New Releases by George Dewey

One of America''s best known naval heroes whose life straddled two centuries and several stages of naval development, tells his own story.-Print ed. George Dewey was born on December 26, 1837 in Montpelier, Vermont. Upon his graduation from the Naval Academy in 1857, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1861. During the Civil War he served with Admiral Farragut during the Battle of New Orleans and as part of the Atlantic blockade. From 1871 until 1896, Dewey held a variety of positions in the Navy. In 1897 he was named commander of the Asiatic Squadron, thanks to the help of strong political allies, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt''s help was also essential in supplying Dewey with guns, ammunition, and other needed supplies so that his fleet would be prepared if war broke out with Spain. An aggressive commander, Dewey ignored China''s neutrality and took on coal for his fleet at Mirs Bay. He was forced to leave Hong Kong on April 25, but not before the U.S.S. Baltimore had arrived from Honolulu with needed ammunition. Thus prepared for battle, Dewey launched his attack, through mined waters and firing shore batteries, on Admiral Patricio Montojo''s slow, outmoded, under-supplied Spanish squadron at Cavite in Manila Bay. On May 1, he engaged the Spanish forces and demolished them, inflicting very heavy casualties. His troops occupied the bay and Manila itself alone until General Wesley Merritt''s soldiers arrived in August. News of the victory in the Battle of Manila Bay reached President McKinley on May 7 and soon Dewey became a national hero. Congress awarded him a promotion to real admiral and handed out citations to members of his fleet. Although he thought about running for president, he settled for writing accounts of his famous victory and publishing his autobiography in 1913.

Admiral George Dewey, hero of the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War, describes his career and battle successes in this exciting and eye-opening autobiography. Dewey recounts his youth in Vermont, telling of his appreciation for the outdoors, with a particular passion being to swim in the nearby river. The lack of discipline in his nearby schoolhouse - a place which lacked permanent staff - concerned Dewey''s father, who decided to send his son to military school. It was this decision which shaped the boy''s entire life; Dewey demonstrated great aptitude and was already a junior officer by the time of the U.S. Civil War. The earliest signs of Dewey''s greatness glimmered during the Civil War, in which he performed well during the Battle of New Orleans. Promoted and distinguished by the end of the conflict, Dewey spent the years following the war witnessing a navy which was rapidly modernizing as new technologies transformed naval materiel and warfare. By the 1890s, Dewey was a mature commander in charge of the United States'' Asiatic Squadron; a group of cutting-edge warships. Dewey''s decisive command during the Battle of Manila Bay, which saw the opposing Spanish naval force thrown into chaos and disarray, made the admiral a national hero. The fight was crucial; with it, the USA took possession of Manila and began in earnest to capture the Philippines from the Spaniards.

No romantic reconstruction of the history of the Indian, this book is an objective account of the white man''s treatment of the Indian based on records long buried in inaccessible archives. The elaborate treaties with the numerous Indian tribes illuminate the tragic saga of the gradual removal of the Indian from reservation to reservation, farther and farther west, and reveal the virtual extinction of a noble race. Originally published in 1941. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.