilus'' during the capture of Derna . At his request during the War of 1812 he was given command of U.S. Naval forces on Lake Erie . He supervised the building of a small fleet at what is now Erie, Pennsylvania . During the battle Perry's Flagship the Lawrence was destroyed in battle 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," a famous battle cry of naval hero James Lawrence . On September 10 , 1813 Perry's fleet defended against an attacking British fleet at the Battle Of Lake Erie . His battle report after victory is famous: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop". While this opened Canada up to possible invasion, it simultaneously protected the entire Ohio Valley . It was the only significant fleet engagement of the war. In 1819, during an expedition to the Orinoco River in Venezuela , he died of disease caused by indigenous insects while aboard the U.S. Schooner Nunsuch. 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. MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS , Perry County, Arkansas , Perry County, Illinois , Perry County, Indiana , Perry County, Kentucky , Perry County, Tennessee , Perry County, Mississippi , Perry County, Missouri , Perry County, Ohio and Perry County, Pennsylvania . There are also many cities and towns named in honor of the hero, including Perry, a city located in Dallas County, Iowa & Perryopolis , a borough located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. A memorial was erected at his grave site in Newport. There are also monuments to Perry at Put-in-Bay, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania. Various school districts throughout the country are named in Perry's honor. There is a middle school in Providence, Rhode Island, the state in which Perry was born, entitled Oliver Hazard Perry Middle School; it is sometimes shortened and called Perry Middle School or abbreviated as OHP. Commodore Perry School District in Hadley, Pennsylvania , Perry Elementary School in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the Perry School District in Perry, Ohio, are among others. During the 20th Century , the United States Navy named the Lead Ship of a class of guided missile Frigate s after Perry, the ''Oliver Hazard Perry'' Class . See USS ''Perry'' for other ships named for him. EXTERNAL LINKS
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