A pleasant meeting of the Cabinet, and about the time we had
concluded General Grant was announced. He had just returned from a visit to the
Army of the Potomac, and appeared to better advantage than when I first saw
him, but he is without presence. After a very brief interview, he remarked to
the President that he should leave this P.M. for Nashville, to return in about
two weeks, and should be glad to see the Secretary of War and General Halleck
before he left. There was in his deportment little of the dignity and bearing
of the soldier but more of an air of business than his first appearance indicated,
but he showed latent power.
I called this evening on Governor Morgan to consult in
regard to a suitable lawyer in New York to take charge of our proceedings with
contractors and others. He recommends Bliss1 as on the whole the
best and most fitting person we could have. Says he is intimate with Olcott,
and really his prompter. I am not satisfied with intrusting this matter
entirely to Olcott, who is expected here tomorrow.
________________
1 George Bliss, Esq., was retained by Schofield,
and Mr. Nathaniel Wilson was engaged by the Navy Department. (See page 543.)
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 539-40
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