390 : The Atlantic 



have delighted the heart of any vaudeville performer, appeared as a 

 colonel of a cavalry regiment in britches, puttees and the felt hat with 

 its broad brim pinned up on one side which was the distinguishing 

 mark of the "Rough Riders," which working at a furious pace he 

 had assembled and transported just in time to participate in the 

 attack on San Juan. The Spanish army in Cuba capitulated on July 17. 



In the meantime, Roosevelt, when he was still in the assistant secre- 

 tary's office, had succeeded in having Commodore Dewey assigned to 

 a Pacific squadron and instructed to proceed to Hong Kong where he 

 would be handy in the event that hostilities with Spain did arise. 

 Dewey carried confidential instructions that in the event of such hos- 

 tilities he was to proceed at once to Manila. Thus it happened on 

 April 27 a telegram from navy secretary Long reached Dewey on the 

 China coast. On the morning of the 30th he entered Manila Bay 

 under cover of darkness where a small Spanish fleet under Admiral 

 Montojo lay at anchor. 



At dawn the Spaniards began an irregular and inaccurate fire in 

 the direction of the American fleet. This proved a futile gesture since 

 the American ships outnumbered the Spaniards and since their guns 

 had a longer range. After Dewey had made several trips up and down 

 the harbor the Spanish fleet had virtually disappeared. A little after 

 midday the Spaniards ashore hoisted a white flag as token of surren- 

 der. 



Despite the naval victory Dewey was unable to land and take full 

 possession of the port and city until news of his victory had reached 

 Washington and reinforcements of 10,000 troops had been transported 

 across the Pacific. Dewey hung on in Manila until August when the 

 reinforcements arrived. Being then in a hopeless position, Manila 

 agreed to occupation and capitulation which were carried out on 

 August 13. 



A peace protocol had been filed in Washington on August 12. Thus, 

 the United States, with a cost of one man killed and one man 

 wounded in the Atlantic and of eight men wounded in Manila, had 

 won two naval battles and come into possession of an overseas em- 

 pire. She had done this with a navy that, judged by world standards, 

 was small and inferior and with gunnery that was highly inaccurate 

 except as compared with Spanish gunnery. Still, in the course of a cen- 

 tury she had grown from a handful of states on the eastern seaboard 

 into a nation that stretched from coast to coast with stations under 

 her control across the Pacific terminating in her new possession — the 



