George Dewey

George Dewey
Born	(1837-12-26)December 26, 1837 Montpelier, Vermont
Died	January 16, 1917(1917-01-16) (aged 79) Washington, D.C.
Place of burial.	Washington National Cathedral
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service / branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1858–1917
Rank	Admiral of the Navy US Naval Academy, June 1858 Midshipman, January 1861 Master, February 1861 Lieutenant, April 1861 Lieutenant Commander, March 1865 Commander, April 1872 Captain, September 1884 Commodore, February 1896 Rear Admiral, May 1898 Admiral, March 1899 Admiral of the Navy, March 1899
Commands	Asiatic Squadron General Board of the United States Navy
Battles / wars	American Civil War Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip Battle of New Orleans Battle of Port Hudson First Battle of Fort Fisher Second Battle of Fort Fisher Spanish–American War Battle of Manila Bay
Signature

Admiral Dewey as he appears at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

George Dewey (December 26, 1837 – January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in U.S. history to have attained the rank. Admiral Dewey is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.

Early life

Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vermont on December 26, 1837, directly opposite the Vermont State House, to Julius Yemans Dewey and his first wife, Mary Perrin. Julius was a physician who received his degree from The University of Vermont. He was among the founders of the National Life Insurance Company in 1848 and a member of the Episcopal Church and was among the founders of the Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier. George was baptized and attended Sunday school there. George had two older brothers and a younger sister.

Dewey attended school in the nearby town of Johnson. When he was fifteen years old he went to the Norwich Military School. The school, better known as Norwich University, had been founded by Alden Partridge and aimed at giving cadets a well-rounded military education. Dewey attended for two years (1852–1854). Dewey found a military role model when he read a biography of Hannibal.

Naval career

Naval Academy

Dewey entered the Naval Academy in 1854. The conventional four-year course had just been introduced in 1851 and the cadet corps was quite small, averaging about one hundred Acting Midshipmen. Out of all that entered in his year, only fourteen stayed through the course. He stood fifth on the class roll at graduation. He graduated from the Academy on 18 June 1858.

Midshipman

As a midshipman, Dewey first went to sea on a practice cruise in USS Saratoga; on this cruise he earned recognition as a cadet officer. As a result, he was assigned to one of the best ships of the old Navy—the steam frigate USS Wabash. Wabash under Captain Samuel Barron was the new flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron. On 22 July 1858, the ship left Hampton Roads for Europe.

Wabash reached her first port of call, Gibraltar, on 17 August 1858. She cruised in the Mediterranean, and the cadet officers visited the cities of the Old World accessible to them, often taking trips inland. Dewey was assigned to keep the ship's log. Wabash returned to the New York Navy Yard on 16 December 1859 and decommissioned there on 20 December 1859. Dewey served on two short-term cruises in 1860.

Civil War service

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Dewey was executive lieutenant on USS Mississippi, a steam paddle frigate assigned to the Union West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

Attack on New Orleans

At the beginning of 1862, Mississippi was attached to Farragut's fleet for the Capture of New Orleans. On the night of 24–25 April 1862, Farragut led his ships up the Mississippi River past the Confederate defenses at Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson. Mississippi was the third in Farragut's first division, with Dewey at the helm.

The first division (all big ships) kept near the west bank where the current was weaker and the water deeper; but this brought them right under the muzzles of the guns of Fort St. Philip. Dewey steered Mississippi through shallow water where he expected to run aground any moment.

There was a squadron of Confederate gunboats waiting above the forts. This included CSS Manassas, a small ironclad ram. Manassas tried to ram Mississippi, but Dewey safely maneuvered Mississippi to evade. Manassas then attacked Brooklyn and Hartford in the next division, and then turned back upriver. Farragut signaled Mississippi to run Manassas down. Dewey steered Mississippi into a ramming attack. Manassas dodged, but ran aground and was abandoned. She was set on fire by a boat from Mississippi, and then shelled.

Farragut's fleet then continued upriver and forced the surrender of the city.

This was the first battle in which Dewey distinguished himself. For the remainder of 1862, Farragut's ships (including Mississippi) patrolled the lower river. This was dangerous, as the ships were fired on by Confederate sharpshooters on the banks, and even occasionally by light artillery.

Battle of Port Hudson

George Dewey

In spring 1863, Union forces moved to take the Confederate fortress at Port Hudson, Louisiana, where the Red River joins the Mississippi. Farragut attempted to pass the fortress with his fleet and cut it off upriver, thereby completing the Siege of Port Hudson.

The attempt was made on 14 March 1863. In this action, Dewey saw fiercer fighting than he was ever to see again. Mississippi ran aground and was the target of concentrated enemy fire for half an hour, until she had to be abandoned. Dewey was among the last to leave the wreck.

Assignment to USS Agawam

Dewey was highly complimented by his immediate superiors and by Farragut himself, who appointed him executive officer of Agawam, a small gunboat the admiral used frequently for dispatches and his personal reconnoitering. This little vessel was frequently under fire by concealed sharpshooters and temporary batteries. In July of that year a small engagement at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, resulted in the death of Captain Abner Read, of USS Monongahela, and the severe wounding of his executive officer. Dewey was present; and, was so conspicuous for gallantry that he was recommended for promotion on the strength of it. Meanwhile, he was given temporary command of the frigate.

Assignment to USS Colorado

In the latter part of 1864, after some service in the James River under Commander McComb, Lieutenant Dewey was made executive officer of the first-rate wooden man-of-war USS Colorado, in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron under command of Commodore Henry Knox Thatcher.

Battles of Fort Fisher

By late 1864, Wilmington, North Carolina was the only port left to the Confederacy. Its access to the sea was protected by Fort Fisher, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

A joint Army-Navy attack in December failed (the First Battle of Fort Fisher, 7–27 December 1864).

A second attack came in January (the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, 13–15 January 1865). Colorado was engaged, and Dewey played a key role in her success.

Colorado, being a wooden ship, was placed in the line outside the monitors and other armored vessels but got a full share of conflict. Toward the end of the second engagement, when matters were moving the right way, Admiral Porter signaled Thatcher to close in and silence a certain part of the works. As Colorado had already received considerable damage, her officers remonstrated. But Dewey, who, had now acquired marked tactical ability, was quick to see the advantage to be gained by the move and the work was taken in fifteen minutes. The New York Times, commenting upon this part of the action, spoke of it as "the most beautiful duel of the war". When Admiral Porter came to congratulate Commodore Thatcher the latter said generously: "You must thank Lieutenant Dewey, sir. It was his move." Nevertheless, Thatcher was promoted to Rear Admiral. He tried to take Dewey with him as his fleet captain when he went to supersede Farragut at Mobile Bay. This was not permitted, but Dewey was promoted to lieutenant-commander.

Post–Civil War life

After the end of the Civil War, then Lieutenant-Commander Dewey remained in active service, and was sent to the European station as executive officer of USS Kearsarge — the famous ship that had sunk the Confederate privateer Alabama.

Marriage

After a year of this, he was assigned to duty in the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, and there met the woman who became his wife. His wife was Susan "Susie" Boardman Goodwin (1844–1872), daughter of New Hampshire's war governor, Ichabod Goodwin, a Republican who fitted out troops for the war at his own expense. The Dewey's were married on 24 October 1867 and had one son, George. Susie died on December 28, 1872, five days after giving birth.

Peacetime assignments

Dewey's next tour of duty was in 1867 and 1868 as executive officer of USS Colorado—the same vessel in which he had won his honors at Fort Fisher, and now the flagship of the European Squadron. The admiral in command of the ship and squadron was Goldsborough, and one of Dewey's companions was John Crittenden Watson—the same man, who, as rear-admiral, relieved Admiral Dewey of his duties at Manila, when he wished to return to the United States in the summer of 1899. Lieutenant Commander Dewey was in charge of the vessels at the Naval Academy in Annapolis from 6 November 1867 through 1 August 1870. This duty included commanding the famous frigate USS Constitution, which was berthed at Annapolis as a training ship.

Some tranquil years followed the end of Dewey's cruise on Colorado. For two years, from 1868 to 1870, he was an instructor at the Naval Academy. The next year he did special surveying work in the steam sloop USS Narragansett. He was then briefly assigned to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. It was during this assignment that his wife died just after the birth of his son. In 1873 Dewey was given command of Narragansett and spent nearly four years on her, engaged in the Pacific Coast Survey.

Lighthouse Board

This entitled him to a period of rest ashore; and he was ordered to Washington, and made lighthouse inspector in 1880, and subsequently secretary of the lighthouse board, a service in which he took great interest. Meanwhile, he had been promoted to the grade of commander. This residence in Washington as a bureau officer of high rank gave him an extensive acquaintance, and he became one of the most popular men in the capital. He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the leading social club of Washington.

Assignment to USS Dolphin

In 1882, this leave of absence in Washington came to an end by his being sent to the Asiatic station in command of USS Juniata, where he studied the situation with care and acquired information of immense importance ten years later.

He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1884, and he was ordered home and given command of USS Dolphin—one of the first four ships of the original "white squadron", steam-powered ships with steel hulls which formed the basis of the modern United States Navy. Dolphin was officially classed as a dispatch boat, and was often used as the Presidential yacht.

In 1885, Captain Dewey undertook another tour of sea service, and for three years was in command of USS Pensacola, familiar to him in the New Orleans battles, now flagship of the European squadron.

Asiatic Squadron

Admiral George Dewey during the Spanish–American War

Returning to Washington in 1893 he resumed the life of a bureau officer, being attached to the lighthouse board, and remained there until 1896 when he was commissioned commodore, and transferred to the Board of Inspection and Survey.

Dewey felt, in 1897, that his health was suffering in the climate and inaction of Washington, and applied for sea duty. It was granted to him, and he was assigned to the command of the Asiatic station. He felt certain, as did so many others at Washington that year, that war with Spain was imminent although few had thought of the Philippines as a field of serious war.

The Commodore hoisted his pennant at Hong Kong in December, 1897, and immediately began preparations for wartime service. As early as January 1898 the Navy Department began to send him instructions, as it was doing to other commanders under the administration of Secretary of the Navy John D. Long and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. Dewey was ordered in January to retain all enlisted men whose terms had expired; and a month later was told to keep Olympia, instead of sending her back to San Francisco. He was instructed to assemble all his squadron at Hong Kong, and to fill all the bunkers with coal. At the same time the cruiser Baltimore was dispatched to him from the United States, via Hawaii; and at Honolulu was met by the steamer Mohican from San Francisco, which transferred to her a shipload of ammunition, sent far in advance of its possible use.

Dewey's ships were scattered up and down the Asiatic coast; but by the end of March the whole squadron, except the antiquated wooden Monocacy, had been gathered in the port of Hong Kong, their coal and stores replenished. Then came a period of waiting, the commodore was constantly making ready. First he sent the fleet paymaster over to the consignees of the English steamship Nanshan, and bought her as she was, with 3,300 tons of coal on board. Then he bought Zafiro, a steamship of the Manila-Hong Kong line, just as she was, with all her fuel and provisions, and on her was placed all the spare ammunition, so that she became the magazine of the fleet.

On April 18, McCulloch came in and joined the squadron. She was a revenue cutter but she was as good as a gunboat, being built of steel, having 1,500 tons displacement, and carrying four 4-inch guns and a crew of one hundred and thirty men. On the 21st, when General Woodford was leaving Madrid, and Señor Luís Polo de Bernabé was slipping out of Washington, the Baltimore appeared, a powerful addition to the fleet, and bringing also her load of ammunition, so that she was doubly welcome.

As the news now daily published in Hong Kong made war seem certain, all the white vessels were repainted war-gray, and the last possible preparations made when the cable brought word of the declaration of war, to date from April 22, and of England's declaration of neutrality. Word was therefore sent to the American commander by the Governor of Hong Kong that his vessels could no longer be harbored there. That was no hardship, for they were as completely outfitted as they cared to be, and only a few miles away were the Chinese waters of Mirs Bay, where nobody would or could interfere with their anchorage. Thither Dewey took his ships on April 25, leaving the McCulloch to bring last dispatches; and the next day she joined the fleet in a hurry, taking to the commander the following fateful message from the Government of the United States:

Dewey, Asiatic Squadron: "War has commenced between the United States and Spain. Proceed at once to Philippine Islands. Commence operations at once, particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must capture vessels or destroy. Use utmost endeavors. Long."

This was on the 26th. At 2:00 p.m. the next day, April 27, Dewey's squadron was leaving Mirs Bay for the Philippines, in search of another squadron of warships as large and as new and as well-armed as itself, to seek the first naval encounter of modern ships and with modern ordnance. In reality, the Spanish fleet in the Philippines was equipped with a variety of obsolete vessels.

Spanish–American War

Detail of a painting in the Vermont State House depicting Dewey on the USS Olympia during the Battle of Manila Bay

Battle of Manila Bay

Main article: Battle of Manila Bay

See also: History of the Philippines and Philippine–American War

On April 27, 1898, he sailed out from China aboard the USS Olympia with orders to attack the Spanish at Manila Bay. He stopped at the mouth of the bay late the night of April 30, and the following morning he gave the order to attack at first light, by saying the now famous words "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Within six hours, on May 1, he had sunk or captured the entire Spanish Pacific fleet under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and silenced the shore batteries at Manila, with the loss of only one life on the American side.

Philippines

Dewey aided General Wesley Merritt in taking formal possession of Manila on August 13, 1898. In the early stages of the war the Americans were greatly aided by the Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who had been attacking the Spanish by land as Dewey was attacking them by sea. Dewey and Aguinaldo at first enjoyed a cordial relationship, and Dewey wrote that the Filipinos were "intelligent" and well "capable of self-government"; the McKinley administration decided otherwise, and by the start of 1899, Dewey had to threaten to shell Aguinaldo's forces to allow for a U.S. invasion of Manila.

Hero

Dewey on the cover of an 1899 souvenir calendar

Returning to the United States in 1899, he received a hero's welcome. New York City's September 1899 welcome home celebration for Dewey was a two-day parade. When Boston paid tribute, he was greeted at City Hall by 280 singers from the Handel and Haydn Society who sang the anthem "See the Conquering Hero Comes" from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus. By act of Congress he was promoted to the special rank of Admiral of the Navy in 1903 with his date of rank retroactive to 1899.

A special military decoration, the Battle of Manila Bay Medal (commonly called the Dewey Medal), was struck in honor of Dewey's victory at Manila Bay. It was awarded to every American officer, Sailor and Marine present at the battle. The medals were designed by Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial, and produced by Tiffany & Co. Each medal was engraved with the recipient's name, rank and ship. Since his own image appeared on the obverse of the medal, out of modesty, Dewey wore his medal reversed. Dewey was one of only four Americans in history (the other three being Admiral William T. Sampson, Admiral Richard E. Byrd and General John J. Pershing) who were entitled to wear a US Government issued medal with their own image on it.

Shortly after the Battle of Manila Bay, on May 31, 1898, Dewey wrote to the Secretary of the Navy asking that 50 Chinese sailors who had served with the Asiatic Squadron at Manila Bay be allowed to enter the United States. In Dewey's letter he noted that the Chinese had "rendered the most efficient services upon that occaision" and that they had "shown courage and energy in the face of an enemy". At that time, an immigration law, called the "Chinese Exclusion Act" prohibited Chinese laborers from landing in the United States.

On October 3, 1899 Dewey was presented a special sword by President McKinley in a ceremony at the Capitol building. The presentation of the sword was followed by a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. Congress, by unanimous vote, had authorized $10,000 to fund the gift shortly after the Battle of Manila Bay. The elaborately decorated sword was custom-made by Tiffany & Co. of New York. Its hilt and fittings were made of 22 carat gold. The sword is now on display, along with uniforms and medals belonging to Admiral Dewey, at the National Museum of the United States Navy at the Washington Navy Yard.

Marriage

On November 9, 1899, Dewey was married for the second time to Mrs. Mildred McLean Hazen (widow of General William Babcock Hazen) in the rectory of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. Since Mrs. Hazen was a Roman Catholic, and Dewey was not, they were not permitted to have their wedding inside a Catholic church.

Politics

Many suggested Dewey run for President on the Democratic ticket in 1900. His candidacy was plagued by public relations missteps. He was quoted as saying the job of president would be easy since the chief executive was merely following orders in executing the laws enacted by Congress and that he would "execute the laws of Congress as faithfully as I have always executed the orders of my superiors." He admitted to never having voted in a presidential election. He drew yet more criticism when he offhandedly, but prophetically, told a newspaper reporter that "Our next war will be with Germany." Dewey also angered some Protestants by marrying a Catholic and giving her the house that the nation had given him following the war. Dewey withdrew from the race in mid-May 1900 and endorsed William McKinley.

In 1900, after his withdrawal from the presidential race, he was named president of the newly established General Board of the Navy Department, which was the Navy's major policy‑making body. He served in the board until his death.

Memberships

In 1901 Admiral Dewey was elected as an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. He was also a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) (insignia number 2397), the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, the Sons of the Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution (membership number 2920), Naval Order of the United States (insignia number 207), the Society of Colonial Wars, the General Society of the War of 1812, the Society of American Wars and the Military Order of Foreign Wars (insignia number 363). He served as Commander of the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States from 1898 to 1900 and as Commander General (i.e. national president) of the Order from 1907 to 1917.

Dewey's membership insignia for most of the societies listed above in on display as the Museum of the United States Navy at the Washington Navy Yard.

Dewey was a member of the board of the Boy Scouts of America until his resignation in late 1910.

Later life

In later life Dewey wore stylish clothes and a handlebar mustache which was his trademark. His inherited wealth allowed him to live in stylish comfort. He often went horseback riding with President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington's Rock Creek Park and he was a fellow member of Washington's prestigious Metropolitan Club.

Admiral Dewey died in Washington on January 16, 1917. His remains were interred in the Bethlehem Chapel, on the crypt level, at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

Dates of rank

• Acting Midshipman, United States Naval Academy: September 26, 1854
• Midshipman: June 11, 1858

In the era of the Civil War, it was a common practice for officers to be granted shipboard commissions based on the need to fill certain jobs or billets. Dewey was therefore made a Lieutenant once he "signed on" with David Farragut. He never held the ranks of Ensign or Lieutenant (junior grade) as those ranks were not created until 1862 and 1883, respectively.

Passed Midshipman	Master	Lieutenant	Lieutenant Commander	Commander
O-1	O-2	O-3	O-4	O-5
January 19, 1861	February 23, 1861	April 19, 1861	March 3, 1865	April 13, 1872

Captain	Commodore	Rear Admiral	Admiral	Admiral of the Navy
O-6	O-7	O-8	O-10	Special Rank
September 27, 1884 (Retroactive to July 28, 1884)	February 28, 1896	May 10, 1898	March 2, 1899	March 24, 1903 (Retroactive to March 2, 1899)

Dewey in special full dress uniform as Admiral of the Navy.

Admiral Dewey's final rank was Admiral of the Navy. He is the only person ever to hold this rank. Admiral of the Navy is equivalent to General of the Armies. General John J. Pershing was promoted to General of the Armies in 1919 and General George Washington was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976.

Honors

Medals Awarded by the United States Government

(Dates indicate the year the medal was awarded.)

Civil War Campaign Medal (1908)

Battle of Manila Bay Medal (aka. "Dewey Medal") (1899)

Spanish Campaign Medal (1908)

Philippine Campaign Medal (1908)

Note – Although Dewey was entitled to all of the above medals the only one there are pictures of him wearing is the Battle of Manila Bay Medal.

Namesakes

Dewey Point, Yosemite National Park, California, appeared on the first edition of the Yosemite Valley map in 1907

Dewey Hall, an academic building at Norwich University, was constructed in 1899, in honor of his victory at Manila Bay.

In 1898, the Borough of Hellertown, Pennsylvania, formed its fire department naming it Dewey Fire Company No. 1 in honor of George Dewey.

Also in 1898, the city of Boston, Massachusetts named the square besides the nearly complete South Central Station as Dewey Square in his honor.

Three ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Dewey, including an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Dewey (DDG-105) that was laid down on 4 October 2006, christened on 26 January 2008 and commissioned on 6 March 2010.

Dewey Hall and Dewey Field at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Dewey Field at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island.

Thomasville, Georgia, contains the Dewey City "subdivision," an area settled in the late 1880s by former slaves.

The column in the center of San Francisco's Union Square is dedicated to Dewey's victory at Manila Bay.

Dewey Beach, Delaware, is named in honor of Admiral Dewey.

Dewey Street, in St. Paul, Minnesota, was renamed in his honor.

Dewey Avenue in Norman, Oklahoma, was named in his honor.

City of Dewey, Oklahoma was named in his honor. Founded in 1889 by Jacob A. Bartles.

Dewey County, Oklahoma was named in his honor.

In 1899, Mills Novelty released a slot machine named The Dewey, in honor of Admiral Dewey.

The main town of Culebra, Puerto Rico, was named in his honor, however it is known by many locals simply as Pueblo.

The Dewey School in the Castle Rock Business Corridor in Castle Rock, Colorado was named after Admiral Dewey. The Admiral wrote a warm letter of thanks to the school children that was framed and on the wall of the school for many years until the school closed.

Dewey Avenue in Wharton, New Jersey, is named in honor of Admiral Dewey.

Dewey Blvd, now known as Roxas Blvd, a major seaside thoroughfare in Manila, Philippines, was named after him; George Dewey High School at the former U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines was named after him.

A settlement in Newton County, Texas, was established as a sawmill site by the Sabine Tram Company in 1898. It was named Deweyville after George Dewey.

Dewey Lake, a lake in St. Louis County, Minnesota, is named after Admiral Dewey.

Admiral Dewey (tugboat) was named for him.

Dewey Road at the former San Diego Naval Training Center in the heart of the new Civic, Arts and Cultural District is named for him.

Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona, is named in honor of Admiral Dewey.

In San Diego, CA, George Dewey Elementary School, which is located near the former Naval Training Center and over the years served a student body which was largely made up of children of Navy and Marine personnel, was named after him.

See also

• Six-star rank

Notes

• Dates of promotion from The Records of Living Officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, Sixth Edition, 1889, by Lewis Randolph Hamersly.
• The Dewey slot machine at Arcade-History.com.
• Yosemite Place Names – The historic background of geographic names in Yosemite National Park by Peter Browning

Further reading

• Brody, David. "Celebrating Empire on the Home Front: New York City's Welcome-home Party for Admiral Dewey." Prospects 2000 25: 391–424. ISSN 0361-2333
• Chadwick, French Ensor. The Relations of the United States and Spain: The Spanish–American War (1911) online edition
• Graves, Ralph. "When a Victory Really Gave Us a New World Order." Smithsonian 1992 22(12): 88–97. ISSN 0037-7333 Fulltext: Ebsco
• Spector, Ronald. Admiral of the New Empire: The Life and Career of George Dewey. 1974. 220 pp. the standard scholarly biography
• Mahan, Alfred Thayer (1899). Lessons of the War with Spain: And Other Articles. Little, Brown Low, Boston. p. 320. Url

Primary sources

• Dewey, George. Autobiography of George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy (1913) full text online written in collaboration with journalist Frederick Palmer as ghostwriter using the reports of Dewey's aide, Nathan Sargent,

External links

• Dewey biography on Spanish American War Centennial Website – includes links to some of Dewey's letters
• Dewey biographical information on Naval Historical Center website
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Dewey, George". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
  • United States v. Dewey. 1902–1903.
  • "Dewey, George". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
  • "To the Returning Brave", a poem by Florence Earle Coates.
• Works by or about George Dewey at the Internet Archive
• Works by George Dewey at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• "George Dewey". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-04-14.