Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, March 22, 1864

At the Cabinet-meeting Chase manifested a little disturbance of mind at my letter respecting the Ann Hamilton and the Princeton, sent in reply to his somewhat arrogant letter to me. Seward asked him if he had any gold to sell. He said no, if S. wanted to make money he had better get a permit from General Butler to carry in military supplies, and then persuade me to let the vessel pass the blockade. He then made a wholly perverted statement; confounded the two cases; said he never looked behind the military permit, which was sufficient for the Treasury. "But," said I, “General Butler explicitly states that this trading permit to a Baltimorean to trade in North Carolina was based on your 52, 53, and 55 trade regulations, and I should like to know if they will bear that construction.” “Ah,” said he, “the permit was before the regulations were promulgated.” “No,” I replied, “they were distinctly and particularly cited as his authority.”

Chase did not pursue the subject, but tried to pass it off as a joke. His jokes are always clumsy; he is destitute of wit. It was obvious that he was nettled and felt himself in the wrong.

Seward said the Chesapeake had arrived from Halifax under convoy of the revenue cutter [Miami]. This whole thing is ludicrous. A convoy was no more wanted than if the vessel had been in Long Island Sound. But Seward applied to me for a gunboat. I declined and turned him over to the Treasury, if an armed vessel was required to bring the prisoners, which was a part of the case. It is a simple business, but an ostentatious parade and announcement may glorify the State Department.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 544-5

Killed And Wounded In The War Of 1812

From an article in the New York Historical Collections, prepared by Wm. Joey, Esq., mostly from official sources, it appears the whole number of Americans killed and wounded during the war of 1812, extending from June 1812 to March 1815, was 7,738; of these 2,816 were the number killed; this includes both the naval and land forces.  The largest number in the naval forces was at the engagement between the Chesapeake and Shannon, where the number of Americans killed and wounded was 145, and the British 85. – At the battle of New Orleans there were 52 Americans and 2,074 British killed and wounded.  The Americans seem to have suffered the most at the battle of Bridgewater where they had 742 killed and wounded, and the British 643.  In the various skirmishes among the Indians the Americans had over 1,100 killed and wounded.  In the engagement between the Constitution and Java, the Americans had 34, and the British 161 killed and wounded.  During the whole war the total number of British killed and wounded is put down at 8,774, of which 2,560 were among the killed.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 3