Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-05-21
ON SEA AND SHORE,
Personal RecoIIeCtions of Rear
Admiral Dewey.
oeamen Found a P|easanter Life While
He Was Lieutenant.
naval Precision Marked His Shore Duties
While in Washington.

we an lHeuSnt nun mighty smart
young man then. but none of us at
that time, ever imagined he would ever
De Rear Admiral Dewey and one of
the most famous men of modern times" :"
SAID John Dumphey of Gardiner. a
day or two ago, While telling about his
service in the navy in 1864 on the Fri
Gate Colorado, of which Rear Admiral
Dewey was then first lieutenant.
With this remark Mr.. Dumphey
went on to speak of his service.
Fhere were four of us young fellows
from Gardiner who went out that year.
At that time the Frigate Colorado. one
OF the largest and most powerful
ships in the navy was at Portsmouth,
\. H., fitting up for the bombardment
OF Fort Fisher. They wanted men ana
We started for Portsmouth, l had
been on a merchant vessel some years
before and wanted to get taste of
naval life.
I'VE were not very long in fitting
out at Portsmouth and soon started
for Hampton Reads, on our way to
Fort Fisher. You see at that time
Fort Fisher was one of the most inn
portant points on the coast. The war
was nearly over at that time and it WAS
only a question of how long the South
could hold out without food. The only
place where they could bring in sup
plies was at this point. Fort Fisher
commanded the harbor there and .here
was only one thing for us to DO anl
that was to take the fort.
Il think it was in the fall of Ca the.
we went down there. We didn't do
very much there at first and put in Il
good part of our time practicing. l
tell you the kind of ii life that we lived
then was not very pleasant. Some
nights it would be mighty cold and We
would go forward and lie down near
the boiler house to keep warm. \
man by the name of Seaby, l think.
come down then where the boys were
stretched out and look us all over.
After Il time he came 10 the conclusion
we Would be more liable to become
sick on account Of SO much Warm;h
and ordered us to stay away from the
boiler house. Some of the boys still
continued to go there to get warm ana
one night the first lieutenant came
along and saw about p of the men
there. 1t was cold and wet but in spite
of this he drove every one of the men
into the rigging and made us stay
there four or five hours. That is Il
sample of thu way he used US. The
men all hated him.
I'VE had been there at Fort Fisher
but a short time. when an attempt 70
Butler. who had command Of the land
| forces had the fort partially taken and
then gave Up. The feet went back to
Hampton roads and here there was a
| change in the ships officers. our first
| lieutenant was sent to some other ship
| and in his place Dewey came aboard
Il tell you he was fine looking man.
lie was about five feet nine, and as
straight as could be. He must have
weighed 40. You never saw a better
looking officer. He hadn't been aboard
the ship very long before there was a
change in the manner of running
things. All the harsh treatment we
had before received from the first lieu
tenant was over and we were treated
more like human beings.
Il don't remember hearing nm
| sneak to a man more than two or three
| times. You see we We're common sea-
men before the mast. while he was one
Of the officers.
The first time | ever heard him
speak to a man, / think, was to one OF
the crew. negro The common sea-
men were always supposed 20 fouch
their caps when an officer went py ana
this time the negro had occasion to 80
forward While Lieutenant Dewey was
coming aft. When the negro passed
the officer he didn't salute. Dewey
turned on him in a moment as MAD aS
could be. You ID niger! he said'
Won didn't salute me. implying that IL
the negro didn't salute no one eiSe
would. | tell what I think. Dewey
didn't like negroes then ana 1t was
| more because the man was Il hls5ei
that he spoke to him than because he
didn't salute. never heard d ma"
get such a going over as ne gave 'he''
negro He didn't say very much' o"'
what he did say cut the poor leiio"
"There was another time 'ha' Il"
spoke to one of the men. ihey "i''i'
allow any smoking forward an" o"'
NIGHT there were a lot of US up thci $