Part 65
When Dewey was fourteen years old, a desire for a sea-faring life took possession of him, but his father did not take kindly to the thought of his son’s becoming a sailor; so a compromise was effected, and young Dewey left the Montpelier public school and entered the Norwich University at Northfield, Vt. This being a military school the youthful enthusiasm of the boy was temporarily appeased by musket practice and drill; but after two years had passed, Dr. Dewey decided that if his son must follow the sea, he should do so in a manner consistent with the Dewey stock.
An appointment to the Naval Academy placed the future Admiral at Annapolis in 1858. Upon his graduation, in 1858, he cruised for a few years as midshipman on the steam frigate Swatara in the Mediterranean and then returned to Montpelier.
On April 19, 1861, Dewey was commissioned Lieutenant, and for two years served on the steam sloop Mississippi, taking part in the action of the West Gulf Squadron. The Mississippi grounded, and was riddled by the shore batteries at Port Hudson. The officers and men were landed on the opposite side by boats; Captain Smith and Lieutenant Dewey being the last to leave the ship. In 1863 the young Lieutenant was in the thick of the fight with the gunboats that met the Confederates below Donaldsonville, and subsequently served on the steam gunboat Agawam, Captain Rhind, of the North Atlantic Squadron, and participated in two attacks on Fort Fisher in 1864-1865.
Dewey was commissioned Lieutenant Commander March 3, 1865, and a year later became executive officer of the famous Kearsarge. He also served on the frigate Colorado, flagship of the European Squadron.
On returning to the United States in 1868, he was detailed for duty at Annapolis, remaining for two years.
Dewey received his first command--the Narragansett--in 1870, and was engaged in special service till 1875, two years of which he had charge of the Pacific Survey. Meantime he became a Commander.
Commander Dewey became Light House Inspector in 1876, and was Secretary of the Light House Board from 1877 to 1882, when he was assigned to the command of the Juniata, of the Asiatic Squadron. In 1884 he was promoted to be Captain, and took command of the Dolphin, one of the first craft of the new Navy, and afterwards of the Pensacola, flagship of the European Squadron.
In 1888 Captain Dewey served as Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, with rank of Commodore. He was commissioned Commodore February 28, 1896. From 1893 to 1895 Commodore Dewey was a member of the Light House Board. In 1896 and 1897, he was President of the Inspection and Survey Board. On November 30, 1897, he was assigned to the command, of the Asiatic Squadron, and assumed his duties January 3, 1898.
In recognition of his splendid achievement at Manila, Commodore Dewey was appointed a Rear Admiral in May, 1898.
Admiral Dewey married the daughter of the celebrated Governor Goodwin, War Governor of New Hampshire--a fighter of the old school. Mrs. Dewey did not long survive the birth of her only son, George Goodwin Dewey.
Admiral Dewey made his home in Washington after his wife’s death. He was fond of horseback exercise, being never without a thoroughbred animal, and he treated them with a considerate kindness that was characteristic of the man.
Admiral Dewey was an early riser, and spent most of his time in the public service. He was temperate to the degree of abstemiousness. He was Life President of the Metropolitan Club, of Washington, member of the University Club, of New York, and for some time a member of the Somerset Club, of Boston. During his earlier residence in Washington, he was a member of the Maryland Hunting Club, but later his active public service prevented him indulging his taste for gunning.
Admiral Dewey’s son said of him: “Father has always been an extremely active man. He has been a lifelong student of everything connected with the sea. He is a constant reader, but in his studies he seldom goes outside of nautical science, or some collateral branch, such as Naval History. He made a study of harbors, too, and is a thorough geographer. I attribute his success at Manila in part to his knowledge of the harbor. He undoubtedly knew just what he was doing and where he was going when he made that midnight dash which seems to be so amazing to people who don’t know him. He knows how to navigate; he never carried a pilot all the time he was captain. He did his own navigating.
“Then, too, father had every confidence in his men, and the feeling was reciprocal, which was another strong element that contributed to his success. He knew what they could do. The cardinal principle of my father has been: ‘Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.’”
This was the keynote of the life of George Dewey, whose name in a day was placed with those of John Paul Jones, Decatur, Farragut, and others who have shone in Naval History.
Transcriber’s Notes
Except as described under Changes below, this e-text uses the language used in the source document. Inconsistent spelling, capitalisation, spacing and hyphenation, unusual, obsolete and archaic language, etc. have been retained, also in proper, geographical and ships’ names. Accents have not been added or corrected. Differences in wording between the Lists of Illustrations and the captions in the text have not been rectified.
Chapter numbering: in the first book chapters are numbered I through XV (which has been corrected to XIV) in the Table of Contents, and I through XIV in the text. The remainder of the chapters (including those in the second book) are not numbered. This oddity has been retained in this e-text.
Page numbering: this e-text uses prefixes I and II in the page numbers for the first and second book.
Page I-203: But they ‘(the French)’ having covered ...: as printed in the source document; possibly an error for But they” (the French) “having covered ....
Page I-237, ... than deserving gentlemen sent out by the Admiralty.”: either the closing quote mark is redundant, or the opening quote mark is missing.
Page I-358, “Villeneuve, like others, ...: the closing quote mark is missing.
Page II-62, “It was also asserted that the Guerrière’s powder was bad; ...: the closing quote mark is missing.
Page II-251, “The Richmond waved to me ...: the closing quote mark is missing.
Page II-397, Abbreviations: the abbreviations referring to the engines do not occur in the table(s).
Page II-429, ... “though he must have been aware ...: the closing quote mark is missing.
Changes
Illustrations have been moved out of text paragraphs.
Some obvious minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently.
Soleil Royale has been corrected to Soleil Royal throughtout the book.
Page I-VI: ... the Carthaginians at Myloe ... has been changed to ... the Carthaginians at Mylœ ... as in the text.
Page I-XI: XV. DE GRASSE AND RODNEY. A. D. 1782 has been changed to XIV. DE GRASSE AND RODNEY. A. D. 1782.
Page I-XV: Disputes over Corea has been changed to Disputes over Korea as in text.
Page I-XVII: page number 226 has been changed to 195 (Le Soleil Royal); entry 21a DUTCH MAN-OF-WAR, 17TH CENTURY. inserted.
Page I-72: ... too unwieldly to be brought up again has been changed to ... too unwieldy to be brought up again.
Page I-265: ... the Genereux and Timoléon ... has been changed to ... the Généreux and Timoléon ... as elsewhere.
Page I-270: a superfluous page reference has been deleted from caption NELSON WOUNDED AT TENERIFFE.
Page I-353: closing quote mark has been added after All is mine, right or wrong.
Page I-355: closing quote mark has been inserted after ... to continue them there until the business is decided), ....
Page I-393: Opening quote mark has been inserted before When once he had explained his system ....
Page I-463: ... but when the inflexible and the Téméraire ... has been changed to ... but when the ... Inflexible and the Téméraire ....
Page II-XI, List of illustrations: entries 18 and 19 have been inserted.
Page II-XI, List of Illustrations: items 31 (American Fleet) and 32 (Manila Bay Map) were interchanged according to their position in the book.
Page II-62: closing quote mark has been inserted after The Guerrière, moreover, was out-manœuvred.
Page II-227: closing quote mark has been inserted after ... your thundering bad navigation.
Page II-235: closing quote mark has been inserted after D. G. F.
Page II-270: opening quote mark inserted before Completely exhausted, I managed to reach the shore, ....
Page II-344: The lastest completed battle-ships ... has been changed to The latest completed battle-ships ....
Page II-388: closing quote mark has been inserted after This was altered and other changes made.
Page II-395, table row Foote, column Officers: 44 has been changed to 4.
Page II-393-397: the pages have been re-arranged to form complete tables; the page numbering as used in the book has been preserved. Page 394: decimal commas in the column Speed have been replaced with decimal points for consistency with the remainder of the table. The data have been aligned more consistently for better readability.