Born and raised in Newport, Rhode Island, to a seafaring family with strong Quaker roots, Matthew Perry was the fourth of eight children. His father, Christopher Perry, fought in the American Revolution both as a soldier and a sailor and was captured three times. While on parole from an Irish prison where his wartime service aboard a privateer had landed him, Christopher Perry met his future wife, Sarah Alexander Wallace. Newport at the turn of the century was a cosmopolitan town with good private schools that gave Matthew Perry a solid understanding of mathematics and a taste for literature. His first active duty was in 1809 when he served as a midshipman aboard the armed schooner Revenge, commanded by his eldest brother. Two years later, after being transferred to the President, Perry was slightly wounded by an exploding gun during the first naval engagement of the War of 1812 against H.M.S. Belvidera. On Christmas Eve of 1814 he married Jane Slidell, a devoted wife who bore him ten children and allied Perry with her wealthy, influential New York family.
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