George Dewey (December 26, 1837January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, without a single combat death.
Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vermont. At age 15, Dewey's father enrolled him at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. Two years later Norwich expelled him for drunkenness and herding sheep into the barracks. Subsequently, he entered the United States Naval Academy in 1854. He graduated from the academy in 1858 and was assigned as the executive lieutenant of at the beginning of the Civil War. He participated in the capture of New Orleans and the Siege of Port Hudson, helping the Union take control of the Mississippi River. By the end of the war, Dewey reached the rank of lieutenant commander.
After the Civil War, Dewey undertook a variety of assignments, serving on multiple ships (including ) and as an instructor at the Naval Academy. He also served on the United States Lighthouse Board and the Board of Inspection and Survey. He was promoted to commodore in 1896 and assigned to the Asiatic Squadron the following year. After that appointment, he began preparations for a potential war with Spain, which broke out in April 1898. Immediately after the beginning of the war, Dewey led an attack on Manila Bay, sinking or capturing the entire Spanish Pacific fleet while suffering only minor casualties. After the battle, his fleet assisted in the capture of Manila. Dewey's victory at Manila Bay was widely lauded in the United States, and he was promoted to Admiral of the Navy in 1903.
Dewey explored a run for the 1900 Democratic presidential nomination, but he withdrew from the race and endorsed President William McKinley. He served on the General Board of the United States Navy, an important policy-making body, from 1900 until his death in 1917.
Early life Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on December 26, 1837, directly opposite the Vermont State House, to Julius Yemans Dewey and his first wife, Mary Perrin. Julius was a physician who received his degree from The University of Vermont. He was among the founders of the National Life Insurance Company in 1848, a member of the Episcopal Church, and was among the founders of the Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier. George was baptized and attended Sunday school there. George had two older brothers and a younger sister.
Dewey's third cousin twice removed was Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York and two-time Republican Party presidential nominee.
Dewey attended school in the nearby town of Johnson. When he was fifteen years old he went to the American Literary Scientific and Military Academy. The school, better known as Norwich University, had been founded by Alden Partridge and aimed at giving cadets a well-rounded military education. Dewey attended for two years (1852–1854). Dewey found a military role model when he read a biography of Hannibal.
Naval career
Naval Academy Dewey entered the United States Naval Academy in 1854 at the age of 16. The conventional four-year course had just been introduced in 1851 and the cadet corps was quite small, averaging about one hundred Acting Midshipmen. Out of all that entered in his year, only fourteen stayed through the course. He stood fifth on the class roll at graduation. He graduated from the Academy on June 18, 1858.
Midshipman As a midshipman, Dewey first went to sea on a practice cruise aboard ; on this cruise he earned recognition as a cadet officer. As a result, he was assigned to one of the best ships of the old Navy—the steam frigate . Wabash under Captain Samuel Barron was the new flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron. On July 22, 1858, the ship left Hampton Roads for Europe.
Wabash reached her first port of call, Gibraltar, on August 17, 1858. She cruised in the Mediterranean, and the cadet officers visited the cities of the Old World accessible to them, often taking trips inland. Dewey was assigned to keep the ship's log. Wabash returned to the New York Navy Yard on December 16, 1859, and decommissioned there on December 20, 1859. Dewey served on two short-term cruises in 1860.
Civil War service At the beginning of the American Civil War, Dewey was executive lieutenant on , a steam paddle frigate assigned to the Union West Gulf Blockading Squadron.
Attack on New Orleans At the beginning of 1862, Mississippi was attached to David Farragut's fleet for the capture of New Orleans. On the night of April 24–25, 1862, Farragut led his ships up the Mississippi River past the Confederate defenses at Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson. Mississippi was the third in Farragut's first division, with Dewey at the helm.
The first division (all big ships) kept near the west bank where the current was weaker and the water deeper; but this brought them right under the muzzles of the guns of Fort St. Philip. Dewey steered Mississippi through shallow water where he expected to run aground any moment.
There was a squadron of Confederate gunboats waiting above the forts. This included , a small ironclad. Manassas tried to ram Mississippi, but Dewey safely maneuvered Mississippi to evade. Manassas then attacked and in the next division, and then turned back upriver.
Farragut signaled Mississippi to run Manassas down. Dewey steered Mississippi into a ramming attack. Manassas dodged, but ran aground and was abandoned. She was set on fire by a boat from Mississippi, and then shelled. Farragut's fleet then continued upriver and forced the surrender of the city.
This was the first battle in which Dewey distinguished himself. For the remainder of 1862, Farragut's ships (including Mississippi) patrolled the lower river. This was dangerous, as the ships were fired on by Confederate sharpshooters on the banks, and even occasionally by light artillery.
Battle of Port Hudson
In spring 1863, Union forces moved to take the Confederate fortress at Port Hudson, Louisiana, where at that time the Red River joined the Mississippi. Farragut attempted to pass the fortress with his fleet and cut it off upriver, thereby completing the Siege of Port Hudson.
The attempt was made on March 14, 1863. In this action, Dewey saw fiercer fighting than he was ever to see again. Mississippi ran aground and was the target of concentrated enemy fire for half an hour, until she had to be abandoned. Dewey was among the last to leave the wreck.
Assignment to USS Agawam Dewey was highly complimented by his immediate superiors and by Farragut himself, who appointed him executive officer of , a small gunboat the admiral used frequently for dispatches and his personal reconnoitering. This little vessel was frequently under fire by concealed sharpshooters and temporary batteries. In July of that year a small engagement at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, resulted in the death of Captain Abner Read, of USS New London, and the severe wounding of his executive officer. Dewey was present, and was so conspicuous for gallantry that he was recommended for promotion on the strength of it. Meanwhile, he was given temporary command of the frigate.
Assignment to USS Colorado In the latter part of 1864, after some service in the James River under Commander McComb, Lieutenant Dewey was made executive officer of the first-rate wooden man-of-war , in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron under command of Commodore Henry Knox Thatcher.
Battles of Fort Fisher By late 1864, Wilmington, North Carolina, was the only port left to the Confederacy. Its access to the sea was protected by Fort Fisher, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.
A joint Army-Navy attack in December failed (the First Battle of Fort Fisher, December 7–27, 1864).
A second attack came in January (the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, January 13–15, 1865). Colorado was engaged, and Dewey played a key role in her success.
Colorado, being a wooden ship, was placed in the line outside the monitors and other armored vessels but got a full share of conflict. Toward the end of the second engagement, when matters were moving the right way, Admiral Porter signaled Thatcher to close in and silence a certain part of the works. As Colorado had already received considerable damage, her officers remonstrated. But Dewey, who had now acquired marked tactical ability, was quick to see the advantage to be gained by the move and the work was taken in fifteen minutes. The New York Times, commenting upon this part of the action, spoke of it as "the most beautiful duel of the war". When Admiral Porter came to congratulate Commodore Thatcher, the latter said generously: "You must thank Lieutenant Dewey, sir. It was his move." Nevertheless, Thatcher was promoted to rear admiral. He tried to take Dewey with him as his fleet captain when he went to supersede Farragut at Mobile Bay. This was not permitted, but Dewey was promoted to lieutenant commander.
Post–Civil War life After the end of the Civil War, then Lieutenant Commander Dewey remained in active service, and was sent to the European station as executive officer of —the famous ship that had sunk the Confederate privateer Alabama.
Peacetime assignments Dewey's next tour of duty was in 1867 and 1868 as executive officer of —the same vessel in which he had won his honors at Fort Fisher, and now the flagship of the European Squadron. The admiral in command of the ship and squadron was Louis M. Goldsborough, and one of Dewey's companions was John Crittenden Watson—the same man, who, as rear admiral, relieved Admiral Dewey of his duties at Manila, when he wished to return to the United States in the summer of 1899. Lieutenant Commander Dewey was in charge of the vessels at the Naval Academy in Annapolis from November 6, 1867, through August 1, 1870. This duty included commanding the famous frigate , which was berthed at Annapolis as a training ship.
Some tranquil years followed the end of Dewey's cruise on Colorado. For two years, from 1868 to 1870, he was an instructor at the Naval Academy. The next year he did special surveying work on the steam sloop . He was then briefly assigned to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. It was during this assignment that his wife died just after the birth of his son. In 1873, Dewey was given command of Narragansett and spent nearly four years on her, engaged in the Pacific Coast Survey.
Lighthouse Board This entitled him to a period of rest ashore; and he was ordered to Washington, and made lighthouse inspector in 1880, and then secretary of the lighthouse board, a service in which he took great interest. Meanwhile, he had been promoted to the rank of commander. This residence in Washington as a bureau officer of high rank gave him an extensive acquaintance, and he became one of the most popular men in the capital. He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the leading social club of Washington.
Assignments 1882–1896 In 1882, this leave of absence in Washington came to an end when he was sent to the Asiatic station in command of , where he studied the situation with care and acquired information of immense importance ten years later.
He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1884, and he was ordered home and given command of —one of the first four ships of the original "white squadron", steam-powered ships with steel hulls which formed the basis of the modern United States Navy. Dolphin was officially classed as a dispatch boat, and was often used as the Presidential yacht.
In 1885, Captain Dewey undertook another tour of sea service, and for three years was in command of , familiar to him in the New Orleans battles, now flagship of the European squadron.
Returning to Washington in 1893, he resumed the life of a bureau officer, being attached to the lighthouse board. In 1896, he was promoted to commodore and transferred to the Board of Inspection and Survey.
Spanish–American War
Commander of Asiatic Squadron