r 26, 1837, of
direct descent, in the ninth generation, from Thomas Dewey, who came
from Sandwich, England, to Dorchester, in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, in 1633.

His father, Dr. Julius Dewey, was a physician, eminent in his
profession, and loved and respected, not only for his ability but for
his innate nobility of character; and his mother was Mary Perrin. His
ancestors on both sides were patriots in the days that tried men's
souls, the hard and bitter days of the Colonial and Revolutionary
Wars. He was the third of four children, and even in his boyhood he
was a leader among his fellows. His breaches of discipline culminated
in his heading an insurrection against the village school-master; but
the pedagogue came off victorious, and administered a severe flogging
to the young rebel, which punishment his father is said to have
reinforced with some home-brewed medicine. The lesson was well
learned, for we hear of no more insurrections.

George Dewey entered the Naval Academy September 23, 1854, and was
graduated fifth in a class of fourteen. He was attached to the frigate
Wabash of the Mediterranean Squadron, and after his two years' cruise
as a midshipman passed his final examination, in which he stood number
one, gaining a final rating of three in his class. War was already
imminent, and rapidly passing through the next grades he was on April
19th attached as lieutenant to the Mississippi, belonging to the West
Gulf Squadron. Early in 1862 Commodores Farragut and Porter prepared
to capture New Orleans. Throughout this campaign Lieutenant Dewey
distinguished himself by his cool courage, quick perception, and ready
skill, winning the praise of Commodore Farragut. In running by the
forts, he stood upon the bridge of the Mississippi, unmoved amid a
storm of shot and shell, and unerringly guided her up the river,
although he knew not a foot of the channel. The next year he was
attached to one of Farragut's gunboats, and later to the Monongahela,
which he commanded temporarily. In 1864, attached to the Colorado, he
again distinguished himself in the attack on Fort Fisher, by a display
not only of great courage, but of marked tactical skill, and by the
fighting of his ship, which, though a junior, he really directed, and
won the enthusiastic congratulations of his superior officers. Made
lieutenant-commander March 3, 1865, Dewey emerged from the Civil War a
matured naval officer at the age of twenty-seven, ripe in exper