DEWEY. 71 



" Dewey was a generous commander and made allowances for our greenness and 

 was disposed to be indulgent with the average 'middy's' prank. . . . But this 

 does not mean he was not a disciplinarian. . . . Slackness in work, untidiness, 

 tardiness, and other shortcomings were abhorrent to him and he would not tolerate 

 them." 



He was always extremely prompt and Farragut was his beau ideal. In any 

 difficult situation he asked himself: "What would Farragut do?" "I was think- 

 ing of him the night we entered Manila bay." 



Brave and cool, he took the Mississippi (of Farragut's West Gulf squadron) 

 through the river by the batteries of St. Philip and Jackson and stood intrepid 

 on the bridge while the forts belched at him. When a Confederate ram suddenly 

 appeared, he had the entire starboard broadside fired at her and sank her. The 

 Mississippi lost her bearings in the smoke of battle and ran aground. She was 

 burned and abandoned. Dewey was about the last person to leave, and while 

 swimming to shore he saved a sailor from drowning at the risk of his own life. On 

 opening the battle of Manila bay, he impressed all with his coolness as he com- 

 manded: "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." He was a quick thinker, 

 a sharp fighter, a precisian in courtesy and always neatly dressed. Like many other 

 naval officers, he considered recognition of his own achievement as very important. 

 He showed consideration for others, and relied on those he felt he could trust. 



George Dewey's father was Julius Yeomans Dewey, a doctor of medicine 

 of the University of Vermont; he was a man of vigorous constitution and active 

 temperament, and a natural leader to whom men turned for advice, and who was 

 very fixed in his ideas of right and wrong. The father's father of Dr. Julius Y. 

 Dewey was Captain William Dewey, who was active in the Revolutionary war. 

 He had a brother, Ensign Simeon Dewey, who accompanied Ethan Allen when 

 he demanded the keys to the fortress at Ticonderoga. Dr. Julius Y. Dewey's 

 father's father's mother was Mercy Saxton, a daughter's daughter of Captain George 

 Denison, the "Miles Standish" of the Roxbury settlements. He was, except, per- 

 haps, Captain John Mason, without equal in the colonies for conducting war against 

 the Indians. He reminds us of the border men of Scotland. From him is descended 

 also Minerva Denison, the mother of Rear Admiral John Rodgers (1812-1882). 



On the mother's side we find that Admiral Dewey's mother's mother's father 

 was a captain in the Revolution and the mother's mother's mother's father was 

 the son of Captain Charles Maudsley, a lieutenant in King Philip's war. 



Thus there are lines on both sides reaching back to fighters and a connection, 

 through the Denisons, with Rear Admiral John Rodgers. 



FAMILY HISTORY OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



Fraternity of F F F F F F F: II, Jedediah Dewey (born 1647). 12, Sarah Orton. 13 

 (F F F F F F F), Josiah Dewey (1641-1731), was a carpenter and an influential and active citizen. 

 I4(FFFFFFM), Hepzibah Lyman. I5(FFFFMMM), Bridget, who died in America. 

 I 6 (F F F F M M F), George Denison (ca. 1618-1694), came to New England about 1631, but 

 in 1643 returned to England, where he served in the army under Cromwell and was wounded at 

 Naseby. Afterwards he returned to America and finally settled in Stonington, Connecticut. 

 He is considered as great and brilliant a soldier as Miles Standish. "Our early history presents 

 no character of bolder and more active spirit than Captain Denison. He reminds us of the 

 border men of Scotland." I 7, Ann Borodell, of Irish ancestry, married Captain Denison soon 

 after the battle of Naseby. From this marriage descended Minerva Denison, who married 

 Commodore John Rodgers. 



