Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/265

Rh name of the heroic old sea fighter was on every lip.

This battle was important in more ways than one. Since the Civil War our navy had had no opportunity to try its power, and foreign nations were inclined to consider it second-class and of small use against the trained fighters and big warships forming other navies. Noav the eyes of the world were opened to the fact that we were a first-class naval power and could handle our ships as well as the best of them.

The announcement of the victory was received with a good deal of satisfaction by President McKinley, and it was not long before he sent his congratulations and thanks to the hero of Manila Bay, as Dewey was affectionately called. For his great victory Dewey was made admiral of the navy, and Congress voted him a beautiful and costly jewelled sword costing many thousand dollars.