Background
Nehemiah Mayo Dyer was born on February 19, 1839 at Provincetown, Massachussetts, United States. He was the son of Henry and Sally (Mayo) Dyer.
Nehemiah Mayo Dyer was born on February 19, 1839 at Provincetown, Massachussetts, United States. He was the son of Henry and Sally (Mayo) Dyer.
He was educated in the local public schools, but being a true product of a seafaring town, soon turned to a nautical life. At the age of fifteen he entered the merchant marine.
He took the course at the Naval War College in 1894.
In 1861 he enlisted in the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers but on April 4, 1862, he transferred to the volunteer navy as acting master’s mate. About a year later (May 18, 1863) he was made an acting ensign and appointed to command the Eugénie, used for blockade work off Mobile.
On January 12, 1864, he was promoted to acting master and later this same year was assigned to the Metacomet, in which he participated in the battle of Mobile Bay, receiving in person the surrender of the Confederate ship Selma. After serving on the Hartford, Farragut’s flagship, he was ordered North to command the Rodolph. After the close of the Civil War, he was one of the few volunteer officers to be retained.
He was commissioned lieutenant on March 12, 1868, and ordered to the Dacotah of the South Pacific Squadron. On December 18, 1868, he was advanced to the grade of lieutenant-commander and ordered to command the Cyane, which was due to proceed to Alaska.
In 1870, while on the Ossippee, he saved a sailor from drowning and for this act was given a medal and publicly thanked by his commanding officer. For several years thereafter, he performed the various duties to which a line officer is subject, including work at the Torpedo School at Newport in 1873 anfl lighthouse inspection in 1883.
Dyer was advanced to the full grade of commander on April 23, 1883, and after being lighthouse inspector for four years, he was ordered to command the Marion at an Asiatic station until 1890.
On July 13, 1897, he was given his captaincy, and in October of the same year was placed in command of the Baltimore. After the outbreak of the Spanish- American War, he and his ship were in Dewey’s squadron in the Philippines and participated in the battle of Manila Bay, May 1898.
For his conduct in this battle, he was advanced seven numbers in rank. His official report to Admiral Dewey shows some of the difficulties under which he worked. The citizens of Baltimore presented him with a magnificent gold sword as a token of their esteem. He served throughout the war, and in 1900 was ordered to the Navy Yard at Boston.
On Feburary 19, 1901, he was retired with the rank of rear-admiral. His services were duly recognized by the United States nearly twenty years later when on April 13, 1918, the torpedo-boat destroyer Dyer was launched.
After his retirement he took up his residence at Melrose, Massachussetts. He kept up his interest in naval matters in his connection with the Massachusetts Nautical Training School, and in 1903 and 1904, he was chairman of the board of commissioners of this famous school. Perhaps he took this opportunity of passing on to posterity the love of the sea that he had developed.
He was one of the few individuals to have served in both the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War and the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War. Admiral Dyer received the Civil War Campaign Medal, Battle of Manila Bay Commemorative Medal (the "Dewey Medal") and the Spanish Campaign Medal.
He never married and had no sons to follow in their father’s footsteps.
