Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/269

 GEORGE DEWEY 403 George Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on December 26, 1837, of direct descent, in the ninth generation, from Thomas Dewey, who came from Sandwich, England, to Dorchester, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1633. His father. Dr. Julius Dewey, was a physician, eminent in his profession, and loved and^respected, not only for his ability but for his innate nobility of char- acter ; and his mother was Mary Perrin. His ancestors on both sides were pa- triots in the days that tried men's souls, the hard and bitter days of the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars. He was the third of four children, and even in his boyhood he was a leader among his fellows. His breaches of discipline culmi- nated in his heading nn insurrection against the village school-master ; but the pedagogue came off victorious, and administered a severe flogging to the young rebel, which punishment his father is said to have reinforced with some home- brewed medicine. The lesson was well learned, for we hear of no more insur- rections. George Dewey entered the Naval Academy September 23, 1854, and was graduated fifth in a class of fourteen. He was attached to the frigate Wabash of the Mediterranean Squadron, and after his tw^o years' cruise as a midshipman passed his final examination, in which he stood number one, gaining a final rating of three in his class. War was already imminent, and rapidly passing through the next grades he was on April 19th attached as lieutenant to the Mis- sissippi, belonging to the West Gulf Squadron. Early in 1862 Commodores Farragut and Porter prepared to capture New Orleans. Throughout this campaign Lieutenant Dewey distinguished himself by his cool courage, quick perception, and ready skill, winning the praise of Commodore Farragut. In running by the forts, he stood upon the bridge of the Mississippi, unmoved amid a storm of shot and shell, and unerringly guided her up the river, although he knew not a foot of the channel. The next year he was attached to one of F'arragut's gun-boats, and later to the Monongahela, which he commanded tem- porarily. In 1864, attached to the Colorado, he again distinguished himself in the attack on Fort Fisher, by a display not only of great courage, but of marked tactical skill, and by the fighting of his ship, which, though a junior, he really directed, and won the enthusiastic congratulations of his superior officers. Made lieutenant-commander March 3, 1865, Dewey emerged from the Civil War a matured naval officer at the age of twenty-seven, ripe in experience and ready for any service or sacrifice for the welfare of his country. His career from this time until the close of the year 1897, although important in his development and replete v/ith valuable services in all directions, must be summed up in a few words. For two years subsequent to the war, he served with the European Squaa- ron, first on the Kearsarge, later on the Colorado. 1867 found him at the Nava Academy. Promoted commander, April 13, 1872, he was assigned to the Nar ragansett until 1875. After seven years of bureau duty in the Navy Depart- ment, October 18, 1882, he commanded the Juniata of the Asiatic Squadron, and then learned the topography of Manila Bay, where he gave his first lesson