George Dewey

"Gentlemen, a higher power than we has won this battle today."

George Dewey quoted in The Admiral.

Early life and education

George Dewey was born in Montpelier, the state capital of Vermont, on December 26, 1837. Dewey mixed the hard work of chores and the regularity of Sunday prayers and sermons with schoolboy pranks and an interest in battle tactics. In his autobiography, Autobiography of George Dewey: Admiral in the Navy, he credited the strict, righteous upbringing supplied by his father for his success.

Dewey entered military school at Norwich University at age fourteen and later attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1854. During each of his four years there, Dewey's academic performance improved until he graduated fifth out of fifteen students in 1858. After two years at sea and successful completion of a final examination, Dewey boarded the steam-frigate Wabash for service in the Mediterranean Sea.

Building a naval career

At the outset of the American Civil War (1861-65), the navy made the twenty-three-year-old Dewey a lieutenant and assigned him to the Mississippi as an executive officer. Dewey served under Admiral David G. Farragut (1801-1870) and participated in naval battles at New Orleans and Port Hudson.

Dewey received his first onshore duties at the naval academy in 1867. That same year, he married Susan Boardman Goodwin, with whom he had a son, George Goodwin Dewey. Susan died in 1872 five days after giving birth to the boy. Dewey, who had lost his own mother early in his life, became especially close to his son. He spent the next twenty-four years rising to the rank of commodore, receiving his promotion on May 23, 1896, while working in Washington, D.C., at the Navy Board of Inspection and Survey.

Appointment to the Asiatic Squadron

Dewey was thinking about retirement by 1897 and worrying that he would never get to command a squadron in battle. William McKinley (1843-1901; served 1897-1901; see entry) became president of the United States in March 1897. Also at this time, Spain was involved in an ongoing war with Cuban rebels who had launched a revolution for independence. Stirred up by prejudice and newspaper accounts of Spain's brutal treatment of Cuban civilians, most Americans sympathized with the rebels.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919; see entry) was the assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy under McKinley. Roosevelt was a jingo—someone who wanted to wage war in order to expand the territory of the United States. His boss, U.S. Navy secretary John D. Long (1838-1915), was less aggressive than Roosevelt, so the two often disagreed on matters of foreign policy.

In September 1897, Long went on vacation and left Roosevelt in charge. Before Long returned, Roosevelt intercepted a letter addressed to Long from Senator William Chandler. Chandler wanted Long to appoint Commodore John Adams Howell to replace the commander of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, who was about to retire. Roosevelt was friends with Dewey and wanted him to get the appointment.

Roosevelt called Dewey down from the inspection office and advised him to ask Senator Redfield Proctor (1831-1908; see entry in Primary Sources section) to ask McKinley to appoint Dewey to the command. According to his own account of the event, as reprinted in The Admiral by Laurin Hall Healy and Luis Kutner, Long already had decided to appoint Dewey without instructions from McKinley. The politics of the situation, however, angered Long. When he appointed Dewey on October 21, 1897, Long called Dewey into the office and said, according to Healy and Kutner, "I am glad to appoint you, Commodore Dewey. But you won't go as rear admiral [the next higher ranking up from commodore]. You'll go as a commodore. Perhaps you used too much political influence." The insult angered Dewey.

Preparing for war

Dewey purchased every book he could find about the Philippines, where the action would take him if war came with Spain. He then boarded a vessel in San Francisco, California, on December 7, 1897, to set out into the Pacific Ocean. By New Year's Day, he had reached Nagasaki, Japan, where the flagship Olympia awaited him. Two days later, Rear Admiral Frederick V. McNair turned command of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron over to Commodore Dewey.

Dewey was sailing for Hong Kong to get close to the Philippines when the U.S. warship Maine exploded mysteriously in the harbor at Havana, Cuba, on February 15. The ship was in Cuba to protect American interests and to pressure Spain to end the revolution there. Newspapers in the United States quickly blamed Spain for the disaster, which killed more than 250 people, but no evidence ever surfaced to prove Spain was at fault.

Back in Washington, D.C., Roosevelt needed no evidence to hold Spain responsible. On February 25, when Long took a day off, Roosevelt sent a telegram to Dewey that said, according to Healy and Kutner, "Order the squadron except the Monocacy to Hong Kong. Keep full of coal. In the event declaration of war with Spain, your duty will be to see that the Spanish squadron does not leave the Asiatic coast, and then offensive operations in Philippine islands. Keep Olympia until further orders." Long was furious when he found the order, but he did not retract it because war with Spain felt close at hand.

Over the next two months, Dewey assembled his squadron of seven warships in Hong Kong, stocked them with supplies, and worked the crews in battle drills. He also contacted the U.S. consul at Manila, O. F. Williams, to gather information about Spain's forces in Manila Bay. Spanish admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron commanded a fleet there with fewer guns than Dewey's squadron. Montojo, however, had the added benefit of many smaller gunboats plus land artillery at the entrance to Manila Bay, the city of Manila, and the nearby naval station on Cavité island. Spain also was putting mines at the entrance to Manila Bay. Fearless, Dewey wrote letters to Long and family members in which he boasted that he could defeat Spain in less than a day.

The Battle of Manila Bay

Unable to avoid war as he had wanted to, President McKinley sent a message to Congress on April 11, 1898, asking for authority to end the conflict in Cuba. Congress supported McKinley and officially declared war on Spain on April 25. Dewey received a telegram the next day from Long that said, according to Ivan Musicant in Empire by Default, "War has commenced between the United States and Spain. Proceed at once to Philippine islands. Commence operations particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must capture vessels or destroy. Use utmost endeavors."

Painted in gray battle colors, Dewey's squadron steamed for the Philippines as soon as it was ready. At the entrance to Manila Bay, just three shots silenced the Spanish artilleries at El Fraile, and not one mine exploded as Dewey's ships glided into the bay.

The Asiatic Squadron reached the capital city of Manila by daybreak on May 1. To Dewey's surprise, Montojo's fleet guarded not the city but the nearby naval station at Cavité. Montojo, who did not want Manila to be damaged in the ensuing battle, began firing on the Americans as they aligned their ships for battle. At 5:41 A . M ., Dewey turned to the captain of the Olympia and, as told by Healy and Kutner, uttered his famous, calm command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley."

The battle was not even close. Dewey's squadron took just two hours to make five devastating passes along the line of Montojo's ships. Montojo's flagship, the Reina Christina, was the only one to charge during the encounter. Dewey repelled Montojo with blasts that killed many Spaniards, including eighty who were already in the ship's hospital. Warned that he was running out of ammunition, Dewey called for a break in the action at 7:35 A . M ., retreated out of range of enemy fire, and ordered breakfast for his men.

As the smoke cleared, Dewey's troops saw that Spain's vessels hung on by a thread. Dewey also learned that instead of running out of ammunition, his ships had more rounds remaining than they had fired. At 11:14 A . M ., the Asiatic Squadron resumed attacking Montojo's fleet, which surrendered shortly thereafter at 12:30 P . M .

Unable to secure Spanish permission to use the telegraph cable at Manila for sending news of his victory, Dewey dredged up the cable from the harbor floor and cut it. A couple days later he sent a boat to Hong Kong with a telegram announcing that he had lost not a single sailor while killing 167 Spaniards. When the telegram reached Washington, D.C., on May 7, Dewey was an instant hero.

The siege of Manila

Congress responded to Dewey's victory by promoting him to rear admiral. As the theatre of war shifted to Cuba and Puerto Rico over the next few months, Dewey and the U.S. Army made plans to take the Philippine capital city of Manila, which had strong artillery defenses.

Meanwhile, Dewey faced a growing problem with Germany. The European powers in general were surprised by the American victory over Spain in the Philippines. Germany, whose navy was superior to that of the United States, sent warships to Manila to try to prevent the United States from taking the islands. German ships ignored international rules of war, which required them to obey Dewey's blockade of the bay and to come and go only after receiving permission from Dewey.

On July 17, a lieutenant from a German ship boarded the Olympia to present a list of grievances to Dewey. Angered, Dewey replied, according to Healy and Kutner, "Do you want war with us?"

"Certainly not," said the German officer.

Dewey shot back, "Well it looks like it. And you are very near it; and, you can have it, sir, as soon as you like."

The German officer left the Olympia and returned to his ship. Dewey knew all along that in the event of war with Germany, the British fleet at Manila Bay would fight with the Americans. As soon as they learned this, too, the Germans began to cooperate with Dewey's blockade.

On August 13, the U.S. Army and Navy staged a fake attack on Manila, after which Spain said it would surrender after pretending to fight for its honor. Thanks to the cut telegraph cable, everyone was unaware that Spain and the United States had already signed a peace protocol in Washington, D.C., hours earlier. The fake battle killed many real Americans and Spaniards.

The Filipino Revolution of 1899

Spain had ended a revolution in the Philippines by reaching an agreement with rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo (1869-1964) in December 1897. Living in Singapore at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Aguinaldo now had a chance to resurrect the revolution. Some historians say Aguinaldo contacted Dewey for support. Others say that Dewey, through U.S. consul general E. Spencer Pratt, contacted Aguinaldo and asked him to assemble rebel land forces to attack Spain in Manila.

Aguinaldo arrived in Manila Bay on May 19, 1898, aboard the American warship McCulloch. Aguinaldo believed Pratt had promised American support for Filipino independence in exchange for military assistance against the Spaniards. Dewey supposedly made similar promises at Manila Bay, according to the rebel leader, though Dewey later denied this.

Aguinaldo quickly assembled a force of about one thousand soldiers and fought to take the Cavité region from Spanish troops, who had retreated into the city of Manila. The rebels also assembled a small navy, which sailed around Manila harbor with Dewey's permission. As Dewey received land forces from the United States at the end of June, however, his patience with the rebels faded. In a meeting with Filipino naval officers in July, Dewey said the United States did not recognize the Filipino flag and asked them to keep their boats away from his fleet.

After winning the Spanish-American War, the United States forced Spain to sell the Philippines to the U.S. government for $20 million as part of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Aguinaldo severed relations with the Americans the following month. Responding to the growing threat of war with the Filipino rebels, Dewey telegraphed Long and asked for a diplomatic committee to negotiate for peace.

President McKinley appointed a peace committee but he received war instead. On February 4, 1899, fighting broke out between the Americans and Filipinos. It is uncertain which side fired the first shot. Two days later, in a very close vote, the U.S. Senate approved the Treaty of Paris and the purchase of the Philippines.

Dewey commanded the American naval activities during the beginning of the revolution until McKinley recalled him from the Philippines on May 1, 1899, the first anniversary of his victory over Montojo. The Filipino revolution seemed to be dying down then, but it actually lasted until April 1902.

Sailing into the sunset

From May through September 1899, Dewey enjoyed a leisurely, westward journey home through the Mediterranean Sea, visiting foreign diplomats along the way. His arrival in the United States on September 26 began weeks of parades, parties, and welcome-home addresses.

On November 9, 1899, Dewey married his second wife, a widow named Mildred McLean Hazel. Dewey agreed to seek the U.S. presidency in early 1900, but he failed to receive a nomination from any party. Instead, he became president of the General Board of the Navy, where he served until his death seventeen years later on January 16, 1917.

For More Information

Dewey, George. Autobiography of George Dewey: Admiral in the Navy. NewYork: Scribner, 1913.

Healy, Laurin Hall, and Luis Kutner. The Admiral. Chicago, IL: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1944.

Long, L. George Dewey, Vermont Boy. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co.,1963.

Musicant, Ivan. Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1998.

Spector, Ronald H. Admiral of the New Empire: The Life and Career of George Dewey. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988.

West, Richard S. Admirals of American Empire: The Combined Story of George Dewey, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Winfield Scott Schley, and William Thomas Sampson. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971.