Much engaged. The two days have brought an amount of
business which it is difficult to dispose of in a single day. But three of us
at the Cabinet meeting. Various little matters talked up.
Old Mr. Blair was lingering in an adjoining room during the
latter part of our sitting. Rumor has said that he and his son Montgomery had
gone on a peace mission, and that Davis had invited them to Richmond. Nothing
has been said to me on the subject, yet I am inclined to believe there has been
a demonstration sufficient for the rumor. They have, for some purpose, been to
the front, their absence has been longer than was contemplated, but I am not
confident that any results have been obtained.
Simeon Draper, Collector of Customs at New York, called on
me a few days since, stating that he had been appointed cotton agent by the
Secretary of the Treasury, to proceed to Savannah and dispose of the captured
cotton recently taken by Sherman. Draper called to get from me a letter of
introduction to Rear-Admiral Dahlgren, as he would be likely to be thrown in
Dahlgren's company. Of course, I could not refuse. But the idea of sending such
a man on such a mission, when he has more than any one honest man can do to
discharge his duties as a collector faithfully, sickened me. Fessenden
certainly knows as little of men as Chase. This mission of Draper will be a
swindle, I can scarcely doubt. A ring will be formed for the purchase of the
cotton, regardless of public or private rights.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 —
December 31, 1866, p. 219-20
