Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry: Famous American Nave Hero: Victor of the Battle of Lake Erie: His Life and Achievements

ix, 436 p. Ex-library. Label removed from spine. Pocket removed from rear cover. Stamp/Information blacked out in several places. Front board has some weakness. Cover has some wear and soiling. Presumed published in 1912, the centennial of the War of 1812. Copyright date is 1910. Both illustrations present. Includes Preface, Table of Contents, and X1V Chapters. Also includes Frontispiece (Battle of Lake Erie), as well as a black and white illustration of the Duel between Peary and Heath on page 385. Chapters include Introduction; Oliver enters as a Midshipman on board the General Greene; Prosecution of Tripolitan War under Preble; Perry resumes his Studies in Newport; State of our relations with Belligerants; Perry Ordered to the Lakes; Rise of Naval Armaments on Erie; Intelligence of the Enemy's Intention to Sail; National Consequences of the Victory; Perry returns to Detroit; Perry's Homeward Journey; Algerine Hostilities; Perry employed on Surveys; and Comfortable situation of Perry--Ordered to South America; Attacked with Yellow Fever--Dies--Is buried in Port Spain. The biography was written in 1840. The author had direct access to original sources of information. Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (April 6, 1803 - September 13, 1848), born Alexander Slidell, was a United States Navy officer, famous for his 1842 decision to execute three suspected mutineers aboard a ship under his command USS Somers in the Somers Mutiny. Mackenzie was also an accomplished man of letters, producing several volumes of travel writing and biographies of early important US naval figures, some of whom he knew personally. Mackenzie was the captain of USS Somers when it became the only US Navy ship to undergo a mutiny, which led to executions, including Philip Spencer, the 19-year-old son of the Secretary of War John C. Spencer. Mackenzie's handling of the Somers Mutiny, including its lack of a lawful court martial, was highly controversial and public opinion ran against him. Mackenzie was completely exonerated at the court of inquiry and at a subsequent court martial. However the controversial incident drew nationwide attention and colored the remainder of his life. It was customary then to commend officers cleared at a court martial, but Mackenzie's court martial made very clear that it was not commending him. The mutiny proved the need for systematic training of cadets before they went to sea. In 1845, Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft seized on the Somers affair as a reason to establish the United States Naval Academy. Mackenzie was also an accomplished author and naval historian. While his tours of duty in the navy were broadening, he also used several extended leaves to travel in Europe, where he mingled with other literary Americans including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and fellow New Yorker Washington Irving, a lifelong friend. Mackenzie's first work, A Year in Spain, by a Young American (1829), made him known in America as well as in England. Other works followed: Popular Essays on Naval Subjects (1833), The American in England (1835), Spain Revisited (1836), Life of John Paul Jones (1841), Life of Commodore Oliver H. Perry (1841), and Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur (1846).…