The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-11
ADMIRAL DEWEY
UNDER FARRAGUT
Received His Baptism Of Fire on the
Mississippi 10 1868.
HIS CAREER A FINE oNE-REsoLu-
TION AND COURAGE HAVE AL
WAYS BEEN MARKED TRAITS OF
OUR NAVAL HERO-EORMER MESS
MATES EXTOL HIM - PERSONAL,
"REMINISCENCES.

MATES EXTOL HIM - PERSONAL,
"REMINISCENCES.
"I always said that the ship that
Dewey surrendered wouldn't be worth
a d-n to the enemy. 1t would be lust
a lot of old junk"
This is what one of the old shpmates
of the victorious American naval COM
mander said in Boston when he had
read of the triumph of our fleet at Ma
Mia. This, too, is the opinion of all of
his other former messmates.
Commodore George Dewey received
his baptism of fire" aboard the old
steam sloop Mississippi, under Farragut,
in the early days of the civil war He
Is now about 61 years old and belongs
in Vermont, from which state he was
appointed to the Naval academy in
September, 1854. Four years later, when
he was graduated, he was sent to the
steam frigate Wabash for a cruise in
the Mediterranean.
Dewey got his commission as lieu
tenant on April 10. 1861, eight days after
Fort Sumter was fired upon. and he
was Immediately assigned to join the
Mississippi and do duty with the West
Gulf squadron.
He was on the Mississippi when she
took part with Farraguts other YES
sells in forcing an entrance to the Mis-
sissppi river, and again when the fleet
ran the gauntlet of fire from the forts
below New Orleans in April, 1862 and
forced the surrender of that city. The
ship he was in belonged to Captain
Bailey's division of the fleet which at
tackled Fort st. Philip.
ONE OF THE FIERCEST OF
BATTLES.
The hottest fight that the Mississippi
ever engaged in was her last one. and
this was perhaps as hot as any of the
war. In March, 1868, the fleet tried to
run by the Confederate batteries at
Port Hudson. Some of the ships got
as far as a narrow part of the channel,
where they met land batteries almost
muzzle to muzzle and then they were
forced to retreat.
The Mississippi did not get as far as
this. A foggy day had been chosen for
the attempt and amid the fog and the
smoke of battle, which redoubled the
obscurity, the Mississippi lost her bear
ings and ran ashore Her officers found
guns of battery in the middle of the
line of fortfications, and one Of the
strongest of the lot
In half an hour $50 shots struck the
vessel and she was riddled like a sieve
There was no chance of holding her,
so her crew took to their boats and
landed on the opposite side Of the river,
after setting her on fire.
Oe
her crew and by the fire. she drifted
off. Blazing and saluting with her
shotted guns, she drifted down the
river, until finally the fire reached her
magazines, then her career ended in a
great explosion.
HELPED ATTACK FORT FISHER.
Dewey was next attached to the
steam gunboat Agawan, of the North
Atlantic bloCkading squadron, and he
took part in the two attacks made on
Fort Fisher i'm December, 1864, and
January 1865. In March, 1865, he got
his commission as lieutenant comman-
der, and as such served on the famous
old Kearsarge and on the Cilirado, the
flagship of the European squadron, un-
til 1868, when he was sent for service
in the Naval Academy.
His first command was in 1870, when
he had the Narragansett doing special
| service. He became a commander in
April 1872, and, still on the Narragan-
sett, was engaged in making surveys
of the Pacific until 1876, when he was
made a lighthouse inspector and later
the secretary Of the Lighthouse board
He commanded the Juniata in the
Asiatic station in 1SS2-S3, and in Sep
| tember, 1884, was made n captain and
put in charge of the Dolphin, then
brand new, and one of the four YES
sells which formed the original "White
Squadron" The following year he was
sent to command the flagship Pensa-
cola, Of the European squadron and
he stayed there until 1885, when he be-
came chief of the bureau Of equip
ment and recruiting with the rank of
commodore. This place he held until
1893, when he was made a member of
the lighthouse board. He got his COM
mission as commodore on Feb. 2S, 1896
and at about the same time was made
president of the board of inspection
and survey. This place he held until
he was put in command OF the Asiatic
station, in January of this year.
MOST DETERMINED OF MEN.
At the very outset of his naval career
he exhibited the characteriStics which
made it impossible for him to meet de-
feat. Throughout his early manhood
his Vermont training was more than
once made manifest.
1t was thirty-nine years ago-1S59-
that he entered on his first naval du-
ties, as midshipman of the United
states steamer Saratoga. He had just
"raduated from the Naval Academy at
Annapolis, and was ordered to the Sar-
atoga when she started on one Of her
practice cruises. The men who slung
their hammocks beside the redoubt-
able midshipman now congratulate
each other and say: II told you So
Dewey just couldn't help it,"
Dewey was Il positive man, even as
a MILDLY. He was positive in appear
ance and positive in action. Discipline
was one of the things that to him was
requisite above all other things on q
vessel of the United States navy. SO
he began, when just out Of the naval
academy to show that he knew what
was needed on shipbOard and he was
respected for it. His old comrades say
he was popular, too, both in his class
and aboard ship. They say he was a
thorough scholar and a good student.
In his early days his former ship
mates all remark that resolute, firmly
set jaw and those eyes that flash deter
mination gained a reputation that has
followed him through all his career as
a naval officer Those who knew him
as n boy and man, as MILDLY and COM
modore, say over and over again as
the news becomes more and more COM
plete: