USS Commodore Perry was a 512-long-ton (520-tonne)
steamer acquired by the
Union Navy during the first year of the
American Civil War. She was named after Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry, a naval officer who had commanded American forces on
Lake Erie in the
War of 1812. From January to February 1862,
Commodore Perry was part of the
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, taking part in the attack, in cooperation with the
Union Army, which resulted in the surrender of
Roanoke Island by the
Confederate States of America. She participated in several other campaigns through 1862, including the capture of
Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and army–navy expeditions against
Franklin, Virginia, and
Hertford, North Carolina. From 1863 until the end of the war, she was engaged in patrols, both inland and in Virginia coastal waters.
Commodore Perry was decommissioned and sold in 1865. This
albumen silver print of
Commodore Perry on the
Pamunkey River was prepared from a
glass negative taken by the Civil War photographer
Timothy H. O'Sullivan.
Photograph credit: Timothy H. O'Sullivan; restored by Adam Cuerden