Gideon
Welles was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, on 1st July, 1802. He
studied
law but went into journalism and in 1826 became the founder and editor
of the Hartford Times.
At the age of twenty-five he was elected to the Connecticut legislature.
A member of the Democratic Party,
Welles was appointed state controller of public accounts in 1835.
He also served as postmaster of Hartford (1836-41) and chief of the
Bureau of Provisions and Clothing for the Navy (1846-49).
In 1854 Welles joined the Republican Party
and his newspaper, the Hartford Evening Press,
that he established in 1856, gave the party loyal support over many
years. When Abraham Lincoln was elected
president he appointed Welles as his Secretary of the Navy.
On the outbreak of the American Civil War
Welles was responsible for implementing the Anaconda
Plan. He gradually built up a fleet that was able to guard the
South's 3,500 miles of coastline. With the support of the outstanding
naval commander, David Farragut, Welles
was able to gradually impose a naval blockade that isolated the South
from the rest of the world.
Welles held strongly anti-British views and this brought him into
conflict with William Seward, the Secretary
of State. His conservative views also caused him to argue with Salmon
Chase (Secretary of the Treasury) and Edwin
M. Stanton (Secretary of War).
Welles resigned from office in 1869 and was highly critical of President
Andrew Johnson and his reconstruction
policies. He joined the Democratic Party
in 1868 but in 1872 supported Horace Greeley.
In his retirement wrote several books including Lincoln
and Seward (1874). Gideon
Welles died in Hartford
on 11th February, 1878. His fascinating account of the personalities
of the American Civil War, The
Diary of Gideon Wells, was not published until 1911.
(1) Gideon Welles went to
Abraham Lincoln's bedside when he heard he had been shot. He later
recorded his thoughts in his diary (15th April, 1865)
The night was dark, cloudy,
and damp, and about six it began to rain. I remained in the room until
then without sitting or leaving it, when, there being a vacant chair
which someone left at the foot of the bed, I occupied it for nearly
two hours, listening to the heavy groans and witnessing the wasting
life of the good and great man who was expiring before me.
About 6 a.m. I experienced a feeling of faintness and, for the first
time after entering the room, a little past eleven, I left it and
the house, and took a short walk in the open air. It was a dark and
gloomy morning, and rain set in before I returned to the house, some
fifteen minutes later. Large groups of people were gathered every
few yards, all anxious and solicitous. Some one or more from each
group stepped forward as I passed to inquire into the condition of
the President and to ask if there was no hope. Intense grief was on
every countenance when I replied that the President could survive
but a short time. The colored people especially - and there were at
this time more of them, perhaps, than of whites - were overwhelmed
with grief.
A little before seven. I went into the room where the dying President
was rapidly drawing near the closing moments. His wife soon after
made her last visit to him. The death struggle had begun. Robert,
his son, stood with several others at the head of his bed. He bore
himself well, but on two occasions gave way to overpowering grief
and sobbed aloud, turning his head and leaning on the shoulder of
Senator Sumner. The respiration of the President became suspended
at intervals and at last entirely ceased at twenty-two minutes past
seven.
(2) Gideon
Welles, diary (9th May, 1865)
It was never intended by the
founders of the Union that the Federal government should prescribe
suffrage to the states. We shall get rid of slavery by constitutional
means. But conferring on the black civil rights is another matter.
This whole question of suffrage is much abused. The Negro can take
upon himself the duty about as intelligently and as well for the public
interest as a considerable portion of the foreign element which comes
among us. The measure should not, even if the government were empowered
to act, be precipitated when he is stolidly ignorant and wholly unprepared.
Stanton has changed his position, has been converted, is now for Negro
suffrage. These were not his views a short time since. But aspiring
politicians will, as the current now sets, generally take the road.
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