hat war with Spain was
at hand, and that one of the most effective blows against that tyrannous
power could be struck in the far East, where the group of islands known
as the Philippines constituted her most princely possessions.

The assignment, as has been stated, was not pleasing to Dewey, because
he and others believed the real hard fighting must take place in
European or Atlantic waters. We all know the uneasiness that prevailed
for weeks over the destination of the Spanish fleet under Admiral
Cervera. Dewey wanted to meet him and do some fighting that would recall
his services when a lieutenant in the Civil War, and he saw no chance of
securing the chance on the other side of the world, but Roosevelt was
persistent, and, against the wishes of the Naval Board, he obtained his
assignment as flag officer of the Asiatic squadron.

Commodore Dewey felt that the first duty of an officer is to obey, and
after a farewell dinner given by his friends at the Metropolitan Club in
Arlington, he hurriedly completed his preparations, and, starting for
Hong Kong, duly reached that port, where, on January 3, 1898, he hoisted
his flag on the _Olympia_.

The official records show that the _Olympia_ was ordered home, but
Roosevelt, in a confidential dispatch of February 25, directed Commodore
Dewey to remain, to prepare his squadron for offensive operations, and,
as soon as war broke out with Spain, to steam to the Philippines and hit
the enemy as hard as he knew how. Meanwhile ammunition and supplies were
hurried across the continent to San Francisco as fast as express trains
could carry them, and were sent thence by steamer to Hong Kong, where
they were eagerly received by the waiting Commodore.

Reverting to those stirring days, it will be recalled that the Queen
Regent of Spain declared war against the United States on April 24,
1898, to which we replied that war had begun three days earlier, when
the Madrid government dismissed our minister and handed him his
passports. Then followed, or rather were continued, the vigorous
preparations on the part of our authorities for the prosecution of the
war to a prompt and decisive end.

Commodore Dewey's squadron lay at anchor in the harbor of Hong Kong,
awaiting the momentous news from Washington. When it reached the
commander it was accompanied by an order to capture or destroy the
enemy's fleet at Manila. Almost at the same time Great Britain issued
her proclamation of neutrality,