ADMIRAL DEWEY NAVAL STRATEGY BY REAR-ADMIRAL BRADLEY A. FISKE, U.S.N. G EORGE DEWEY came of that pioneer stock which triumphed over the rigors of the New England climate and the unfruitfulness of the New England soil, and developed that intelligent and enterprising type of people, who have contributed more than any other to advance the American idea, the building of American civilization, and the formation of the distinctly American character. His greatgrandfather was one of the volunteers at the Battle of Lexington. His great-granduncle was with Ethan Allen at the taking of Fort Ticonderoga. George Dewey was born at Montpelier, Vermont, on December 26th, 1837. His father was Dr. Julius Yeomans Dewey; his mother, before marriage, was Mary Perrin, but she died when George was only five years old. The main inspiration of his boyhood was the Life of Hannibal. At the age of thirty he married Susie, daughter of Governor Goodwin of New Hampshire, who died five years later. Twenty-seven years still later, when he returned as the conquering hero of the Spanish War, he married Mildred (McLean) widow of General Hazen, U.S.A. George Dewey secured an appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1854. He was not so amenable to discipline as some others; but he completed the academic course with considerable credit in 1858. Before final graduation, he took the regular "midshipman cruise" in Europe, which lasted two years. At its conclusion, he was finally graduated at the age of 23, and ranked number three in his class. Just then the Civil War broke out. Dewey took part actively. He was first assigned to the steam sloop Mississippi of the West Gulf Squadron, which formed part of Farragut's fleet which forced the passage of Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson in April 1862. Dewey took part also in the attack on Fort St. Philip and the subsequent fights with iron clads and gun boats, by means of which Farragut gained possession of New Orleans and the Mississippi, and "cut the Confederacy in two." In the smoke of the Battle of Port Hudson, the Mississippi lost her bearings and ran ashore under the fire of the enemy's land batteries, forcing the officers and crew to set the vessel on fire and take to the boats. Dewey afterwards served on several vessels of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. After the war, Dewey served on several ships and stations, ashore and afloat, creditable but obscurely. In December, 1897, when a Commodore, he was ordered to take command of the Asiatic Squadron. As he would retire in two years, the probability seemed overwhelming that he would end his official career, and therefore his life, without marked distinction. But on February 15th, 1898, the U. S. Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor. Feeling against Spain, by reason of her misrule in Cuba, had been rising in the United States for many years. Therefore, nobody wondered when highly respectable gentlemen were seen soon afterward in great numbers on our streets, wearing a ribbon in the buttonhole, on which was inscribed, in golden letters, the words "To Hell With Spain." Dewey was ordered to prepare to proceed against the Spanish possessions in the Philippines. He speedily collected his squadron in Hong-Kong Harbor. On April 25th, he received orders to attack the enemy's fleet. Exercising that rare combination of carefulness and promptness which Dewey possessed in so great measure, he got his squadron into fighting condition very speedily and very effectively and sailed |