Had a call to-day from an old schoolmate at Cheshire, now a
chaplain in the army, Joseph H. Nichols. Invited and had him to tea with me and
talked over school-boy days. It is thirty-five years or over since we have met,
though not unfrequently in the same place. Sent Commodore Wilkes a dispatch to
hold his ground and await events. Will send him specific orders when
developments justify. He is a troublesome officer in many respects, unpopular
in the Navy and never on good terms with the Department, yet I have thus far
got along with him very well, though in constant apprehension that he will
commit some rash act. He is ambitious, self-conceited, and self-willed. The
withdrawal of the army from before Richmond disconcerts him, and to make his
mark he may do some indiscreet, rash, and indefensible act. But I trust not. He
has abilities but not sound judgment, and is not always subordinate, though he
is himself severe and exacting towards his subordinates.
Had a letter from Fox at Portsmouth. Says there are traitors
even there. It will be necessary that the Government should be felt as a power
before this Rebellion can be suppressed. The armored boats, to which he was to
give some attention, are progressing as well as can be expected. . . .
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864,
p. 86-7
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