formidable shore batteries on Cavite Point. Furthermore, that our naval
operations came to a close off Santiago Harbor on July 3, 1898, through
the destruction or capture by our fleet--under the command of Admirals
Schley and Sampson, consisting of four battleships, one armored cruiser
and two converted yachts, one of them the "Gloucester," under the
command of the intrepid Richard Wainwright--of the entire Spanish fleet,
consisting of four powerful armored cruisers of the highest class and
two torpedo boat destroyers, under the command of Admiral Cervera.

Space forbids even a passing reference to the instances of individual
heroism displayed during this war by the officers and men of our ships,
as for example that of Lieutenant Richmond P. Hobson, all of which are
conjured up by a contemplation of this painting. It is also impossible
to refer at length to the reception itself to Admiral Dewey and the
other officers and men of our fleets, of which the naval procession
constituted only one feature; but no eye-witness can ever forget the
march of the returning victors in the land parade on September 30, 1899,
as it passed under that masterpiece of American sculpture, the arch
located at Madison Square.

There were also some touching incidents connected with this celebration.
Among them, and as suggested by this picture, should be mentioned the
fact that a sailor by the name of Bartholomew Diggins presented Admiral
Dewey with the blue flag of Admiral Farragut, which had been in the
possession of Diggins, who had served with Dewey under Farragut in the
Civil War, and this flag flew from one of the mast-heads of the
"Olympia" as she steamed up the river in the van of the magnificent
array.

How doubly glorious will appear this splendid ovation to our heroes
immortalized in this picture, if the war, from which they are shown
returning as conquerors, shall result in a full realization of the noble
motive, which inspired it, of liberation and not of conquest, and we may
in patriotic pride address Columbia in the words of Timothy Dwight:

"To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire;
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap cities in fire;
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend!"

* * * * *

With this picture the artist closes the commemoration of our naval
achievements in the four great periods of our history, the War of the
Revolut