Raymond Henry Jones Perry Papers (Mss. Gr. 4)

Biographical note

Raymond Henry Jones Perry was born on October 2, 1836, son of James DeWolf Perry and Julia Sophia Jones. Up until 1861 he spent many years farming the family property in Bristol, Rhode Island.

He led a very active life in the military, serving from 1858 to 1870 in various capacities under various men. In 1858 he was an officer at sea, making several voyages to China and California. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the army and in 1865 became an officer in command of Artillery and Cavalry. After the Civil War he served with Major General Phil Sheridan in New Orleans, Texas and Mexico. In 1866 he was appointed Chief of Police of Galveston, Texas. In the next two years he was Chief of Indian and Mexican scouts in Mexico, Texas and Kansas under General Sheridan.

In 1869 Perry was appointed Consul and U.S. Commercial Agent in Santa Domingo. His duties were to act as U.S. representative between President Baez of Santa Domingo and President Grant of the United States in the signing of the Treaty of Annexation of the Island of Santa Domingo and in leasing the Samana Bay or a U.S. Naval Station.

Perry was somewhat hot-headed and reactionary. His words to President Grant in 1869 are exemplary of his character and outlook: "When you have any rough work to do that requires nerve and activity and a man that will do his duty regardless of anything or anybody, I can do it and am ready anytime to undertake it." He was an honest man who felt obliged to perform his duty for his country without personal gain.

It was because of his brazen character that some questioned the appropriateness of his appointment to such a delicate post. And it was due, in large part, to his extreme honesty of character that the treaty for the annexation of Santa Domingo was not signed. Characteristic of the Grant Administration in general, the annexation attempt was deeply involved in corruption on the part of many of the principals. Perry, finding this out, revealed the facts to the U.S. Senate, which was split over annexation, because of racist attitudes toward the black population in Santa Domingo.

Efforts to silence Perry included an attempted extradition to Texas on false charges and, this failing, an attempted kidnapping. This corruption, along with the confinement in Santa Domingo of Davis Hatch (an agent of a salt mining company who opposed annexation) led the Senate to oppose ratification, 28-28, with 16 abstentions. A written account of the historical details on the annexation and Perry's involvement in it appears in Hamilton Fish : The Inner History of the Grant Administration, by Allan Nevins (E664 F52 N44).

After his termination as U.S. Commercial Agent, Perry was commissioned as Brigadier General of the Fifth Brigade of the Rhode Island Militia on March 23, 1871, which commission he resigned on June 13, 1871. He then retired to Rhode Island to farm and raise animals until his death in 1902.