Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, August 16, 1865

Wrote a letter to Paul S. Forbes in relation to his engine and the trial of the Algonquin. The letter is an answer to one from him, written evidently by his lawyer and prompter, Dickerson, designedly insolent and intended to provoke retort.

But I have contrived to keep cool and, I think, to place them in the wrong, although they have control of the New York press and correspondents, who make aggravated assaults without any knowledge of the facts. Here and there silly editors, wholly ignorant of the subject, also assume to speak oracularly, and doubtless the public become in some degree prejudiced. In due time there will be correction, the truth will come out, but to some extent the slander will long remain to taint the minds of many.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 361-2

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