154 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS lished and for two years he cruised in European waters where the squadron was regarded with more interest and respect than before the war. In September, 1867, he was detached and put in charge of the fourth class of midshipmen at the Naval Academy. A month later he was married to Susan Boardman Goodwin, daughter of ex-Governor Goodwin, of New Hampshire. Here they stayed for three years. There was much gaiety and many social functions for there were several other young of- ficers and their brides at AnnapoUs. Dewey received his first regular command on leaving the Naval Academy, that of the Narragansettj a third class sloop. Three months later he was transferred to the Supply which was to take supplies for the relief of the French who had suf- fered in the siege of Paris. When he reached Havre he found the wharves piled high with supplies, so he was instructed by the relief committee to take his cargo to London for sale. On his return, he spent a few months at the Boston Navy Yard, then went to the Newport torpedo station where, on December 23, 1872, his son, George Goodwin Dewey, was bom. Five days later, occurred the death of Mrs. Dewey. In the spring Dewey was again put in command of the Nar- ragansettj which he joined at Panama Bay and on which he spent the next two years, surveying Lower California and the coast of Mexico as far as Cape Corrientes. While in the Gulf of California there came word of the Virginius affair which seemed about to precipitate war between the United States and Spain. He tells that he found the officers sitting about de- spondent, and, on asking the reason, was told that it was be- cause there was to be a war in which they would have no part His answer was, **0n the contrary, we shall be very much in it. If war with Spain is declared, the Narragansett will take Manila. * ' Always interested in the Philippine Islands, Dewey had read about them and had seen their situation as a logical point of attack ; but it was not until twenty-five years later that he had the privilege of taking this city. In the spring of 1875 he re-
