Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial

Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial is a commemorative site built on an island in Lake Erie, in the state of Ohio. It honors the victory the United States won in the naval battle fought on Lake Erie during the War of 1812, while at the same time commemorating the long peace that has continued since then between the United States and Canada.

The reverse of the coin depicts a statue of General Oliver Hazard Perry together with the International Peace Memorial column. The towering column-shaped monument and the figure standing before it are arranged side by side, showing both the hero of the victory and the memorial at a glance.

Perry was the U.S. naval commander who led the Battle of Lake Erie, and the victory in this battle became an important turning point in the course of the war. Yet the reason this memorial is special is that it does not boast of victory alone. The high-rising monument also symbolizes the history of long-lasting peace maintained with a neighboring nation after the war ended.

This commemorative site was designated as a national memorial on March 3, 1919. In having inscribed alongside it the value of peace, beyond being merely a place honoring a victory, it holds a unique position among the many memorials of the United States.

This coin in the America the Beautiful series conveys, upon a small disc, the idea that the memory of war can become not a matter of pride but an occasion to pledge peace.