December 14, 2011

A number of Arkansas’s seventy-five counties are named in honor of war veterans. Perry County, which was formed on December 18, 1840, was named in honor of War of 1812 naval hero Oliver Hazard Perry. Perry, shown here in this painting by William H. Powell, won fame for his leadership in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. He remained in the military after the war, continuing to serve until his death in 1819 from yellow fever.