On May 1, 1898, Dewey led his six cruisers and gunboats on a bold midnight run past the guns of Corregidor into Manila Bay.

ECONOMIST: Dewey��s great day

In the first significant action, on May 1st, Commodore George Dewey's small squadron destroyed an antiquated Spanish fleet in a morning's shelling in Manila Bay, in the distant Philippines.

ECONOMIST: THE WAR OF 1898

Manila sprawls east from Manila Bay along the Pasig River, and immediately south of the river is Intramuros, the old walled Spanish town where many of the city's historical sites are found.

CNN: ASIANOW - Travel Watch | Manila City Guide: Environment

U.S. naval plans included provisions for an attack on the Spanish Navy in the event of war, and led to a decisive victory against the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in May, 1898.

NEWYORKER: The Water Cure

In fact, these guns were salvaged from the bottom of far-away Manila Bay, from Spanish ships sunk by Montpelier's own Admiral George Dewey on the day America came of age as an international power.

ECONOMIST: Dewey��s great day