The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1917-01-20
SPANISH WAR
HERO TO Be
H0NORED
Admiral Dewey To Be Accorded
Tribute BY Nation He Has
Served Well
WAS RANKING NAVAL
OFFICER OF THE WORLD
Served With Farragut and Had Re-
markable Career On Climb
To Eminence

Admiral George Dewey, hero of
Manila Bay" fought and won
the first great american naval bet
tie against a foreign foe since the
var of 1912
His whole life was full of honor
able achievement, from the days
of the Civil war down to the time
when, as the hand of the general
board, he began the last chapter OF
his work by laying plans for the
defense of his country in time of
war. His life was a striking exer-
plification of the possibilities of a
career based upon the exact and in
telligent performance of every rou-
tine duty which molds a man on in
flexible lines of duty and honor.
One of the curious freaks of for
tune in Dewey's case was thai for
perhaps the first and only time in
his naval career he was disposed
to protest against the edict of the
navy department which carried him
1DtO thO a Cooty NbSiS hO w
destined to perform the greatest
feat of his life and to win imper-
ishable renown.
That was back in 1898, when the
war clouds were gathering and
Dewey felt that he was being
'shelved;" that the war with Spain
was to be fought out in the Gulf
Of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea
and that he, distant by half the cir
conference of the globe, would
stand no chance of winning glory, for
at that moment no thought whatever
had been given to the Philippines.
But he took his orders and like
a true sailor obeyed them. The re-
suit is a page of history under
Gate of May 1, 1898.
Contrary to Spanish expectations,
Dewey sailed into Manila Bay on the
night of April 80 and in the morn
ing of the next day he annihilated
} Admiral Montojo's squadron, des-
troying eleven warships and captur-
ing all other vessels and all the
land batteries without the loss of a
r>an on the American side.
Upon his triumphant return to
the United States he was feted by
the nation. His admirers presented
him with a beautiful home in the
nations capital. Congress gave him
an engraved sword, and raised him
from the rank of commodore to
rear-admiral and then to the full
rank of the admiral of the navy.
Admiral Dewey was the third
American to reach that pinnacle
of naval rank. Farragut was the
first and Porter the second. 1t was
under Farragut that Dewey received
his first baptism Of a
valuable as the training Of An
napolis was, it was poor schooling
beside that of serving under Far
ragut in time Of war;" Admiral
Dewey once said. whenever |
have been in a different situation or
in the midst of such a confusion
of details that the simple and right
thing to do seemed hazy | have
often asked myself, what would
Farragut do?'
"In the course of preparations
for Manila Bay, I often asked my
self this question, and | confess |
was thinking of him the night we
entered the bay and with the con-
viction that l was doing precisely
what he would have done"
George Dewey was born in the
shadow of Vermont's state capitol
at Montpelier, on the day following
Christmas in 1887. At the age of
IT, he reached the crossroads of
his career: one road led to West
Point, the other to Annapolis. Young
Dewey favored the former, but
There was no vacancy for West
Point from Vermont" explained the
admiral in reviewing his life.
otherwise l might have gone into
Manila Bay on an army trasport in
stead of on the Olympia. But it
happened that there was a vacancy
at Annapolis. so | entered the
navy"
AT the outbreak of the civil war,
Dewey was % yaar1 old. lie WAS
cumLrs Ioned lieutenant, and