riHffi|,'iM;WHiBa'Mi«IWM^"||i CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY E 714.6.05^3™"™'' ^'"""' ""''^liHiNmnimSif,,.??.^?.' °' A<''"ifal Oewe^ 3 1924 023 250 172 Lm ^.^ Cornell University Library The original of this bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023250172 ADMIRAL DEWEY AT THE BATTLE OF MANILA. TO THE GALLANT AMERICAN SAILORS and SOLDIERS WHOSE Heroic Deeds in Manila Bay AND IN Their Sanguinary Battles with the filipine Insurgents --have gained for them ^ imperishable renown and the honor of their grateful countrymen ,, this volume which RECOUNTS IN Glowing Terms their Superb Valor, Their Self-Sacrificing Patriotism and Magnificent Achievements IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED AS A. SINCERE TRIBUTE TO THE DAUNTLESS HEROISM THAT HAS WON THE ADMIRATION OF THE WHOLE WORLD AND BROUGHT NEW GLORY TO OUR FLAG LIFE AND HEROIC DEEDS OF Admiral Dewey INCLUDING BATTLES IN THE PHILIPPINES CONTAINING A COMPLETE AND GLOWING ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND ACHIEVE- MENTS OF THE HERO OF MANILA; HIS ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE; HIS BRILLIANT CAREER IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR; HIS FAMOUS VICTORY IN THE HARBOR OF MANILA, ETC., ETC. TOGETHER WITH THRILLING ACCOUNTS OF OUR GREAT VICTORIES IN THE PHILIPPINES THE CLIMATE, PRODUCTS AND RICH RESOURCES OF THESE WON- DERFUL ISLANDS, TOGETHER WITH THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE, THEIR CITIES, TOWNS, NATURAL SCENERY, Etc. BY LOUIS STANLEY YOUNG Editor of "The Bounding Billow/' the official organ of Admiral Dewey's fleet, printed on board U. S. Flagship Olympia IN COLLABORATION WITH HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP The w^ell-known Author Superbly Embellished with a Galaxy of Phototype Engravings PHILADELPHIA, PA: GLOBE BIBLE PUBLISHING CO. 723 Chestnut Street Fitered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, by J. R. JONES In the Oiiice of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. All Rights Reserved A PREFACE. The whole world admires a hero, and no nation is more proud of its great men than is our own. Admiral Dewey won the battle of Manila, and gained the most brilliant naval victory known to history. This grand achievement startled the civilized , world and made him the idol of his countrymen. His magnificent career is portrayed in this volume, and the splendid record is worthy of its illustrious subject. It furnishes a vivid description of him from his boyhood to the time when he sent the Spanish fleet to destruction and wrote his name high on the scroll of immortal fame. Many interesting anecdotes are related of the famous Admi- ral's ancestry, his home life and early training. Through his heroic deeds, which have been the wonder of all nations, the reader sees the grand qualities of the man and is charmed with his noble traits of character. A full account is given of the Admiral as a young naval cadet while he was preparing himself for the remarkable career which has given him a world-wide celebrity. His heroic exploits in the Civil War under Admiral Farragut are fully depicted. In the naval operations on the Mississippi he exhibited all the traits that distinguished him as the commander of our Asiatic fleet. Quick in decision, fearless in the face of danger, actuated only by loyalty to his country and an unflinch- ing sense of duty, he rose from one position to another by the force of merit alone until he became the crowning ornament of the American navy. Following the intensely interesting account of Admiral Dewey's boyhood and his brilliant career in our great Civil War, is a complete record of his service in the navy up to the time of our war with Spain. A thrilling description is furnished of the famous battle in Manila Bay in which Dewey gained his superb victory g.nd, without the loss of a single man, hurled destruction and f^eath at the Spanish fleet. The reader's heart beats high and his blood tingles as he reads the vivid account of Admiral Dewey's vi PREFACE. grand achievements. He sees the "Iron Dogs of War" In battle, hears the thunder of guns, marks the cool daring of the gallant Admiral on the bridge of his flagship, and beholds "Old Glory" waving over the most wonderful naval victory of which history gives us any record. Admiral Dewey himself gives a most striking account of his great achievement, and none certainly could be more accurate or more interesting to the reader. In his own concise language he depicts the struggle, and we stand with him, as it were, on the bridge of his ship and look out upon the stirring scene, while all our emotions of patriotism are excited and we hail the news of victory. Facts and incidents relating to the renowned Admiral are woven through this volume. The eyes of the whole country have been turned toward the Philippine Islands, and public interest has followed eagerly the military operations of our gallant army. In addition to the life of Admiral Dewey and the thrilling story of his great naval vic- tory, this work contains a complete and vivid account of the battles in the Philippines ; the capture of Manila by our American troops ; the subsequent attack on the city by the army of Aguln- aldo, the insurgent general ; the brave advance of the American forces under Generals Otis, MacArthur, Wheaton, Hale, and others are all vividly portrayed. All the latest events that have brought renown to our arms and glory to our flag, including the thrilling exploit of Colonel Funston, when he charged the enemy's trenches with nine men, and other daring deeds of our gallant soldiers, together with the negotiations between the Filipinos and our commanders to end the war, are depicted in this masterly volume. Added to all this is a graphic description of our new posses- sions in Asia. A fund of valuable information is furnished the reader concerning these wonderful islands. Admiral Dewey has said that our new tropical possessions are the key to commerce in Asia. Their climate, vast resources, rich soil and luxuriant products are all fully described, together with the cities, towns and manners and customs of the people. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ADMIRAL DEWEY'S ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 17 CHAPTER II. YOUNG DEWEY AS A NAVAL CADET AT ANNAPOLIS 29 CHAPTER III. DEWEY'S HEROIC EXPLOITS IN OUR GREAT CIVIL WAR .... 34 CHAPTER IV. THRILLING INCIDENTS OF DEWEY'S FIRST BATTLE 48 CHAPTER V. STORY OF DEWEY'S MAGNIFICENT VICTORY AT MANILA AS TOLD IN "THE BOUNDING BILLOW," THE OFFICIAL OR- GAN OF THE FLEET, PUBLISHED ON THE FLAGSHIP OLYMPIA 64 CHAPTER VI. DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET IN MANILA BAY .... 88 CHAPTER VII. ADMIRAL DEWEY'S ACCOUNT OF HIS GRAND ACHIEVEMENT . Ill CHAPTER VIII. SUPERB VALOR OF THE AMERICAN FLEET AT MANILA .... 133 CHAPTER IX. THE SPANISH FLAG STRUCK TO THE STARS AND STRIPES . . 148 CHAPTER X. DOWNFALL OF THE CAPITAL OF THE PHILIPPINES 167 Tii vm CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF MANILA BY ADMIRAL DEWEY AND GENERAL MERRITT 187 CHAPTER XII. AN OFFICER OF THE UNITED STATES SHIP RALEIGH TELLS HOW SHE FIRED THE FIRST SHOT 207 CHAPTER XIII. ON BOARD THE FLAGSHIP OLYMPIA WITH DEWEY 220 CHAPTER XIV. OUR SOLDIERS IN THE BATTLE AND CAPTURE OF MANILA . 231 CHAPTER XV. AGUINALDO AND OTHER LEADERS OF THE INSURGENTS ... 245 CHAPTER XVI. THE FILIPINOS AND THEIR WONDERFUL COUNTRY 260 CHAPTER XVII. STRANGE AND THRILLING SCENES IN AND AROUND MANILA . 273 CHAPTER XVIII. WAR WITH THE FILIPINO INSURGENTS 293 CHAPTER XIX. BRILLIANT ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR GALLANT SOLDIERS ... 306 CHAPTER XX. OUR FAMOUS NAVAL HERO CREATED AN ADMIRAL 323 CHAPTER XXI. HEROES OF THE BATTLEFIELDS IN THE PHILIPPINES 341 CONTENTS. is CHAPTER XXII. DEWEY' S BIG GUNS SOUNDED THE DOOM OF SPAIN 352 CHAPTER XXIII. A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT OFFERED TO THE FILIPINOS .... 363 CHAPTER XXIV. THE HEROIC DEEDS OF OUR NAVAL AND MILITARY COM- MANDERS CELEBRATED IN VERSE 373 CHAPTER XXV. THE STORY OF DEWEY'S GREAT VICTORY TOLD IN OFFICIAL REPORTS OF OUR NAVAL COMMANDERS 421 CHAPTER XXVI. OUR NEW POSSESSIONS— THEIR CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTS, RICH RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 434 CHAPTER XXVII. ADMIRAL DEWEY ON HIS FLAGSHIP HOMEWARD BOUND ... 443 CHAPTER XXVIII. CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF OUR BATTLESHIPS ... 453 CHAPTER XXIX. THE CHIEF OF THE UNITED STATES DETECTIVES TELLS HOW HE CAPTURED THE SPIES OF SPAIN 460 CHAPTER XXX. AGITATION FOR PEACE ENDS IN RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES . 476 CHAPTER XXXI. VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE INSURGENTS 489 ^ ^- . . ADMIRAL GKORGK DKWl^Y THE. HERO or MANILA. >a»iiil^>.wi»ate-'«-i ■ OLD SCHOOLHOUSE AT MONTPELIER, VERMONT, WHERE YOUNG DEWEY FIRST ATTENDED SCHOOL iaiSBid, 1.-YOUNG DEWEY IN THE APPLE TREE 2.-DEWEY AND HIS SISTER GIVING A THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENT IN THE BARN 3.-HIS FIRST VOYAGE 4.-CHASTISED BY HIS SCHOOLMASTER LIEUTENANT DEWEY SAVING THE LIFE OF A COMRADE OFFICER DEWEY THE LAST TO LEAVE THE BURNING SHIP "MISSISSIPPI" SAILORS ON A UNITED STATES WARSHIP AWAITING ORDERS TO GO ALOFT SAILORS LEAVING THE SPANISH SHIP "REINA CHRISTINA" IN A STORM OF SHOT AND SHELL CAPTAIN LAMBERTON Admirau DEWEY'S Chief of Staff CAPTAIN C. V. GRIDLEY Late Commander of Admiral Dewey'S Flagship "Olympia" "You may fire when you are ready, GRIDLEY-"— DEWEY z o (- " o < ca h- I- a: < LU O 2 3 a o I- . en UJ c 1 "- I- H Q ° < ? §8 z o CAPTAIN COGHLAN Commander of the Raleigh KANSAS REGIMENT OFF FOR THE PHILIPPINES Q UJ H Z ADMIRAL DEWEY, THE HERO OF THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OF MANILA. CHAPTER I. Admiral Dewey's Ancestry and Early Life. ANY of the most glowing pages of history commemorate the grand achievements of Naval Heroes. Some of the fiercest battles have been fought on the water, and decided the destiny of nations. The men who have gained famous victories on the sea have Invariably been made the idols of their countrymen. England had her Sir Francis Drake, her Lord Howe, her Rodney and Lord Nelson, the last of whom was elevated to the highest pedestal of renown. Our own country has had her Paul Jones, her Commodore Perry and Ad- miral Farragut. The heroic exploits of these and other great naval com- manders will live as long as the historic deeds of the men who founded the nation, and of others who saved it in the dark hours of its peril. And now we have another great Naval Hero whose brilliant achieve- ments have given him a world-wide fame, and whose name is destined to be wreathed with immortal glory. Comparatively unknown until his guns at Manila shook the world with their reverberations, he suddenly became a popular hero, and his countrymen vie with one another in doing him honor. We have here a striking illustration of the fact that the emergency always brings the man. When the national crisis comes the great leaders are found to carry the Stars and Stripes through the thick of the fight, and maintain the prestige of the nation. It has always been so, and judging from the blood that flows in the veins of American manhood it will be so in all time to come. The courage of our navy and army has been tested in many a trying hour of our nation's history. That courage never yet has failed, and there is some reason for us to be proud of our achievements, and of the men who have been loyal to our flag and have maintained its honor. One of the most striking efiects of Admiral Dewey's great victory at Manila was the revelation it gave to other nations of the globe of our naval 2 17 18 ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. power and our ability to dispute in sturdy fashion the supremacy of the seas. Looking through the history of our country one can scarcely find a single naval battle where American ships were engaged in which they did nov triumph over their foe. This is due to both tact and courage. And here especially do the Yankee traits show themselves. Fertile in resources, quick to take in the situation, brave and resolute in the face of danger, and above all possessed of a patriotism that burns with undying ardor, the defenders of our country have shown themselves to be invincible, and the flag under which they fought has never been struck to a foreign foe. Grand Achievements of the American Navy. We may be pardoned if we recall with some degree of pride the achieve- ments of our navy in the past, and especially during the Spanish-American war. A very sudden and profound respect for our grim battleships has been created among other nations. They took little account of our navy, did not know its size or capacity, and it is safe to say that Continental Europe has been quite as much astonished at our tremendous victories as were the Spaniards themselves. Now, wherever one of our battleships goes the flags of other nations are dipped with such respect as never before was shown. Yet we have never claimed to be a warlike nation. There is a widespread and growing feeling against the settlement of disputes by the arbitrament of the sword. If any one imagines that the whole American people are warlike in sentiment, and care little for the grander victories of peace, that individual is making a very grave mistake. We venture upon no prophecies, but it is undoubtedly true that the children are born who will see international dis- putes settled, not by the sword, but by councils of peace. Yet when the time comes that the sword must be drawn, and the guns of our ships must be shotted with something besides blank cartridges, there is no shrink- ing from the call to arms. Admiral Dewey is a typical American. A man of peace until the hour came when peace could be maintained no longer, he was suddenly transformed into a warrior of iron mould, and was equal to the occasion. The American people are interested in the life and achievements of our (greatest naval hero. It has always been said that blood tells, and this state- pient receives a remarkable proof and illustration when we come to look into the ancestry of the hero of Manila. He is just such a man as might be expected from the ancestry that went before him. While it is sometimes possible to discover a man who, by the force of native genius, a genius not to be accounted for from his family history, comes to the front and surprises the world by his deeds, yet in the great majority of cases the old saying that blood tells holds strictly true. ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. 19 While it will not add a particle to the everlasting fame which Dewey — • there is only one "Dewey" — has brought to his surname through his heroism at Manila, yet it is agreeable to know that he is, in a genealogical point of view, no " upstart," and that, on the contrary, he is ready to " match " ances- tors with any one who may come along, and stands ready to back up his assertions with statements bearing on his claims found in Browning's " Ameri- cans of Royal Descent," Douglas' "Peerage of Scotland," Dugdale's "Baron- age of England," Anderson's " Royal Genealogies," " The Magna Charta Barons and their American Descendants," and the other big guns of his genealogical armament. The Famous Admiral's Ancestors, Admiral Dewey's pedigree begins on the very border of mythology with Thor, the Saxon God, or cult-hero, who, according to the ancient Saxon chronicles and Snorra Edda of the Saxons, was the ancestor in the nineteenth or twentieth generation of another cult-hero, who is almost a myth, called variously Vothinn, Othinn, Odin, Bodo and Woden, the King of the West Saxons, A. D. 256-300, who, with his spouse, Frea, were the Mars and Venus of Saxon mythology. This King Woden, the God of war, is described as the great-great-grandfather of the bugaboos of English history, Horsa and Hengst, brothers, freebooters and pirates, of whom the Saxon annals tell us that Hengst was the King of Saxons, and died between A. D. 474 and 495, first King of Kent. Leaving this progenitor of the Saxon rulers of Britain, Admiral Dewey's royal lineage passes along the royal Saxon line on the continent, through King Hengst's son. Prince Hartwaker, to the historic King Dieteric, and his " famous " wife (he had others), Wobrogera, a daughter of the unique char- acter, Bellun, King of the Worder. Their grandson, Witekind the Great, was the last King of the Saxons, A. D. 769-807, and then dwindled into only their Dukes, and Duke of Westphalia, while his descendants for a few gener- ations were only Counts of Wettin, until on the genealogical line we come to the great Robert — Robert-fortis — who, by his sword, became Count of Axjor and Orleans, Duke and Marquis of France, and won the hand of the fair Lady Alisa, sister-in-law to the King of the Francs, Lothary I. This hero of mediaeval history, Robert-fortis, the great-grandson o( the great Witekind, was the founder of the so-called Capuchin line of raonarchs of France, for from him, through a line of Dukes of France and Burgundy, Counts of Paris, etc., who by their swords and intermarriages, became firmly seated on French soil, was descended the celebrated Hugh Capet, Duke 01 France, who usurped the throne of France and supplanted Charles, Duke of to ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. iCorraine, the heir of Louis d'Outremere, or King Louis IV, the last Carlovin- gian, or descendant of the great Emperor Charlemagne, to occupy the " French " throne. 'Tis said " blood will tell." How true it is in Dewey's case. The blood of the finest warriors of history tells in him. He inherited the " knack of knowing " when to do it and how to do it, and is the peer of any of his an- cestors from Hengst to Hugh Capet, yet unconsciously he emulated the traits of many of them. Two other Kings of the Capuchin line — Robert, the Pious, and Henry, the First — Dewey numbers among his illustrious ancestors, and Gibbon, in his history of the Roman Empire, tells us of the high lineage of one of his early ancestresses, Anne of Russia, wife of Henry I, of France. Gibbon states she was the daughter of Jaroslaus, Grand Duke or Czar of Russia, A. D. 1015-1051, who was a descendant of Basil, the Macedonian, first Emperor of Constantinople, of his line, A. D. 867, and that Basil was descended, on his father's side, from the Arseides, the rivals of Rome, possessors of the scepter of the East for 400 years, through a younger branch of the Parthian monarchs, reigning in Armenia ; and on his mother's side, from the European Constan- tine the Great, and Alexander the Great, the Macedonian. His Illustrious Lineage. All these illustrious historic characters were Dewey's ancestors and so also were many others, he or any one can ever be proud of. But gene- alogy, like politics, " makes strange bedfellows." He was born to these — good, bad and indifferent ancestors — they have been discovered for him not manufactured, and of their attributes he has inherited the best, so it appears. Continuing Dewey's pedigree, we find that one of his ancestors — the one necessary to connect him with these historic characters — was the son of King Henry I of France, Hugh the Great, or Magnus, Duke of France and Bur- gundy, Marquis of Orleans and Count of Paris, and through his wife. Count of Vermandois and Valois, a noted man of his day. It is here that Dewey's pedigree leaves the Continent and begins to be a part of English history. Dewey's ancestress. Lady Isabel de Vermandois was the daughter of the aforesaid Hugh Magnus, and was the first wife (he was her first husband) of Robert de Bellomont, or Beaumont, a Norman Earl of Millent, who accompanied William of Normandy on his expedition to Eng- land, and for the part he took in the conquest was created in 1 103 Earl of Leicester and granted many manors in England, dying in 11 18. He had issue by Lady Isabel, Robert Bosse de Bellomont, 2d Earl of Leicester who was justiciary of England, and dying in 1168 had issue by his wife. Lady ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. 21 Amelia or Amicia, a daughter of Ralph de Waer, or Waher, who in 1066 was the Earl of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge, but forfeited these earldoms in 1074 ; Robert-blanch-Mains, third Earl of Leicester and steward of England, whose daughter, Lady Margaret de Bellomont, was an ancestress of Admiral Dewey. This lady married Saher de Quincey, an English baron, created in 1207 by King John, to win him over to his side, Earl of Winchester. This baron accepted and enjoyed the honors conferred on him by John, but never was friendly to him. On the contrary, he was, next to Fitz Walter, the leader of the insurrectionary barons, and did as much work as any of them to compel King John to grant the Magna Charta — the charter of liberty — and was one of the twenty-five sureties chosen to enforce its observance. It is through this baron that Dewey is eligible to membership in the Order of Runnymede. Records of the English Peerage. Turning now to the pages of the Scottish peerage books, we learn that this Earl of Winchester's granddaughter, Elizabeth de Quincey, was the wife of Alexander de Comyn, second Earl of Buchan, who was a descendant of Donalbane, King of Scots, which gives Dewey a " strain " of the sturdiest sort. And reverting again to the English peerage, we find that Gilbert, Baron d'Umfraville, married Lady Agnes, a daughter of the aforesaid Eliza- beth, Countess of Buchan, and was the progenitor of a line of Umfravilles to Lady Joan d'Umfraville, who married Sir William Lambert, Knight, Lord of Owlton Manor, in Durham. From the authentic pedigrees of the official Heralds of England we learn that a great-granddaughter of this marriage was the wife of Thomas Lyman, Gent., of Navistoke, in Essex, who died in 1509, and the mother of Henry Lyman, of High Ongar, in Essex, who was the ancestor of that Richard Lyman, born at High Ongar Manor in 1580, who came to the Massachusetts Colony in 163 1 and died in 1640 at Hartford, Conn., of which city he was one of the founders and earliest lot owners. His son, Richard Lyman's (of Windsor, Conn., died in 1662) daughter, Hepzibah, married, November 6, 1662, Josiah Dewey (who was baptized Oc- tober 10, 1641, and was the son of Thomas Dewey, the first of this surname to come to the New World — to Boston, Mass., in 1633) and they were the parents of Josiah, Jr., born December 24, 1666, who was the lineal ancestor, AS set forth in the " Dewey Genealogy," by William T. Dewey, of Montpelier, Vt, of our gallant hero. Admiral George Dewey. George Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vt., on Christmas night, 1837. He came from the finest Colonial stock of New England, and he comes of ai 22 ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. good fighting stock as ever distinguished itself. It was such stock that con- stituted the Green Mountain boys and the victory at Bunker Hill. As we have seen, his ancestor, Thomas Dewey, was among that small baaid of Pilgrims which landed in Massachusetts Bay in 1630. Old Ver- monters will tell you the legend of another of his ancestors, named the Rev. Jedediah Dewey, who began to preach the Gospel of Christ on that Sunday morning when the Battle of Bennington was fought. At the outbreak of wai the Rev. Jedediah laid down the Bible, asked the congregation to follow him shouldered his musket and marched to the firing line. When he had helped vanquish the English, he went back to church, opened the Bible, took up tht fifthly part of his orthodox sermon and went on as if a victorious affray was an everyday affair. It is a striking coincidence that another Dewey should sail over to a great fleet on another Sunday morning, vanquish this fleet, then draw back his ships and have breakfast served. The Admiral's Religious Belief. George Dewey's father was a physician ; his mother, a beautiful woman and a wit, who died when her son was five years old. Her funeral took place from Christ Church, which her husband had founded, in which the future ad- miral was christened, and at whose chancel he took the vows of membership This, in addition to his membership in Christ Church, answers the many rumors concerning Admiral Dewey's religious belief. He is, and has always been, a devout Episcopalian. He is one of the many great Christian com- manders of the world. Rumor has been busy making of George Dewey a very meek and quiet little boy. No one who knew him will define him by those adjectives. A boy may be shy, but with great force; without debate, but full of timely action; not talking much, but observing and thinking. Such was young Dewey if the talk of intimates places a fair estimate on his character. There were many traits in the boy that have been broadly developed in the man. He wanted to do things very thoroughly. He was quiet until his time came. He never shirked a punishment. He talked little, and, as a schoolmate said of him, "he was never a dirty little boy." The Admiral is remembered now for his punctilious grooming, his irre- proachable outfit, and as a small boy he always looked as if he had just been •unwrapped from tissue paper. No other boy dared taunt him with being " a girl baby " because he had whole stockings at all times and fresh, clean shirts whenever needed. They didn't taunt him, for the small boys of Montpelier had learned the lesson that ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. 23 George Dewey seems to be able to teach forcibly at all times — that he was able to soundly thrash those who annoyed him. He could beat boys swimming and handling horses, and you can't taunt a boy with the sneer of being " a girl baby " when he can beat you on your own territory of accomplishments. While he could soundly thrash a boy, he wasn't a coward when it came to taking his own thrashing if he was cor- nered. Major Z. K. Pangborn, editor of the Jersey City Journal, used to teach young Dewey and tell a story of how the young Vermonter was in a con- spiracy to thrash him, because his teaching wasn't approved. Major Pang- born learned of the conspiracy and had their punishment ready for them, and when they attempted their scheme he cornered them. The Admiral likes to tell this story, says Major Pangborn, but he doesn't tell all of it, which is that the other boys ran away and left Dewey, and he stood up like a man and took his thrashing. " He would have thrashed me willingly," said the master, " but when he couldn't, and he was caught, it evidently never entered his head to dodge and run." Story of the Master's Ruler. The day of the meeting of the Legislature, when the streets of Montpe- lier were crowded with visitors, was made a sort of festival. The stout young Vermonters from the outlying towns were treated to gingerbread and sweet cider, and there were public contests of strength and skill. On these occa- sions George Dewey often distinguished himself. His happy knack of win- ning contests dates from boyhood. It was at school that his " badness " was most in evidence. Accounts differ somewhat, and one asserts that he was a pugnacious little bully, fighting his mates and fighting his teacher ; yet even then there were hints of a higher ambition, not always appreciated. ^ " I want to visit all the countries on earth," he said one day as he stood before the desk, " and get acquainted with all the rulers." The master grinned : " Here's one ruler I'll make you acquainted with right now," he remarked. It was a wooden ruler, and the ceremony was painful. But the lad's law- less behavior soon ceased to be a light matter, and he became the terror of the school, the ringleader of a gang of three, bigger and stronger than the rest, whose only study was how to thwart and torment the teacher. They ran the institution much like a troop of cowboys raiding a Western town. Already several teacher victims had suffered and fled, discipline was hooted at and the trustees were at their wits' end — all on account of " that Dewey boy." 24 ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. There appeared on the scene a new master, one worthy of the title, as it proved, but they didn't know that yet. This was Z. K. Pangborn, already referred to, a husky young fellow just out of college. His name should be remembered, for he conquered Dewey. It was really a great event, the turning point in the boy's life. The beginning was not auspicious. Old residents say that when Pang- born first caught sight of the future Admiral the youngster was perched in a tree throwing stones at the other boys as they passed. From the first he had always managed to keep himself well supplied with ammunition. The teacher ordered him to quit ; such conduct was disgraceful. Dewey made a response that was not altogether polite. By evening the young rebel had organized his plan of attack. As usual he did not wait for the enemy to strike the first blow. He formed his com- panions into a company, provided plenty of ammunition in the form of frozen snowballs and lay in ambush by the roadside. When the teacher came within range he was greeted with a rattling volley, followed by fists at close quarters. Bad Boy Dewey alighted upon Panghorn's shoulders like a cata- mount and tried to throw him. The result was not decisive, but Pangborn retreated in some disorder, leaving the field to the boys. Lively Time in the Schoolroom. The next morning the schoolmaster made no mention of the surprise party, but promptly ordered a boy who was making a disturbance to take a seat on the front bench. That was the signal. Tiie Dewey battalion rose in a body and marched forward. Their leader informed the teacher that they were going to " lick him." Pangborn reached for his rawhide. George struck out for all that was in him, but for once his blows didn't land, while the rawhide fell in raking broadsides on his head and shoulders and legs. Some of the other boys sailed in, but the master snatched a hickory stick from the woodbox and laid them low. A few hours later Pangborn escorted the battered twelve-year-old to his home and reported to his father that he had brought him his son, " somewhat the worse for wear, but still in condition for school work." The courtly Dr. Dewey thanked the teacher for his services and promised that the boy should be in his place the next day. All that young Dewey needed, apparently, was a master who could com- pel obedience and respect. The bad boy soon became the best boy in school and the brightest scholar, and as he was acknowledged leader the others quickly fell into line. Years afterward George Dewey, then a Lieutenant in the Navy, again met the man who had mastered him. ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. 25 "I shall never cease to be grateful to you, sir," he said. "You made a man of me. But for that thrashing you gave me in Montpelier I should have probably been in the state prison by this time." So, in a certain sense, School- master Panghorn won the battle of Manila bay. Li the final outcome the strokes of his rawhide fell on Spanish shoulders. Surprises His Early Acquaintances. Boys who grew up with young Dewey were surprised when he became the sensational and magnificent centerpiece of the war. He was so shy, so quiet, so unobtrusive in his Vermont life that no one predicted a career for him. He was not distinguished for any one thing. He was not even a brilliant student. It was rather astonishing to his more scintillating class- mates how he passed the entrance examination for Annapolis, as that ex- amination was even more difficult then than now. But he did pass, and that was another of the traits he has developed; and while he was appointed only as alternate and didn't get the preference appointment, it is another noticeable fact that he got in the academy and the preference man went into the ministry. Young Dewey exceedingly disliked society. No temptations offered by the young people of Montpelier could persuade him to join them in any of the simple or formal social life of the city. With girls he had little to say. They embarrassed him, and he never knew what to say to them. He made his firm friends among those girls who were willing to break down his shy- ness and expected no conversational brilliancy from him, but he would never enter into the gay life of the little town. He had stalwart friends among boys, for with all his shyness he had proved the red blood in him. He was not a prude, and enjoyed life as it offered itself to him, a vigorous, healthy boy; but it was widely known among his schoolmates that he was not a liar, nor a coward, nor a boaster, but there was no boy, physically or morally, stronger in school or town. He was brought up to thank God for His mercies, and his father used to tell the following application of the boy's training : Once when George fell down from a fence and injured his arm his father said to him, as he was lus- tily screaming: "My! but you are awkward; now you have broken your arm. " Well, you should thank God I didn't break both of 'em," sobbed the indignant young sufferer. George was not so shy, but he had the usual grain of conceit which is as salt to an egg in a strong man's character; and his favorite pastime as a small boy, and up until fourteen years of age, was playing actor. He had a the*- 26 ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. tre in the barn, which was the Mecca of all small boys with talent and desire for fun. The curtain was a buffalo robe, the admission a few pins — and George always took the prominent part, the heavy role ! "The Performance Must Go On." His sister, Mrs. Greely, tells of a time when the star actress fell sick at the last moment, and George insisted she should take the part. She got horribly frightened and whispered to George she couldn't think of a thing, to say. He answered: "Well, make it up as you go, then ; the performance must go on." Observe the commander of Manila in that boy ! When young Dewey was fourteen years old Major Pangforn, the teacher who had thrashed him, moved to a neighboring village and established a private school. George went with him, for he was sincerely fond of this teacher. But in a few months the boy began to be very restless and discon- tented. The desire for an army life made its appearance, and he begged his father to send him to a military academy. The nearest one was Norwich, which has since been moved to North- field, in the same State. So determined was he to enter the army that he had his studies at the academy given in view to a preparation for West Point. The drills of the academy were his delight, and he felt satisfied that he had chosen the right trend of life work. As the year went on, however, he began to care more for the naval side of the studies than the army. He shifted into these studies vigorously, and begged his father to let him go to sea. His father refused, and declared him- self in despair because this boy's heart seemed so set on taking up a rover's life. He gave the boy a year or two to try his resolve, and at seventeen young Dewey was still determined to take to the sea. Dr. Dewey determined that if George would go, he must go after the dignity of the Deweys, in keeping with his stock and class. He applied for an Annapolis appointment, but young Spaulding wanted it, too, and got the appointment with Dewey as alternate. However, Dewey got in the academy and stood his examination without especial brilliancy, but sufficient to pass him. He entered Annapolis in 1854. Before following young Dewey to the school where he was to be educated in naval warfare, it will be of interest to take a further glance at his boyhood. He was brought up in a typical New England town. The steady habits of the people were exemplified in providing good schools for their sons and daugh- ters, in regular attendance upon church, in retiring to bed at what city people Vould call a most absurd hour, in the industrious pursuit of their various ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. 27 callings, and in bestowing a vast amount of excellent advice upon the young people, which it is to be feared the young people did not always follow. Scenes of Dewey's Childhood. Montpelier is to-day very much what it was in Dewey's childhood. Like most New England towns the streets are lined with tall, majestic elms. The white cottages are clustered under overhanging branches, and the surrounding views are inviting to the eye that loves the open country. The town is not without its river, on the banks of which young Dewey used to play, and in the waters of which he sported with other boys in summer-time. A sister, Mary, two years younger than himself, was his frequent companion ; they played together, rambled over the fields together, and enjoyed their pastime as good, well-disposed, healthy children always do. The lad had a present of a " Life of Hannibal," and was fond of playing that he was the hero, making a big snow-drift answer for the Alps over which Hannibal led his army. Often the children gathered others from the neigh- borhood and amused themselves in the barn by giving minstrel shows and playing circus. Young George always contrived to be the manager and chief performer on these occasions, thus exhibiting at that early date his tendency to be at the head in everything he undertook. As a lad he was considered a ready fighter, full of pluck and spirit, quick to resent an insult, and not in the habit of being imposed upon without entering a protest with both fists. He showed even then the combative spirit that actuated him after- wards. Moreover, if all traditions can be believed, there were staid people in the town who thought George was a pretty wild, headstrong, harum-scarum boy who would certainly come to some bad end. Very likely some of the best men in town predicted this, although they themselves in childhood outstripped George Dewey in roguery and recklessness. The lad was sure to be foremost in winter sports, and in summer, if there was a good orchard anywhere, he was sure to know it, and was also well acquainted with the tree that bore the best apples. And it is afifirmed that he cared more for the apples than for in- quiring wlio was the owner of the tree. Thus it will be seen that our future Admiral was just an average boy, with perhaps a trifle more of the boy spirit than one would commonly find. He w£i3 foil of life, was always wide-awake, yet was not over bold, and withal appears to have been somewhat retiring in disposition. He was such a lad as would naturally win the good-will of others and would find friends wherever he went. His parents and ancestors were among the most respectable people of the town and occupied positions of influence, 28 ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE. It is related that when the people of Montpelier after the battle of Manila were celebrating the proud achievements of their fellow-townsman, an inci- dent occurred which showed the estimate of at least one of the old residents of the place, a sort of droll character with a strong infusion of Yankee shrewd- ness. While the crowd was lining the street this man was seen making his way toward the old school-house, carrying a long board which was carefully wrapped so that no one could see it. Inscription on tlie Old Schoolhouse. Arriving at the school-house the man took off the covering and pro- ceeded to nail the board up over the door. When people read it they found this lettering : " Here is where his ideas were taught to shoot." A profound truth is conveyed in this statement. The old New England school-house has been the nursery of some of our country's greatest men. There they studied, played pranks in their boyhood, and perhaps were soundly whipped, but it is well to recall the saying inscribed on the Connecticut house built at the World's Fair : " The finest products of Connecticut are her men and women." It may be said with truth that in Dewey's case as well as in nearly all others, the boy was the father of the man. The career of George Dewey is worthy of the great American historian of the future. Almost at the close of his active life this soldier of the sea was told to " destroy the Spanish fleet." He did destroy it. He let no ship escape. He lost not a man in his fleet. He proved himself a statesman in the subsequent handling of affairs at Manila. He showed himself master over any situation. Well has he won his proud title of admiral of the navy, better still has he won the gratitude of a great people, and best of all has he won for himself a name written large and glorious in the naval history of the world. CHAPTER II. Young Dewey as a Naval Cadet. HE most that any candidate for the navy can do while taking his course of education is to attend faithfully to his studies, be re- spectful to his superiors, and make the most of the training which is intended to fit him for future service. It does not always follow that the young man in any school or college who gains a high rank in his class will make the greatest success in his profession when he goes out to put the knowledge he has acquired to the practical test. It is undoubtedly true that the student in a naval academy will, during the course of his studies, show the materials of which he is made, and will give some evidence of what he will accomplish afterward. Many of the best scholars have been failures after their education was completed, and many who did not give any very bright promise have achieved success when their opportunity arrived, and have surprised those who were almost ready to call them stupid and predict that they would turn out to be failures. It is never safe to reckon a young man up and say what he will come to in after life. Some of the most promising turn out the poorest, and some who give no evidence of possessing brilliant traits are found to be competent, and in emergencies develop powers for which no one gave them credit. Little to Distinguish Him from Others. It is not, therefore, at all strange that during young Dewey's career as a naval cadet no one predicted that he would reach the rank of Admiral, the highest position in our navy. It was known that he had come from good stock, that New England boys were for the most part bright, industrious and enterprising. It was known that his home life, early surroundings and teachings had been such as to develop his best and strongest traits of char- acter. From all this it might have been guessed that he would faithfully i fulfill his duties, yet there was nothing about him at the naval academy to distinguish him from many others. It is never known what a young man can do until he gets waked up and sets himself in earnest to accomplish his task. Many who have the reputation of possessing only moderate ability have never really shown what is in them, and they are not likely to show it until there is some occasion that calls forth 29 30 YOUNG DEWEY AS A NAVAL CADET. their slumbering powers and nerves them to grand achievement. For thLS reason the remark is often made that the sons of rich men are most unfor- tunate. It is not necessary that they should exert themselves to the utmost and they seldom do ; therefore very little is expected of them. The poor boy must work ; he has his own fortune to make if it ever is made, and so he is the one who is the most likely to succeed. The regular four years' Annapolis course does not seem to have been spent by young Dewey in any conspicuous manner. He does not appear to have stood out in prominence in any one thing. He has no record for mis- chief and rollicking sport as Commodore Schley had • for sternness, erraticism and ability, as Hobson. Took High Rank in His Class. He just seemed to be an ordinary, good looking, sweet tempered young naval cadet. The records of Annapolis do not show any tragedy or comedy in his life down there. He must have studied well, for out of the sixty men who entered the class in '54 young Dewey came out among the sixteen who graduated number five in rank. Of course this is not like being first, which is the record most people expect of a hero, and which is the record that most parents show up to young boys when trying to instil greatness by example in them. As far as Annapolis went young Dewey showed no sign of being an admiral. He was beloved by the men and liked by all his teachers, which traits, as we all very well know, are not the signs of genius. If any one analyzed him at Annapolis they said he was a gentleman, very fond of athletic sports, and ready to study when necessity made him. Young Dewey must have been a little worried, however, over his standing fifth in a class of sixteen. Perhaps his father was anxious that his son should have done better. Whatever the reason, when the examination for ranking came on young Dewey applied himself to his studies very vigorously. The class was called for an examination for commission, as all graduating classes are called in Annapolis, and he studied so well and answered his questions with such vigor and directness and knowledge that the examiners advanced him over two of his fellows who were above him in the academy examina- tions, and gave him the rating of No. 5 in the graduating class of 1858. This instance seems to point out a characteristic in the Admiral's tem- perament which his loyal friends in naval life love to speak of to-day. The trait is this : he seems to go in very quietly without giving people the impres- sion that he has any ability until he gets ready to act. Then when he acts he succeeds. Young Dewey's success in getting this victory over his classmates before YOUNG DEWEY AS A NAVAL CADET. 31 the Commission Examiners evidently astonished his classmates quite as much as the victory of May ist astonished his associates in the Navy. Men are so apt to judge another man as able and ambitious and brilliant if he shows reckless, impulsive action, and are always astonished when the shy, unobtru- sive ones of life do a great thing with calmness and assurance. The world never looks for brilliant achievements in a shy and modest man, yet the centuries have gone on proving that the quiet men and women sometimes develop by incident or accident into the greatest commanders and influences the world knows. So ended George Dewey's early boyhood. Called by His Classmates "The Lucky." He had gained his point in entering Annapolis, when his father had to be bitterly argued with ; he had been appointed alternate and had won the battle over the alternate, and had entered into his chosen life work. He had been one of sixty to enter the Naval Academy in '54 ; he had been one of six- teen to graduate out of that class of over half a hundred ; he had come out oi that sixteen five in number, and not content with that rating he had studied for two years so that when in i860 he was examined for commission he was placed over two of his classmates. These were George Dewey's first victories, and these three victories were not to be despised by any young man 23 years of age. His classmates dubbed him " The Lucky." They did not know how well they prophesied, but his luck was of the kind that the world often misnames ; the luck which knows desperately hard work. All the stories of Dewey's early life have, of course, become of great in- terest to the reading public since his grand work at Manila has made him famous. When he was a young lieutenant he was located in Maine, and on one occasion was compelled to answer in court for a transaction that has since been related, yet with some divergence from the truth. To George F. Plaisted, an old and highly respected resident of York, Me., belongs the unique distinction of being the only man who ever placed Admiral George Dewey under arrest. An absurdly inaccurate and misleading statement as to how this came about has gone the rounds of the press, but the facts are set forth tersely and interestingly in a letter which Mr. Plaisted 'allowed to be published and which is as follows : — "The story of my fining Lieutenant Dewey for assault some thirty years ago, which has appeared in many newspapers of late, was not authorized by me, and is incorrect in its essential parts. In the published story it was said that Lieutenant Dewey thrashed a United States marine at the Kittery Navy Yard, and that Justice Plaisted heard the complaint and fined Dewey ^25. 32 YOUNG DEWEY AS A NAVAL CADET. The fine, so ran the story, was promptly paid, the lieutenant remarking with a chuckle, as he paid over the money, that it was worth $2$ to have had the pleasure of thrashing such a disgrace to the United States navy. " Now, the law of Maine gives a trial Justice jurisdiction only to the extent of a ten-dollar fine. In the next place, if Lieutenant Dewey had assaulted a United States marine he would have been court-martialed if tried at all, and no civil authority would have had jurisdiction. Thirdly, I never was a trial . Justice. " The facts, however, are these : I was at that time a deputy sheriff in and for the county of York, and as such arrested Lieutenant, now Rear Admiral, George Dewey for an alleged assault. He objected to my making the arrest as he was a United States officer, and claimed that I had no authority in the premises. I did arrest him, however, and, as you will sec by the photograph of my sheriff's docket, he was fined ^5 ^f'd costs of court, the costs amount- ing to ^8.8o, a total fine of g 13.80. Hit Him on the Head with a Speaking Trumpet. " Lieutenant Dewey was then a young man and felt quite grand with his stripes. He has doubtless learned a great deal since then. He looked upon me with disdain, and thought a country deputy sheriff wasn't anybody. He was not satisfied that I could legally arrest him, so at his suggestion we repaired to the Commodore's office to have that point settled. " The Commodore listened while Lieutenant Dewey stated his side of the case. He then asked me if I was an officer, and if so what kind. I told him. He asked for the warrant. I showed it to him. Then, after prodding me with a few more questions, the Commodore turned to Lieutenant Dewey and said: ' Lieutenant,the young man is right, and you had better prepare for trial.' " That rather took the wind out of Dewey's sails, and in due time he was tried with the result shown on the docket. Garland, the complainant, was a private citizen, and Lieutenant Dewey had hit him a lively crack on the head with a speaking trumpet. " Thirty years have elapsed since I became acquainted with Lieutenant Dewey, and but for his unparalleled victory over the Spanish fleet at Manila I probably would never have been reminded of the episode of so long ago which led up to that acquaintance. " George F. Plaisted." The town of York in which Mr. Plaisted lives adjoins that of Kittery, in which the so-called Portsmouth Navy Yard is located. The old-time assault case, which Mr. Plaisted now recalls, and as to the disposition of which his CO o o IT I- < o Ul < LU I I- CO UJ O q: o I CO z < Q. CO 111 I Q Z LU < Ul to 0. O o DC to UJ I- < to o UJ z u. O z o p 5 u Q. UJ LANDING OF UNITED STATES TROOPS IN THE PHILIPPINES ^iWP'V"'*.?*' " < u. O I z < z Q < O m z o C3 z i o _l o C3 z < CO a: O < OUR SOLDIER BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES WRITING HOME AGUINALDO, THE INSURGENT LEADER OF THE FILIPINOS CAPTURE OF PAGSAJAN BV THE AMERICAN LAND AND NAVAL FORCES GENERAL FREDERICK FUNSTON FAMOUS FOR HIS CHARGE ON THE TRENCHES OF THE INSUBQENT8 %<»ryM.'-w ! vint and did them himself." " Doubtless, doubtless," said the admiral, laughing. " I want you to remember, John," said Mr, Dewey, severely, " that it ij, 58 DEWEY'S FIRST BATTEE. strictly against the rules of this ship to throw anything over the sides. You came very near striking me in the head with your glass-tossing." " That were a pity, sor." "A pity!" exclaimed Dewey, savagely, " by Jim, I'd have come up and had you strung up at the mainyard arm, like a dog." " No, sor, axin' yer pardon, I hope not." " What's that ? " roared the admiral, angrily. " Throth, sor, d'ye mind, the mornin' tellin' me that ye was to do the thinkin' an' I was to obey orders, even if I bruk owners ? " Another Anecdote of Dewey. The two laughed heartily at this hit, and John went below with flying colors. " I was with Commodore Dewey when he was the executive officer of the Colorado," said a financier, " and I remember one incident which shows the manner of man he is. We had a fine crew, some of them as powerful men as I ever saw. Four or five of them went ashore one day and came back fighting drunk. " The order was given to put them in irons, and it was found impossible to carry out the order, for the men were dangerous. Dewey was notified of the situation. He was writing a letter in his room at the time. " He went to the place where these giants were, and he told them to iome out and submit to the irons. They did not stir. Then Dewey said quietly to an orderly : ' Bring me my revolvers. ' And when he had his pistols he again called upon the men to come out and they did not move. Then he said : ' I am going to count three, if you are not out here with your hands held up on the third count you won't come out of that place alive.' " He counted nne, then he cocked the revolvers, and counted two. We all expected to henr the report, for we knew that Dewey meant what he said. The men kncv it, too. They stepped out just in time to save their lives and held up their hands, and they had been partially sobered by their fright and the moral effect of Dewey's glance. " One of them said afterward that when he saw Dewey's eyes he knew that he would either be a dead jackey in a moment or he would have to yield, and when the irons were put upon him he was as sober as he ever was in his life. Dewey went back to his room and finished the letter he was writing." In 1867 he was attached to the Naval Academy on shore duty, which position he retained until 1870. He was then transferred to the Narragansett of which ship he had charge for five years. During that time he rose to the position of commander. DEWEY'S FIRST BATTLE. 6S In 1876 came his shore duty again, and he was attached to the Light- house Board, and in 1882 he went on sea duty in the Asiatic Squadron as commander of the Juanita. Other commanders envied him his next posi- tion, for he was made captain of the Dolphin. This boat was the first vessel of o'or new navy and was built in 1884 and used as a coast dispatch boat. He only remained here a year, however, before he was transferred to the Pensacola, the flagship of the European Squadron. One interesting story is told of him while in command of that vessel. While the boat was at Malta a number of sailors went on shore and engaged in a street brawl. An alarm was turned in, but the navvies succeeded in escaping to their ships. The next morning the captain of the port came out to the Pensacola to complain to Captain Dewey of the actions of his sailors. " What can I do ? " asked Dewey. ' "Why, your men raised a riot on shore, and you can assist me in arrest- ing and punishing them," was the reply. The American captain was very courteous in the expression of regret that sailors of the Pensacola should be lawless when on shore leave, but could see no way in which he might assist his visitor in searching out the guilty ones. The reply of the naval officer angered the redcoat, who said, somewhat peremptorily : " You certainly can parade your crew before me in order that the rioters may be identified." Looking aloft and pointing to the Stars and Stripes waving at the mast- head, Dewey made reply: " The deck of this vessel is United States territory, and I'll parade my men for no foreigner that ever drew breath." Chief of the Bureau of Equipment. Dewey remained in command of the European Squadron until 1888, when he was again transferred to shore duty. His first assignment was as chief of the Bureau of Equipment ; then he served on the Lighthouse Board, and then, in 1896, he was made commodore. Under this title he was placed at the head of the Inspection Board. Commodore Dewey's health in the summer of 1897 was not very good. It was never of the best, and when on shore duty the fearful heat of this summer prostrated him. He was fast approaching the age limit for active service in the navy and was getting very much shattered by the continued shore duty, as his presence was constantly demanded by his position on the Inspection Board. "Just take one more cruise," urged his friends. "The limit of service will soon be over, and if you take one more cruise in healthful waters you may recover your health entirely." That Dewey made this cruise we all 60 DEWEY'S FIRST BATTLE. know, but the reasons for this cruise, the methods and manner of getting it are very interesting stories to Hsten to among naval circles and down in Washington. It is hard to tell which is the true story, but every one has a different side to tell why Dewey went to China. Some say his assignment to the Asiatic squadron was for the reason just given, that his health was very poor and his time limit for active service so close at hand that four years on the water would do him good. Others say that Dewey's position was wanted by other men in the ser- vice, who were thought to be stronger, more determined in action, more bril- liant in daring. The winter of 1897-98 was as filled with rumors of war as the year '60, when he went into the navy. There wasn't a commander who did not think that the bulk of the war would lie on the Atlantic Coast, and that great things would be done there with the Atlantic squadron. Dewey was very high in command, yet he was sick and nearly out of the service. The younger ones and more impetuous ones wanted to be made commanders and admirals themselves, and, so it is said that out of all the talking and prospecting the Navy Department was prevailed upon to send Commodore Dewey to a safe and far-away spot, where his few ships would be out of danger's way, in the background and out of the way of men who wanted to succeed him. Assigned to the Asiatic Squadron. These are rumors, all of them, but, if so, it is a delightful trick of fate that helped Admiral Dewey to win, for it breaks a man's heart to be sent away from the fire line in time of war. Roxane was full of subtle knowledge when she persuaded the French commander to leave Cyrano de Begerac in the background, when the others went to war ; but, " Man proposes and God disposes," as runs the old proverb, and if Dewey was sent to the back- ground by forethought, his was an admiral victory over human intelligence. There is another story which has more likelihood in it than this rumor, and comes with higher authority. It is this : Dewey's assignment to the Asiatic squadron was opposed by many who were high enough to keep him on shore duty, but Senator Redfield Proctor, who was a life-long friend of Dewey's, saw to it that the commodore got the cruise which his health seemed to need very badly. He had a very difficult operation performed at this time, and Senator Proctor so presented the case to President McKinley, and made of it so personal a request, that the administration assigned the commodore to the squadron then at Hong Kong. During his life in Washmgton Commodore Dewey lived the role of a man of the world and oi affairs, Bei ^g a widower he spent much of his timf DEWEY'S FIRST BATTLE. 61 rit the club, and was known to be an exquisite in dress and a man who paid •■he greatest attention to the forms and rules of society. His grooming was so perfect that his friends in the Army and Navy Corps always referred to him good natu redly as " Dewey the Dude." They did not mean for a mo- ment that he was what the word " dude " really signifies to us, for with Anglo-Saxons it is a term of contempt. He did not dress in loud clothes or extreme fashions, but he always looked as he did when a boy: just been unwrapped from tissue paper. A Social Lion in Washington. He went out socially in Washington a great deal, and was an honored guest at the most exclusive houses. Not only his rank as commander in the navy entitled him to the first invitations of the capital, but added to this dis- tinction he was a member of one of the first families of Vermont. He would have had the most exclusive doors of society opened to him had he been only a plain civilian. He was a member of the fashionable Metropolitan Club; was very fond of horses, a splendid whip, and loved his thoroughbreds as some men love their children. Whenever they had arrived at the age limit of active service he mustered them out with honor, and gave them a field of clover and good attention for the rest of their lives. He was always consid- ered a man of the world by those who knew him, and it was only through one of his boyhood friends that his real aversion to society was told. "George Dewey," said this man, "dislikes society in its ordinary sense very much. I have known him ever since he was a boy in knickerboclccrs Then he was shy, not fond of the girls and easily embarrassed. He is isoi any more fond of the women to-day as a man than he was of the girls as a young boy, nor does he care for the round of social gayeties any more than he did in the early days in Montpelier, when wild horses could not drag him to a dance, church festival, or any merrymaking. Yet Dewey has gained the reputation of being a great social man because one sees him at every high social function in Washington, and in foreign capitals. He goes because it is his idea of duty. He does not want to go to anything social, but he goes because he is invited. He thinks if any one is kind enough to invite him it is his courtesy to respond to that invitation in person. He has the highest sense of duty of any man I ever knew, and carries it into the smallest details of his life. " Where other men who are more used to society, and are not in the least shy, say, ' I won't go to this or that or the other thing, because it is too slow,' or ' I don't like the people,' or ' There is no fun to be had there,' or ' They are not worth while/ Dewey had no such reasons. He simply puts on his dress 62 DEWEY'S FIRST BATTLE. suit and goes. He may stay but a minute or he may stay the whole evening if he finds the hostess gives him the wall flowers and dowagers to take care of. He always got along with the older women because they did not expect hin? to talk much. " My own impression is that Dewey also dislikes as much as the rest o\ us to be continually dressing and keeping immaculate, but he considers it his duty. It is this same conception of his social obligations which leads him into the reputation he has gotten in Manila of going everywhere and always being perfectly dressed, even in the heat of battle, and of being punctilious in returning and paying calls due to his position. " A man who is not shy would not care socially whether he did the right thing or not. He would do it under certain regulations, but he would take social life more easily and ignore it when he stayed at home, not caring what people thought, but George Dewey is sensitive and he would not have people think him rude for anything in the world. But he knew how to cut the cable when he did not want to talk. That is another pretty good instance of Dew- ey's character. " I doubt very much," concluded his friend, " if he said twenty-five words during the battle of Manila. One of the things which is reported of him sounds as much like him as possible ; I could just hear him saying it. It was when the great tumbling shells came over the Olympia and the men on the upper deck, those who were nervous, ducked their heads as the roaring things came tumbling through the air, rebounding from the surface of the water The Admiral stood erect on the bridge, never moving an eyelash, as he turned to the dodging men and said, with a smile : ' Don't dodge, boys ; they can't hurt you after they've passed.' " Ordered to Destroy the Spanish Fleet. Commodore Dewey received his appointment from shore duty to the Pacific Squadron in January, 1898. He went at once aboard the Olympia, his flagship, stationed then at Hong Kong, China. Only a few weeks after this transferral there came the declaration of war between Spain and the United States. At once he was cabled the most momentous message he had ever received. It was from Mr. Long, Secretary of the Navy, and read : " Destroy or capture the Spanish fleet." War was declared on Monday ; Dewey's fleet sailed from the Chinese roadstead for Manila on Wednesday. It was the greatest summons of his life. The long-ago order from Far- ragut, which had sent him following the Admiral's flag up the Mississippi River, was as great a nerve-thrilling experience, but there he followed • this day he was to lead. ■A DEWEY'S FIRST BATTLE. 63 Who can tell what thoughts go through the brain of a man who knows the eyes of his country and the world are upon him for defeat or victory at a cer- tain hour? The best answer is probably the one made by a man experienced to danger and responsibility, that he is not thinking of anything except jus how to manage and organize that particular hour. The man who stops to think how he shall look before the world is lost. False Estimates of Men. It is very easy to get a wrong estimate of men and give them less credit for powers they really possess than belongs to them. We size a man up and perhaps set him down as rather weak and insignificant. Who can tell the kind of stuff any man is made of until the crisis hour comes and he is compelled to act ? Those who knew George Dewey in his early life did not predict for him a career so illustrious. But Napoleon said, " The test of a gun is that it shoots." After we see what a man can do we are compelled to form an estimate of what the man is himself It is only just to say that after Dewey's heroic deeds under Admiral Farragut the prediction that he would rise to the highest position if the occa- sion was offered, must have been made by every thoughtful person who studied the make-up of the man. As to his always being well dressed and showing himself to be a stickler for the rules and customs of polite society, there is a certain cultured and dignified element among our people who will rather commend this and look with contempt upon those who belittle it. They might call him " Dewey the Dude," but he was not afraid of getting his clothes soiled at Manila. CHAPTER V. Story of Admiral Dewey's Magnificent Victory as Told in "The Bounding Billow," Official Organ of the Fleet. 3T may surprise some of our readers to be informed that a part of the equipment of some of the ships which took part in the battle of Manila was a full set of type, a jjrinting press, and men who could do the type-setting and press-work. One of the men on Dewey's flagship Olympia published from time to time a paper entitled The Bounding Billow, which contained a full record of all the happenings on board the various ships of the fleet. This is a fine evidence of the intelligence and education that characterize the men who enter the American Navy. They are something more than mere machines. They are intelligent, brainy men who are not more remark- able for their patriotism than they are for their hard sense, their tact and the ability they possess to do everything that needs to be done on board a man- of-war. The majority of the officers of our Navy are cultured men. They enjoyed good educational advantages in early life, and of course in order to graduate from the Naval Academy they must have been good scholars in many of the branches taught in our best' universities. The intelligence that characterizes the men who compose our Navy accounts largely for our wonderful success in the Spanish-American War. Napoleon I. said, " Ideas rule the world." We certainly had an illustration of this in the superb achievement of our navy at Santiago and in Manila Bay. Our men were quick to think and equally quick to plan and execute. They could take advantage of every situation. Our gunners could shoot and our officers could command. There was something more than blind courage ; there was always intelligent action. Speaking of the paper published on board the flagship Olympia, the reader will find a special interest in the following graphic account of the battle of Manila taken from the pages of The Bounding Billow. We insert the de- scription of Dewey's superb victory just as we find it in the page.n of that publication. It was written on board the flagship by the editor, who had every oppor- tunity to take in the whole situation, and his account can therefore be de- pended upon as reliable ; it is the description of men in the battle. «4 SIGHTING A HOTCHKISS REVOLVING GUN HOTCHKISS QUICK FIRING Pi'NS IN THE MILITARY MAST SINGLE STICK EXERCISE ^ROyP OF OUPEST l3LyEJACKET§ TRAI'IING A 15-INCH GUN TAISINQ SOU, PINGS OR HEAVING THE LEAP NAVAL MANCEUVRES-TORPEDO PRACTICE t. IN THE SEA-BOATS, LAYING BY THE TARGET: THE TORPEDO FINISHES ITS RUN BY LEAPING INTO THE AIR. 2. THE MIDDY AND THE COXWAIN IN THE SEA-BOAT 9, BRlNGINO THE TORPEDO ALONGSIDE. MAJOR GENERAU WESLEY MERRITT 1. A FILIPINO VILLAGE NEAR MANILA: TROOPS DRILLING IN THE MAIN STREET. 2. OUT- POSTS IN TOUCH: AMERICAN ON THE NEAR SIDE OF THE BRIDGE, FILIPINO BEYONp. ;. A SPANISH FORT AT MANILA. 4. AT QAVITE : A §PANI3H Oy N-BOAT, GENERAL OTIS Commander of the American Forces in the Philippine Islands K O •i m Pi CO U |(r-^f ' ".-.^.m't ■>s>^v.'^i^>A>': ■■■.'V^W-W^VW;^^ THE DEWEY SWORD ^ THE GIFT OF THE NATION TO ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY, U. S. N., IN MEMORY OF THE VICTORY AT MANILA BAY, MAY 1st, 1898 MADE BY TIFFANY &. CO., NEW YORK STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIR THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY. THE U. S. FLEET GAINS A DECISIVE VICTORY OVER THE SPANIARDS — NOT A MAN KILLED AMONG THE AMERICANS. The U. S. Fleet consisting of the Olympia (Flagship), Boston, Raleigh, Baltimore, Concord, Petrel, McCulloch (Dispatch boat) and the transports, Nanshan, and Zafiro (merchant steamers carrying coal for the fleet) left Mirs TURRET OF A UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP. Bay, China, April 27th, 1898, for Manila, Philippine Islands, to engage the Spanish Fleet stationed there. The ships made a very warlike and imposing picture as they steamed out of the harbor in three columns, with all colors flying, bent on their dire and fateful errand. A looker on would have thought that the ships were merely going on a pleasure trip judging by the happy and careless demeanor of the crews ; but unless they have experienced it, they would never guess the strain that the uncertainty of whether we were really going to war or not, was on the nerves 5-D 66 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. of these men who had almost nothing to divert their minds. Once the suspense was reheved, however, and a definite move made, there was a com- plete change and they went about their different tasks as blithesome and gay as if it were extended leave instead of grim war. The second day out the following intellectual abortion was posted on the bulletin board. For arrogance and conceit it certainly caps the climax ; for a sample of ignorance and idiocy it is unsurpassable. ! A Spaniard's Boastful Proclamation. The following high-sounding Proclamation was issued by the Governor- General of the Philippines : — " Spaniards : Between Spain and the United States of North America hostilities have broken out. The moment has arrived to prove to the world that we possess the spirit to conquer those who, pretending to be loyal friends, take advantage of our misfortunes and abuse our hospitality, using means which civilized nations count unworthy and disreputable. " The North American people, constituted of all the social excrescences, have exhausted our patience and provoked war with their perfidious machina- tions, with their acts of treachery, and with their outrages against the laws of nations and international treaties. "The struggle will be short and decisive. The God of victories will give us one as complete as the righteousness and justice of our cause demands. Spain, which counts upon the sympathies of all the nations, will emerge triumphant from this new test, humiliating and blasting the adven- turers from those States that, without cohesion and without a history, offer to humanity only infamous traditions and the spectacle of a Congress in which appear united insolence and defamation, cowardice and cynicism. " A squadron manned by foreigners, possessing neither instruction nor discipline, is preparing to come to this archipelago with the ruffianly inten- tion of robbing us of all that means life, honor and liberty. Pretending to be inspired by a courage of which they are incapable, the North American seamen undertake as an enterprise capable of realization the substitution of Protestantism for the Catholic religion you profess, to treat you as tribes refractory to civilization, to take possession of your riches as if they were unacquainted with the rights of property, and to kidnap those persons whom they consider useful to man their ships or to be exploited in agricultural or industrial labor! " Vain designs I Ridiculous boastings ! Your indomitably bravery will suffice to frustrate the attempt to carry them into realization. You will not consent that they shall profane the faith that you profess, that impious foot STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. 67 steps shall defile the temple of the true God, nor that unbelief shall destroy the holy images which you adore. The aggressors shall not profane the tombs of your fathers, they shall not gratify their lustful passions at the cost of your wives and daughters' honor, nor appropriate the property which your industry has accumulated to assure your livelihood. No, they shall not per- petrate any of these crimes inspired by their wickedness and covetousness, because your valor and patriotism will suffice to punish and abase the people that, claiming to be civilized and cultivated, have exterminated the natives of North America instead of bringing to them the life of civilization and progress. " Philippinos, prepare for the struggle and, united under the glorious flag of Spain, which is ever covered with laurels, let us fight with the con- viction that victory will crown our efforts, and to the summons of our enemies let us oppose with the decision of the Christian and tn^; patriot the cry of ' Viva Espana.' " Your General, " Basilio Agustin y Davila." A Pithy and Convincing Answer. This unjust and cowardly manifesto aroused the anger and indignation of every man in the fleet, and many were the subterranean growls and the learned General would have fared badly had he been at hand. The following speech was made by the Editor (being the literary organ and representative, in answer to the foregoing proclamation. " Shipmates : You all no doubt, have seen and read the rank and cowardly attack, made by the Spanish governor of Manila on the Glorious Flag and Country we serve. " In it he questions our bravery, our birth-rights, the honesty of our government and claims that we have no history! What do the acts of our forefathers represent? What was the glorious fight they made for independ- ence in the war of '"J^, when father and son left their plow in the furrow and shouldered their muskets for liberty, while wives, mothers and daughters cheered them on to victory? What was the war of 1812 and the Mexican war ? History all, and honorable jmstaincd history at that ! "What does he mean by saying we are ' a cowardly nation?' 'Old Glory,' the dear old flag we serve and love, harbors no cowards. Where- ever seen it is recognized as the emblem of freedom and honor, the standard of a nation of heroes, and though he may prate and proclaim from now until 'hades freezes over,' he will never make any but the most benighted or bigoted believe that he is even sane. "The sight of Our Flag is like a breath of pure, fresh air. Its very colors are significant ; the red is emblematic of the blood of heroes shed in 68 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. the defense of our country ; the white the purity of our aims and objects, and the star-spangled blue the Heaven we look to for guidance and strength. ■' Then this Spanish Solomon goes on to inform the brave muchachos under his sovereign command, that we are a gang of cut-throat Protestant heretics who will convert them ' willy nilly ' into a belief in our faith ; that we are marauders and thieves ; that we are the scourings off the earth's gutters, ' social excrescences ' (soft impeachment,) and lastly that we had veritably driven them on to war, manufacturing causes and insulting them because we knew, or rather, thought they were weak. Barbarities Practiced by Spain. " Shipmates, you all know what has brought on this war. The bar- barous inhumanities practiced by them in the Island of Cuba, right before our eyes. Old men and women cruelly tortured and slain, babes murdered on their mother's breasts, thousands of peaceful homes ruined and destroyed by these Spanish fiends, the dear old Stars and Stripes trampled in the mud of Spanish streets, and last, worst of all, the tragedy that has been too lately enacted to be forgotten, the destruction of the Maine, when brothers, friends and shipmates were foully murdered through Spanish treachery and hatred, an act that has won for Spain the aversion of all civilized nations. These acts have brought on the war. Acts the wildest savage would disdain, crimes that none but the lowest of Lucifer's emissaries would commit. It is to aven'ge these wrongs, to give blessed liberty to an oppressed and down- trodden nation, and to uphold the honor of our country that we are going to war with Spain. The Governor says the Spanish flag is covered with laurels; perhaps, but they are laurels of infamy. " Fellow patriots, when the hour arrives we will one and all gladly lay down our lives for the dear flag and beloved country that has never had one stain to blemish the purity of its escutcheon. I know of no words that will appeal more forcibly to your hearts than those of the ' Patriot Poet ' Holmes in the beautiful poem, — THE FLOWER OF FREEDOM. "What flower is this, that greets the morn, Its hues from Heaven so freshly born. With burning star and flaming band It kindles all the sunset land, O ! tell me what its name may be? It is the 'Flower of Liberty! ■'Behold its streaming rays unite, One mingling flood ol" braided light, STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. The red that fires the southern rose With spotless white, from northern snows, While spangled o'er its azure, see The sister stars of liberty ! The blades of heroes fence it round, Where e'er it springs is holy ground. It makes the land, as ocean free, And plants an empire, on the sea. " Thy sacred folds, fair freedom's flower, Shall ever float from dome and tower. To all their heavenly colors true In blackening frost or crimson dew. O ! land where thy banners wave last in the sun, Blazoned with star clusters, many in one ! Waving o'er mountain and prairie and sea. Hark ! 'tis the voice of thy children to thee. Here at thine altar our vows we renew E'er in thy cause to be loyal and true. True to thy flag on the field and the wave, Living to honor it, dying to save. " Flag of the heroes, who left us tlieir glory Borne through their battle field's thunder and flame, Blazoned in song and ihumined in story, AVaves o'er us all, who inherit their fame. Light of our firmament, guide of our nation. Pride of her children and honored afar, E'er the bright Ijeams of thy full constellation. Shall scatter each cloud that would darken a star. "Yet if by madness or treachery blighted, Dawns the dark hour when the sword thou must draw Then with the arms of thy millions united. Smite the bold traitors to freedom and law. Lord of the Universe, shield us and guide us, Trusting thee alwa)S through shadow and sun. Thou hast united us ; who shall divide us? Keep us ! O keep us ! The ' Many in One.' Up with our banner bright, Spangled with starry light ; Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore, While thro' the sounding sky, Loud rings the nation's cry. Union and Liberty ! One evermore 1 " "0 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. "And now shipmates, when we get to Manila and meet the Spanish murderers, let our battle cry be, — " Remember the Maine And down with Spain ! " About two o'clock Saturday morning land was sighted, and at daylight we were close on the coast of the enemy's country. We kept about five or six miles from the coast line, keeping a bright look out for men-o'-war or other craft of the enemy. During the morning the Boston and Concord were sent ahead to reconnoiter Subig Bay, as it was rumored that there were two men-o'-war there. Later we sighted a couple of fishing sehooners. The transport Zafiro was sent to board one. They informed the officer that there were only two gunboats in Manila Harbor. We knew they were lying, but allowed them to proceed without molestation. In the afternoon the light house on Cape Bolinao was sighted, and the Baltimore was sent ahead to reconnoiter. When the fleet reached Subig Bay the Baltimore was close in shore while the Boston and Concord were stand- ing out toward us. They had seen nothing of the enemy. The fleet then formed in column again and proceeded for Manila. Danger from Mines and Torpedoes. It was Commodore Dewey's intention to pass the large fort on Corregidor Island, twenty six miles from Manila, about midnight if possible, without being seen. It was a bold move and certainly deserved the success that crowned it, for there was great danger of mines and torpedoes being placed in the entrance, to say nothing of the guns on the forts. The harbor had in fact been considered impregnable and no doubt it was, but not against Yankee grit and daring. At about midnight we were standing up Manila Bay at a speed of four knots. We had been in hopes that the moon would go down as its light was rather annoying to our hopes of entering undiscovered, but he seemed determined to stay out and see the fun. The guns were all manned and kept trained on the fort, while eyes and ears were strained watching and waiting for the shot that would indicate our discovery. Cor- regidor fort was on our left while another battery somewhat further in was on our right hand. On board the ships everything was quiet, and nothing could be heard but the officers giving the range in whispers and the monotonous swash swash, of the water. The strain was terrible, and not one of the men that manned that fleet will ever forget the morning of the " First of May." FORM OF APPOINTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY, MADE AT CAVITE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, AND SIGNED BY CAPTAIN LAMBERTO_I, CHIEF OF STAFF TO ADMIRAL DEWEY. 71 72 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. Suddenly a flash of light was seen on the fort on Corregidor. The men hold their breath waiting the report, but it was only a rocket. Soon another goes up, a light on shore flashes out signals, another on the other side and we know we are seen. It is afterwards rumored that two torpedoes had been fired at us, but they did not have range enough to reach us. At seventeen minutes past twelve the battery on our right opened fire, the shell passing between the Olynipia and Baltimore. The Raleigh answered immediately. Another shot between the Concord and Boston was answered by the latter and the McCulloch. The McCulloch then turned back to look after the transports. The Flagship signaled to the McCulloch, "Are you all right?" McCulloch answered " O. K." It was too dark for the Boston and Raleigh to locate the batteries, so they ceased firing. None of the ships were struck. Ready for the Opening Signal. About 3.20 word was passed to " lay by your guns and take it easy." Some of the men " lay," but " taking it easy " was out of the question. The decks were sprinkled with sand, and it would get into eyes, ears and nose, scratch the skin, and occasionally some one would stroll over your recumbent form, as leisurely as if on parade, for all lights were out and the decks were as dark as Erebus. At four o'clock, coffee was served out and the stillness was broken by the clashing of bowls and the merry laughter occasioned by collisions in the dark. Everybody was as happy as though on an excursion, jokes and witty stories were going the rounds, while every once in a awhile some pensive niglitingull would strike up the affecting song " Just Before the Battle, Mother," until some one spilled a bowl of " boot-leg " over him and quieted him for a few minutes. The men were all in " war-clothes " (which consisted of almost nothing) and despite the joking and laughing, the determined gleam in their eyes showed that they meant business and were there to " do or die." We were standing in toward the city to reconnoiter. Several foreign sailing vessels were laying off Manila, but no men-o'-war could be seen. At twelve minutes to five we broke " Old Glory " at the mast-heads and gaff and were saluted with a ten-inch shell from a battery on the south bastion of 'the city. This fort kept up a continual fire, but all the shots fell short. We did not return their fire, but headed in for the Navy Yard at Cavite. The Spanish fleet were sighted at seven minutes to five. They were laying in line from Sangley Point to Las Pinas across Cavite and Canacao Bays. Their right flank was protected by Cavite peninsula on which was mounted a very heavy battery. The left flank reached to the shoal part of the Bay near Las Pinas. STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. 73 The Spanish vessels were further protected by a huge boom covered with chains, h'ghters filled with stones and water, covering the water lines. The Reina Cristina was standing off the left flank of the line, and had the Spanish Rear Admiral Montojo y Pasaron on board. At 5.35 the ball was opened by the batteries on Sangley Point and a shell fell near the Olympia. The American fleet then advanced to the attack, ^ the flagship leading. Commodore Dewey personally directed the movements of the squadron from the forward bridge. The Captain directed the firing while the Captains in command of the other vessels handled their respective ships with a dexterity that was little short of marvelous. "The Men Behind the Guns." At 5.38 the Reina Cristina opened fire followed by the rest of the Spanish fleet. At 5.55 the American fleet began firing, and a rapid fire waa kept up by the entire fleet during the engagement. A torpedo boat came out about ten minutes past six and endeavored to place itself in the track oj the Olympia, but was driven ashore b}' the rapid-fire guns. Another boat came out and fired a torpedo which passed across the bow of the McCulloch,. but did no damage. Before the boat could escape it was struck by so many shots that nothing was left of it but smoke. There were several torpedo attacks made on the other vessels, but luckily all were effectualy repulsed or blown up. This was mainly due to the good marksmanship of the " men behind the guns." The American fleet steamed along the entire length of the Spanish line at distances varying from 5600 to 1500 yards. The order was given to fire on the arsenal in Cavite, and a well-directed shot from an eight-inch gun sent it up in smoke. This was at 6.45 and our fleet had just made the first round. We passed the line of ships and forts five times, three times from the east- ward and twice from the westward. On the second round from the westward the Spanish Admiral made a desperate effort to get outside the boom, but received a concentrated fire from the fleet. His ship caught fire and he transferred his flag to the Castilla, first hauling down the colors on the Reina Cristina. The American ships then stopped firing at the latter and kept a continual storm of steel raining on the enemy's other ships and forts. The Don Antonio de Ulloa also made a desperate but futile attempt to get out. She went down with her colors flying at her peak until the Petrel lowered a boat and cut them away. The flag was presented to Commodore Dewey. In the meantime the Spanish Admiral returned to the Reina Cristina, the Castilla being in a sinking condition. The Spanish fought very 74 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. courageously, many of them going down fighting their guns until the last. Even amidst the horrors and cruelties of war, one cannot help remarking and admiring the valor of these heroes, Spaniards and enemies though they be. It was on this round that the Boston stood like a fort for ten minutes firing as fast as they could load and aim, receiving the concentrated fire of all the Spanish ships. The Olympia was twice hulled, but the shells did not penetrate sufficiently to do much damage. Although shot and shell rained thick around her she was struck but eight times, and miraculous though it , may be, not a man was injured. The other ships in the fleet thought the Flagship was sinking, for all that could be seen of her was a cloud of smoke and jets of flame bursting through. One shot struck the Baltimore in the starboard waist just abaft one of the 6 inch guns. It passed through the hammock netting, exploded a couple of 3 pounder shells, wounding six men, then across the deck striking the cylinder of a gun making it temporarily useless, then running around the shield it spent itself between two ventilators just forward of the engine room hatch. The shell is in possession of the Captain. The other vessels also, with the exception of the Concord and Petrel, were struck several times. Our Fleet Makes Havoc of the Foe. At about half past-seven the Spanish fire slackened. The Reina Cristina was on fire and sinking, the Castilla was sunk and many others were afire and crippled. The fort on the mole at Pasig River had ceased firing. At 7.56 we stood off shore for the middle of the bay, the batteries in the forts on Sangley Point, along the beach of Cavite and on the south bastion of Manila kept up a continuous but ineffective fire. The crews had breakfast and a rest which they certainly needed, though they were every one anxious to continue and have it out. The batteries on Cavite Icept up a continual fire, but the range was too long and they did no further damage than to waste their ammunition. A conference of Commanders was held on board the Flagship, and at 10.15 the fleet stood in to silence the batteries. The Baltimore led, Olympia followed close behind while the Raleigh and Boston formed on the right flank. The Concord and Petrel diverged to the left and manoeuvered to get behind the point on which the forts were situated. The two leading vessels steamed in bows on, and when about 1500 yards from the batteries opened fire with their large guns. As the Boston and Raleigh came up the Flagship drew back while the Baltimore remained stationary, delivering shot after shot with such telling effect that in twenty minutes she silenced the two most dangerous guns, HONORABLE DISCHARGE FROM THE UNITED STATES NAVY OF COXSWAIN CAR ROLL, WHO WAS IN THE BATTLE OF MANILA MAY IST; ALSO AT THE BOM- BARDMENT OF MANILA AUGUST I3TH, AND SIGNED BY CAPTAIN COGHLAN, COMMANDER OF THE RALEIGH. 75 76 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIR The Boston and Rakigh steamed along the point, delivering broadsides as they went at the remaining fort on Sangley Point. In the meantime thp brave little battle-ships Petrel aud Concord steamed in behind the point and attacked the forts from the rear, utterly demoralizing the Spaniards. The Concord fired a few shots at the transport Midanao which had been run on the shoals off Las Pinas, and after being assured that there was no life on board set the vessel on fire. At twenty minutes past twelve a white flag went up near Cavite and the bombardment ceased. The Petrel was sent up the Ciran River to destroy the gunboats that had retreated there. The Boston and Concord remained off the Navy Yard while the rest of the fleet proceeded to the city to silence the fort there, that had been so per- sistent in making itself heard. Just as we got in range they ran up the " white flag," and when the sun set that night its last rays rested like a benediction on " Old Glory '' waving proudly from mast head and peak of Uncle Sam's doughty arbitrators. How the Victory was Won. Superior tactical knowledge and calm calculations, superior gunnery and coolness together with Yankee daring won the day. The next day the Petrel went into the bay and brought out a number of steam launches, two tugs and a couple of small boats, which were distributed among the fleet. The surrender of all the vessels of war, forts and arsenals in the bay was demanded and given. The surrender of the city was delayed until the authorities at Washington were heard from. Apothecaries, nurses and detachments of men were sent on shore to assist in caring for and transporting the wounded to the hospitals, and bury- ing the dead. The effect of our deadly fusillade was simply frightful, the dead and wounded strewing the grounds and buildings like leaves in autumn. One of the wounded from the Reina Cristina could speak very good English, having been in America some time, but on returning to his native land on a visit had been impressed in the service. He had both le-^s .shot away. He stated that nearly all the vessels had double crews, many of them being volunteers from among the citizens, that the number of deaths wouU" never be known. He also said that no sooner had a gun been loaded than a storm of projectiles would sweep away the gun's crew. At the time the .Spanish Admiral tried to get his ship out he received such a terrible fire that the deck was one mass of bursting shell. The captain, he said, was killed almost at the first discharge. STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. 77 The Spanish Fleet Consisted of the Following Named Vessels : f Reina Cristina. (Flagship.) .... Cruiser X Castilla t Don Antonio de Ulloa " t Don Juan de Austria " t Isla de Cuba t Isla de Luzon " X General Lezo Gunboat. t Marquis del Ducro " X Elcano " t Velasco ! t Argus X Isla de Mindanao * . . . Transport. Manila Vessels sunk are marked thus (f). Vessels burnt are marked thus (X). The Luzon, Cuba, Duero, Lezo, Austria and Elcano are sunk in the mouth of Cinar River. The transport Manila, the armed tug Barcelo with a large quantity of appurtenances for laying mines, several other armed tugs and launches were captured. Since the day of the engagement the American fleet have been busy destroying fortifications, ammunition and disarming the hulks of the Spanish ships. Jolly Music During the Fight. An amusing incident which occurred during the heat of the engagement will show what an utter disregard the men had for the seriousness of the occasion. It was on board the Raleigh, two shellmen, both fair amateur musicians, would snatch moments between hustling ammunition to take, one the guitar, the other a violin, and strike up the inspiring tune " There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night," while even the Captain could not refrain from laughing at the ludicrousness of the scene. That night the scene was awful, but grand. The blaze from the burning vessel threw their lurid glare over the rack and ruin ashore and the wreck, afloat, while occasionally a magazine would burst, like the eruption of a volcano throwing its flaming debris high into the air, making a lurid picture of the horrors of modern warfare that made a lifelong impression on all that saw it. The following is the account of the battle taken from the daily paper published in Manila. To judge by the disconnected appearance of the article, the writer must have been viewing the engagement from a />mi: apple orchard 78 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. or some other place of safety a good many miles distant. However, we give the extract as it is and leave it to the judgment of our readers. (Translated from the Diario de Manila, May ^th, i8g8.) "A Naval Surprise. " When the enemy's squadron was sighted in perfect line of battle through the clouds of a misty dawn on the morning of the first of May, gloom and surprise were general among the people of Manila. At last these ships had strained their boldness to the point of appearing on our coasts and defying our batteries, which showed more courage and valor than effect when they opened fire on the squadron. It needs something more than courage to make projectiles penetrate — indeed it does ! "Every Man to His Station. " The inequality of our batteries when compared with those of the squadron which alarmed the inhabitants of Manila at five o'clock in the morning was enough to transform the tranquil character of our tropical tem- peraments. " While ladies and children in carriages or on foot fled in fright to seek refuge in the outlying suburbs and adjacent villages around the Capital from danger multiplied by their imagination, every man from the stately personage to the most humble workman, merchants and mechanics, Spaniards and na- tives, soldiers and civilians, all, we repeat, sought their stations and put on their arms, confident that never should the enemy land in Manila unless he passed over their corpses. Yet from the first moment the strength of the enemy's armor and the power of his guns demonstrated that his ships were invulnerable to our energies and our armaments, the hostile squadron would never have entered our bay had not its surety been guaranteed by its manifest superiority. "Spectators and Observers. " The city walls, the church towers, the roofs of high buildings, and all high places convenient for observation were occupied by those who were not retained by their military duties within the walls, on the bridges, or at the advanced posts. The slightest details of the enemy's ships were eagerly noted as they advanced towards Cavite in a line parallel with the beaches of Manila, as though they had just come out of the Pasig River. There were no gaps in the line, but the curious public hardly realized the disparity be- tween their great guns and the pieces mounted on our fortifications. Some had glasses and others were without ; but all seemed to devour with their STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. 79 eyes these strangers, who, while brave, were not called upon to show their courage, since the range of their guns and the weakness of our batteries enabled them to preserve their impunity while doing us as much harm as they pleased. "Remarks of the People. " All who appreciated the impunity with which the hostile ships ma- noeuvred, as if on a harmless parade, were full of such rage and desperation as belongs to the brave man who can make no use of his courage; to whom re- mains no remedy except an honorable death rather than a cowardly inactivity. "A soldier of the First Battalion of Cazadores gazed at the squadron sweeping over the waters out of reach of the fire of our batteries, looked out at the ships and then toward heaven, saying, 'If Holy Mary would turn that sea into land the Yankees would find out how we can charge in double time.' And a crouching native staring out at the ships said, ' Just let them come ashore and give us a whack at them.' On they stood at full speed in column of battle heading for Cavite with the decision due to a s^nse of safety and a firm assurance of success. "The Fight Seen from Manila. " For more than an hour and a half the bombardment held in suspense those whose souls followed the unequal struggle, in which the Spanish ships went down with their glorious banners flying. " What was going on in the waters of Cavite ? From Manila we ss.w through glasses, the two squadrons almost mingled together m the clouds of smoke. This was not far from a triumph for our side, considering the weak- ness of our batteries. For, once alongside the enemy, the cry of ' Boarders Away ! ' and the flash of cold steel might have enabled our devoted seamen to disturb the calm in which watches and instruments were regulating and directing those engines of destruction. In the blindness of our rage how should we paint the heroic deeds, the prowess, the waves of valor which burst forth from our men-of-war? Those who fought beneath the Spanish flag bore themselves like men, as chosen sons of our native land who never measure forces, nor yield to superior force in the hands of an enemy; who would rather die without ships than live in ships which have surrendered. " To name those who distinguished themselves in battle would require the publication of the entire muster-rolls of our ships, from ca,ptain to cabin- boy. To these victorious seamen of ours we offer congratubtions ; laurels for the living; prayers for the dead ; for all our deepest gratitude. Since we cannot reconstruct the bloody scene which was exhibited last Sunday in the waters of Cavite. we will not attempt a description, which would only be a 80 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. pale shadow of great deeds deserving a perpetual place in the pages of history. When the hostile squadron turned toward Cavite, the crew of the steamer Isla de Mindanao heard the drums beating to quarters, and answered with enthusiasm, the three rounds of cheers for the King, for the Queen, and for Spain, which echoed along our line. " Later, until a quarter to five, absolute silence reigned. Everything was ready. The idea of death was lost in ardor for the fray, and every eye was fixed on the battle flags waving at our mast heads. In perfect and majestic order — why should we deny this ? — the nine Yankee ships advanced in battle array. The Olympia, bearing the Admiral's flag, led the column followed by the other ships, steering at full speed toward Cavite. The Olympia opened fire, and an instant reply came from the battery on the mole, which kept on firing at five-minute intervals, while the iron-clad shaped her course for the Reina Christina and Castilla. Into both these ships she poured a steady and rapid fire seconded by the ships which followed in her wake. Another ship which directed a heavy fire on our line was the Baltimore, and so the can- nonade went on until a quarter to eight. At that moment the Don Juan de Austria advanced against the enemy intending to board the Olympia, and if a tremendous broadside had not stopped her self- devoted charge, both ships might perhaps have sunk to the bottom. "Tried to Attack the Olympia. "The captain of the Reina Christina, seeing that the resolute attempt of his consort had failed, advanced at full speed until within about 200 yards of the Olympia, aiming to attack her. Then a shower of projectiles swept the bridge and decks filling the ship with dead and wounded heroes and martyrs whom the nation will remember as long as it endures. " A dense column of smoke from the bow-compartment showed that an incendiary projectile, such as the law of God and man prohibits, had set fire to the cruiser. The ship, still keeping up her fire on the enemy, withdrew toward the arsenal, where she was sunk to keep her from falling into the hands of the Yankees. " The desperation of the men of the Reina Christina was aggravated by the sight of the Castilla also in a blaze, from a similar use of incendiary pro- jectiles. The principal ships of our little squadron having thus been put out ' of action, the Yankee vessels, some of them badly crippled by the fire of our ships, and the batteries at Point Sangley, stood out toward Mariveles and the entrance of the bay, ceasing their fire and occupying themselves in repairing injuries until ten o'clock, when they began a second attack to complete their work of destruction. In this second assault the fire at the arsenal was extin- STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. 81 guished, and they continued to cannonade the blazing gunboats. One gun- boat, which seemed to have nothing more venturesome to undertake, detached herself from the squadron and set to work to riddle the mail steamer Isla de Mindanao. Now that the ships were in flames, the Admiral, Senor Montojo, who had shown his flag as long as there was a vessel afloat, landed, and hostilities ceased. " The only Spanish ship which had not been destroyed by fire or by the enemy's projectiles, sunk herself so that she could in no wise be taken. Such in broad outlines, which we cannot correct at this moment, was the naval battle of Cavite, in which the last glimpse of our squadron showed the Spanish flag. A thousand sensational details have reached us, which we would reproduce gladly, after the necessary corrections, if our pen would serve for anything except to sing the glory of these martyrs of the nation. Perhaps to-morrow or another day, with fuller knowledge of the facts, we can furnish our readers with many interesting details. To-day we limit our- selves to a sketch of the grand picture which was unrolled before on the first of May, begging our friends to excuse the defects which they may note. " The Killed and Wounded. " Killed : The Captain, Chaplain, Clerk, and Boatswain of the Reina Christina. Wounded: The Captains of the Castilla and Don Antonio de UUoa ; the Executive Officer of the Reina Christina ; a Lieutenant of the Don Juan de Austria ; the Paymaster of the Ulloa, the second Surgeon of the Christina, the Surgeon of the Ulloa and Chief Engineers of the Christina and Austria. " Batteries. " The gunners of the batteries defending Manila and Cavite showed the highest degree of energy and heroism. Every one applauds these brave artillerymen who, by their calmness and skill, did all that was possible with the guns assigned to them, allowing for their deficiencies and imperfections. " The battery that did most harm to the enemy was the one on Point Sangley made up of Hontoria guns. From one of these guns came the shot which the Boston received, while four ships which had altogether 65 guns were pouring their fires on this battery to reduce it to silence. One gun hav- ing been crippled the other kept on playing, firing whenever damage could be done and avoiding waste of ammunition. To one of its shots is attributed the hurt which turned the Baltimore from the fight, This gun must have greatly annoyed the Yankees, to judge by the effort they made to silence its fire, following it up until six gunners had been killed and four wounded. " On this account it is proposed to demand the bestowal, of the laurel- 6-D 82 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. wreathed cross of San Fernando to the valiant gunners who served this bat» tery. The Luneta battery at Manila which assailed the Yankee ships with much vigor was the object of the enemy's special attention as he stood past the fortifications of Manila, heading for Cavite. Guns were also mounted at the entrance of the bay on Corregidor and Caballo Islands, on El Fraile rock, on the south shore at Point Restinga, and at Mariveles, Punta Gorda and Point Lasisi on the north shore. The guns on Corregidor Island were of about six-inch calibre ; similar guns were mounted on the rock and on Point Restinga. The other batteries had guns of smaller calibre and short range. " Making the Best of the Situation. " The Spanish Club, ever earnest in remedying misfortune, gave liberal help to the refugees who survived from our ships of war. Doubtless the Civil Commission has arranged to secure supplies for the city, but it is cer- tain that since Sunday there has been great scarcity of everything, and specula- tors have got what prices they cared to ask for articles of prime necessity. Already people are growing calmer and the shops are open, and it is to be exf)ected that Manila will go on resuming her usual life and animation. The great masses of the rural population of the Philippines, as well as the leader of the nation, have responded like loyal sons of Spain, sharing our pains and assisting in our labors. " The Admiral, Senor Montojo, has received a telegram of congratula- tion from the Minister of Marine who, in his own name, and in the name of the Queen of Spain, felicitates the Navy of this Archipelago for gallant be- havior on the day of Cavite. These are the terms of the telegram referred to : ' Honor and glory to the Spanish Fleet which fought so heroically in the bay." "After two days of silence, in which our paper failed to see the light by reason of exceptional circumstances occuring at Manila, and known to all the public, we return to our regular issue trusting in the good will of our sub- scribers." The above account is certainly as fair as could be expected from a Spaniard, but a few little things are slightly overdrawn. For instance, in one place he says the weakness of their batteries enables us to do as much harm as we chose. No doubt, but he omits to say that only a few days before they were holding high carnival in anticipation of their coming victory over us. Again, he seems to forget that the days of boarding men-o'-war, are over It would certainly be a poetical climax to have the two ships going down STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP, 83 together, but then the Spanish always were a poetical race. Further he goes on to say that we used incendiary projectiles "prohibited by the laws of God and man," which either shows his ignorance of the laws of warfare or a de- sire to mislead his readers. That they fought heroically cannot be denied, and far be it from us to belittle their bravery in this action. As for the brave soldier of the Cazadores that prayed the Virgin Mary would turn the sea into land, so they could charge us (thirty thousand men against about sixteen hundred), we will quote the remark of one of the boys, who very naively said, " He'll be praying for another forty-day flood when Merritt and his troops arrive." It certainly isn't right to boast, but we cannot help taking this oppor- tunity to congratulate the other ships and ourselves on the coolness and bravery displayed by the men of the entire fleet in this their first experience in real warfare. Of course after the first gun was fired and the eye caught the gleam of the glorious Stars and Stripes, all thoughts of self were lost in the one resolve that that flag would never be disgraced by any act of theirs ; but it was in the night entering the hostile harbor amid uncertain dangers from torpedo and mine ; with unseen guns frowning down upon us on either hand, each moment expecting the flash of a gun and fierce upheaval of a mine to herald our discovery and hurl us into eternity, that the strain was greatest and each man's courage was tested to the utmost. And how did they bear themselves ? Like Americans and veterans. Not a man flinched, and we feel justified in writing this little eulogy on our- selves. Eh, shipmates ? Rear Admiral George Dewey. A telegram was received from the President and naval authorities at Washington, thanking Commodore Dewey, the officers and men of this squadron for their overwhelming victory and brilliant achievement in the battle of Manila Bay. The Commodore also received a vote of thanks from Congress in the name of the American people and was commissioned Rear-Admiral, dating from May tenth. The entire fleet join in congratulating Admiral Dewey on his appointment, and hope it will prove but the precursor of further honors and promotion. Captain Charles V. Gridley. It is with indescribable sorrow and regret that we hear of the untimely death of our beloved captain, Charles V. Gridley. He died on board the O. &. O. Steamer Coptic, at Kobe, Japan, June 5th. Owing to a serious ill- ^4 STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. ness he was ordered home on sick-leave taking with him the sincere respect and esteem of every man in the fleet. He left on the Zafiro, escorted to sea by the Concord, amid the cheering of the entire fleet. He was taken to the steamer by a boat's crew of officers with First Lieutenant Reese acting as coxswain. The news of his death came like a thunder-bolt, filling our hearts with grief and pain. We respect- uUy extend our sincere sympathy to his relatives and friends. Gone ahead, to the Heavenly land Across the mighty River, Gone to join the angel band. Gained peace and joy forever. There was a poet on the Olympia who wrote some inspiring lines that appeared in The Bounding Billow and are here reproduced. THE MAINE. Like a thunderbolt, the dire news came. That bowed our heads in sorrow, How midst a mine's fierce, flashing flame 'Neath the walls of Castle Morro, A nation's pride, the stately Maine, On peaceful mission bent, By the hands of murderous sons of Spain Now lying wrecked and rent. Not midst the battle's stirring blast. With colors proudly flying. Nor where the mighty cannon crashed O'er cheers of heroes, dying. 'Twas while they slept ; 'twas time of peace For proud Columbia's seamen : When treach'rous hand the mine released; Let loose the fiery demon. O noble ship ! O gallant crew 1 Thy nation mourns its loss. Beneath Havana's waters blue, Thy murdered bodies toss. But Columbia's heroes true and brave, Avenge thee, beauteous Maine. The requiem thundered o'er thy grave Shall sound the kneU of Spain. STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP, 85 A monument we'll raise to thee : 'Biding token of our sorrow. And in mem'ry of Spain's infamy, It shall stand o'er Castle Morro. L. S. Young. THE CURIO FIENDS. They've got flags and scraps of iron Tomahawks and bay'nets too, Soldier's pants without the lining 'Nother's got a woman's shoe. They've got knives marked "Mi Amigo," Which is Spanish for, my friend, Swords and daggers marked " Toledo" Which a Sandow couldn't bend. And each had a shot or shell Which was added to their hoard. And some brought them for to sell To the suckers left on board. There was lots of writing paper And O ! sech lots o' tools! And they cut full many a caper A guardin' 'em like jewels. One had a big ship's bell Which weighed almost a ton. And about twenty worked like (dash) And got a three-inch gun. A blunderbuss from sixty-seven Which adorned some mantle-piece, Old socks and bits o' ribbon, And a box of axle grease. There were Admiral's flags and pennants That numbered o'er a score, All from the " R. Cristina," Each curio hunter swore ; And some brought off' a coat of arms From the stately Justice Hall, And others took the mirrors That hung ag'in the wall. We expect to see more actions 'N lots o' bloody scenes, But I'd prefer such distractions To the crazy Curio Fiends. L. S. Young. 8G STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY. What sight is this our eyes behold ? What do these ships of war ? Manned by Columbia's seamen bold, they speed for foemen's shore : For news had come, sad news and dire, of brothers cruelly slain, And Cuba's woes raised heroes' ire; they go, to war with Spain! And as they leave bleak China s coast, receding fast from view. Determined is this little host, to fight like freemen true. Two days upon the tropic sea, so mighty, calm and grand, Ere close beneath our squadron's lee, we saw the enemy's land. All day we steamed along the coast and scanned eac niche and bay, While every man stood at his post impatient for the fray. When night, a pall-like darkness fell, though lightning lit the skies. Their forts to pass, we planned it well, and take them by surprise. 'Twas midnight when our vessels boldly passed Corregidor For where Manila calmly nestles on fair Luzon's tropic shore : And guns frowned down upon us, from their forts on either hand. But no danger could deter us, not their might on sea or land. We had come to die or conquer, to avenge the sunken " Maine." Our watch-word, no surrender ! Our war-cry, down with Spain ! Calm and cool broke the morning, on that fateful first of May, When like storm's thund'rous warning, roared a shot across the bay. But why that mighty cheering ! Ev'ry eye is turned on high, Where our banner brightly gleaming, rainbow radiance in the sky : 'Twas " Old Glory " proudly waving that cheered each patriot breast, War's fearful dangers braving, to free a race oppressed. When the Spanish ships were sighted, stripped like warriors for the fray. When the Sabbath morn was lighted and battle's thunder woke the day, Every man stood at his station, grimly waiting the command To spread death and devastation, midst the foe on sea and land. As we closed the deadly distance and six Yankee broadsides bore. Brave and stubborn their resistance, though our shells swept ships and shore. Five times we passed. A fiery line that rivaled Heav'n's thunder, Wliile on they fought, brav'ry sublime, though ships were going under, Though every moment seemed their last, with colors proudly flying. Amid that fiercely raking blast, they showed no fear of dying. Again we plunged into the fight and with one mighty blow Assured the victory for the right ; subdued the haughty foe. STORIES BY OFFICERS OF THE FLAGSHIP. 87 The Spanish colors down at last ! Avenged the sunken " Maine ! " Victorious as in days gone past, we've conquered cruel Spain. We've struck a blow for honor and to set a nation free : The guns beneath our banner roared the knell of tyranny. Tell the story to our nation, to the people brave and true, How our banner brought salvation, with the gallant " Boys in Blue." 'T shall live in hist'ry's pages how our noble squadron sailed \Vhere thick the battle rages and the deadly missiles hailed, , For Spaniards, arbitration was 'mid the cannon's roar; We were fighting fcr a nation and the flag we all adore. 'Twas for Cuba and our honor, to avenge our heroes slain. That victory wreathed our banner when we fought the ships of Spain. L. S. Young. CHAPTER VI. Destruction of the Spanish Fleet in Manila Bay. DDITIONAL particulars respecting the great battle of Manila enable the reader to obtain a clear idea of the struggle between our squadron and the Spanish ships commanded by Admiral Montojo. All details of the conflict serve to show its desperate character. The Spaniards fought bravely ; they exhibited no lack of courage, and this only renders Dewey's victory more brilliant. He received his appointment as Commander of Asiatic Squadron, and reaching Hong Kong as soon as steam could carry him, raised his flag on the Olympia on January 3, 1898. Before his departure from Washington he had experienced no little trouble in finding a staff wiUing to accompany him — not that officers were not willing to serve with the commodore, but they saw greater prospects of naval glory on the home station. There were two officers to whom appointments on the staff were offered by the commodore and declined. These men afterward regretted the chance they threw aside of being present in a big naval fight. Yet it was impossible to foresee at that time what service our navy would be called upon to render. Roosevelt's Oflacial Dispatch to Dewey. On the official records of what took place after Commodore Dewey re-. ceived his first orders, it is shown by the correspondence with Dewey that, by direction of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt the flagship Olympia was retained in the Asiatic station after she had been ordered home. There has been much discussion in naval circles as to whether the Olympia had actually been directed to return to San Francisco, and the correspondence shows that she was so directed. On February 25, Secretary Roosevelt sent a confidential dispatch to Dewey, in which he said : " Order the squadron, except Monocacy, to Hong Kong. Keep full ol coal. In the event of the 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." A footnote by the Bureau of Navigation says: "Olympia has had orders to proceed to the United States." This dispatch of Mr. Roosevelt'*- DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 89 was the first that was sent by our government in regard to taking the Phil- ippines. After war was regarded as a foregone conclusion every effort was made by the Navy Department to equip Commodore Dewey's fleet with coal, ammunition and supplies. Within twenty-four hours after the wreck of the Maine in Havana harbor, ammunition that could not be duplicated in all America was ordered on trains that had the right of way to San Francisco. ■There these explosives, that must be handled as carefully as the mother holds a babe, were tenderly transported to the steady old warship Mohican and started for Honolulu. At the Hawaiian port they were again as hastily as possible unloaded and again restored on the Baltimore. Every solid foot of the Baltimore's magazines was filled, and 400 tons of modern munitions were secured on her decks. She was also filled to the utmost with a quantity of coal. Making Necessary Preparations. On March 22, thirty-four days after the Maine disaster, the officers and crew of the Baltimore mailed their farewell letters and started on the long sail of 5,000 miles to Yokohama, and thence to Hong Kong, where Dewey and his bluejackets were waiting for the food of war. While Dewey was filling his magazines from the welcome stores of the Baltimore, McKinley, and Lee were calmly but safely controlling the fierce wrath of their country- men, who were clamoring for the shooting to begin. As the last obtainable ton of coal sifted down on the deeply hidden decks of his squadron, Dewey was ready to hoist the signals on his flagship and steer straight for Manila Bay. The Pacific fleet, under Commodore George Dewey, had been anchored in the bay at Hong Kong, awaiting instructions from Washington. Imme- diately after the Congress had declared war telegraphic orders to capture or destroy the formidable Spanish fleet then assembled at Manila were sent to Commodore Dewey. These orders had hardly reached him when Great Britain issued a proclamation of neutrality, the terms of which compelled him to take his squadron away from Hong Kong, a British port, within twenty- four hours. Accordingly, he took his ships to Mirs Bay, a Chinese port only a few miles away, where he continued the preparations for battle which he had begun at Hong Kong. These preparations completed on May 27 Commodore Dewey set sail for Manila with his fleet. Early on Saturday evening of April 30, after a remarkably quick passage from Mirs Bay, Commodore Dewey sighted Corregidor Island at the entrance to the Bay of Manila. Corregidor was known to him to be well fortified 90 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET, but he resolved to enter the bay at once. It was now lo o'clock and a full moon was shining. With all lights out the squadron steamed into the bay with the crews at the guns. This was the order of the squadron, which was kept during the whole time of the first battle : The flagship Olympia, the A BILL Declnriug TLat War Exists Between tUe United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and Bouse of Bepresentcf- 2 lives of the United States of America in Congress assembled^, 5 First — That war be and the same is hereby declared to eslst, 4 and that war has existed since the 2lBt day of April, A. D. 1898, 6 including said day, between the United States of America and the C Kingdom of Spain. T Second — That the President of the United States be and ha 8 is hereby directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval 9 forces of the United States, and to call Into the actual service of the 10 United States the militia of the several States to such extent as 11 may be necessary to carry this act into effect. lE^Ss^oD, Spsaier ^ th& Hmi UJ Q. 1- z o s > UJ UJ o d: O Ui cs < or i c u. O < I V- DR. JULIUS YEMANS DEWEY PATHER OF ADMJRAL GEORGE DEWEY GEORGE DEWEY AT THE AGE OF 34 Q < O m 0. I CO z o CO z cr < > o z z z CO SHIPS OF THE Ul TES NAVY z o a UJ o UJ I H u. O CO a: O cc UJ Q. a. D UJ X Z o a: UJ Q z O o z H I CD to ft NATIVE FILIPINO FLOWER GIRL THE FAMOUS SKULL-PIT NEAR MANILA IT IS THE CUSTOM TO THROW THE DEAD BODIES OF PAUPERS TOGETHER IN A HEAP, LEAVING THEM TO DECAY, THEIR BONES PRESENTING A GHASTLY SPECTACLE Destruction of the Spanish fleet. 9*7 be requested to cause this resolution to be communicated to Commodore Dewey and through him to the officers and men under his command. It will be noticed that the President speaks of Dewey as Acting Rear Admiral and Congress calls him Commodore. His naval rank at this time was that of Commodore, but he was made Acting Rear Admiral, and subse- quently upon recommendation was elevated to the rank of Admiral, the highest position in the navy, which is his exclusive title. It is conceded by persons who are well informed that Governor Roose- velt, Assistant Secretary of our Navy at the time of which we speak, and afterward commander of the Rough Riders at Santiago, was the first to sug- gest that Dewey be placed in command of the Asiatic Squadron. Dewey foresaw before he went to his post in the Pacific that his chance had come, and said so just before he left Washington. One account of it is given by a naval officer, a captain, who gave Dewey a farewell dinner. " I had Dewey at dinner with me on board my ship. Over the cigars he got to talking reminiscently. Then he looked ahead and brightened up. ' My chance has come,' he said, 'and I owe it largely to Theodore Roose- velt. Why he took such an interest in my application I don't know, for, though he was a friend of mine, we never were very intimate, and he seems to be the friend of the whole navy. There were three applicants, you know, and my claim wasn't the best. Some opposition arose, but the Assistant Secretary of the Navy overcame it, and I go.' " Then Dewey leaned back and said : ' You know Farragut didn't get his chance till he was over sixty, but he took it and — ' Dewey stopped and broke out in a laugh, as if to say, ' But what nonsense this is we are talking about Farragut and me.' " Was the Choice of Colonel Roosevelt. Commodore Howell and Captain Matthews were the two other appli- cants for the Asiatic Squadron, and they both ranked Dewey. The matter was talked over in November some time. Mr. Roosevelt believed then that war was coming, and no one else did. He wanted the hardest fighter he could get for the Pacific, for there, he predicted, hard fighting would have to be done. So he urged Dewey. " That dude ! " they said. " No matter," said Roosevelt. "I know he will fight. I want a man there who will take Manila." A friend of Mr. Roosevelt asked him once how he knew Dewey, whom many other people took for a mere dude, gentle, refined, easy-going ; how he recognized in him the fighter he sought. The Rough Rider's answer was characteristic. He leaned forward, screwed his eyebrows down and shewed 7-D 98 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. his teeth as he said : "You can always tell a fighter by looking into his eyes." But Mr. Roosevelt performed another service for Dew^ey. This is not so well known. Having gotten Dewey his chance, he saw to it that it was not lost to him. When it became necessary to order the Asiatic Squadron away from Hong Kong on account of the neutrality laws, which would close Eng- land's hospitality to us, it was proposed to direct Dewey to " proceed to Manila, reconnoitre for the Spanish fleet and blockade the port." It was part of the original war policy to blockade Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. That made Mr. Roosevelt angry, and he and the fighters in the administration opposed it with all their might. They were overreached on the Atlantic for awhile, and they did not seem to gain much on the Pacific. "Dewey will Know what That Means." Mr. Roosevelt wanted the cable to Dewey to read: " Go to Manila and smash the Spanish fleet." He said it was necessary to take Manila to get coal. But, of course, that order did not pass. Then the fighters got their heads together and suggested as a compromise that Dewey be directed to sail to Manila and proceed " according to military rules," or some such vague phrase as that. It was about the time there was so much talk about hamper- ing commanders, and Mr. Roosevelt said that would not hamper Dewey. To his fighting friends he said : I know Dewey, and you can bet Dewey will know what that phrase means." A further account of the battle of Manila from one of the men behind the guns, possesses special interest. William G. Kramer, of Danville, Pa., received a letter from his son which gave a very excellent account of the battle, the more especially as it described personal experiences. Frank N. Kramer, the son, was on the Petrel, which took a big part in the battle, and after giving the familiar details relative to the movements of the fleet previous to the battle, he says : " It was without exception the greatest and most selemn moment of my life, and I had ample time to think and realize it all while momentarily expecting the fire of the enemy. You know what the suspense before the battle is, that time of dreadful waiting, which every soldier so fears and detests. I have often heard veterans tell of it, but now I know it, and the memory of it will always stay with me, and when I get to be an old and decrepit man it will be as vivid and real as it was that May day morning in the tropics. "While we still looked the first faint flush of dawn came, and we dis- covered the ships we were heading for to be a fleet of merchantmen, sailing ships of all nations ; drawn up there out of the line of fire. The flagship DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 99 immediately put about and headed to the southwest, and then, the light becoming rapidly brighter, we saw the Spaniards and their men-of-war drawn up in line of battle, well up in front of the fortifications of Cavite. There appeared to be about eight ships, some at anchor and some moving slowly along the shore while others were seen in the little harbor by the navy-yard. " The flagship headed directly for them, the rest following as before. When we were within two and a half miles of them they opened fire, which was answered instantly by the flagship and Concord. Their shots all fell a thousand yards short. The skipper says, ' By gosh, this looks like business, Wood,' and sang out to sound quarters. In a minute every one in the fleet was at his station, the Stars and Stripes on every mast and peak in the ships, and the ball was going merrily on. We manoeuvered, up one side and down the other, like the Virginia Reel. It was beautiful, and worked like clock- work, not a hitch anywhere. Riddled from Stem to Stern. " The range was given by the navigator in the foretrucks to me, and I passed it aft to the 6-inch guns and secondary batteries. It ranged from 1800 to 2000 yards. In a short time we saw one ship on fire, the Reina Cristina, their most formidable cruiser. She started to come toward us, but a 6-inch shell from us and an 8-inch from the Olympia burst her boilers and gutted her from stem to stern. The Spanish bravely fought her after she was on fire. One hundred and fifty men, including her captain, were killed by those two shots. We kept up the firing for over two hours, then hauled off on account of the smoke ; it was so hot and sultry that it hung on the water in vast clouds and hid the shore from sight. " We could not tell the effect of our fire very well on account of the dis- tance. Their fire was coming from their ships and forts ; also from their bat- teries, away over at Manila. While it was rapid and constant it took no effect, either going over our heads or falling far short. They seemed unable to get our range, while we had no trouble in finding them. Our ship did exceptionally good shooting, and as our vessels passed each other on their way to and fro we would cheer and yell like demons. We improved the time by eating a hasty breakfast, while the enemy kept up a desultory fire, doing no damage. Three of their ships were on fire and sinking, while the others that were able to steam were making for the little harbor back of the navy-yard, which afforded them some protection and allowed them to fire over the mole at us, while the forts and batteries in Cavite could keep up their fire without fear of hitting them. "Commanding officers went aboard the flagship, and at 11.30 the 100 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. captain returned and said : ' Well, we are going inside ; one bold move will do the trick now, and we are going to make it. Don't waste a shot, and make every one tell.' We were waiting to hear from the captain what damage had been done to our ships and went wild when he told us that not one drop of American blood had been shed as yet, and that the only hits were one on the Olympia, hardly making a mark, one, a six-pounder, through the Baltimore's wardroom eight feet above waterline, doing no damage — just passed in one side and out the other, and was still going, while we were not touched. A Big Shell Explodes Near. " But one big shell struck about thirty feet off our starboard bow and threw the water as high as the foremast, drenching every one in that part of the ship, for which they were very thankful, for it was awfully hot ; another one struck twenty yards off the starboard beam, ricocheted right ov cr the ship and alighted fifty yards on the other side, while we could hear that awful scream continually over our heads. After the first few shots the men acted as though they were at drill, no confusion of any kind, and every one did his duty without exception. We worked hard and quickly, and the cap- tain, in complimenting us a day or so afterward, said that ' there was not nearly so much noise and confusion as at general quarters in a peaceful port. It was like target practice, only the target was firing back.' At 1 1.45 we got under way and stood in for Cavite, the Baltimore leading by request of her captain, who is an old war horse and a volunteer officer, one of the very few left in the navy. (A favorite expression of his in speaking to or correcting an officer is : ' You fellows came through the Naval Academy with ^30,000 worth of education to back you up ; I came through the hawser pipe, but I know better than that.') " In the meantime the Concord had started off to the north after a crippled steamer, which was trying to make her way over to Manila for protection, still keeping up a steady fire. The Baltimore started out, heading directly for the southern end of the sand pits; she kept steaming in until she was within 1200 yards of the shore, then turned her big broadside on and steamed slowly and steadily along, almost creeping, her big guns booming with lightning-like rapidity and making fearful havoc among the shore batteries, which were re- turning shot for shot, which struck all around her. We were expecting to see her sunk before our eyes every minute, but she kept on and on, keeping up her fire as steadily as before. " Oh, the grandeur, the glory of it ! To see that shipful of brave men, under the most galling fire the Spaniards put up during the whole day was a sight fit for gods to look upon. DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 101 " My life up to now has been of little use to any one, and myself least of all ; but after witnessing that glorious spectacle I feel and know that I have not lived in vain, and that it was worth a whole lifetime to see what we saw that day at Manila. At one time her motion was hardly perceptible, and we felt sure she was fatally struck, but no, she kept on to the end. The Olympia had started after her in her very tracks, and the Petrel after the Olympia. We came along just as she did, but, although the firing from the fortifications was still lively, the worst of it had been silenced by Captain Dyer, of the Baltimore. A Ship Fighting aU Alone. " Our ship stood in until within 800 yards of the shore, and stopped and blazed away, all alone, until the Spanish flags had been hauled down and a flag I had never seen before, the white flag, hoisted in their places on the government fortifications. Our captain, from his place on the bridge, turned around to his crew, who were all blacker and dirtier than the worst tramp you ever saw, some undressed, scarcely a rag on them ; others covered with rags, their clothes torn and burnt by powder, sweat running down their faces ; the decks covered and littered with all kinds of battle gear, ammunition and soot — but no blood. The officers were no better off than the men, every one as deaf as a post, but happy, gloriously happy. Each of us wore a gleam on our black, dirty faces not often seen. " The captain yelled out, 'You did nobly, my lads, damme, I'm proud of you, that's what I am — proud of you ! Boatswain, pipe all hands to splice the main brace ; ' then followed something I had never seen before. The doctor and apothecary brought up two gallons of whiskey and we fell in line, officers and all, and we got a stiff" jolt. It was against the rules of the blue book, but we needed it, and that badly, for we were exhausted from heat and hard work, smoke and lack of proper food. " After we had rested a few minutes the captain called for volunteers to man the first whaleboat to go ashore and set fire to the remaining ships. Of course every one wanted to go. I was among the first, and pleaded so piti- fully that he laughed and said, ' Yes, orderly, you had a pretty hard time of it to-day, so take off your belt and get a rifle and get in the boat.' I had worn a web belt loaded with ten pounds of cartridges all day and was played out, but that whiskey put life in me for anything. Well, we got away from the ship with ten men and Mr. Hughes, executive officer, in charge. The ship covered our landing, about 200 yards from shore. When we got there we landed and were immediately surrounded by a crowd of Spanish naval and army officers and hundreds of blue-jackets from their ships; dead and wounded were being carried around everywhere on stretchers. 102 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. " We were at the navy yard, near the arsenal buildings. Every one was laboring under the most intense excitement, and the officers almost hysterical. They saluted us with both hands, and it was some time before we could make ourselves understood. Then one, who appeared to be the officer in command introduced himself to Mr. Hughes and, after searching his pockets in vain for a card, tore off his epaulets and presented them with a bow. Mr. Hughes told them that he had come over to burn those ships lying in there ; then a howl went up, ' No, no, Senor, no, no ! ' He told them if they intended to fire on them he would return to the ship. They made haste to say, ' No, no,' again. ' Then,' said he, ' I am going to carry out our orders.' Hunting for a Lost Admiral. " They wanted him to wait until they hunted up their admiral, who had disappeared (and, by the way, has not turned up yet), but he said he had no time, and we shoved off to the Isla de Cuba and went aboard. She showed signs of having been fought in the forenoon, riddled with small shot, such as three and six-pounders and thirty-seven millimeter. Her guns had been made useless by throwing the breech plugs overboard when she was abandoned. Everything was left just as it was when she was fighting, lots of blood but nobody aboard, except a monkey and a cat, which we brought off with us. We went from ship to ship, Isla de Cuba, Luzon, General Lezo, Marquis del Luero and Don Juan of Austria. The latter had some officers aboard, who had followed us from shore, and when we boarded her they begged pitifully to spare this one, for she was a beauty sure enough, but we had our orders to burn and destroy and we carried them out to the letter. " Before 5 P. M. seven handsome ships were blazing away, and two days later nothi-if;; could be seen of the Spanish fleet but a few burnt masts stick- ing dismally and forlornly out of the water, a resting place for weary sea gulls and fish hawks. All the ships we boarded were elegantly and luxuri- ously furnished. In some of them the mess gear had been spread and eatables and wine were littered around the decks in profusion. We procured a great many curios, but none of real value, as the lieutenant would not let us take anything bulky. I procured some letters, charts and photographs, and on the Don Juan saw a package of letters on the captain's desk and stood there and tore the stamps off the envelopes for Walter. The other men got swords, revolvers, rifles, but don't know what to do with them, as they have no room to stow them. The rifles, by the way, were magazine guns of the very latest make. " The next day the Spanish officers came alongside our ship to arrange the surrender of Cavite to Captain Lamberton, who represented the Com- DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 103 modore. They were nervous and trembling like leaves, poor fellows, and when told that we did not intend to bombard Manila could hardly believe it. These people cannot understand why we do not murder and kill every one in sight. That night at 5 o'clock after some parley the Spanish vacated the beautiful site and town of Cavite and left in our hands property amounting to trpillions of dollars. " They did not want to go. Their homes were there, although their families had been removed to Manila weeks before. They were afraid of the rebels, whom, by 1 50 years of the most outrageous cruelty, they had taught to hate them more than the Cubans do and from whom they could hope for no mercy. Thus far the rebels have remained quiet and in communication with our commodore. The Spanish army is in camp some ten miles out in the foot hills about 15,000 strong. The rebels have possession of all the railroads and seem to control the situation. Demonstrations of Rejoicing. " After we had burnt all the ships and ceased firing we went out to the fleet, which lay some 4000 yards off watching us, and when we came along- side of them, they cheered and cheered us one after another loud and long. We could not understand it at all, their officers and captains would yell 'Three cheers for Captain Wood, and the baby,' and how they would respond, while our little old man was bobbing his head off with joy. I did not know then what it meant, but do now ; when we went in that last time, we were nearer Heaven than we had ever been before, but that is a long story and I will tell it later. " When the captain made his report to the Commodore, the latter shak- ing his hands before the whole crew of the Olympia, said : ' Captain Wood, by heavens, if there are words beautiful enough and adequate enough in the English language, to describe the movements and work of yourself, ship and crew to-day, I'll make it my duty to hunt them out and send them to Ainerica.' " The old man said that night he had been waiting and working for fifty- six years for those words and they had come at last and he did not care what came after that. " The other day when we returned from one of our frequent trips down the bay destroying guns and batteries, we saw as we drew nearer that the old Burgee, with one white star, had disappeared from the mainmast of the Olympia, and in its place was the big blue flag with two white stars of the Rear-Admiral. The McCulloch had returned with the thanks of the Presi- dent, Congress and the American people, and our great Commodore had been 104 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. made Rear-Admiral. It was a great day ; we manned yards and yelled our- selves hoarse." A marine on the Baltimore sent a letter to his brother, containing an account of the battle at Manila. Accompanying the communication was a copy of the Searchlight, a four-page paper, eight by ten inches, published on the Baltimore. The leading article, headed in red type " War I " contained a description of the movements of the Baltimore from the time on April 25, when, as part of the American squadron, she left Hong Kong for the Philip- pine Islands, under command of Admiral Dewey, until after the battle. In speaking of the advance upon Manila the article says : " Every man was at his station, eagerly on the lookout, and just spoiling for a fight ; and, indeed, on the morrow, ' we didn't do a t'ing to 'em.' With early dawn we were off to the city of Manila, eagerly scanning the harbor for the enemy's fleet, and soon made them out, drawn up off and inside Sangley Point at Cavite, their fortified navy yard. Ready to Meet the Enemy. " There were nine ships, all steaming except the CastiUa, which ship was moved head and stern off the point, with her port battery bearing. Their flagship, Reina Cristina, marked the left flank, and their fleet was supported by shore batteries. When, at S-^Si by order from flagship to prepare for general action, the stars an^, stripes were broke from every masthead and peak, everybody silently took their places, grim resolve written on every countenance. " The Spaniards started the ball at 5.15, and kept it going with no inter- ruption from our fleet, which kept advancing in the teeth of the enemy's fire, preferring to save our ammunition for a closer range. About twenty-five minutes elapsed before we returned the fire, at about 6,000 yards' range, and then the battle was on in earnest. Steaming in column before Cavite, mak- ing five turns, two to the westward and three to the eastward, the Americans soon made it evident that the Spaniards 'were not in it.' Their fire, although kept up with wonderful persistency, proved entirely harmless, while ours raked their ships fore and aft. " Early in the action it was seen that their flagship was on fire. She kept up the fight bravely for a time, but was finally abandoned, their admiral transferring his flag to the Castilla, their next largest ship. After less than two hours constant pouring in of the broadsides it was discovered that the Castilla was also on fire, with the balance of the enemy's fleet retreating inside the breakwater. We were masters of the situation, and our admiral gave orders to withdraw from action. Standing off in the bay out of range of DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 105 . the enemy's guns, which kept up a weak fire, we had breakfast and a brief rest. "At 10.45 we again made for Cavite, the Baltimore leading. We opened fire on the enemy's fortifications at a range of about 2,500 yards, and were later joined by the balance of the fleet. It did not take long to silence the forts, and the only remaining ships of the enemy, the Mindanao and the UUoa, were sunk ; the latter going down stern first, with her colors flying. " Our smaller vessels steaming close inshore, kept up the destructive work, and the Petrel went inside to destroy shipping, soon running up the signal that the enemy had surrendered. At 12.50 not a Spanish flag was seen flying at or over Cavite ; but several white ones had been hoisted, and the task set before us being accomplished, our fleet, with the exception of a suitable patrol, withdrew to an anchorage off the city of Manila. That was the end of the fight, and a good day's work it was, as the Spaniards lost all their ships, their navy yard and forts were entirely destroyed, they had 423 killed and missing, and 490 wounded in their hospitals, while the Americans were unharmed, but for a few slightly wounded, and, although our ships were hit several times the damages sustained were so small that they hardly war- ra.nt mention. " Since then our fleet has been anchored in Manila Harbor, doing little as far as fighting goes, although sharp lookouts are kept at all times for a possible night attack." Invaluable Mementoes of the Battle. One of the arrivals at the port of Philadelphia, was the fine British ship Dalcairne, direct from Manila. She was on the scene of the great naval battle which resulted in Dewey's annihilation of the Spanish fleet under Admiral Montojo. She dropped anchor at Girard Point 141 days from the harbor of Cavite, landing 10,998 bales of hemp. The Dalcairne was the first vessel to arrive at Philadelphia bearing eye- witnesses of the thrilling scenes of May i. She had on board a most inter- esting collection of souvenirs of the battle. In her hold were securely packed away two guns of historic interest. One from the cruiser Baltimore, presented by Admiral Dewey to the Monumental City to commemorate the deeds done by its namesake, and the other from the ill-fated Reina Castilla, which became the property of the Navy Department at Washington. Besides these invaluable mementoes of the engagement, Captain Jones was the possessor of relics and trinkets galore from the abandoned hulks of the defeated Dons. While in harbor at Manila the Dalcairne was visited by Admiral Dewey, who presented several gifts to the captain. The guns were 106 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. secured at Cavite from Consul General Williams. Captain Jones would have secured many more articles had it not been for the depredations committed by the crew of a Nova Scotian bark in the vicinity, who looted the shattered vessels of all portable articles with the skill of accomplished wreckers. On the morning of the naval battle, about 2 o'clock, all were sleeping on the Dalcairne except the watch and the steward, who notified Captain Jones in his berth of the approach of the American squadron. Very little time was consumed by the ship's company in tumbling out of their hammocks and berths. The position of the Dalcairne was a perilous one, being directly in the line of fire of the Spanish ships. Their guns, apparently elevated too high, however, buried their destructive missiles slightly above the Britisher, and she was consequently struck only once by a shell, which tore away a portion of her top hamper. Still, had it not been for the fact that the American ships manoeuvred so constantly. Captain Jones thinks that his vessel must have sustained serious damage. The smoke hung so heavily that it was difficult to see anything of the engagement after it was well on, but the crew saw one thing distinctly, and that was the heroic work of Admiral Montojo in transferring'his flag to another vessel under a rain of death-dealing projectiles. " How that little boat escaped utter destruction," said Captain Jones, " is a mystery. Every man on her was a hero, but the Spanish admiral dis- counted for coolness anything that has ever come under my observation During that perilous passage of a mile or more he stood upright in the stern perfectly unmoved, although splashes of water flew repeatedly over the little craft from the fragments of shell and larger shot which exploded frequently within a few yards of her. We all held our breath until Montojo was safe out of the frying pan into the fire, as the saying is, and we all devoutly hoped he would cross that expanse of water in safety. It was an example of un- paralleled heroism." The choicest specimen in Captain Jones' collection was a brass deckplate from the Reina Castilla. It bears her name and has the shipbuilder's number of the yard in which she was built, engraved upon it. Jackies' Story of Admiral Dewey. One of the brave jackies who " was with Dewey " at the battle of Manila Say told this new anecdote of the great admiral. The teller was a sailor of the cruiser Boston, and his story was this : " The most affecting incident which occurred, and which all of the sailors will remember through their lives, was the action of a powder boy. These boys act as aids to captains and lieutenants in carrying messages and DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 107 doing errands. When the order was given to strip for action one of the boys tore his coat off hurriedly, and it fell from his hands and went over the rail, down into the bay. A few moments before he had been gazing on his mother's photograph, and just before he took his coat off he had kissed the picture and put it in his inside pocket. When the coat fell overboard he turned to the captain and asked permission to jump over and get it. " Naturally the request was refused. The boy then went to the other side of the ship and climbed down the ladder. He swam around to the place where the coat had dropped, and succeeded in getting it. I believe it was still floating when he got there. When he came back he was ordered in chains for disobedience. After the battle he was tried by a court-martial for disobedience and found guilty. Commodore Dewey became interested in the case, for he could not understand why the boy had risked his life and dis- obeyed orders for a coat. The lad had never told what his motives were. But when the commodore talked to him in a kindly way, and asked him why he had done such strange things for an old coat, he broke into tears and told the commodore that his mother's picture was in the coat. " Commodore Dewey's eyes filled with tears as he listened to the stoiy. Then he picked up the boy in his arms and embraced him. He ordered the little fellow to be instantly released, and pardoned. ' Boys who love their mothers enough to risk their lives for her picture cannot be kept in irons on this fleet,' he said. " Just before the action the boys all exchanged keepsakes and intrusted numerous packages to each other to send to their homes in case they were killed in action. One of the misfortunes on the Boston was the great scar- city of tobacco the morning of the battle. Almost all the sailors were out of the weed. But one man had over a pound, and he divided it in equal lots among his companions, keeping only the regular share for himself." Remarkable EflQciency of Modern Battleships. The reader who examines the pictures of modern battleships must be struck with the fact that they present an entirely different appearance from the old warships, that were in use up to a comparatively recent period. The fighting top is now considered essential to the efficiency of a naval vessel. It figured largely in the Spanish-American war, and some account of it will be of interest. The story of the fighting top reaches back centuries before the Christian era ; in fact, back to the earliest time when war craft might pardon- ably be called ships by virtue of their successful struggle with wave and tempest ; and, amid the rapid changes of to-day, it is hard to trace the con- nection between those ancient craft with their rude equipments and the 108 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. modern battleships, fierce and strong, by right of the power she has plucked from the bowels of the earth and turned to her own purposes of might and majestic dominance. The carvings and drawings of the war craft of the ancient Egyptians and Asiatics, two thousand years before Christ, bear the embryo of the military top perched at the masthead of the single spars that bore their sails then. It was merely a rough basket-like arrangement in which one or two men might stand and assail the warriors of the foe where they crouched behind the sheltering bulwarks of bucklers hung against the sides. Perched high above, the men in the " gabie," as later it was called, picked off, like sharp-shooters, the enemy before he could come aboard or tempted him into open exposure and the consequences such rashness brought. Used as a Defense Against Pirates. Down upon the foe's deck the hurtling spear was sent, while the topmen rested far above retaliation save from the enemy's topmen, if he had any. During the time of the naval struggles between the Greeks and the Romans, the fighting tops disappeared, for it was customary then to lower the masts and trust only to the great sweeps or oars when going into action. Strange as it may seem the merchant vessels alone carried fighting tops then, and for the purpose only of meeting the attack of pirates, with whom nearly every sea was then infested. Those tops were not unlike casks, and, with two or three men in them, could be hoisted well up and into position in time to be of service. Many of our large merchant liners and all whalers carry a somewhat similar arrange- ment well up on their masts to-day, and, from the crow's nest, as it is now called, most of the lookout duty is now done. The Japanese have adopted something of the kind for their modern naval vessels, and the cut of the Chitose's mast is typical. As the ships grew in power their masts had to be heightened by splicing on additional spars, and to give spread for the stays and shrouds that held them in place, a platform was built at the top of the lower mast. There the archer and spearman found ample room for his work, and the Saxon chroni- cles of that lusty writer. Sir John Froissart, in the latter part of the fourteenth century give us some very interesting accounts of the damage inflicted upon the French, the Spanish, and the Genoese by the topmen of the British ships. Down upon the fragile structures of wood they hurled great stones that bore ilown the foe in great bleeding masses, tore through their decks, opened their seams, and sent them to the bottom in a style that Sir John makes highly commendable. DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 109 In the seventeenth century we find the tops broad and open, save for the after part, where a wooden breastwork was reared to shield the topmen. Why only the after part should have been singled out for protection, is open for speculation ; but it is not improbable that the sails before the mast cov- ered to a great extent the marksmen in the top, and behind the mast only did they need supplemental protection. These wooden bulwarks in the tops were variously painted according to the nationality of the ship ; and for a couple of hundred years that style of top prevailed, and in form, square be- hind and rounded in front, still is in vogue in modern sail-powered naval vessels. During all the frigate actions of the war of 1812, the sharpshooters in the tops of the various ships did excellent work, and there it was the marine showed what could be expected of him, even though he stood out with no shelter other than a stray hammock or so hastily triced up for his protection. Our Navy Furnished with Military Masts. The first of our ships of the new navy had tops that were practically steel duplicates of those of the late war ; and but for the presence of modern rapid-fire guns, were really of less defensive value than those of 1870 or thereabouts. It wasn't till we began to build our battleships that we really launched out into regular modern military masts, and then we followed in principle the practices of the French. The modern mast on a battleship is purely for military purposes, namely, on such ships that are without a spread of canvas of any sort, and its duty now is principally for a service that was once merely incidental to those of the sailing ship. To bear signals is its first mission, and then to carry an armament of rapid-fire guns with which to meet the attack of torpedo-boats, to sweep the open ports, and to enfilade the unprotected gun-stations of an enemy. With Gatling guns pouring out a veritable rain of bullets at the rate of 2,000 a minute, and with other heavier automatic guns capable of hurling a hundred or more of one-pound shell in the same time the modern military top is something to be considered where the hand-grenade, the stink-balls, and the rocks of the past might be dismissed with a shrug. There is but little doubt that the French have set the pace for the modern fighting top, and so luxuriantly have their vessels developed these growths in riotous profusion and variety of forms that it was no wonder we soon heard of wanting stability in their ships. Their most recent designs are decidedly moderated, but still bear the hall mark of great freedom. With the French the idea has been to cover entirely the positions of the guns and the men in the tops to give the navigator a chance to guide his ship in action from a point well above the smoke of the guns, and, too, to bear aloft the search- 110 DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET. lights. Wherever a closed-in top is found on ships of other nations it is ol French inspiration. The British have almost exclusively held to an open or uncovered top, the only real protection to either guns or men being the shields carried on the weapons themselves. With us the gunboats Wilmington and Helena represent the greatest development of the military mast, in all it means for fighting and signal pur- poses, for conning the ship, and for the carriage of that great shining eye that is to look far into the night. The conning tower, so to speak, is just below the lower top, and is reached through the mast proper. Just because of this curious type of mast, one of the enemy's large auxiliary cruisers took one of these boats for a battleship the other day, and lost no time in hustling for the distant horizon. The national tendencies of the various navies are marked by the military masts their recent vessels bear, and whether they seek their inspiration from Great Britain or France it is easy enough to tell. The Russians are unset- tled ; Austria is equally divided ; Germany leans toward the French, while the Japanese and the Italians follow the English. CHAPTER Vli. Admiral Dewey's Account of his Grand Achievement. HE whole country was startled by the unexpected news of the great American naval victory at Manila. It was not known that naval operations were going on in the far East, yet, while the popular attention was focused on events in Cuba as being nearer home, Admiral Dewey had been grimly carrying out the orders given him. On May 1st the world was astounded by a brief cablegram — unofficial — that Admiral Montojo's fleet, at Manila, had been utterly destroyed. The cable to the Philippine Archipelago was a Spanish one, and the ominous slience at Madrid served to corroborate the early rumors. It was not until Dewey's messenger reached Hong Kong two days later, however, that the news of his victory was officially confirmed. " Not one Spanish flag flies in Manila bay to-day; not one Spanish warship floats except as our prize," was Admiral Dewey's soul-stirring message that enthused the nation and startled the European powers. An echo almost of Perry's famous bulletin, " We have met the enemy and they are ours," and in truth Dewey's achievement proved to have no other parallel in history than Per-ry's famous victory on Lake Erie in 1813, unless it be Farragut's attack on the forts in Mobile Bay in 1864, for which the cre- ation of the office of vice-admiral was not deemed too high a reward, and in which the gallant hero of Manila had taken part. Through the British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, who desired him to leave Hong Kong Harbor without delay, did Commodore Dewey first hear, on Sunday, April 24th, that a state of war existed between this country and Spain. His squadron, consisting of the Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, »Concord, Boston, with the revenue cutter McCulIoch and the supply ships Nanshan and Zafiro, was ordered to rendezvous at Mirs Bay, thirty miles dis- tant, and being compelled to wait there for the arrival of the United States Consul at Manila, did not leave anchorage until the 27th; but when it did so, it was with the commander's openly expressed determination to fight the enemy the very first day he could get at them. The Island of Luzon was passed on April 30th, and the arrival of the 111 112 STORY OF MANILA. American fleet was at once cabled to Manila, even as their leaving Hong Kong had undoubtedly been announced in hastily written despatches to the Span- iards at that place. Still, the commander of the Spanish fleet either miscalculated our speed or perchance doubted our coming, for, when the Concord and Boston were sent forty miles away to reconnoitre Subig Bay (where he had planned to ni'""' and annihilate us), not a ship of his was found there. ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY. On receipt of this information the commodore signaled for a council of «'ar and it was decided to run the batteries at the entrance of Manila Bay at midnight. Corregldor Island, at the mouth of the bay, many miles from the city. was reached at the appointed time; and now, cautiously, noiselessly, and without any light but a hooded sternlight on each ship to guide the following one, our squadron entered the channeL STORY OF MANILA. 113 Rockets fired from the summit of the Corregidor and answered from the mainland prompted the fear that we had been discovered ; it was a false alarm; but presently, when the six fighting ships had passed the island fort, and now showed their sternlights not to their followers only, but to the enemy, blind- ing flashes from the outermost mainland battery, immediately followed by a shot, and another and a third, made it plain that we no longer advanced unseen. Three shots from the Concord, the Boston and the McCulloch, however, silenced the fort ; and through the darkness of the cloudy night we steamed slowly forward, the men lulled to rest at their stations on deck by the peaceful rolling of the midnight tropical sea, the commanders bending their every thought on the encounter which was now felt to be imminent and of uncertain duration. By five o'clock Manila lay four miles ahead of the advancing fleet to the eastward; Cavite, with its arsenals and naval depot, was on their right, seven miles from the capital. A harmless shot greeted them from Manila, while on their starboard a roar of guns was heard, from Cavite ; there it was that the enemy lay; ther^ they should attack him forthwith. Ships Were Kept Moving. And now, the faithful pupil of Farragut, who had displayed such judg- ment in the planning of the nightly invasion of the bay, his selection of the channel south of Corregidor Island, and his safe piloting of his squadron within sight of the foe, now set about giving the world one more illustration of the advantage possessed by battling ships kept in motion over vessels at anchor. Swinging round in Indian file, our six battleships first made straight for the fort, under whose protection the Spaniards lay ; then facing the fire that poured upon the batteries, and soon after from the Spanish ships, to and fro they steadily wheeled in front of the little harbor, describing a weird figure eight in that cyclone of shell and shot, and belching forth incessant broadsides now from the port-side and then from the starboard. Out of her hiding-place came the Spanish admiral's flagship, the Reina Cliristina, only to prove her inability to withstand the storm of steel directed upon her ; and as she endeavored to make a hasty retreat, a shell from the Olympia completely wrecked her. A second sortie by the Spanish admiral aboard another flagship (the Isla de Cuba) shared the same fate, and the deathly havoc went on with appalling relentlessness for two hours, when lo, the United States flagship Olympia was seen moving towards the centre of the bay, followed by her subordinates. 8— D 114 STORY OF MANILA. What could the Spaniards conclude but that, calamitous as the encounter had proved to them, it must have been equally disastrous to the Americans ? The up-to-date Krupp guns on yonder shore batteries had evidently chastised the invader's temerity; for were not these finer and larger than any gun in their fleet ? And see, the " Yankee pigs " were, one and all, retiring from the fray. Not one of the gallant ships, however, had been seriously injured; among our brave fellows not one precious life had been lost; their com- mander had simply come to t' e conclusion that they had earned a little rest, and he was taking them out of the clouds of smoke and the stifling heat of the battle for the commonplace, unheroic purpose of giving them their breakfast. The foe had apparently forgotten, if ever they had read of it, how, on the 1st of June, 1794, the British admiral. Earl Howe, hove to for an hour, so as to enable his men to fortify themselves with a sustantial meal, before attack- ing the French off Ushant and routing them, as they subsequently did. Our gallant and indomitable Dewey was now but perpetuating the traditions of Anglo-Saxon humaneness and Anglo-Saxon practical forethought in Manila, — that was all. Back to the charge our men returned with renewed energy at 10.45 .after a three hours' recess ; back to the duel of desperation on one side and the composure of self-confidence on the other, which was soon to shatter the last remnants of Admiral Montojo's hopes. One after another his ships were sunk, burned, or captured ; one by one his batteries were silenced, and in the noon-day sun of that May day, the last of the Spanish flags struck on Cavite fort. In one day Spain had lost ten warships, not to speak of her torpedo boats and transports, and some 1200 of her defenders were killed or wounded. Not one death on our side had marred our victory ; eight of the Baltimore crew had paid for their bravery with more or less trifling wounds, and the injury done to our nine battleships was not thought to exceed $5,000. An Insolent Spanish Governor. Exactly seven days before this epoch-making engagement, Governor- General Basilio Augustin y Davila had issued a proclamation to the Philip- ^pinos, in which the following passage held a prominent place : " The North American people, constituted of all the social excrescences, have exhausted our patience and provoked war with their perfidious machina- tions, with their acts of treachery and with their outrages against the laws of nations and international treaties. " A squadron, manned by foreigners, possessing neither instruction nov STORY OF MANILA. 115 discipline, is preparing to come to this archipelago with the ruffianly intention of robbing us of all that means life, honor and liberty. "The struggle will be short and decisive. The God of victories will give us one as complete as the righteousness and justice of our cause demands." Verily, one portion of General Augustin's prophecy had proved remark- ably accurate. The struggle had been indeed " short and decisive ; " one single battle had sufficed to wrench from Spain the unholy dominion she had held continuously over those islands (save for the British occupation of Manila for a few months last century) ever since the name of Philip II. was bestowed upon them three hundred years ago. " You may fire when ready, Gridley," will pass into history as the quiet order from Commodore Dewey to the captain of the flagship, which heralded one of the greatest naval battles the world has ever seen. Admiral Dewey's orders were to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and never were instructions executed in so complete a fashion. At the end of seven hours there was absolutely nothing left of the Spanish fleet but a few relics. The American commander had most skillfully arranged every detail of the action, and even the apparently most insignificent features were carried out with perfect punctuality and in railroad time-table order. At the end of the action Admiral Dewey anchored his fleet in the bay, before Manila, and sent a message to the Governor- General, General Augusti, announcing the inauguration of the blockade, and adding that if a shot was fired against his ships he would destroy every battery about Manila. Spanish Advantage Unavailing. The position occupied by the Spaniards, the support which their ships received from the land batteries, and the big guns they had ashore, gave them an enormous advantage. Therefore, when it is considered that the Spaniards lost over six hundred men in killed and wounded, that all their ships were destroyed and that their naval arsenal at Cavite was also destroyed, with its defences, it is apparent that the victory of the Americans is one of the most complete and wonderful achievements ever yet recorded in the history of naval warfare. Not a man on board the American fleet was killed, not a ship was damaged to any extent, and only six men were injured slightly on board the Baltimore. This grand achievement is quite as much due to the generalship of Admiral Dewey as to the fact that the American gunners, ships and guns are superior to anything in the same line afloat anywhere. Credit must also be IIG STORY OF MANILA. given to the fullest extent to the officers under Admiral Dewey, for, to a man, they seconded their gallant commander in every way possible and thus helped liim earn the laurels which are so justly his. When the squadron left Hong Kong it touched at a point in the Philippine Islands near Bolinao, as Admiral Dewey wished the insurgent agents to dis- embark there, ascertain the strength and disposition of the insurgent forces, arrange to prevent needless bloodshed and inform the insurgents of his inten- tion to change the government of the Philippine Islands, the Admiral strongly objecting to giving the rebels a chance to commit excesses. Hunting the Spanish Fleet. The insurgent leaders, however, refused to disembark under any consid- eration, and the American ships coasted in search of the Spanish ships, but failed to find them. Admiral Dewey arrived at Subig Bay, about thirty miles north of Manila Bay, on Saturday, April 30th, and sent the Baltimore and Concord to reconnoitre the enemy. They found no Spanish ships at the entrance of the bay, and so the Admiral decided to risk the mines and pro- ceed that same night after it became dark into the bay of Manila, which he accordingly did. The order of battle taken up by the Spaniards was with all the small craft inside the stone and timber breakwaters of Cavite harbor. The larger ships of Spain cruised off Cavite and Manila. The American fleet entered Manila Bay on Saturday night with the greatest of ease. The Spaniards had not established a patrol and there were no searchlights at the entrance of the bay. In fact, the American ships would probably have passed inside the bay with- out any challenge, had it not been that some sparks flew up from the McCul- loch's funnel. Thereupon a few shots were exchanged with the batteries on Corregidor Island, but the fleet did not slow down and soon took up a posi- tion near Cavite, awaiting dawn in order to commence hostilities. The early hours of the morning revealed the opposing ships to each other and the Spanish flagship opened fire. Her action was followed by some of the larger Spanish warships, and then the Cavite forts opened up and the smaller Spanish vessels brought their guns into play. The American squadron which had been led into the bay and through the channel by the flagship Olympia did not reply, though the shells of the Spaniards began to strike the water around them, but moved majestically onward. When nearing Baker Bay a sudden upheaval of water a short dis- tance ahead of the Olympia showed that the Spaniards had exploded a mine or a torpedo. This was followed by a second and similar explosion. They were both utterly unsuccessful. The American fleet was then drawing nearer STORY OF MANILA. 117 and nearer to the Spaniards, whose gunnery was very poor, the shots from the Cavite batteries and from the Spanish ships being equally badly aimed, either falling short or going wide of the mark. It was a tremendous waste of ammunition just when most wanted. The Order of Battle. When the American fleet entered the bay, coming through the southern channel between Caballo and Frile Islets, the following was their order: the flagship Olympia, the Baltimore, the Raleigh, Concord, Boston, Petrel and McCulloch, with the two store ships, the Nanshan and Zafiro, bringing up the rear. And in that order they swept grandly before the city and faced the enemy in column line. Though the Spaniards had opened fire at 6000 yards, the Americans reserved their fire until within 4000 yards of the enemy,'when the real battle began. The Reina Christina, Castilla, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon and the Mindanao were in line of battle outside of Cavite at that time, with four gunboats and the torpedo boats inside the harbor. The American ships then passed backward and forward six times across the front of the Spaniards, pouring in upon the latter a perfect hail of shot and shell. Every American shot seemed to tell, while almost every Spanish shot missed the mark. After having thus scattered death and demoralization among the Spanish fleet and in the Spanish batteries, the American fleet retired for breakfast and, incidentally, a council of war was held on board the Olympia. By this time the Spanish ships were in a desperate condition. The flagship Reina Christina was riddled with shot and shell, one of her steam pipes had burst and she was believed to be on fire. The Castilla was certainly on fire, and> soon afterward, their condition became worse and worse, until they were eventually burned to the water's edge. The Don Antonio de Ulloa made a most magnificent show of desperate bravery. When her commander found she was so torn by the American shells that he could not keep her afloat, he nailed her colors to the mast and she sank with all hands fighting to the last. Her hull was completely riddled and her upper deck had been swept clean by the awful fire of the American guns, but the Spaniards, though their vessel wa.-: sinking beneath them, con- tinued valorously working the guns on her lower deck until she sank beneath the waters. During the engagement a Spanish torpedo boat crept along the shore and round the ofifing in an attempt to attack the American store ships, but she was promptly discovered, was driven ashore and was actually shot to pieces. The Mindanao had in the meanwhile been run ashore to save her 118 STORY OF MANILA. from sinking and the Spanish small craft had sought shelter from the steel storm behind the breakwater. The battle, which was started at about 5.30 A. m., and adjourned at 8.30 A. M., was resumed about noon, when Admiral Dewey started in to put the finishing touches to his glorious work. There was not much fight left in the Spaniards by that time, and at 2 p. m. the Petrel and Concord had shot the Cavite batteries into silence, leaving them heaps of ruins and floating the white fl.ig. The Spanish gunboats were then scuttled, the arsenal was on fire and the explosion of a Spanish magazine caused further mortality among the defenders of Spain on the shore. On the water the burning, sunken or destroyed Spanish vessels could be seen, while only the cruiser Baltimore had suffered in any way from the fire of the enemy. A shot which struck her exploded some ammunition near one of her guns and slightly injured half a dozen of the crew. Spaniards Shot at Dewey. Several shots passed dangerously close to Admiral Dewey, but little or no damage was done on board the flagship. On the other hand, about 150 men are said to have been killed on board the Spanish flagship, which was totally destroyed. Admiral Montojo, the Spanish commander, transferred his flag to the Isla de Cuba when his ship caught fire, but the latter was destroyed also in due course of time. The Reina Christina lost her captain, a lieu- tenant, her chaplain and a midshipman by one destructive shot which struck her bridge. About 100 men were killed and sixty wounded on board the Castilla. Indeed, some estimates place the number of Spanish wounded during the engagement at over a thousand men. The Olympia was struck five times about her upper works, and a whaleboat of the Raleigh was smashed. Although the Krupp guns on the esplanade of Manila were fired continuously during the engagement. Admiral Dewey did not reply to them, and the bat- tery afterward hoisted a white flag in token of surrender. Says an eye-witness : " Throughout the great battle of Sunday, the fleet acted splendidly. No ship failed to cover itself with glory. The greatest execution was done by the Olympia and Baltimore, owing to the greatest weight of the guns. " The little Petrel, ' no bigger than a minute,' had a most spectacular part. She went in like a battleship, and, lying close to the shore, completely whipped a good-sized fort unaided. Every officer ought to have promotion for gallantry, and Woods, commander of the Petrel, should receive the thanks of Congress. STORY OF MANILA. 119 " The Spaniards' information regarding our fleet was grievously faulty. They believed the Boston was a battleship, and concentrated their fire on her. She lies so low in the water that they could not hit her effectively. They believed the Olympia was the Oregon, which had come directly across to join the fleet, and the first report from Manila after our fleet was sighted was that the Philadelphia comprised part of the fleet. Notwithstanding their lack of knowledge, they fought like the brave men they were, only they could not shoot straight. "Admiral Dewey fought the fleet from the top of the pilot house. During the action ninety signals were given and all were answered by the other ships. The forward rigging was cut four feet above Dewey's head by a six-pound shot. The signal halyards were shot away while Lieutenant Brumby was signalling. " On the Boston seven men were on the bridge with Captain Frank Wildes. A shell crossed the bridge two feet above their heads and burst beyond the rigging, driving the base plug back on board. Wildes stood at his post, his glasses in one hand and a palmleaf fan in the other, and smoked, ' Between the shots Paymaster Martin made and served out coffee. Ensign Doddridge's room was on fire by the bursting of a shell. " The Olympia shows nine shots, none of which pierced her hull. The little Petrel is now the pride of the fleet. Her light draught enabled her to get close to the forts, where Woods fearlessly ran in. She has been christened ' The Baby.' The cruiser Baltimore led the fleet to the forts. In the second engagement she was ordered to go at top speed and silence the batteries. She went directly over the mines. Two exploded on each side, the nearest within lOO yards. No damage was done. While Wildes was absent at con- ference Woods heard of his close call, and on his return Ihe whole ship cheered Captain Frank to the echo." Admiral Dewey's Own Account. Among the first mail advices from Manila the War Department aV Washington received the following letter from Admiral Dewey : "Flagship Olympia, Cavite, May 4, 1898. " The squadron left Mirs Bay on April 27. Arrived oif Bolinao on the morning of April 30, and, finding no vessels there, proceeded down the coast and arrived off the entrance to Manila Bay on the same afternoon. The Bos- ton and Concord were sent to reconnoitre Port Subig. A thorough search of the port was made by the Boston and the Concord, but the Spanish fleet was not found. 120 STORY OF MANILA. " Entered the south channel at half-past eleven p. m., steaming in column at eight knots. After half the squadron had passed a battery on the south side of the channel opened fire, none of the shots taking effect. The Boston and McCulloch returned the fire. The squadron proceeded across the bay at slow speed and arrived off Manila at daybreak, and was fired upon at a quarter past five a. m. by three batteries at Manila and two near Cavite, and ',by the Spanish fleet anchored in an approximately east and west line across the mouth of Baker Bay, with their left in shoal water in Canacao Bay Beginning the Attack. " The squadron then proceeded to the attack, the flagship Olympia under my personal direction, leading, followed at a distance by the Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Concord and Boston, in the order named, which formation was maintained throughout the action. The squadron opened fire at nineteen minutes of six A. M. While advancing to the attack two mines were exploded ahead of the flagship too far to be effective. " The squadron maintained a continuous and precise fire, at ranges vary- ing from 5,000 to 2,000 yards, counter-marching in a line approximately parallel to that of the Spanish fleet. The enemy's fire was vigorous, but gen- erally ineffective. Quite early in the engagement the two launches put out towards the Olympia vi^ith the apparent intention of using torpedoes. One was sunk and the other disabled by our fire and beached before an opportunity occurred to fire torpedoes. " At seven A. M. the Spanish flagship Reina Christina m.ade a desperate attempt to leave the line and come out to engage at short range, but was received with such galling fire, the entire battery of the Olympia being con- centrated upon her, that she was barely able to return to the shelter of the point. Fires started in her by our shells at this time were not extinguished until she sank. " The three batteries at Manila had kept up a continuous fire from the beginning of the engagement, which fire was not returned by this squadron. The firot of these batteries was situated on the south mole head, at the entrance to the Pasig River ; the second on the south bastion of the walled city of Manila, and the third at Malate, about one-half mile further south. At this point I sent a message to the Governor General to the effect that if the Ibatteries did not cease firing the city would be shelled. This had the effect 'of silencing them. " At twenty-five minutes to eight a. m. I ceased firing and withdrew the ■squadron for breakfast. At sixteen minutes past eleven a. M. returned to the STORY OF MANILA. 121 attack. By this time the Spanish flagship and almost the entire Spanish fleet were in flames. At half-past twelve p. m. the squadron ceased firing, the bat- teries being silenced and the ships sunk, burnt and deserted. At twenty min- utes to one p. M. the squadron returned and anchored off Manila, the Petrel being left behind to complete the destruction of the smaller gunboats, which were behind the point of Cavite. This duty was performed by Commander E. P. Wood in the most expeditious and complete manner possible. " The Spanish lost the following vessels : Sunk — Reina Christina, Castilla, Don Antonio de Ulloa. Burnt — Don Juan de Austria, Isla de Luzon, Isla de Cuba, General Lezo, Marquis del Duero, El Correo, Velasco and Isla de Mindanao (transport). Captured — Rapido and Hercules (tugs), and several small launches. " I am unable to obtain complete accounts of the enemy's killed and wounded, but believe their losses to be very heavy. The Reina Christina alone had 150 killed, including the captain, and ninety wounded. I am happy to report that the damage done to the squadron under my command was inconsiderable, ^'^''''^^y^,^ '-'*-m^ Another Account of the Battle. The story of the battle of Manila Bay was retold officially by United States Consul O. F. Williams, in a report to the Department of State, dated on board the United States steamship Baltimore, in Manila Bay, May 4, Because this story is told by a civilian as he saw the events of May day from the bridge of the Olympia and from the quarter deck of the Baltimore, ;t has a special and captivating interest of its own which makes it additionally force- ful. He begins by telling how the American ships slipped into the harbor and lined up for battle off Cavite. He adds: "At about 5.30 a. m. Sunday, May i,the Spanish guns opened fire. With magnificent coolness and order, but with the greatest promptness, our fleet, in battle array, headed by the flagship, answered the Spanish attack, and for about two and a half hours a most terrific fire ensued. "The method of our operations could not have shown greater system, our guns greater effectiveness, or our officers and crews greater bravery, and while Spanish resistance was stubborn and the bravery of Spanish forces such as to challenge a demonstration, yet they were out-classed, weighed in the balance of war against the methods, training, aim and bravery shown on our decks, and after less than three hours' perilous and intense combat one of Spain's 122 STORY OF MANILA. war ships was sinking, two others were burning and all others with land defences had severely suffered when our squadron, with no harm done its ships, retired for breakfast. At about lo o'clock A. m. Admiral Dewey renewed the battle, and with effect most fatal with ?ach evolution. " No better evi- dence of Spanish bravery need be sought than that, after the castiga- tion of our first engagement, her ships and forts should again an- swer our fire. But the Spanish efforts were futile, ship after ship and bat- tery after battery went to destruc- tion before the on- slaught of Ameri- can energy and training, and an hour and a half of our second engage- ment wrought the annihilation of the Spanish fleet and forts, with several hundred Spaniards killedand wounded and millions in value of their Government's property destroyed. While amazing, almost unbelievable as it seems, not a ship or gun of our fleet had been disabled, and, except on the Baltimore, not a man had been hurt. " One of the Baltimore's crew had a leg fractured by slipping, and another hurt in the ankle in a similar manner, while four received slight MAP OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. STORY OF MANILA. 123 flesh wounds from splinters thrown from a 6-inch projectile, which pierced the starboard side of the cruiser. But in the battle of Manila Bay the United States squadron of six war ships totally destroyed the Spanish fleet of eight war ships, many forts and batteries, and accomplished this work without the loss of a man. " History has only contrasts. There is no couplet to form a comparison. The only finish fight between the modern war ships of civilized nations has proven the prowess of American naval men and methods, and the glory is allegory for the whole people. Our crews are all hoarse from cheering, and while we suffer for cough drops and throat doctors we have no use for Imi- ment or surgeons. Praise for Officers and Men. " To every ship, officer and crew all praise be given. As Victoria was answered years ago, ' Your Majesty, there is no second,' so may I report to your Department as to our war ships conquering the Spanish fleet in the bat- tle of Manila Bay, there is no first, ' there is no second.' The cool bravery and efficiency of the commodore was echoed by every captain and com- mander and down through the lines by every officer and man, and naval history of the dawning century will be rich if it furnishes to the world so glorious a display of intelligent command and successful service as must be placed to the credit of the United States Asiatic Squadron under date of May I, 1898. " It was my lot to stand on the bridge of the Baltimore, by the side of Captain Dyer, during the first engagement, and to be called to the flag ship Olympia by the commodore, at whose side on the bridge I stood during the second engagement." Special interest attaches to the account of the great naval battle at Man- ila by the Spanish commander. In his official rtport Admiral Montojo speaking of the recent naval engagement in Manila Bay, refers to it in the following language : " The Americans fired most rapidly. There came upon us numberless projectiles, as the three cruisers at the head of the line devoted themselves almost entirely to fight the Christina, my flag-'ship. A short time after the action commenced one shell exploded in the forecastle and put out of action all of those who served the four rapid fire cannon, making splinters of the forward mast, which wounded the helmsman on the bridge, when Lieutenant Jose Nunez took the wheel with a coolness worthy of the greatest commen- dation, steering until the end of the fight. " In the meanwhile another shell exploded in the orlap, setting fire to the crew's bags, which they were, fortunately, able to control. The enemy short- 124 STORY OF MANILA. ened the distance between us, and, rectifying his aim, covered us with a rain of rapid-fire projectiles. "At half-past seven one shell destroyed completely the steering geai. I ordered to steer by hand while the rudder was out of action. In the mean- while another shell exploded on the poop and put out of action nine men. M\>-* ADMIRAL MONTOJO, COMMANDER OF THE SPANISH FLEET. Another destroyed the mizzenmast head, bringing down the flag and my ensign, which were replaced immediately. " A fresh shell exploded in the officer's cabin, covering the hospital with blood, destroying the wounded who were being treated there. Another ex- ploded in the ammunition room astern, filling the quarters with smoke and preventing the working of the hand-steering gear. As it was impossible to control the fire, I had to flood the magazine when the cartridges were begin- ning to explode. STORY OF MANILA. 125 " Amidships several shells of smaller calibre went through the smokestack, and one of the large ones penetrated the fire-room, putting out of action one master gunner and twelve men serving the guns. Another rendered useless the starboard bow gun. While the fire astern increased, fire was started forward by another shell, which went through the hull and exploded on the deck. " The broadside guns, being undamaged, continued firing until there were only one gunner and one seaman remaining unhurt for firing them, as the guns' crews had been frequently called on to substitute those charged with steering, all of whom were out of action. " The ship being out of control, the hull, smokepipe and masts riddled with shot, half of her crew out of action, among whom were seven officers, I gave the order to sink and abandon the ship before the magazines should explode, making signal at the same time to the Cuba and Luzon to assist in saving the rest of the crew, which they did, aided by others from the Duro and tha arsenal. Ships Battered and Sunk. " I abandoned the Christina, directing beforehand to secure her flag, and, accompanied by my staff, and with great sorrow, I hoisted my flag on the cruiser Isla de Cuba. After having saved many men from the unfortunate vessel, one shell destroyed her heroic commander, Don Luis Cadaraso, who was directing the rescue. The Ulloa, which also defended herself firmly, using the only two guns which were available,was sunk by a shell, which entered at the water line, putting out of action her commander and half of her remaining crew, those who were only remaining for the service of the two guns stated. " The Castilla, which fought heroically, with her artillery useless, except one stern gun, with which they fought spiritedly, was riddled with shot and set on fire by the enemy's shells, then sunk, and was abandoned by her crew, in good order, which was directed by her commander, Don Alonzo Algaro. The casualties on this ship were twenty-three killed and eighty wounded. " The Austria, was very much damaged and on fire, and went to the aid of the Castilla. The Luzon had three guns dismounted and was slightly damaged in the hull. The Duro remained, with one of her engines useless, the bow gun and one of the redoubts. "At eight o'clock in the morning, the enemy's squadron having suspended its fire, I ordered the ships that remained to us to take situations in the bottom of the roads, at Bacoor, and there to resist to the last moment, and that they should be sunk before they surrendered. "At half past ten the enemy returned, forming a circle to destroy the arsenal, and the ships which remained to me, opening upon them a horrible < s o [I. o u M l-H u < O > < M iJ en 8 t- H H I/) Q H H 126 STORY OF MANILA. 127 fire, which we answered as far as we could with the few cannon which we still had mounted. " There remained the last recourse — to smk our vessels — and we accom- plished this operation, taking care to save the flag, the distinguishing pennant, the money in the safe, the portable arms, the breech plugs of the guns, and the signal codes, after which I went, with my staff, to the convent of Santo Domingo de Cavite to be cured of a wound received in the left leg, and to telegraph a brief report of the action, with preliminaries and results. " The inefficiency of the vessels which composed my little squadron, the lack of all classes of the personel, especially master gunners and seaman gun- ners, the inaptitude of some of the provisional machinists, the scarcity of rapid-fire cannon, the strong crews of the enemy, and the unprotected char- acter of the greater part of our vessels, all contributed to make more decided the sacrifice which we made for our country." Story of a Jolly Sailor. In Admiral Dewey's fleet there was a sailor man named William Savage, familiarly known to his fellows, no doubt, as Bill. The said Bill, who was a member of the Raleigh's crew, was so delighted with the victory of the fleet over the Dons that he proceeded to get gloriously full. He was found by his superior officers in a condition where about the only thing that could be got out of him was " Hurrah and hurroo," and a summary court-martial was summoned to try him. The court-martial found that Bill's conduct was in serious violation of the discipline of the fleet, and sentence was passed that Bill should be con- fined for fifteen days in chains, with an allowance of but one ration a day. Before the sentence was put into execution the findings of the court were submitted to Commodore Dewey. This is what Commodore Dewey wrote on them, as shown by the record which arrived in Washington later. " The proceedings of the court are approved ; the sentence is disapproved, and the accused, William Savage, is ordered to return to his post in consider- ation of the glorious victory won by the fleet under my command. " Commodore Dewey, " Commanding the American Asiatic Fleet!' There are no particulars given in the proceedings as to where Sailor Savage got the whiskey with which he had his glorious celebration. Probably he brought some of his guns to bear upon one of the bars of Cavite. Be that as it may, the opinion of the officials at the Navy Department was one of approval of Admiral Dewey's course in overlooking Sailor Savage's breach of 128 STORY OF MANILA. discipline, under the circumstances. The incident has convinced the officials at the Navy Department that, while Admiral Dewey has been most modest in all his reports bearing upon the achievement of his fleet, he is concealing a vast amount of jubilation. The following graphic account of the battle, under date of May 1st, is by an eye-witness who was on board Admiral Dewey's flagship, and furnishes details of the engagement supplementary to those given in the foregoing pages : " Not one Spanish flag flies in Manila Bay to-day. Not one Spanish warship floats except as our prize. More than two hundred Spanish dead and five hundred to seven hundred wounded attest the accuracy of the American fire. "Commodore Dewey gallantly attacked the Spanish position at Cavite this morning. He swept five times along the line, and scored one of the most brilliant successes in modern warfare. That our loss is trifling adds to the pleasure of victory without detracting from its value. The number of hits our vessels received proved how brave and stubborn was the defence made by the Spanish forces. Miraculous as it may appear, none of our men were killed, and only eight wounded. Those who were wounded suffered only slight injuries. " Commodore Dewey arrived off Manila Bay last night, and decided to enter the bay at once. With all its lights out, the squadron steamed into Bocagrande, with crews at the guns. This was the order of the squadron, which was kept during the whole time of the first battle : the flagship Olympia, the Baltimore, the Raleigh, the Petrel, the Concord, the Boston. Rapid Exchange of Shot and Shell. "It was just eight o'clock, a bright moonlight night, but the flagship passed Corregidor Island without a sign being given that the Spaniards were aware of its approach. Not until the flagship was a mile beyond Corregidor was a gun fired. Then one heavy shot went screaming over the Raleigh and the Olympia, followed by a second, which fell further astern. The Raleigh, the Concord and the Boston replied, the Concord's shells exploding apparently 'exactly inside the shore battery, which fired no more. Our squadron slowed down to barely steerage way, and the men were allowed to sleep alongside their guns. " Commodore Dewey had timed our arrival so that we were within five miles of the city of Manila at daybreak. We then sighted the Spanish squadron, Rear-Admiral Montojo commanding, off Cavite. Here the Span- iards had a well-equipped navy yard, called Cavite Arsenal. Admiral Montojo's TESTIMONIAL TO THE HERO OF MANILA THE BRONZE SYMBOLIZES THE TWO NATIONS, ONE AS VICTOR AND THE OTHER AS VANQUISHED MADE BV TIFFANY A CO., NEW VOBK MAJOR GENERAL H. W. LaWTON ^ OOPrmOHT, I8M, BV (EI tt IFKR, BRIGADIER-GENERAL F. V. GREENE Commander of Brigade at the Capture of Manila FAMOUS CHAPEL AND SHRINE AT CAVITE GENERAL MILLER THE HERO OF ILOILO HON. CHARLES DEWEY BROTHER OF ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY « i MRS. MARY P. GREELEY SISTER OF ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY CAPTAIN EDWARD DEWEY BROTHER OF ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEy 1 imKm'«--j!iimim»» STORY OF MANILA. 129 flag was flying on the 3,500 ton protected cruiser Reina Christina. The pro- tected cruiser Castilla, of 3,200 tons, was moored ahead and astern to the port battery, and to seaward were the cruisers Don Juan de Austria, Don Antonio de UUoa, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon, Quiros, Marquis del Onero, and General Lezox. These ships and the flagship remained under way during most of the action. " With the United States flag flying at all their mastheads, our ships moved to the attack in line ahead, with a speed of eight knots, first passing in front of Manila, where the action was begun by three batteries mounting! guns powerful enough to send a shell over us at a distance of five miles. The Concord's guns boomed out a reply to these batteries with two shots. No more were fired, because Admiral Dewey could not engage with these bat- teries without sending death and destruction into the crowded city. As we neared Cavite two very powerful submarine mines were exploded ahead of the flagship. This was at six minutes past five o'clock. The Spaniards had misjudged our position. Immense volumes of water were thrown high in air by these destroyers, but no harm was done to our ships. Dashing Ahead in Spite of Torpedoes. " Admiral Dewey had fought with Farragut at New Orleans and Mobile Bay, where he had his first experience with torpedoes. Not knowing how many more mines there might be ahead, he still kept on without faltering. No other mines exploded, however, and it is believed that the Spaniards had only these two in place. " Only a few minutes later tho shore battery at Cavite Point sent over the flagship a shot that nearly hit the battery at Manila, but soon the guns got a better range, and the shells began to strike near us or burst close aboard from both the batteries and the Spanish vessels. The heat was intense. Men stripped off all clothing except their trousers. " As the Olympia drew nearer, all was silent on board as if the ship had been empty, except for the whirr of blowers and the throb of the engines. Suddenly a shell burst directly over us. From the boatswain's mate at the.' after 5-inch gun came a hoarse cry. ' Remember the Maine ! ' arose from the throats of five hundred men at the guns. The watchword reverberated through turrets and firerooms, and was caught up wherever seaman or fire- man stood at his post. " ' Remember the Maine ! " had rung out for defiance and revenge. Its utterance seemed unpremeditated, but was evidently in every man's mind, and, now that the moment had come to make adequate reply to the murder of the Maine's crew, every man shouted what was in his heart. 9~D 130 STORY OF MANILA. "The Olympia was now ready to begin the fight. Admiral Dewey, his chief of staff, Commander Lamberton, and aide and myself, with Executive Officer Lieutenant Rees and Navigator Lieutenant Calkins, who conned ship most admirably, were on the forward bridge. Captain Gridley was in the conning tower, as it was thought unsafe to risk losing all the senior officers by one shell. ' You may fire when ready, Gridley,' said the Admiral, and at nineteen minutes of six o'clock, at a distance of 5,5oo yards, the starboard 8-inch gun in the forward- turret roared forth a compliment to the Spanish forts. Presently similar guns from the Baltimore and the Boston sent 250- pound shells hurling toward the Castilla and the Reina Christina for accuracy. The Spaniards seemed encouraged to fire faster, knowing exactly our dis- tance, while we had to guess theirs. Their ship and shore guns were making things hot for us. Showers of Fragments. " The piercing scream of shot was varied often by the bursting of time fuse shells, fragments of which would lash the water like shrapnel or cut our hull and rigging. One large shell that was coming straight at the Olympia's forward bridge fortunately fell within less than one hundred feet away. One fragment cut the rigging exactly over the heads of Lamberton, Rees and myself Another struck the bridge gratings in line with it. A third passed just under Dewey and gouged a hole in the deck. Incidents like these were plentiful. " Our men naturally chafed at being exposed without returning fire from all our guns, but laughed at danger and chatted good humoredly. A few nervous fellows could not help dodging mechanically when shells would burst right over them or close aboard, or would strike the water and passed over- head, with the peculiar spluttering roar made by a tumbling rifled projectile. Still the flagship promptly steered for the very centre of the Spanish line, and, as our other ships were astern, the Olympia received most of the Spaniards' attention. " Owing to our deep draught Dewey felt constrained to change his course at a distance of four thousands yards and run parallel to the Spanish column. ' Open with all guns,' he said, and the ship brought her port broadside bear- ing. The roar of all the flagship's 5-inch rapid firers was followed by a deep diapason of her after turret 8-inchers. Soon our other vessels were equally hard at work, and we could see that our shells were making Cavite harbor hotter for the Spaniards than they iTad made the approach for us. " Protected by their shore batteries and made safe from close attack by shallow water, the Spaniards were in a strong position. The)^ put up a STORY OF MANILA. 131 gallant fight. The Spanish ships were sailing back and forth behind the Castilla, and their fire, too, was hot. One shot struck the Baltimore and passed clean through her, fortunately hitting no one. Another ripped up her main deck, disabled a 6-inch gun and exploded a box of 3-pounder ammuni- tion, wounding eight men. "The Olympia was struck abreast the gun in the wardroom by a shell which burst outside, doing little damage. The signal halyards were cut from Lieutenant Brumby's hand on the after bridge. A shell entered the Boston's port quarter and burst in Ensign Doddridge's stateroom, starting a hot fire, and fire was also caused by a shell which burst in the port hammock netting. Both these fires were quickly put out. Another shell passed through the Boston's foremast just in front of Captain Wildes, who at the time was stand- ing on the bridge. " After having made four runs along the Spanish line, finding the chart incorrect. Lieutenant Calkins, the Olympia's navigator, told the Commodore he believed he could take the ship nearer the enemy, with lead going to watch the depth of water. The flagship started over the course for the fifth time, running within two thousand yards of the Spanish vessels. At this range even 6-pounders were effective, and the storm of shells poured upon the unfortu- nate Spanish began to show marked results. Three of the enemy's vessels were seen burning and their fire slackened. Stopping the Battle for Breakfast. " On finishing this run Admiral Dewey decided to give the men break- fast, as they had been at the guns two hours with only one cup of coffee to sustain them. Action ceased temporarily at twenty-five minutes of eight o'clock, the other ships passing the flagship and the men cheering lustily. Our ships remained beyond range of the enemy's guns until ten minutes of eleven o'clock, when the signal for close action went up. The Baltimore had the place of honor in the lead, with the flagship following and the other ships as before. " The Baltimore began firing at the Spanish ships and batteries at sixteen minutes past eleven o'clock, making a series of hits as if at target practice. The Spaniards replied very slowly, and the Admiral signalled the Raleigh, the Boston, the Concord and the Petrel to go into the inner harbor and de- stroy all the enemy's ships. By her light draught the little Petrel was en- abled to move within one thousand yards. Here, firing swiftly but accurately, she commanded everything still flying the Spanish flac:. Other ships were also doing their whole duty, and soon not one red and yellow ensign remained aloft, except on a battery up the coast. 132 STORY OF MANILA. " The Spanish flagship and the Castilla had long been burning fiercely, and the last vessel to be abandoned was the Don Antonio de Uiloa, which lurched over and sank. " Then the Spanish flag on the Arsenal staff was hauled down, and at half-past twelve o'clock a white flag was hoisted there. Signal was made to llie Petrel to destroy all the vessels in the inner harbor, and Lieutenant Hughes, with an armed boat's crew, set fire to the Don Juan de Austria, the r.Iarquis del Duero, the Isla de Cuba and the Correo. The large transport Manila and many tugboats and small craft fell into our hands. "'Capture and destroy Spanish squadron,' were Dewey's orders. Never v/ere instructions more effectually carried out. Within seven hours after arriving on the scene of action nothing remained to be done. The Admiral closed the day by anchoring off the city of Manila and sending word to the Governor General that if a shot was fired from the city at the fleet he would lay Manila in ashes." The foregoing account by an eye-witness conveys a clear idea of Dewey's tactics, courage and overwhelming triumph. It describes a naval engage- uient and victory that will live in the annals of our country. DEWEY'S DISCRETION. '•'Go, and use your best discretion," Cast adrift by ultra neutrals, So, to Dewey went the word, Coal and rations running short, Far from home and friendly station ; He must find another haven. Sole reliance now his sword. Take and hold a hostile port. Stealing through ill-guarded channels, Ere the sun has shown his face, In Manila's land-locked harbor, He beheld the fateful place. Never mind their damp torpedoes ; Spanish gunners never see. Pass the word along the squadron : " Steam ahead ! and follow me ! " Ships of Spain, and forts and cannon Roared objections, loud and long. But the "dogs of war" — and Dewey — Plucked the battle from the strong. " 'Twas not reckless love of danger Spurred him onward to his goal, 'Twas a Yankee man's discretion Whisoered in his ear : ' Go and coal ! ' " — Edmund Marsh. CHAPTER VIII. Superb Valor of the American Fleet at Manila. -MONG the passengers who arrived at San Francisco on the Belgic from Hong Kong were four men who participated in the fight of Manila, on May i. They were paymaster G. A. Loud, of the dis- patch boat McCulloch; Dr. Charles P. Kindleberger, surgeon of the Olympia ; Ralph Phelps, secretary to the captain of the McCulloch, and J. C. Evans, gunner of the Boston. They all spoke of the valor and determination of their opponents in the battle of Manila. They said that the Spaniards fought bravely, even after the last vestige of hope had gone, and stayed by their guns as long as they could be used. Dr. Kindleberger gave a graphic account of the terrific fight. He was on the Olympia through it all. In the first assault the flagship took the lead, the other vessels following in her wake at four ships' lengths. At one time the smoke became so dense that it was necessary to draw aside, allowing the cloud to lift. The vessels were examined, and it was found they had sus- tained no damage. Breakfast was then served to the men, and in a few minutes they re- entered the fight with the greatest enthusiasm. The second fight was even more fierce than the first. It was in that that the Baltimore was struck. During the first fight the Spanish admiral's ship put bravely out of the line to meet the Olympia. The entire American fleet concentrated fire on her, and she was so badly injured that she turned around to put back. At this juncture the Olympia let fly an 8-inch shell, which struck her stern and pierced through almost her entire length, exploding finally in the engine room, wficking her machinery. This shell killed the captain and sixty men and set the vessel on fire. In the heat of the fight the two torpedo boats moved out to attack the fleet. They were allowed to come within 800 yards, when a fusilade from the Olympia sent one to the bottom with all on board and riddled the other. The second boat was later found turned upon the beach covered with blood, in the second fight the Baltimore was sent to silence the fort at Cavite. She plunged into a cloud of smoke and opened all her batteries on the fortifica- tions. In a very few minutes a shell struck the ammunition and the fort ble>v up with a deafening roar, 133 134 DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA.- The work on the Baltimore was glorious. After the principal ships of ihe enemy had been destroyed, the Concord, Raleigh and Petrel, being of light draught, were sent in to handle the remaining vessels of the fleet. They made quick work of them. In taking possession of the land forts several hundred wounded Spaniards fell into the hands of the Americans and nearly 200 dead were accounted for on the spot. Holes in which numbers had been hastily buried were found. The dead were returned to relatives so far as this could be done, and the wounded were cared for in the best manner by the ' American surgeons. After the first battle the Americans were greatly fagged out by heat, and the rest and breakfast allowed them by the Commodore was of inestimable benefit. When the men were at breakfast, a conference of all officers was held on board the Olympia, when the plan of the second battle was made known by the Commodore. Several shots struck the Olympia and she was pierced a number of times. One shell struck the side of the ship against the hospital ward. The chaplain and nurses who were watching the fight through a port hole a few inches away were stunned by the concussion. Experts have figured out the fighting volume of the guns of the respect- ive sides of the battle was three for the Americans against seven for Spanish. It is clear then, that the superiority was in the ships and the men, the latter having the experience and nerve. Gunner Evans, of the Boston, directed the fire of one of the big guns. Not a man on the Boston received a scratch. Steady Thunder of Cannon. Paymaster Loud, who was on the McCulloch, during the battle and was a witness of events on both sides, furnishes an interesting account of the battle. From his position he could see every movement of the American ships and could also see the Spaniards. " For two hours," said Mr. Loud, " the steady thunder of cannon was kept up. The roar was something terrible. At one time, I really thought we would be beaten. This was after the fire had been kept up an hour. It looked like every gun on the Spanish ships had turned loose on us all toge- ther and the shore line was a veritable blaze of fire from the batteries. The din was simply indescribable. Tons upon tons of shot fell over our ships. There was steel enough to have sunk our entire fleet. "Our salvation was in the bad marksmanship of the Spaniards. They handled their pieces like children. Nearly all of their shots went wide. Most of them were high, flying over the fleet and falling into the bay beyond. Some of the batteries, however, were better trained. Several guns maintained DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 135 a raking fire on the fleet. Nearly all of our ships were struck by both large and small shot, but no damage of consequence was done. " We left Manila on the Sth. At that time Commodore Dewey was in possession of the shore forts and arsenal. Considerable ammunition and some fair guns were captured. " Manila, on the opposite side of the bay, had not been taken, and it v/as not the intention of the admiral to do so at that time. Of course the city and its suburbs were completely at the mercy of our guns and we could have laid it in ruins in a very short time. But the force on the warships is too small to land and take possession." A letter from Manila said the Spaniards were so sure of whipping the Americans that they had prepared a prison for them. It was the infamous Black Hole of Manila, where so many insurgents were smothered to death in 1897. The letter briefly adds : " Living aboard the vessels is simply awful on Account of the extreme heat which we are bound to endure. In addition to the heat of this place everything on board ship is at fever heat, with fires kept constantly up in four boilers and everything closed up. You can have no idea what it is." Spaniards Sure They Oould Defeat the Yankees. In a letter to a friend in New York an engineer of the Baltimore wrote, a week after the fight : " The Spaniards were absolutely confident of victory. No other outcome was anticipated by them : no preparations were made for a different result. I think that their ships, combined with their forts, made them equal to us, so far as powers of offence and defence were concerned. They had as many modern guns approximately the same size as we had, and more men to fire them. They should have been able to fire as much weight of shot in a specified time as we did. " The whole thing, in other words, lay in the fact that it was the Ameri- can against the Spaniard, the Anglo-Saxon against the Latin. Every shot fired from our fleet was most deliberately, coolly and pitilessly aimed. The Spaniards fired an enormous number of times, but with apparently the most impracticable aim. Shells dropped all around our ships; we were in action for over four hours ; hundreds of shot and shell fell close to us. Only five or six pierced us and they did no damage. " The damage done by our ships was frightful. I have visited all of the sunken Spanish ships, and, had I not seen the effects of American marksman- ship, I would hardly give credit to reports of it. One smokestack of the Castilla, a 3,300- ton Spanish ship, was struck eight times, and the shells 13a DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. through the hull wer? so many and so close that it is impossible that a Spaniard could have lived on her deck. The other large ship, the Reina Christina, was perforated in the same way. " The lesson I draw from the fight is the great utility of target practice. The Spaniard has none ; we have it every three months. Strength of navies are compared generally ship for ship; the personnel is just as important. I am confident that, had we manned the Spanish ships and had the Spaniards manned our fleet, the American side would have been as victorious as it was. The Spaniard certainly was brave, for he stuck to his guns till the last. " The hard part of this engagement was not the fighting part, that was all right, but it was in getting ready for it. I was thirty-two hours without relief or rest in the engine-rooms of the Baltimore, the temperature varying from 1 20 to 160 degrees. Since the fight we have eased down on work and are taking it easy, except for a strict watch." Too Late to Save the Islands. A most gloomy message was 'received by the Government at Madrid, on May 8th, from the Governor General of the Philippines. As the result a member of the Cabinet admitted that the despatch of Spanish troops could not save the Philippine Islands. He added : " We could send six thousand troops; but, if the natives are against us such a force would be inadequate. If they were with us, it would not be necessary to send troops to the Philip- pine Islands." A communication from Captain General Augusti was as follows : " The situation is very grave. Aguinaldo has succeeded in stirring up the country, and the telegraph lines and railways are being cut. I am without communica- tion with the provinces. The province of Cavite has completely rebelled, and the towns and villages are occupied by numerous bands. A Spanish column defends the Zapote line to prevent the enemy from invading the province of Manila, but the foe has entered through Bulacon, Lagina and Moron, so that Manila will thus be attacked by land and sea. "I am striving to raise the courage of the inhabitants, and will exhaust every means of resistance, but I distrust the natives and the volunteers because there have already been many desertions. Bacoor and Imus have already been seized by the enemy. The insurrection has reached great pro- portions, and if I cannot count upon the support of the country the forces at my disposal will not suffice to hold the ground against two enemies." An interesting letter was received at Easton, Pa., by Judge Scott' from his son, Ensign W. Pitt Scott, of Admiral Dewey's flagship Olympia, describing the great victory in Manila Bay on Sunday morning, May isj^ DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 137 Ensign Scott was especially commended by Admiral Dewey in his official report for his efficient work during the conflict. The letter is dated on board the Olympia, at Cavite, Manila Bay, on May nth. The writer, telling of the opening of the famous fight, said : " The Spaniards had ten ships fighting to our six, and, in addition, had five or six shore batteries, some of which bothered us a good deal. We steamed by the line and fired some deadly shot at them. We had anticipated that once across their line would be sufficient to silence them, but they did not yield, and so when we got to the end of the line we turned and went back at them again. It was getting real interesting now, for many of their shots were coming close aboard, and the screech of the shots as they whistled over our heads was anything but pleasant. " Now and then we would see a shot strike in the water ahead of us and explode and the pieces of it come at us. I will never forget it. I was sur- prised to find how little it disturbed us. I never believed that I would ever feel so entirely unconcerned while the shots were falling all around. No one seemed to care an iota whether the shells dropped on us or fell a long distance away, and in the intervals, between which we were making signals, the most commonplace remarks were made. " We passed across the enemy's line the second time, but that did not seem to silence them any more than the first, and we had to try it a third time, with no better result, although perhaps their fire v/as not so heavy as at first. A small torpedo boat came out and attempted to get within striking distance of the Olympia, but our secondary battery drove her in ; a second time she came out and at us, but again our fire was too much for her, and some of our shots striking her she had barely time to get back to the beach, or she would have sunk. Flagship Bore the Brunt. " It soon became apparent that the Spaniards were concentrating their fire on the Olympia (as flagship), and we then received the brunt of the fight. At one time the Reina Christina, the Spanish flagship, attempted to come out from her position and engage us at closer distance, but we turned our fire on her and drove her back. A fourth time we steamed across their line, and a fifth, and it began to look as if they were not going to give in until after all our ammunition would be exhausted, which would leave us in a very serious predicament, in the midst of the enemy and in one of their ports, being over seven thousand miles from supplies ; so after the fifth time across their line we withdrew to count up our ammunition, to see how we stood and to get breakfast. 138 DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. " It was only 7.30, but it seemed to us all as if it were the middle of the day. Then we began to count our casualties, and found that no one had been killed and none injured, with a few slight exceptions. But it was the dirtiest-looking crowd that I have ever seen, and by far the oddest. It was so hot that many had stripped off nearly all their clothes ; in fact, in the tur- rets they did strip off about eycrything except their shoes, which they kept on to protect their feet from the hot floor. " The Commodore himself, the most dressed man in the battle, was in white duck ; the rest of us appeared without collars and some without shirts, an undershirt and a white blouse being more than sufficient for our needs, and, if our blouses were not off, they certainly were not buttoned. " We were a mighty dirty crowd. Our faces and clothes were full of smoke and powder and saltpetre, and the perspiration rolling around in that way made us picturesquely handsome. I would have given a good deal for a picture of the ship's company, men and officers. Then we looked around to see where the ship had been injured, and found that she had been struck several times, none of which materially hurt her. On the bridge, where we stood, was perhaps the hottest place of all, for at least four shots struck within thirty or forty feet of it. A Shot Outs Through the Rigging. " One of the shots with an ugly screech flew over our heads, but its cry was a little different from most of the others, and several of us said, 'That hit something,' and we looked aloft to see if it had, and found i:he halliards on which we had a signal flying cut in two and the signal out to leeward; another shot cut the wire rigging ten feet over our heads, while any number flew close over us without striking anything. "About half-past ten we returned to the attack and gave the Baltimore the post of honor in leading the attack, as we were very short of 5 -inch ammunition, and the v.ay that the Baltimore did fire into the Spanish bat- teries was a caution. It was not long before the enemy was completely silenced and the white flag run up. Two of their .ships were on fire and burning fiercely, and one was sinking. The Don Antonio de Ulloa was the last to give in, and after she was abandoned by her crew still kept her flag flying, which necessitated our firing at her until it was lowered, but as no one was left on board to lower it we kept firing at her until she slowly began to sink. It was a grand sight to see her slowly settle aft, with the flag of Spain with her. " Then we sent some of the smaller ships in to destroy those that were still afloat and the Petrel burned and sunk four or five of them, while the Concord DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 139 fired a large transport, which we afterwards learned was quite full of coal and stuff for the Spaniards. Altogether our six ships, the Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Boston, Concord and Petrel, burned and sunk almost the entire Spanish fleet that is in the East, as follows, viz. : Sunk, the Reina Christina (flagship), Castilla and Antonio de Ulloa, and burned the Don Juan de Austria, the Isla de Cuba, the Isla de Luzon, the Marques del Duero, the Velasco, the Gen- eral Lezo, the El Correo and the transport Isla de Mindanao. " There is still one small vessel, the Argus, on the ways, but she is so badly damaged by shot that I doubt if she would float if we tried to put her into the water. Besides, we captured the Manila, a splendid 1,900-ton vessel, which they used as a transport, and on which we expect to send home our trophies in the way of captured guns, etc. We also captured any number of tugs and steam launches, some of which we burned, and others which we are now using. Some of them are very fine tug boats. White Flags Flying Over the City. " The city is still in the hands of the Spanish, although there have been two or three white flags flying in the city. We have complete possession of the city of Cavite, which is their principal naval station, and is about four miles below the city, and have gone ashore and quietly helped ourselves to all kinds of stores that we might need, and of which we found large quantities in the navy yard. " By half-past one o'clock Sunday afternoon, eight hours after the first shot was fired from Cavite, we had entire possession of the place, and we again withdrew and anchored for a rest. I did not get a chance to get below to get anything to eat until nearly three o'clock, and it hardly seemed as if I was going down to dinner. Every one has said the same thing, and they all speak of the first half of the engagement (that from 5.35 to 7.35 a. m.) as the fore- noon fight, and the second half, which commenced about 10.30 a. m., as the afternoon fight. We could hardly bring ourselves to realize that it was so early in the day. " Every one seemed proud of the wounds, that is to the ships. The even- ing of the fight I had to go around to the different ships on an errand for the Commodore, and on each one all hands made it a point to take me around and show me where each shot hit them. The Raleigh was hit in one of her boats, the shot going through both sides and striking a gun on the opposite side, which it twirled around on its pivot like a top, but glanced off and injured no one. " The Baltimore had a shell strike her on one side, go through her, exploding a box of rapid-fire ammunition, then going through two sides of 140 DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. the engine room hatch, and striking a six-inch gun on the other side, which it put out of commission, then glanced off and returned to the other side of the decli again and carried away a piece of an iron ladder, when it fell down on deck, and later was picked up. The course of this shot was very eagerly pointed out to me by Cone and two others, who were all very proud of it. They told me they also got two other bad shots. " The Boston got a hole in her foremast, just over the captain's head, while a shot struck her in the wake of Doddridge's room, went into his room, where it exploded, set fire to it, and burned his clothes. The fire and water made a pretty bad wreck of his uniforms. The Concord and the Petrel, I believe, were neither of them hit, but as I said before the Olympia was hit eight times, and we were as proud as peacocks of the shots. One or two of them, I believe, were photographed by the newspaper correspondents, so you may see how slight they were, and how much fuss we made over them. We considered the scars very honorable. Batteries Oaptiired and Guns Destroyed. " We do not know exactly what we are going to do now. We sent some of the ships down to Corregidor, where we captured the batteries, paroled the garrisons and destroyed the guns. We can take the city of Manila at any time we choose, for they have but two or three batteries left, but we have not troops enough here to hold it. We hear that troops are to be sent out from San Francisco, but do not know whether they are coming or not. The rebels have risen and have completely surrounded the town, and I believe the inhabitants are much more afraid of them than they are of us, for the rebels, if they could only once get a chance, Vi/ill show no mercy to the Spaniards. " The thing that we were most afraid of was that the North Atlantic fleet would get in some big engagements before we had a chance, but from the scanty news which we get I guess we have them on the hip this time. " The harbor presents quite an unusual appearance with eight or nine ships showing just above water, the masts charred and their upper works (those that can be seen) nothing but a twisted mass of iron. It looks as if we had done something to pay the debt we owe them for the Maine. I got ashore several days after the engagement and walked through the navy yard. It presents a woful sight. The barracks had any number of holes in the sides and things were strewn all over. In one room of the commandant's house ^e saw where a large eight-inch shell had gone through the roof, and after carrying away the thick planking had exploded, knocking down the side of the room and wrecking everything in it. In another building I saw where a DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 141 shell had gone through the side of the building, and had scattered the bricks all over the room. " We are very busy all day, and part of the night, too. It is extremely hot, and everybody is suffering from it. We cannot sleep below, but take our bedding on deck at night, and sleep there, but the rainy season is coming on and then I don't know what we will do. Even now it rains occasionally at night, and we have to hurry below, or else spread a rain coat over us. We go around without collar or shirt, and even then the heat is something fear- ful. To-day there were over fifty people on the sick list from the entire fleet, which is a very large number, and many who are not on the sick list are really sick and hardly fit for duty. Suffering From the Heat. " Both the captain of this ship and the captain of the Boston are down, as is also the chief of staff. I am in first-rate health, but don't believe I ever felt the heat half so much. It is lucky we have an ice machine aboard, but the sea water is so warm that we make only about enough to have ice water around meal times. We also get enough to keep cool what fresh provisions we may have left. We are living pretty much on sea stores now. It is too hot to take a bath with fresh water, for it will almost scald you, and even the salt water is very warm." Other features of the battle in Manila Bay were described by an eye- witness on one of Dewey's ships as follov/s : " With decks cleared for action, guns shotted, crews all at quarters and eagerly peering through the portholes. Commodore Dewey having previously made signal to follow the flagship, headed for the entrance of Manila Bay, between the batteries on the islands of Puto Cabello and El Fraile at lO p. m., on Saturday night, April 30th. Here were the guns that were to blow us out of the water, and the much- vaunted torpedo mine field that was impossible to pass over without a skilled pilot. At 10.20 a signal light and a gun on the beach announced that we had probably been seen. " The night was bright, moonlight and unfavorable for us, but the dark gray green paint, and the inky darkness on board ship, prevented any estimate of our character being made. I " The Olympia and Baltimore slipped through unseen by the gunners on El Fraile, but a sudden roar, a flash, and an eight-inch shell whistled over the Raleigh, and exploded close alongside. The ball was opened, and a five- inch shell from her bro'ae the silence of the American fleet, but the course or speed was not chanjjrd. Three more shots were fired at the Concord and Boston, and they we«"« promptly replied to, after which the fleet was out of 142 DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. range. Speed was then slackened, and the column headed up the bay for Manila, thirty miles distant. " The Commodore skirted the city at early dawn, but the Spanish fleet was not there. Soon afterward it was distinguished, drawn up in line of battle, off the strongly fortified arsenal of Cavite, seven miles from Manila. The signal ' prepare for general action and close up ' was then floated from the flagship Olympia, and, in unison, bugle and drum called to 'general quarters' and the glorious Stars and Stripes waved out from every masthead and gaff of the six ships of the squadron as the Olympia headed for their line of battle. Our formation was in column, four hundred yards apart, with a slackened speed of six knots. " The fullness of the day revealed the Spanish fleet of nine vessels, the Reina Christina, flagship; the Castilla, Don Antonio d'Ulloa, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon and four small gunboats. The Spanish mail steamer Mindanap was also in line, having been hastily fitted with guns. Each end of their line was protected by batteries of six and eight-inch guns on the peninsula of Cavite. The Castilla was moored head and stern, and the other ships had steam up in order to be able to retreat behind the mole and batteries of Cavite to repair accidents and take a breathing spell. Preparations were thus made for carrying on the conflict. Spaniards Poor Shots. " The shore batteries opened on us long before we were in range. Our guns were silent until at 4,500 yards, when the Olympia swung around her port broadside and let drive her four eight-inch turret guns. The Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Concord and Boston, in succession, followed the flagship and opened fire as soon as their guns would bear on the enemy. " The engagement was general as the Americans swept down parallel to the Spanish line, but was fought at long range, owing to our ships being kept away from the enemy by shallow water. The modern high power guns and excellent gunnery of the Americans soon showed its effects, while the Span- iard's shots either fell far short or flew wholly over our heads without doing any damage. " The end of their line being reached, we turned, shifted our batteries and stood down the line until we were at from 3,000 to 2,500 yards. It is /hardly conceivable with what rapidity and accuracy our guns were fired. The sides of the Raleigh, which has a battery of ten five-inch rapid-fire guns, were a continuous sheet of flame, and the eight-inch guns of the Olympia, Boston and Baltimore hurled an unbroken stream of 250-pound shell at the doomed ships of the enemy. Five times the Commodore led the fleet up and down the DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 143 Spanish line, after which we hauled out to breakfast, but not before we rea- lized that the victory was ours. " The Castilla was riddled and burning. A shell through the steam pipe of the Reina Christina showed she was in trouble. Two hours later she burst into flames and both ships were burned to the water's edge. The other Spanish craft had been handled so severely that they had retired behind the mole of the navy yard. The Mindanoa was beached. " One torpedo boat, early in the fight, tried to slip out and attack our reserve squadron, composed of the McCuUoch and the transports Nanshan and Zafiro, which we had left out of range of the action. She had hardly made clear her purpose before the small rapid-fire guns of all our ships were concentrated on her, and she was fairly blown out of the water onto the beach Stopped to Eat Breakfast. " At 7:30, the Commodore made signal to retire, in order to give the crews a rest and breakfast. They had been standing by their guns all night, and had oeen fighting them for three hours. The rest was welcomed by all. After breakfast and the council of war, it was decided to attack and destroy the shore batteries at Cavite. On signal, the Baltimore led the way, ran up to within two thousand yards, received their concentrated fire, and literally smothered them with shell. The other ships quickly took their places, and within the brief space of thirty minutes not another shot was fired from the shore. " The Don Antonio d'Ulloa still floated the flag of Spain and fired a few shots. Her decks were swept of every living soul, and she sank riddled with shell. The work of the big ships was over. The Raleigh, Concord, and Petrel were then ordered inside to " destroy shipping." But the draft of the Raleigh, twenty feet, was too great to allow her to get over the shoal water, and after getting aground twice the attempt had to be abandoned. The Con- cord ran over and found the Mindanoa, while the Petrel went up to the navy yard. The enemy, however, had anticipated them, and all the gunboats were on fire or scuttled. The arsenal was in ruins from the shelling, "At 1:30 the Spanish flag was hauled down, and the Petrel signalled: " The enemy has surrendered." " A mighty cheer went up from all the ships. A most extraordinary victory was ours — not one man did we lose, and there were only six men slightly wounded, on the Baltimore, v/hile from last accounts the Spaniards lost between 900 and IIOO men killed and wounded. " The Spanish Commodore was wounded, and the captain, a lieutenant, the chaplain, and a midshipman were killed by a shell striking the bridge of 144 DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. the Reina Christina. — She lost beside 8o men killed, and had 60 men wounded. The Castilla lost no men killed and wounded. The shore bat- teries suffered badly. Had we been able to engage their ships and batteries at short range, the battle would have been more quickly over; but our loss of life would in all probability have been considerable. " On the Lunetta in front of Manila is a battery of ten-inch Krupp guns. These guns opened on the fleet as it passed in the early morning, and by so doing exposed the city to a merciless bombardment, which but for the human- ity of our commander might have put to death thousands of inhabitants, and laid the city in ruins. " Even after the first part of the battle was over the battery kept firing. But after the final destruction of the naval station and the silencing of the Spanish ships off the city, a white flag was hoisted over this battery, and not a gun was thereafter fired. Dismantled the Ports. " During Monday, May 2d, the Raleigh and Baltimore were sent down to demand the surrender or to destroy the forts at the mouth of the bay. Arrived off the principal fort and headquarters on Corregidor Island, a flag of truce was sent in and the surrender of the Spaniards was demanded, whereupon the Governor and the colonel commanding the forces came on board and arranged the terms with Captain Coghlan, of the Raleigh. We have since dismantled their guns, destroyed their ammunition and put all the Spaniards on parole not to bear arms against the United States during this war, or to attempt to fire a shot at our ships entering or leaving the bay." One of the arrivals at the port of Philadelphia recently, and one which was of more than passing interest to the American people at large, was the fine British ship Dalcairne, direct from Manila. She was on the scene of the great naval battle which resulted in Dewey's annihilation of the Spanish fleet under Admiral Montojo. She dropped anchor at Girard Point one hundred and forty-one days from the harbor of Cavite, landing a cargo of 10,998 bales of hemp. The Dalcairne was the first vessel to arrive at Philadelphia bearing eye- witnesses of the thrilling scenes of May 1st, and only the second one which up to this time had reached the United States. She had on board a most interesting collection of souvenirs of the battle. In her hold were securely packed away two guns of historic interest. One from the cruiser Baltimore, presented by Admiral Dewey to the Monumental City to commemorate the deeds done by its namesake, and the other from the ill-fated Reina Castilla, which is the property of the Navy Department at Washington. DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 145 Besides these invaluable mementos of the engagement Captain Jones was the possessor of relics and trinkets galore from the abandcaied hulks of the defeated Dons. While in harbor at Manila the Dalcairne was visited by- Admiral Dewey, who presented several gifts to the captain. The guns were secured at Cavite from Consul-General Williams. Captain Jones would have secured many more articles had it not been for the depredations committed by the crew of a Nova Scotian bark in the vicinity, who quickly and sum- marily looted the shattered vessels of all portable articles with the skill ofi accomplished wreckers. On the morning of the naval battle, about 2 o'clock, all were sleeping on the Dalcairne except the watch and the steward, who notified Captain Jones in his berth of the approach of the American squadron. Very little time was consumed by the ship's company in tumbling out of their hammocks and berths. The position of the Dalcairne was a perilous one, being directly in the line of fire of the Spanish ships. Their guns, apparently elevated too high, however, hurled their destructive missiles slightly above the Britisher, and she was consequently struck only once by a shell, which tore away a portion of her top hamper. Still, had it not been for the fact that the American ships manoeuvred so constantly, Captain Jones thinks that his vessel must have sus- tained serious damage. The smoke hung so heavily that it was difficult to see anything of the engagement after it was well on, but the crew saw one thing distinctly, and that was the heroic work of Admiral Montojo in trans- ferring his flag to another vessel under a rain of death-deahng projectiles. They could but admire his bravery. A Feat of Superb Courage. " How that little boat escaped utcer destruction," said Captain Jones, " is a mystery. Every man on her was a hero, but the Spanish admiral dis- counted for coolness anything that has ever come under my observation. During that perilous passage of a mile or more he stood upright in the stern perfectly unmoved, although splashes of water flew repeatedly over the little craft from the fragments of shell and larger shot which exploded frequently within a few yards of her. We all held our breath until Montojo was safe out of the frying-pan into the fire, as the saying is, and we all devoutly hoped he would cross that expanse of water in safety. It was an example of unpar- alleled heroism." Admiral Dewey is one of those prudent men who never like to go into battle unprepared. Before entering the harbor of Manila, he had every part of his fleet in fighting order, as he stated in a letter from Hong Kong. — Mr. Charles Dewey, brother of the Admiral, celebrated his fiftieth wedding anni- 10 —D 146 DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. versary two days after the Battle of Manila. On the evening of the cele- bration he received a letter from the admiral. It was postmarked Hong Kong, and had been written before the declaration of war. It was the last bit of correspondence that passed between the hero of Manila and his relatives in this country before the battle. After treating of private matters the Admiral went on to say that he had not had a good night's sleep for nearly thirty days. All the time had been spent in preparing his fleet for action. Word was expected at any minute to move on Manila, and he expressed confidence chat he would have the city at his mercy within twenty-four hours. This letter, written before the battle, was no vain boast, as the result showed. Celebrating Dewey's Victory. The people of Montpelier, Vt. , hailed his victory with demonstrations of rejoicing. When a press correspondent called on his sister, Mrs. Greely, he found her writing to her beloved brother. On the table and on the wall were pictures of him. " I am just writing to my dear brother," said she, " and teUing him of the magnificent manner in which his native town celebrated his victory. I know he will be greatly pleased to hear about it. These are the proudest days of my life ! " and her eyes welled with tears. All accounts show that in his early life Dewey was full of energy, fond of fun, was not averse to playing tricks, had a strong will, and gave promise of one day becoming a rugged personality who would not be afraid to wage relentless warfare upon any obstacle that stood in his way. His grand achievement at Manila was what might have been expected from a man of his sterling qualities. One of the qualifications of a great commander is the ability to gain the confidence of his men and inspire them with his own courage. In this respect Dewey is pre-eminent, as is shown by his success. Admiral Dewey christened the cruiser Baltimore " The Tiger." So says Chief-Engineer John D. Ford, in a letter to his wife, who lives in the Maryland metropolis. Mr. Ford thus tells of some narrow escapes during the battle: "A 5.2-inch armor-piercing shell entered the hammock netting, just abaft the starboard after 6-inch gun sponson. This space was stowed full of brass canopies, rails, etc., so that it made a great racket. Lieutenant Kellogg was just coming up the starboard hatch to see if the three-pounder Hotchkiss gun mounted on the rail there had plenty of ammunition. The shell struck two of the three-pounder shells that were on the deck besides the gun, exploding them. Kellogg ducked, as a man will involuntarily; one piece ripped his coat right down the back without leaving a scar on him, and another cut his shin. DEWEY'S MEN TELL OF MANILA. 147 " Ensign Irwin was standing on a grating of this hatch, fighting his guns, between two of the gratings that were knocked down, but was uninjured. The shell struck the recoil cylinder of the port after six-inch gun, putting that gun out of commission for the rest of that day, glanced and struck the shield, glanced down and struck the gun carriage, glanced up again against the inside of the shield, traversed inside of it circumferentially, hit a ventilator, and finally an iron ladder on the starboard side again, where its force was expended and it dropped to the deck without exploding. The most of our wounded were injured by this shot. ' " Earlier Ensign Irwin was standing on the engine-room hatch fighting his guns, when a shot skimmed his head so close that he took off his cap to see if it was cut. While he was holding it in his hand looking at it another shot struck it, carrying it out of his hand overboard. " One man worked at his gun for an hour with a broken leg, not know- ing it was broken. Doesn't it seem almost miraculous that there should have been so many narrow escapes without a person in the fleet being killed and with so few wounded ? " CHAPTER IX. The Spanish Flag Struck to the Stars and Stripes. HE fate of Manila lay in Admiral Dewey's hands from that May day, when the destruction of Admiral Montojo's fleet had so brilliantly inaugurated our war with Spain. He waited, however, for reinforcements, in command of Major General Wesley Mer- ritt. It would have been easy for him to reduce Manila to ashes, and shell its defenseless citizens; much easier still would it have been subsequently for the insurgents to indulge in barbarous retaliations on their helpless ene- mies and give way to excesses which, with the limited force at his disposal, he would have been utterly unable to quell, and for which, none the less, he would have been held responsible by the European powers whose local in- terests were at stake. The first expedition under Brigadier-General Greene, reached the Philippines on June 30th, after taking possession, on its way, of the Ladrones, a group of some 20 islands with an estimated population of 10,000, lying 1200 miles east of the Philippines. A second instalment arrived on July 17th, and a third under General McArthur on the 31st, General Greene having mean- while taken up a position within rifle range of Malate, a suburb of Manila, and called it " Camp Dewey," a name to conjure with. The arrival of the third expedition filled the Spaniards with rage, and they determined to give battle before Camp Dewey could be reinforced. The trench extended from the beach, three hundred yards to the left flank of the insurgents. Sunday being the insurgents' feast day and their left flank having been withdrawn the American right flank was left exposed. Here rfas an oppor- tunity not to be despised. Companies A and E, of the Tenth Pennsylvania, and Utah Battery were ordered to reinforce the right flank. In the midst of a raging typhoon, with a tremendous downpour of rain, the enemy's force, estimated at 3000 men, attempted to surprise the camp. Our pickets were driven in and the trenches assaulted. The fight in the trenches south of Malate, on the night of Sunday, July 31st, which cost the Pennsylvania troops so dearly, began by the usual eve- ning firing by the Spaniards, and continued against the Americans just as it had been kept up against the insurgents, when only Filipinos occupied the trenches. The Americans, regardless of personal danger, replied, as they 148 - THE FIGHT AT MALATE. 149 always did, standing up and exposing themselves fearlessly so as to make their fire more effective. The Spaniards shot more accurately than usual, and the Americans suffered largely from the sharpshooters. The most dangerous place was the open ground just behind the trenches, which our reinforcements crossed fearlessly, and it was there, where much of our loss occurred. The enemy suffered severely, although the Spaniards themselves did not know how many they lost. One man said he saw five carloads of dead soldiers hauled into Ermita. The battle was precipitated apparently by the eager desire of the Penn- sylvanians to get into action. When the men kept in the trenches the Spanish fire was harmless and merited no reply. The First Colorado men, who began the trench and the First Nebraska troops, who finished it, worked steadily at throwing up the parapet during the day and night, and suffered no loss. There was desultory firing at them, but it was wild, and they made no re- sponse. They paid no attention to the enemy and went on with their work. " The day after the fight,'' an officer who took part in the battle, writes a few days after the engagement, " I went over to Camp Dewey from Cavite, and spent that night in the trench with the First Colorado, Utah Batteries, and Third Battalion, First California. The Spaniards keep up a terrible fire nearly all night. For a few minutes after it began the Utah boys kept up a lively fire with their 3-inch guns, and the Colorado boys showed the Span- iards a trick in volley firing. Then our fire ceased, and thereafter from the main trench not a shot was fired all night. " Not a man was hurt after our firing stopped. They sat behind their parapet and let the Spaniards blaze away. Bullets and shells flew over our heads in whistling chorus until daylight, and then there was a tremendous outburst. Colonel Hale, however, kept his men down, and after a while the Spaniards got tired and ceased firing. Our First Advance. " It was on the morning of Friday, July 29th, that our men first went fcsfward to the trenches. From the time, about the middle of July, when the first battalion of California men located the camp at Tambo, which General Anderson afterward named Camp Dewey, outposts had been stationed regu- larly somewhere near the insurgent line. When the Colorado men were sent to camp with the other battalions of the First California they sent outposts out also and got into the trouble of which you have been told. Finally, when the camp grew to its present size and there was prospect that it would grow still larger, it became undesirable to have the insurgents in our front. There was no telling when the Spaniards might make a rush and drive them back, 150 THE FIGHT AT MALATE. as they were reported to have done that night the Colorado men turned out the whole camp. " So General Greene sent to Aguinaldo, in General Merritt's name, and asked to have the insurgents restrained from stirring up the Spaniards every night. The high firing sometimes dropped shells and bullets among our out- posts, and it wasn't a good thing anyway to have another force between us and our enemy. So the insurgents were withdrawn from their outposts alii along our front, clear over to Pasai, as the maps have it, or Pineda, as the people call it, and on Friday our troops were sent forward to take their place. " It was the lot of the Colorado men first to take position directly in front of the enemy. Two battalions went forward under Lieutenant-Colonel McAvoy and the third battalion was held in reserve. Colonel McAvoy saw at once that the old insurgent trench was untenable. It was in a bad place, easily flanked, and there was good cover in front of it. Beyond the right end there was thickly wooded country, through which the enemy could make an advance with good chance of escaping observation. Colonel McAvoy decided to advance the line to the old Capuchin Chapel, which stood in the middle of the field in front of the old insurgent trench. He looked over the ground with his engineers and then laid out the line of the intrenchment. Digging Under Fire. "It was I o'clock in the afternoon when the men went to work on the ditch. It had been raining pretty steadily for a week, and there were heavy squalls at frequent intervals that afternoon, but most of the time the Spaniards had an entirely unobstructed view of the Americans and what they were doing. They took note of it occasionally in a disinterested sort of way by sending a Mauser bullet down now and then to investigate. The messengers were almost all very high and no damage was done to our men, who kept at work, undisturbed by the desultory shooting. The Colorado boys had the making of a good breastwork done when they were relieved in the morning by the First Nebraska regiment. " The ditch, trench, outwork, or whatever you might call it, was simply a lot of dirt piled up in a line that ran at right angles to the beach and the main road to Manila — Camina Real— and extended across the 250 yards, more or less, between them. It crossed fairly open country, on ground that is reason- ably called high for that locality. It is level and perhaps six feet above the sea, highest just at the beach line. A line of bamboos fringe the east side of the Camina Real and a similar line runs all along the edge of the beach. " The Nebraska boys kept up their work on the breastwork all day Satur- day, and the Spaniards paid them no more attention than they had paid to the THE FIGHT AT MALATE. 151 Colorado boys the day before. The Nebraska men worked on both sides of the parapet, making two ditches, the dirt from both of which they heaped on the long pile that gradually rose to a height of nearly seven feet all along the line. Behind the parapet the ditch was made wide but shallow, so that water v/ould not stand in it. Vain hope ! Water will stand in a boot track anywhere on that field after such rains as we are having now. The Old. Capuchin Ohapel. "About seventy. yards west of the road stands the ruin of an old Capuchiji chapel. It v/as in good condition when this rebellion began, but many bullets and shells have wrecked it almost completely. In the centre of it north and south a wide hall runs through from east to west. On the east the tiench began just north of the big double door that opened into this liall and ran straight to the road. On the west, on the sea side, the trench joir.ed the chapel at the north corner. Earth was piled against the north end of the chapel to the height of six or seven feet, up to the level of the two iron- barred windows. "'At the beach the parapet jumps forward about five yards and then swings across the eight or ten yards of beach to the wreck of an old caisson, such as the Spaniards used in Cavite to fill with rocks and put in front of their ships as improvised armor. At the base of the inside of the parapet there is a sohd shoulder projecting out about two feet all along the line for the men to stand on when they rise up to fire over the earthwork. Along the top of the parapet there are notches and peepholes for the lookouts. " On Saturday, July 30th, the work was far enough advanced to place some artillery in position, and light batteries A and B of the Utah Battalion sent forward two guns, each with eight men to a gun, under command of their lieutenants. The guns of Battery A were placed on the right of the chapel, about equidistant from it and the road. Battery B's guns were placed at the left of the chapel, a little to the east of the line of bamboos that fringes the beach. " The Spaniards kept whacking away at our boys occasionally on Sat- urday, but did no damage whatever at the trench. Further down the road, however, at the barricade where the footpath crosses the road north of the Pasai road, they drew the first American blood that was let in the conquest of the Philippine Islands. Private W. H. Sterling of Company K, First Col- orado, was the man hit. His regiment had been relieved by the Nebraska boys at 10 o'clock and was returning to camp. As he was marching along a bullet that had been fired high came down the road and took him in the muscle in the upper part of the left arm. It stung and it bled, but it didn't hurt very 152 THE FIGHT AT MALATE. much and did no serious damage. Sterling will soon be about his work again as if he never had been hit by a Spanish bullet. " Saturday afternoon the report came over to Cavite that the Astor bat- tery had been moved up into the trenches, but it was a mistake. The Astof battery had no ammunition. When the Astors were landed from the Newport there was a nasty surf running and their cascos could not get in to the beach. They waded ashore and dragged their guns through the surf. Their ammu-» ■nition was soaked. It had been bought as waterproof, but Captain March took no chances and examined one of the big brass shells. He found that the water had got into it and turned the powder to mush. So he had the whole lot examined and found nearly all spoiled. The bad powder was taken out and thrown away and the Astors are now reloading their shells with powder given them by Admiral Dewey. Spanish Fire Gets Lively. " On Saturday night the Spaniards put a little more spirit into their work, and peppered away in lively fashion. The breastwork was nearly fin- ished, and the Nebraska boys took no chances by trying to go on with their work at it. Colonel Breitt had them all inside the parapet. They kept as sharp a lookout as was possible in the nasty night, and for the rest sat tight, making no reply to the Spanish fire. The result was that no one was hurt. They had thrown pickets out to their right, across the road beyond the line of intrenchment. There was no effort to flank them, and the pickets had no work to do. The Utah artillerymen tore up part of the floor of the old chapel and built platforms for their guns to keep them out of the mud and water as much as possible, and to make a comparatively easy place for landing them. " The embrasures were strengthened and closed up as much as possible, and when that was done the rest of the lumber was turned into shacks beside the guns, into which the young artillerymen from Utah crawled and went to sleep, sheltered from the rain, and as little concerned about the Spanish bullets as they were about the water, which fell in torrents from the unfriendly skies upon the Nebraska infantrymen. "On Sunday morning, July 31st, the Tenth Pennsylvania relieved the First Nebraska in the trench, and a new detachment of Utah men went up to man the four guns of their batteries. The men worked along that day com- pleting the parapet and strengthening it, and were undisturbed by the Span- iards, who were hardly wide enough awake to keep up the desultory fire with which they had tried to annoy the Colorado and Nebraska men on the two previous days. " The Spanish trench is about 750 yards from that occupied by the THE FIGHT AT MALATE. 153 Americans. It begins at the beach south of the Polvorni, outside the old fort at Malate, and runs northeast until it clears the fort, then it turns to the east and runs in a straight line well out beyond the Camina Real. It is 3 solid-looking fortification, with plenty of rocks in the parapet, and topped with sandbags. In front of it, to the south, a small creek wriggles about over the low, swampy field. A road which leads from the fort to the Camina Real crosses this creek by a stone bridge, which has been piled high with sandbags. " About 150 yards in front of our trench a little strip of tall grass runs across the open field from the beach to the road. Further north about 150 yards runs the trench the Spanish occupied at first, but from which the\r retreated a couple of weeks ago when the insurgents got their battery of ok\ smoothbores at work down the road a little way. The country between the two trenches is low and level. About the Camina Real the field, which is fairly open nearer the beach, is full of bunches of scrub, here and there a banana growing wild, a clump of acacias or a bunch of bamboos. It's just the kind of country for men who are game enough to sneak up on their enemy and try to pot him when he doesn't suspect any danger. " E)ast of the Camina Real, behind our position, the country is low and swampy, with a few paddy fields, and much bamboo and banana scrub. In front and to the right of our position the field is fairly open, but there is con- siderable scrub. There the ground is higher. Ultimately our work will extend across this field. Just now the trench is little more than begun. Spanish Try to Turn Our Flank. " Of just what happened on Sunday night there always will be many stories. There are a great many going about now, some of them decidedly contradictory, and more of them are fulminating. The one which has per- haps more supporters than any other, and enjoys besides the merit, or at least the fact, of having been accepted by General Greene and published in General Orders, is that the Spaniards attempted to flank our line. That may be true. It has one fact in its support and there are two against it. " The one fact in confirmation is that in the fight which occurred our men going up as reinforcements were subjected to a cross fire. There is no doubt that some Spaniards had left their trench and crawled out into the scrub in front and to the right of our right line, then resting in the Camina Real at the end of the trench. The pickets of the Tenth Pennsylvania were driven in. They had been posted for the most part directly in front of their regiment, but some of them were east of the road and ahead of the line. " The two facts against this theory are, first, that the fire of th« Spaniards 154 THE FIGHT AT MALATE. was very heavy and that most of it was by volley, which it could not have been from men scattered about in the scrub brush and grass ; second, that the outposts of the second platooon of Battery K, Third United States Artillery, were not driven in and did not come in until they were relieved at their station on Monday morning. This platoon of K Battery was stationed on the Pasai road in reserve. Lieutenant Kessler sent forward four or five Cossack posts — four men and a non-commissioned officer. These outposts were stationed to the right and ahead of our line, but through all the heavy firing of the night they made no report. No Spaniards came their way, a very singular fact if there was an effort to turn our right flank. Enemy Opens the Attack. " It seems much the most probable of all the stories that this is what happened : The Spaniards, having recovered from their lethargy of a few days, concluded to stir things up. They had not been stirred up themselves for several days. The insurgents had not been there to harass them, and our men had orders not to begin an engagement. The Spaniards must have known that the insurgents had been withdrawn from the trenches and that the Americans were in. There is no more resemblance between our trench and the insurgents' affair than there is between a clipper ship and a coal barge. " Accordingly, about lo o'clock on Sunday night, the Spanish fire took on a regularity which showed that there was definite intention and purpose somewhere in the camp. The, bullets began to whistle about our fellows in droves. The guns at Malate opened up also, and their roar, the shriek of their shells, and the loud cracking report of bursting shells added to the other general evidence to the Pennsylvanians that they were under fire. The Spanish fire, heavy j\s it was, was harmless as long as they kept down behind the earthwork. But the Pennsylvanians could not resist the temptation to return the fire, and straightway the trouble arose. " It was a terrible night. Rain fell incessantly and in torrents. A fierce wind drove it across the fields and into the trench, under the little shelter the men had thrown up. A quarter moon struggled to force a little light through ^he heavy clouds, and succeeded only in making a ghostly glow through which all objects showed black and awful. The long bamboos were tossed about by the wind that roared through giant acacias and mangoes with the rush and noise of a Niagara. " The little clumps of bamboo and acacia, that dotted the field in front of our hne, bobbed about in the gale, and were beaten down by the rain in such fashion that they made the best kind of cover for venturesome devils — if there are any such among the Spanish — in crawling out to attack our line. The THE FIGHT AT MALATE. 155 ditch behind our parapet filled up with thin mud. Little streams of mud ran down the embankment into this little lake. The platforms built by the Utah boys for their guns were four inches under mud, and still the rain drove down in blinding sheets. " Soon after the Spaniards began their regular and heavy fire the Penn- sylvania pickets began to come in. They had been posted in Cossack out- posts almost directly in front of our line, about seventy-five yards distant. Some of the posts extended over to the right of our line, and should have been in touch with the posts set by Lieutenant Kessler from Battery K. They were not in touch with the regulars, however, because they returned to the trench and reported that they were driven in, whereas the regulars never were heard from, and were relieved next morning at their stations. There had been heavy firing on their left nearly all night, they reported, and they had taken some part in replying to it, but no enemy had appeared before them and they had suffered no loss. Danger on the Right. " When the Pennsylvania pickets came tumbling back into their trench, they reported that the enemy was in force on our right front and was trying to flank us. That was serious business. Major Cuthbertson brought K and B companies up the Camina Real into the trench at once and sent word to Major Bierer to come forward with D and E companies and go in on our right across the road. While this was going on, the firing of the Spanish was maintained at a terrific rate. The crack of their Mauser rifles, short, sharp, spiteful, was like the long roll beaten on a giant bass drum. It was punctuated continually with the bursting of the shells they were throwing from the fort at Malate. " The American reply was as vigorous. At the start the Pennsylvania men fired by volley and did it well. The roar of their old Springfields all loosed off together was like the report of a lo-inch rifle. It was almost im- possible to tell here in Cavite whether it was volley firing or cannonading. At times it sounded as if the Raleigh, which had taken the Boston's place off Camp Dewey, had moved up opposite Malate and opened on the Spaniards with her 8-inch rifles. The artillery men from Utah were as cool as if they were bathing in their favorite salt lake. They got their four guns into action in a hurry, and kept them there with a regularity that was undisturbed by the terrific assault made on them by the Spaniards. Small as they had made the embrasures for their guns, they were yet large enough for a hailstorm of Mauser bullets to sweep through. " How more of the men were not hit can never be explained. The steel- 15G THE FIGHT AT MALATE. cased bullets kept up a constant ringing on the metal of the cannon, but only one struck a gunner, and he got off with a flesh wound in the arm. Lieu- tenant Gibbs, of Battery A, standing with his right hand resting on the wheel of one of his guns, got an illustration of how close one may come to being hit. A bullet struck the tire of the wheel just inside his thumb and passed under his hand, leaving a little burned strip across his thumb where it passed. A Storm of Steel. " By this time it was a business fight. The Spanish were using their magazines and firing by squads. A great deal of the fire was high, some of it very high, but never before had any of our boys seen the Spanish anywhere near so accurate, and some of the Americans had been under their fire in the insurgent trenches many times. " The bullets were flying over their heads in swarms. They whizzed, they whistled, they sang as a telegraph wire does in a wind. They zipped, they buzzed, they droned like a bagpipe far away, like a June bug seeking a light on a hot night, like a blue bottle buzzing against a window pane. They beat against the outside of our embankment with a sound like hailstones striking soft mud, like the faint hoofbeat of the horses going up the back- rftretch in the Suburban as it comes to you on the patrol judge's stand at the middle distance. They rattled against the old Capuchin chapel and ripped through its iron roof with a noise such as children make with a stick on a picket fence running along and drawing the stick across the pickets, or like a man drumming on a window blind. " Did you ever hear the cook beating up eggs on a platter with a big spoon ? If that noise were magnified a thousand times it would give a sug- gestion of the tattoo the bullets beat on that old chapel. And all this time there were the shells. Men who were in the civil war say the shells came through the air saying ' Where is you? ' ' Where is you ?' all run together. They sound like the ripping of silk, and they give you the same feeling down the back that it does to pull a string through your teeth. " The shells smashed through the poor old chapel and burst inside. They burst as they struck its heavy brick walls; they burst short; they struck our embankment and burst ; they burst over the heads of our men ; they flew high and went down the fields, bursting sometimes among our men hurrying ,up to reinforce the Pennsylvanians ; they burst along the Camino Real ; they were almost as thick as bullets, and yet strange as it seems, there is record of only one man who was hurt by a shell, and he was not at all seriously wounded. He was Second Lieutenant A. J. Buttermore, D Company, Tenth Pennsylvania. A shell burst just in front of and over him. A piece of it hit THE FIGHT AT MALATE. 157 nim over the left eye and knocked him down. It made an ugly cut, but that was all. He got up and went on about his work, too busy to stop and hunt in the dark for the piece that hit him. " All this time — it seemed long, but it wasn't — our fellows were pumping away at a great rate, and the roar of our volleys was warning the officers and men in Camp Dewey that there was hot work at the front. The Spanish were giving us a practical lesson of the value of smokeleso powder. Every time our guns cracked a line of flame ran along the top of our embankment. Every sheet of flame drew a fresh hail of Mauser bullets. Every time a Utah gun cracked a Spanish cannon was aimed at the flash. There our boys had as good a mark as the enemy, and they did their best. It was only guessing at the range by the time between flash of gun and burst of shell, and there wasn't a stop watch on the line to give greater accuracy. " But they did good work, and they fired as coolly as if they were at target practice. Their work was invaluable. Not only were they perfectly calm and in command of themselves, but they helped to steady their friends from Pennsylvania, who were beginning to get excited. Reports began to go along the line that the enemy were getting around the right flank. The in- fantrymen thought they could detect a change in the diiection of the bullets that were whistling over their heads. More of them seemed to be coming from the east, down our line, instead of from the north, across it. First American Killed. "While this was going on Major Bierer was taking D and E Companies into action on our right. To do this he had to cross the open field in rear of our trench. It was a perfect hell he had to go through, a huadred yards of open ground, without sign of protection, swept by a storm of Mauser bullets that came from left, from front and from right, with shells from the Spanish guns bursting among and around them all the time. " Then the first American soldier in the Philippines fell before Spanish bullets. He was Corporal W. E. Brov/n of D Company. A Mauser bullet struck him through the body, and he fell dead in his tracks. All about him men were dropping with bullets in the legs or arms. Some who were wounded kept on toward the enemy. A little beyond where Brown fell. Private William E. Stillwagon of E Company got the bullet that cost him his life. Still the men went on with fine courage, and into position in the open field across the road at the right of our line. There they held their ground, pumping awa.y at the Spaniards as hard as they could. " Now a perfectly natural thing occurred with these green troops. Their pluck was as fine as man could ask. They were game to try to do anything 158 THE FIGHT AT MALATE. they were told, but they had never been ' shooted over,' as the English say, and they got excited. They lost the regularity of their volley fire and their effectiveness decreased tremendously in consequence. They could not see their enemy in the terrible night, and they could not see the flash of his rifles. They could not locate him and they were firing absolutely in the dark. With the roar of your own guns in your ears it is hard to judge by the crack of the enemy's Mauser where he is. It is difficult to tell where a Mauser is fired when you have quiet and daylight. How almost impossible it is in the dark with battle raging about you, and a howling wind driving a terrific rain in eddies and gusts into your face and down your neck 1 Brave Captain O'Hara. " For an hour the fight had been going on fiercely. The noise of it got out to the ships of the fleet, drifting against the wind, and the searchlights began to wink and to travel over toward the Spanish position. Blessed relief to our men. It gave them now and then a glimpse of the country ahead of them. They could see something of where they were shooting, but still they could see no enemy. Camp Dewey had been awake a long time. " Lying in his tent, almost at the north end of the camp. Captain O'Hara, in command of the battalion of the Third Artillery, unable to get sleep, had been keeping track of the firing. He knew our men had but fifty rounds of ammunition with them, and he realized that at the rate they were shooting that would soon be exj>endei He didn't know what the trouble was, but he did know that if they were attacked they would want help when their ammu- nition was gone, and they would want it mighty badly. " Battery K of his battalion was in position as supports ; but the orders were not to go in unless the Pennsylvanians were in a pinch. Captain O'Hara counted the volleys until the firing became indiscriminate, and he understood that the boys were getting rattled. He had no orders, but he took a chance and he took it just in time. "He sounded the assembly. As the bugle-call rose over the camp, out of their tents tumbled the men of battery H, and into line they ran, Krag-Jor- gensen rifles in hand and 150 rounds in their double belts. Down the camp below the Third Artillery another bugler picked up the call. The First Colorado men heard it and swarmed out with their guns. Nebraska followed suit, and soon half the camp was in arms. " Leaving Captain Hobbs, in command of Battery H, with orders to be ready to advance at the bugle-call, and to bring 10,000 rounds of extra ammu- nition. Captain O'Hara, with his orderly and his bugler, started up the road toward the front. A little beyond the corner of the camp he met an orderly THE FIGHT AT MALATE. 153 from Major Cuthbertson coming on the dead run. The orderly was blown and frightened. He had run through a rain of bullets on his way back for help, and it had increased his excitement and enlarged his notion of what had occurred. " ' We're whipped I ' he shouted to Captain O'Hara. ' We're ' The Rush to the Rescue. J "But O'Hara didn't care what else had happened. His bugler was already putting his soul into the command, ' forward ! ' O' Hara heard the answer from Hobbs's bugler, and captain, orderly and bugler charged up the road to the front with all the speed their legs would give. The bugles sang along the road in the steady, reassuring song of ' Forward ! ' and the men of Battery H, toiling up through the dreadful mud, answered with a cheer and a fresh spurt. " Somewhere ahead O'Hara knew Krayenbuhl and his own battery were. If they had not gone in already he would take them. He met men coming to the rear with wounded, and some coming without wounded, straggling. " ■ We are beaten ! ' they shouted, and the ready bugler shouted the single reply of ' Forward ! ' The shame-faced stragglers fell in with the captain, the orderly and the bugler, and the little procession swept on towards the fight. " It was hot work in the Camino Real. Much experience had given the Spaniards a first-class idea of the range, and they lined the road with bullets, for they knew that reinforcements would be likely to come that way. The mud was ankle deep most of the way, and, in spite of the rain, which was unceasing, the heat was awful. But there was trouble ahead, and on they went, with the exultant bugle singing its single word ' Forward 1 ' Every time the answer came sharp and clear from Battery H, and up the road they doubled for dear life. At the cross-road and the first barricade, where Kray- enbuhl had been posted with his regulars, there were only some stragglers, and Captain O'Hara thanked God and sounded ' Forward ! ' — the regulars had gone in. The stragglers swung in with O'Hara, and they went on up the road. " The bullets spatted the mud in their faces and they hugged the bam- boos iit the sides of the road. They advanced in double column, one on each side of the road, and so they escaped harm. Just beyond this barricade Hobbs and his men of Battery H overtook them. The bugles commanded ' Forward I ' and on they ran. The song of the bugles carried down the wind to the trenches. The hard-pressed Pennsylvanians heard it and answered with a cheer that drifted back to the hurrying regulars and put strength for a new spurt into their tired legs. "As tfc the machine shop. There was no one in the machine shop at the time. The coal heaver, with his legs, the right one badly broken, dangling in the air, walked on his hands from the machine shop up forward to the sick bay, where some of the bluejackets picked him up and deposited him on a couch. The coal heaver told the men that his leg was broken, and one of them rushed to report the case to the officer of the deck. The officer of the deck sent for the apothecary. The apothecary told the officer of the deck that he didn't have the skill to set broken legs. A big, indolent marine, a recruit, whose only capability thus far had seemed to con- sist in the getting on the outside of three very heavy " squares " a day, heard the excitement from his hammock where he was dozingr. The bisf marine tumbled out of his hammock, went to the sick bay, and set the coal heaver's broken leg in a style that aroused the admiration of the surgeon when he returned to the ship after midnight. Prom a Circus to a Warship. All hands wondered how the coal heaver had managed to walk on his hands from the machine shop forward to the sick bay until he admitted that he had been a professional acrobat ashore, and that he had shipped in the navy because the circus with which he last traveled had gone to pieces in San Francisco, leaving him stranded in the hardest town in which to go broke in the Western Hemisphere. The big, indolent marine who set the coal heaver's broken leg had to admit to the surgeon that he had been graduated in surgery years before, and had done his tour in several famous English hospitals before he drifted into the sea-soldiering service. " How did you happen to enter the marine corps ? " inquired the surgeon. " Rum," laconically replied the marine. "A bluejacket who put in a three-year enlistment as a deck-hand, took his discharge from the navy a couple of years ago while his ship was at Yokohama, Japan, and got a job as a shipping clerk. A couple of weeks after he went to work ashore one of his shipmates was arrested and locked up, charged with stabbing a jinriksha Jap. The sailor was tried before the con- .sular court, but before his trial came off his ship left Yokohama for China. THE RALEIGH FIRED THE FIRST SHOT. 219 The former-bluejacket conducted his shipmate's defense before the consular court, and he conducted it so ably and with such a fine knowledge of law that his man-'of-war's man client was acquitted. The former-bluejacket lawyer had been, in his day, the junior partner in a well-known legal firm in St. Louis. " When the officers of one of our cruisers on the Mediterranean station were giving a dance aboard one night about a year ago, the ship's dynamo broke down and all the lights on the ship went out at once. The swell con- gregation of American tourists and foreigners were in the midst of a waltz on the main deck at the moment of the extinguishment of the lights, and the women fell into a panic. " Then a bluejacket, who had shipped aboard in New York City a few months before, when the cruiser started on her Mediterranean trip, turned up in the dynamo-room. He sized up the dynamo with the air of a man who knew dynamos down to the ground, and, while the officers and chief gunner's mate stood by watching him wonderingly, he made a few little adjustments with a wrench, and the dynamo started to whirr, and the ship immediately became a blaze of light again. The landsman was down on the rolls as a laborer. But he had put in an apprenticeship of seven years at Mr. Edison's electrical works, and he is about the most valuable electrician — a chief petty officer — in the Navy to-day." THE PEACEFUL COLONEL. Dey call him " Kunnel ' ' in time er peace — Hit's " Kunnel " all erbout. But he des so private when war come roun' Dat de folks can't fin' him out! You bet, he a private den, En one er de home guard men ! Dey hunt erbout Fer ter fin' him out. But you bet, he a private den ! Hit's " Kunnel " dis, en " Kunnel " dat. En de voters sing an' shout ; But de war don't know whar he livin' at — ■ Dey des can't fin' him out ! You bet, he a private den, En one er de home guard men ! He done, fer sho' ! He des lay low — You bet, he a private den ! — Atla7ita Constitution. destiny. CHAPTER XIII. On Board the Olympia with Dewey. NDER the Stars and Stripes and under such a com- mander as Admiral Dewey, it is a privilege and an honor for any man to serve his country. Yet little did any one imagine on that January day of 1898 when Rear Admiral McNair hauled down his flag from the Olympia's masthead and Dewey, then Com- modore, hoisted his in its place, that a Nelson had come for victory and conquest. Destined to greatness, his looks showed his determination to fulfill that From the moment he stepped on the quarter-deck of the Olympia the men liked him, and he had not been long among them before this feeling deepened into love and respect. He was born to command, and he com- manded in a way that won for him the hearts of officers and men. The early part of his career on board was rather uneventful, but not devoid of interest. Everything for the benefit of his men received Dewey's earnest attention. Minstrel troops, boat-racing, foot and base-ball, and, in short, everything in the line of amusement was certain of the Commodore's patronage. Like a Thunderbolt from a Clear Sky. Thus things ran along smoothly until the fateful day when the news came that the battleship Maine had been blown up in the harbor of Havana. The men had been preparing to celebrate Washington's Birthday, without any thoughts of trouble, when suddenly the fearful calamity came upon them like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky. It was a terrible blow. Comrades, brothers, friends all hurled into eternity by the ruthless hand of treachery ; sorrow and desolation brought to hundreds of hearts and homes ; gray-haired mothers bewailing the loss of their sons ; loving wives eagerly scanning the I papers, dreading yet hop'ng, and anxious sweethearts watching for the return of their loved ones. It is a picture to make the heart ache. And now the talk is of war and of drawn swords. Every cablegram is eagerly watched and Manila becomes the Mecca of the U. S. fleet in Asiatic waters. But what of Dewey ? Quiet, cool, composed but determined, he 220 ON BOARD THE OLYMPIA WITH DEWEY. 221 plans and executes with the precision of one that understands the situation, and is capable of holding the reins in this trying moment. Well he knows the duties of his position, for has he not the blood of a line of heroes in his veins ? He knows what to do and does it. Early in April he purchased for the U. S. Government the coal-laden steamer Nan Shan, and a few days later; he bought the Zafire, the doughty little steamer that did such excellent work on dispatch duty. The entire fleet was ordered to assemble at Hong Kong. Still unaware of how far matters had gone, but not to be caught napping, Dewey gave orders to paint ships "war color" and accordingly on the 19th of April all the vessels began to put on the sombre blue-black of battle. The arrival of the Baltimore with ammuni- tion was now anxiously looked forward to. On the 2 1st of April she arrived and was immedi- ately docked and painted in preparation for the coming struggle. The next day the fleet was to proceed to Mir's Bay, distant about 26 miles from Hong Kong, but owing to an accident to the Raleigh's engines, she, the Olympia and Baltimore remained in Hong Kong until the 23rd, on which day the entire fleet consisting of nine vessels, six of which were in the fighting ,_, line, assembled at the afore-named rendezvous. r=^ Quarter watches were established and a constant look-out kept for an attack from the enemy. Dur- ing this most trying period the master-mind of Dewey continually asserted itself Night and day found him ever on the alert, watchful and vigilant, international signal code. As an instance of his vigilance we give here a story that has heretofore been kept from the public. It was after midnight, the second night after the fleets' arrival in Mir's Bay ; a da/k, gloomy, stormy-looking sky cast a pall? over the scene. The vessels, with every light extinguished, loomed up, in the fitful glare of the lightning, like huge spectres. On board the Olympia everything was silent as the grave. Suddenly the voice of Commodore Dewey was heard speaking from the quarter-deck as calmly as if ordering a glass of water, " What's the matter with you people up there? Tired of living? Turn your searchlight on that 222 ON BOARD THE OLYMPIA WITH DEWEY. tug off your port bow. Load your six pounders and train them on her. Move lively." Then in stentorian tones he shouted : " Tugboat ahoy ! Keep well off or I'll blow you out of the water. Do you know this is war time?" Above the noise of the coming storm and the breaking of the sea against the ship's sides, he had heard the escaping steam of some vessel and coming out of his cabin in his pajamas with eyes and ears made doubly keen by love of country and sense of danger, he espied the tug before it was visible to any but the sharpest eye on board. Although it proved to be but a boat carrying some newspaper men, the incident goes far to show that our country was leaning on no broken reed in placing its faith and fate in the hands of George Dewey. April 25 th news arrived confirming the report that war had begun be- tween Uncle Sam and the Dons. Dewey called a conference of commanders and gave orders that the fleet be ready to " leave and meet the enemy on the 27th ! " It was an imposing and impressive picture as these great, grim avengers swung into line and steamed silently and solemnly in the wake of Dewey's vessel. A smile of patriotic pride shone on the face and brightened the eyes of the brave Commodore as he glanced back at the small but dauntless line so steadily, unquestioningly following his lead. Always on the Alert. From the day of the squadron's departure for Manila until after the great battle, this indefatigable man never went to bed. Sometimes he would sit in a chair and " snatch a wink," but the least alarm found him wide awake. When on the morning of April 30th, Cape Bolinao was sighted, Dewey was on the bridge and from then until one o'clock next day he left that position but twice, once to take a cup of coffee and again on arrival at Subig Bay, when he adjourned to his cabin for a final conference with the captains of the other vessels. Night had just fallen when the fleet resumed its journey after reconnoi- tering Subig and proceeded very slowly toward Manila Bay. Dewey went from lookout to lookout, personally giving them directions to keep a sharp and vigilant watch for the enemy. The sky was continually lit by flashes of lightning, and these toward the shore greatly resembled signals flashed from mountain to mountain. One of the lookouts, an apprentice boy, reported these flashes as signals to the officer on the bridge. When it was found that he had mistaken the lightning for signals the youngster was embarrassed, and noticing this, Dewey patted him on the back and said, " That's right my boy. It is far better to ON BOARD THE OLYMPIA WITH DEWEY. 223 make a mistake like that on the right side than by over-confidence, sacrifice yourself and comrades. Never be afraid to err on the riglit side." Shortly after midnight, when the brave little fleet was slowly feeling its way through the tortuous channel, with the guns of Corregidor, Caballo and El Fraile frowning down upon them on either hand, when every nerve was strung to its highest tension, every moment expecting the fearful upheaval of mine or torpedo, Dewey, the indomitable, turned to Captain Gridley and said,, " A fine night for a smoke, eh Gridley? It's a pity we can't light up." When the guns on El Fraile opened fire he looked back at the other vessels which loomed up like grim shadows in the fitful moon-light and said, " Well ! well ! they did wake up at last." Shortly after getting out of range of these forts the Admiral gave orders that the men be allowed to lay by their guns and have coffee, remarking at the same time that he could stand a bowl of it himself. Just as the first faint streak of dawn began to appear, he steamed slowly toward Manila, with " Old Glory " at truck and gaff, looking for the Spanish vessels, which, it was rumored, had taken up their position before the city. Arriving off Manila, nothing but merchant vessels flying the English flag could be seen. Dewey then ordered the McCulloch, Nan Shan and Zafiro to lay off out of range of the guns. The rest of the fleet then headed for Cavite, where the Spanish Navy Yard is, or rather was situated. The Admiral Eager for the Battle. Just as the fleet swung down from Manila, the guns on Sangley Point opened fire, their shots falling short and harmless. As the roar of the first gun came across the waters of Manila Bay, Dcwc)^ softly rubbed his hands together and said to Commander Lamberton, " Lamberton, the ball is opened ! '' As soon as the Spanish fleet was sighted the order was given to load the port batteries. Then speaking to Captain Gri