Immediately after the capture of Charleston, it was
suggested at one of the Cabinet-meetings, by Dennison and Speed, that we should
go either on the anniversary of the fall of Sumter and raise again the old
flag. I declined to be a party in such a movement, as Sumter was already taken
and the flag had been raised on its ruins. But others, I see, have taken a
different view, and Stanton with a party is to go to Charleston for the purpose
indicated. Without having heard a word from Seward, I shall expect him to work
into the party. He likes fuss and parade; is already preparing his speech.
Ordered to-day the Wyoming to the East Indies. Had
dispatches on Saturday from Craven, who is on the Niagara watching the Rebel
ironclad Stonewall at Corunna. He says he is “in an unenviable and embarrassing
position.” There are many of our best naval officers who think he has an
enviable position, and they would make sacrifices to obtain it. Perhaps Craven
will fight well, though his language is not bold and defiant, nor his
sentiments such as will stimulate his crew. It is an infirmity. Craven is
intelligent, and disciplines his ship well, I am told, but his constant doubts
and misgivings impair his usefulness.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the
Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866,
p. 267
