Saturday, September 18, 2021

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, January 18, 1865

The congratulations over the capture of Fort Fisher are hearty and earnest. Some few whom I have met are a little out of humor. General Butler does not appear gladsome, and it is not in human nature that he should. H. Winter Davis, who for some cause avoids me, is not satisfied. I do not doubt that he is glad we have succeeded, but he does not like it that any credit should even remotely come to me. There are three or four like unto him.

Contractors are here innumerable for relief. Demagogues assail me on one hand for expenditures, while contractors complain that their bargains with the Department are so losing that they must have relief.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 227

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