Ebook The Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry

The following work was undertaken at the request of Doctor Grant Champlin Perry, the eldest son of Commodore Perry, who, perceiving in the Naval History of Mr. J. F. Cooper an attempt to diminish that admiration with which the people of the United States have been accustomed to regard the memory of Perry, with a view of raising the standing of his second in command in the battle on Lake Erie, was desirous that a full account should be published of his father's life and services. This request having been willingly assented to, he accordingly forwarded to the writer the papers of his father, consisting almost entirely of public correspondence and log-books of various cruises, of which, however, the series was incomplete, and a vast mass of documents relating to the battle of Lake Erie, the whole forming rather materials for writing the history of that event than the life of Commodore Perry.