![]() ![]() Abusive captains could control their crews by offering those who rebelled up for impressment. “Press gangs” boarded ships, marching their crews off to the physical danger, low pay, and terrible food of the navy. Across the British empire, naval officers seized sailors and forced them into service. Magra writes that impressment was a kind of military draft that, in practice, looked more like kidnapping. In many cases, the people doing the fighting were in immediate personal danger of losing their own liberty through impressment into the British Royal Navy. Magra writes, colonists’ fights for freedom from British dominance began well before 1776. Given command of the frigate USS General Greene (30 guns), Christopher Perry soon obtained a midshipman's warrant for his eldest son.On July 4, Americans celebrate liberty and independence from Great Britain. ![]() A member of a seafaring family, his father had served aboard privateers during the American Revolution and was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Raised in Rhode Island, Perry received his early education from his mother, including how to read and write. Among his younger siblings was Matthew Calbraith Perry who would later gain fame for opening Japan to the West. He was the eldest of eight children born to Christopher and Sarah Perry. Perry was born on August 23, 1785, in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Notable Quote: "We have met the enemy and they are ours.".Children: Christopher Grant Champlin, Oliver Hazard Perry II, Oliver Hazard Perry, Jr., Christopher Raymond, Elizabeth Mason.Spouse: Elizabeth Champlin Mason (May 5, 1811–August 23, 1819). ![]()
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