Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, May 21, 1866

Captain S. P. Lee called on me to-day respecting his orders to Mare Island. The President on Saturday showed me an application which Lee had made to him to be relieved from the orders and placed on leave for one year. Mr. Blair had left with me a similar paper, unsigned, however. The President inquired what he should do with the paper. I answered that it was an extraordinary application even if made to the Department, but more extraordinary in passing over the Department and applying to the President to rid himself of orders.

The President said he would refer the paper to me to dispose of. It reached me this A.M., and Lee followed it within half an hour. He showed a consciousness of manner in opening the subject, and made a half-turn apology for having gone to the President by saying, if he had not called on me, his father-in-law, Mr. Blair, had. I did not conceal from him my surprise at the unusual course he had pursued, the more so as his age, experience, and long attendance at Washington precluded any idea that it was the result of ignorance.

I told him that he had been favored and fortunate in some respects beyond any officer of his grade, perhaps beyond any officer in the service; that he could not expect to remain off duty while all others were on duty; that he had been eight months on waiting orders, and that no officer had asked a year's leave; that he assigned no reason, nor could I conceive of any that would justify such leave.

He said his case was peculiar and he wished to remain in Washington to attend to his promotion.

Then, said I, any officer would be entitled to the same privilege, and the service would soon be in a demoralized state; that I did not desire for his own reputation to see him seated at the threshold of the Executive Mansion, or at the door of the Senate, beseeching for undue favors; that he would do well to leave his case in the hands of the Department, as did other officers. He certainly would fare as well if away as if here.

The interview was long and unpleasant. Again this evening he has called at my house to repeat the same plea.

The President, I find, is by no means pleased with the steps that have been taken in regard to Fox's going to Russia. He thinks that injustice is designed towards me by Seward, certain Radicals, and by Fox himself. His surmises are probably correct, except as regards Fox, who does not wish to do me wrong, though, perhaps, not sufficiently considerate in his efforts for this mission; and on other occasions the same fault may appear.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 511-2

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Daniel L. Ambrose: May 24, 1865

On the 24th of May we cross the long bridge spanning the Potomac and enter Washington City and pass up Pennsylvania Avenue, and by the White House, with Sherman's army in the grand review. This was a proud day for Sherman and his army. Flowers and wreaths, plucked and formed by the hands of the nation's fair ones, fell thick and fast at the feet of the tramping army as it surged like an ocean wave in the great avenue. Passing by the stand where stood the nation's great men, General Sherman turns to his wife and says, "There are the Seventh Illinois and the sixteen-shooters that helped to save my army in the great battle on the Allatoona hills."

On that day there were men in the national capital who were loud in denouncing Sherman as a traitor, for his actions in his conference with General Joe Johnson [sic]. Generals Howard, Logan, Blair and Slocum are familiar with the circumstances that controlled Sherman in that conference. The seventy thousand who with him tramped the continent, have learned the history of those negotiations, and their expression is unanimous for Sherman, and to-day they are wild in denouncing all who oppose him. Catching the spirit of these stalwart men, Lieutenant Flint, of Company G, writes thus:

Back to your kennels ! 'tis no time
To snarl upon him now,
Ye cannot tear the blood-earned bays
From off his regal brow.

Along old Mississippi's stream,
We saw his banner fly;
We followed where from Georgia's peaks
It flapped against the sky.

And forward! vain her trackless swamps,
Her wilderness of pines,
He saw the sun rise from the sea
Flash on his serried lines!

Back to your kennels! 'tis too late
To sully Sherman's name;
To us it is the synonym
Of valor, worth and fame.

A hundred fights, a thousand miles
Of glory, blood and pain,
From our dear valley of the west,
To Carolina's plain,

Are his and ours; and peace or war,
Let his old pennon reel,
And ten times ten thousand men
Will thunder at his heel,"

After the grand review, we go into camp a few miles from the capital near the Soldier's Home. Treason and rebellion being prostrate, and the Union saved, the western troops are ordered to rendezvous at Louisville, Kentucky, preparatory to their muster out of the United States service.

SOURCE: abstracted from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 309-11

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 2, 1881—8:45 a.m.

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH Co.,        

Dated, WASHINGTON, D.C., July 2, 1881.    

Received at MANSFIELD, OHIO,

8.45 A.M.                    

To Honorable John Sherman:

Dispatch received. Just come from White House. Saw and talked with General Garfield. Mind and memory clear, and he is personally hopeful. The doctors shake their heads. Situation most serious, but I cannot help hoping that the ball has not traversed the cavity of the stomach, as the wound indicates. Mrs. Garfield and all the family are with him.

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 350-1

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 2, 1881—3 p.m.

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH Co.,        

Dated, WASHINGTON, D.C., July 2, 1881.    

Received at MANSFIELD, OHIO,

3 P.M.                    

To Honorable John Sherman:

President Garfield was shot in the back toward the right side, the ball ranging downwards - not yet found. Pulse good and appearances favorable.

Has been brought to the White House. The assassin is from Chicago, an ex-consul at Marseilles, described as a lawyer, politician, and theologian. He is in custody. All sorts of rumors afloat, but the above is all that is known to me. I went in person to the depot immediately, and found all his Cabinet present.

W. T. SHERMAN,

General.        

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 350

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 3, 1881—4:15 p.m.

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO.,        

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 3, 1881.    

Received at MANSFIELD, OHIO,

4.15 P.M.                

To Honorable John Sherman:

Dispatch received, I am this minute back from the White House. Doctor Bliss surgeon, in attendance on President Garfield, authorized me to report that all the symptoms continued most favorable, and that he believed in ultimate recovery.

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 351

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 4, 1881—1:40 p.m.

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH Co.,        

Dated, WASHINGTON, D.C., July 4, 1881.

Received at MANSFIELD, OHIO, 1.40.

To Honorable John Sherman:

I am just back from the White House. The President is reported to have passed a night of pain, which gave rise to unfavorable reports; but the attending physicians, Bliss, Barnes, Woodward, and Reyburn, have made public the bulletins. Each warrants us to hope for recovery. Everything here is as quiet as the Sabbath.

W. T. SHERMAN,

General.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 351

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, March 13, 1866

Had a call this evening from Mr. English, the Democratic candidate for Governor in Connecticut. He is very decidedly, and I think sincerely, in favor of the President's policy. With General Hawley, who is the Administration candidate, I am more intimate, and for him I personally feel special regard, yet such is the strange mixture of parties that his election would be hailed as a triumph by the opponents of the Administration. I am much embarrassed by this state of things. I believe Hawley intends to support the President, yet, tainted by party, he also aims to support Congress in its differences with the Executive. He will find it difficult to reconcile the two, and if compelled to make an election he would be more likely at the present moment to go wrong, I fear, than right.

Mr. English desired an introduction to the President, whom he wishes to see concerning some person who is imprisoned in Tennessee, and is acting in concert with a Mr. Fleming, whom, with his beautiful wife, I met this evening at the President's house.

Seward was not at the Cabinet to-day. I brought forward the subject of the test oath, and McCulloch says he has prepared a letter which he will show me. Dennison is to prepare one also.

On the subject of the Fenians there was less inclination to converse, but the subject was referred to the Attorney-General to send circulars to the District Attorneys, etc. I suggested that the Administration should show a solid front, and, therefore, General Grant should send a communication. To this Stanton demurred. It would necessarily come through his Department, and he would be openly committed.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 452-3

Senator Daniel Webster to Franklin Haven, June 19, 1850

(PRIVATE.)

Washington, June 19, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—I verily believe our prospects brighten. It is certainly now the opinion at the White House, that the bill will pass. There is one difficulty yet to be got over, namely, the amount to be given to Texas. I hope, however, we shall agree on something.

It keeps us hard at work. We are obliged to have frequent conferences and agreements, and then we have something to do in debate; and then again, as you will see, I have become like an old school-book called the "Complete Letter-Writer."

The Senate adjourns from Thursday to Monday. I believe I shall try to get a little air in the mountains, or go to some cool place, down the river. My health is good, uncommonly good, and I feel pretty able to fight through this contest. When the bill shall be put on its passage, if it shall ever reach that step, I must make a speech as good as I can.

Yours,

D. W.

P. S. I have no time to write to our good friend Harvey. Please show him this.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, p. 374-5

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, February 6, 1866

Seward read a letter in regard to the Shenandoah, expressing my views and adopting my suggestions and almost my language. The city is full of visitors, and Washington is gay with parties. Attended reception at the Executive Mansion and afterward called on Sir Frederick Bruce and his niece Lady Elma Thurlow. Met at each [place] Madame La Verte (and daughter), of Mobile, who is making demonstration here and writing, I am told, a South-side view of the Rebellion. I met her here nearly forty years ago, then Miss Wharton, a gay and intelligent young lady.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 427

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, February 22, 1866

Washington's Birthday. Advantage is taken of it by those who sustain the late veto to assemble and give expression to their feelings, for there is quite as much of feeling, partisan feeling, as of honest opinion in what is done and said on this subject. The leading Radicals, on the other hand, are precipitating themselves into monstrous error and showing their incapacity to govern or even organize a permanent party. Only want of sagacity on the part of their opponents, the Democrats, prevents them from slipping into the shoes which the Radicals are abandoning. It is complained that the President treats the Rebels and the Copperheads kindly. It is not strange that he does so, for kindness begets kindness. They treat him respectfully, while the Radical leaders are arrogant, presuming, and dictatorial. They assume that the legislative branch of the Government is absolute, that the other departments, and especially the executive, are subordinate. Stevens and his secret joint committee or directory have taken into their hands the government and the administration of affairs. It is an incipient conspiracy. Congress, in both branches, or the majority of Congress, are but puppets in the hands of the Directory and do little but sanction and obey the orders of that committee.

To-day both branches of Congress have adjourned and there are funeral solemnities at the Capitol in memoriam of the late Henry Winter Davis, a private citizen, who died in Baltimore two or three months since, but who had been a conspicuous actor among the Radicals. He possessed genius, a graceful elocution, and erratic ability of a certain kind, but was an uneasy spirit, an unsafe and undesirable man, without useful talents for his country or mankind. Having figured as a leader with Thad Stevens, Wade, and others, in their intrigues, extraordinary honors are now paid him. A programme, copied almost literally from that of the 12th in memory of Mr. Lincoln, is sent out. Orders to commemorate this distinguished "Plug Ugly" and "Dead Rabbit" are issued. President and Cabinet, judges, foreign ministers, and other officials have seats assigned them in the Hall of the Representatives for the occasion. The whole is a burlesque, which partakes of the ridiculous more than the solemn, intended to belittle the memory of Lincoln and his policy as much as to exalt Davis, who opposed it. I would not go, could not go without a feeling of degradation. I yesterday suggested to the President my view of the whole proceedings, that they were in derogation of the late President and the Administration. The Radicals wished Davis to be considered the equal or superior of Lincoln.

There was a large gathering of the citizens to-day at the theatre to approve the veto, and they subsequently went to the Executive Mansion, where the President addressed them in quite a long speech for the occasion.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 437-8

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Monday, June 24, 1861

Grand review of the Rhode Island troops by President Lincoln and Gen. Scott. Marched in front of the White House and through the principal streets of Washington.

From this time up to the 4th of July, nothing of importance occurred; everything went on quiet and pleasant; battery drills and manual of the piece were the usual occupation. Sometimes the long roll would be beat during the night, or guards would fire at some imaginary object of suspicion. On such an occasion a cow was shot.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 8

Diary of Gideon Welles: January 31, 1866

The new shape of affairs shows itself in the social gatherings. At Mrs. Welles's reception to-day, a large number of the denizens of Washington who have not heretofore been visitors and whose sympathies and former associations were with the Rebels called. So many who have been distant and reserved were present as to excite her suspicions, and lead her to ask if I was not conceding too much. These new social friends are evidently aware of existing differences in the Administration. I noticed at the reception at the Executive Mansion last evening the fact that there was a number in attendance as if by preconcert. This I attribute more to the insane folly of the Radicals, who under Thad Stevens are making assaults on the President, than to any encouragement which the President has given to Rebel sympathizers. If professed friends prove false and attack him, he will not be likely to repel such friends as sustain him. I certainly will not.

While at a party at Senator Harris's, Senator Wilson took me one side and inquired if we were to have a break in the party. I told him I saw no necessity for it. The President was honest and sincere in his policy; it has been adopted with care and great deliberation, and I thought intelligently. I knew it to be with right intentions. If any considerable number of our friends were resolved to oppose the President and the policy of the Administration a division would be unavoidable. He could not abandon his convictions to gratify mere factious schemers.

We then got on the subject of the recently published letter of a "conversation between the President and a distinguished Senator," in which there were indications that the President would not go for unlimited negro suffrage in the District. Wilson inquired what course the President would be likely to pursue. I told him I was unable to answer that question, except as he would, from a general knowledge of the President's opinions on fundamental questions. He would be disposed to have the people of the District exercise the same rights in this regard as the people of the States.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 421-2

Congressman Horace Mann, March 1, 1850

MARCH 1, 1850.

I dined at the President's to-day, and sat on his left, with only one lady between, and had considerable conversation with him. He really is a most simple-minded old man. He has the least show or pretension about him of any man I ever saw; talks as artlessly as a child about affairs of State, and does not seem to pretend to a knowledge of any thing of which he is ignorant. He is a remarkable man in some respects; and it is remarkable that such a man should be President of the United States. He said it was impossible to destroy the Union. “I have taken an oath to support it," said he; "and do you think I am going to commit perjury? Mr. Jefferson pointed out the way in which any resistance could be put down,—which was to send a fleet to blockade their harbors, levy duties on all goods going in, and prevent any goods from coming out. I can save the Union without shedding a drop of blood. It is not true, as was reported at the North, that I said I would march an army and subdue them: there would be no need of any." And thus he went on talking like a child about his cob-house, and how he would keep the kittens from knocking it over.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 292-3

General Ulysses S. Grant to Senator John Sherman, February 22, 1868

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,        

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 22, 1868.

HON. J. SHERMAN,
        United States Senate.

Dear Sir: The "National Intelligencer" of this morning contains a private note which General Sherman sent to the President whilst he was in Washington, dictated by the purest kindness and a disposition to preserve harmony, and not intended for publication. It seems to me the publication of that letter is calculated to place the General in a wrong light before the public, taken in connection with what correspondents have said before, evidently getting their inspiration from the White House.

As General Sherman afterwards wrote a semi-official note to the President, furnishing me a copy, and still later a purely official one sent through me, which placed him in his true position, and which have not been published, though called for by the "House," I take the liberty of sending you these letters to give you the opportunity of consulting General Sherman as to what action to take upon them. In all matters where I am not personally interested, I would not hesitate to advise General Sherman how I would act in his place. But in this instance, after the correspondence I have had with Mr. Johnson, I may not see General Sherman's interest in the same light that others see it, or that I would see it in if no such correspondence had occurred. I am clear in this, however: the correspondence here enclosed to you should not be made public except by the President, or with the full sanction of General Sherman. Probably the letter of the 31st of January,¹ marked "confidential," should not be given out at all.

Yours truly,

U. S. GRANT.

_______________

¹ See General Sherman's Memoirs.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 308-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, January 1, 1866

Made complimentary call with my family on the President at 11 A.M. By special request I went some fifteen minutes before the time specified, but there were sixty or eighty carriages in advance of us. The persons who got up the programme were evidently wholly unfit for the business. Instead of giving the first half-hour to the Cabinet and the several legations, and then to Army and Navy officers, Members of Congress, etc., in succession, numbers, including Members of Congress, and they embrace everybody, all the members of their respective boarding-houses, all their acquaintances, immediate and remote, who were in Washington, were there at an early hour. Consequently there was neither order nor system. After a delay of about twenty minutes we were landed in the Executive Mansion, which was already filled to overflowing in the hall and anterooms. While moving in the crowd, near the entrance to the Red Room, some of the officials signed to us and threw open the door to the Blue Room, or reception-room, which we entered, much relieved; but on turning, we found the President and his family immediately behind us. The affair passed off very well. A great want of order and system prevails on these occasions, owing to the ignorance and want of order of the marshal. No one having any conception of discipline or forethought directs or counsels those in charge. We left in a very short time, and the company began to flock in upon us at our house before twelve, and until past four a pretty steady stream came and went, naval and army officers, foreign ministers, Senators and Representatives, bureau officers and clerks, civilians and strangers. Pleasant but fatiguing, and the day was murky and the roads intolerable.

Mr. Seward left on Saturday. The rest of the members received, as did many other officials.

Henry Winter Davis, a conspicuous Member of the last Congress and a Maryland politician of notoriety, died on Saturday. He was eloquent, possessed genius, had acquirements, was eccentric, ambitious, unreliable, and greatly given to intrigue. In politics he was a centralist, regardless of constitutional limitations. I do not consider his death a great public loss. He was restless and active, but not useful. Still there will be a class of extreme Radicals who will deplore his death as a calamity and eulogize his memory.

When at the Executive Mansion the memory of the late President crowded upon my mind. He would have enjoyed the day, which was so much in contrast with all those he had experienced during his presidency.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 408-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, December 15, 1865

A sudden change of weather. Intensely cold. General Grant was in the council-room at the Executive Mansion to-day, and stated the result of his observations and conclusions during his journey South. He says the people are more loyal and better-disposed than he expected to find them, and that every consideration calls for the early reëstablishment of the Union. His views are sensible, patriotic, and wise. I expressed a wish that he would make a written report, and that he communicate also freely with the Members of Congress.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 396-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, August 12, 1865

Prepared a necessarily long letter to Mr. Sumner in answer to his application for President Lincoln's indorsement on Smith's papers. Found an immense crowd at the President's when I went there at 3 P.M on a little business which I could not take time to explain as I wished. It related to the dismissal of Cartter, a marine officer, whose father is presiding judge in this District, a coarse, vulgar, strong-minded man, who will not be willing that his son should leave the service, however undeserving. His son ran away and enlisted in the marines as a private, was made an officer on his father's importunity, has been no honor to the service at any time, and cannot be retained. Wants self-respect and decent deportment. Undoubtedly I shall incur the resentment of the judge, who has a vigorous as well as a vulgar intellect, and can make himself felt. Still there is a duty to perform which I must not evade.

Edgar returned from Narragansett this morning. Says Chief Justice Chase was there, and Hooper of Boston. They seem to have a revenue steamer at their disposal.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 359

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, July 26, 1865

Blair called on me in some trouble respecting the Maryland appointments, which have been violently contested. From some intimation he apprehends that his friend B—, the marshal, is in danger, and this touches him in a tender point. He therefore wished me to have an interview with the President. I went almost immediately to the Executive Mansion. General Slocum was with the President, but I waited till he was through, and then stated the case. He told me it was his intention to close the Maryland appointments to-day and get them off his hands, and asked if I really supposed Blair cared much about the marshalship. I assured him he did and was sensitive in regard to it. He reached over and took up a paper, which he examined closely. It convinced me that Blair's suspicions were right, and I spoke earnestly and zealously for the Blairs. We had a free conversation in regard to them, and as to the policy which should be pursued in Maryland. I did not hesitate to oppose the selection of opponents or doubtful friends, and to express my opinion that the friends were the reliable supporters of the Administration in that State.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 343-4

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, June 24, 1865

Senator Trumbull called on me today. Says he is and has been Johnsonian. Is not prepared to say the Administration policy of Reconstruction is not the best that could be suggested. As Trumbull is by nature censorious, — a faultfinder, — I was prepared — to hear him censure. But he has about him some of the old State-rights notions which form the basis of both his and my political opinions.

He expressed a hope that we had more regular Cabinet meetings and a more general submission of important questions to the whole council than was the case under Mr. Lincoln's administration. Trumbull and the Senators generally thought Seward too meddlesome and presuming. The late President well understood and rightly appreciated the character and abilities of Trumbull, and would not quarrel with him, though he felt him to be ungenerous and exacting. They had been pretty intimate, though of opposing parties, in Illinois, until circumstances and events brought them to act together. In a competition for the seat of Senator, Mr. Lincoln, though having three fourths of the votes of their combined strength,¹ when it was necessary they should have all to succeed in choosing a Senator, finding that Trumbull would not give way, himself withdrew and went for T., who was elected. The true traits of the two men were displayed in that contest. Lincoln was self-sacrificing for the cause; Trumbull persisted against great odds in enforcing his own pretensions. When L. was taken up and made President, Trumbull always acted as though he thought himself a more fit and proper man than Lincoln, whom he had crowded aside in the Senatorial contest.

Preston King thinks that D. D. T. Marshall had better be retained as storekeeper at Brooklyn for the present, unless there is evidence of fraud or corruption. On these matters K. is very decided and earnest and would spare no one who is guilty. I have always found him correct as well as earnest. King is domiciled at the Executive Mansion, and I am glad the President gives him so truly and fully his confidence, and that he has such a faithful and competent adviser.

The President permits himself to be overrun with visitors. I find the anteroom crowded through the day by women and men seeking audience, often on frivolous and comparatively unimportant subjects which belong properly to the Departments, often by persons who have cases which have been investigated and passed upon by the Secretaries or by the late President. This pressure will, if continued, soon break down the President or any man. No one has sufficient physical endurance to perform this labor, nor is it right.

_______________

¹ On the first ballot Lincoln had 45 votes and Trumbull 5.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 322-3

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, June 30, 1865

The weather for several days has been exceedingly warm. For some time there have been complaints of mismanagement of affairs in the storekeeper's department at Boston, and on Monday last I made a change, appointing an officer who lost a leg in the service. Mr. Gooch comes to me with an outcry from the Boston delegation wanting action to be deferred. Told G. if there was any reason for it I would give it consideration. He wished to know the cause of the change. I told him the welfare and best interest of the service. It is not my purpose in this and similar cases to be placed on the defensive. I do not care to make or prefer charges, yet I feel it a most unpleasant task to remove even objectionable men.

The President is still indisposed, and I am unable to perfect some important business that I wished to complete with the close of the fiscal year. There are several Radical Members here, and have been for some days, apparently anxious to see the President. Have met Senator Wade two or three times at the White House. Complains that the Executive has the control of the government, that Congress and the Judiciary are subordinate, and mere instruments in his hands; said our form of government was on the whole a failure; that there are not three distinct and independent departments but one great controlling one with two others as assistants. Mentions that the late President called out 75,000 men without authority. Congress, when it came together, approved it. Mr. Lincoln then asked for 400,000 men and four hundred millions of money. Congress gave him five of each instead of four. I asked him if he supposed or meant to say that these measures were proposed without consulting, informally, the leading members of each house. He replied that he did not, and admitted that the condition of the country required the action which was taken, that it was right and in conformity with public expectation.

Thad Stevens called on me on business and took occasion to express ultra views, and had a sarcastic hit or two but without much sting. He is not satisfied, nor is Wade, yet I think the latter is mollified and disinclined to disagree with the President. But his friend Winter Davis, it is understood, is intending to improve the opportunity of delivering a Fourth-of-July oration, to take ground distinctly antagonistic to the Administration on the question of negro suffrage.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 324-6