The thanks of Congress were promptly voted, with a sword for Commodore
Dewey, and a medal for each officer and man who took part in the
engagement. Congress also increased the number of Rear Admirals from
six to seven, so that the president might appoint Dewey a Rear Admiral,
which was done at once, and the appointment confirmed by the Senate.
In considering this action it must be remembered that, although Dewey’s
vessels were more powerful than those of the Spanish Navy, he had the
disadvantage of advancing into strange waters, where shoals existed,
and where, for all he knew, torpedoes and mines were laid. In fact two
of the latter were exploded in front of the squadron, but so hurriedly
as to do no harm. He had also the shore batteries to contend against,
which made the opposing weight of metal more than equal to his. “The
Spanish admiral” says a contemporary journal, “though he must have been
aware that the American squadron was somewhere in the vicinity, could
not bring himself to believe that the American commodore would have the
audacity to steam into a mined harbor in the night time, with forts on
both sides, and the Spanish squadron ready to receive him. But Dewey
took the chances, and his being beforehand was half the victory. Many
men, equally as brave in action, would have delayed to reconnoitre, and
thereby have given time for the enemy to make additional preparations
to receive him.
In consequence of Dewey’s disregard of possible danger, he found the
Spanish ships in a cramped position where they could best be attacked.
There is also another thing to be noticed about the engagement at
Manila Bay, and that is in regard to torpedo boats. It certainly seems
that they are not the danger they are supposed to be, if used in
daylight. Two of the Spanish torpedo boats from Cavite were directed
against the Olympia, and were seen as soon as they started. They
escaped several large projectiles directed at them by the great guns
of the flag-ship, but they were easily destroyed when the six-pounder
rapid firers got trained upon them. In daylight the torpedo boat is no
longer to be feared. What a night attack will do, under the glare of
the search lights, is more uncertain. For harbor defense torpedo boats
may be very useful, but they are too wearing, on both officers and men,
for any prolonged sea service.
Dewey’s action has taught us several things, for, except the
Japan-China war, there had been no fighting with the new ships, and
Dewey’s victory was a glorious one in its conduct and its results. It
has also been useful in teaching the nations what they did not know
before, and in impressing more strongly what they had some apprehension
of. It showed that originality and dash, after careful planning and
adequate preparation, will generally succeed. With several fortified
positions on shore the advantage should have certainly been with the
Spanish forces, but in spite of the great risk that every officer and
every man must have known was being taken, “there was not a faint heart
in all that squadron, but an enthusiasm and esprit du corps that could
not but win with such a leader.”
As far as a naval action went, that at Manila was a “clean cut” thing.
Nothing can take away from the small, well-drilled, well-manned and
well-officered East Indian Squadron the credit they have so thoroughly
well earned.
Rear Admiral Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vt., in 1838. Dr. Julius
Y. Dewey, the father of the admiral, was a cultured gentleman of the
old school, honored for his stalwart integrity and stern force of
character. Admiral Dewey’s mother was celebrated throughout Vermont,
her native state, for remarkable beauty of person and grace of manner.
The handsome colonial mansion in Montpelier was long a center of New
England hospitality, and the Deweys were paramount among the first
families of Vermont.
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.