Wilkes laid before me his plan for organizing the Potomac
Flotilla. It is systematic and exhibits capacity.
Something energetic must be done in regard to the suspected privateers
which, with the connivance of British authorities, are being sent out to
depredate on our commerce. We hear that our new steamer, the Adirondack, is
wrecked. She had been sent to watch the Bahama Channel. Her loss, the discharge
of the Oreto by the courts of Nassau, and the arrival of Steamer 290,1
both piratical British wolves, demand attention, although we have no vessels to
spare from the blockade. Must organize a flying squadron, as has been
suggested, and put Wilkes in command. Both the President and Seward request he
should go on this service.
When with the President this A.M., heard Pope read his
statement of what had taken place in Virginia during the last few weeks,
commencing at or before the battle of Cedar Mountain. It was not exactly a
bulletin nor a report, but a manifesto, a narrative, tinged with wounded pride
and a keen sense of injustice and wrong. The draft, he said, was rough. It
certainly needs modifying before it goes out, or there will be war among the generals,
who are now more ready to fight each other than the enemy. No one was present
but the President, Pope, and myself. I remained by special request of both to
hear the report read. Seward came in for a moment, but immediately left. He
shuns these controversies and all subjects where he is liable to become
personally involved. I have no doubt Stanton and Chase have seen the paper, and
Seward, through Stanton, knows its character.
Pope and I left together and walked to the Departments. He
declares all his misfortunes are owing to the persistent determination of
McClellan, Franklin, and Porter, aided by Ricketts, Griffin, and some others
who were predetermined he should not be successful. They preferred, he said,
that the country should be ruined rather than he should triumph.
_______________
1 The cruiser Alabama.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864,
p. 109-10
No comments:
Post a Comment