The proposed race is likely to fall through. I do not regret
this, and since it has this termination I do not regret that the test was
proffered. The grumblers and defamers have their mouths closed for a time on
that topic.
Stover, the contractor, came to-day to the Department in the
full belief he had been acquitted by the court martial. I sent for the provost
marshal to arrest him, and while the papers were being made out he came into my
room. He denounced Missroon, Jacobs, and others as swindlers and corrupt. Said
M. had cleared fifty thousand dollars, was building a magnificent house and
dealing in stocks. I told him M. had not that reputation, but that my
impressions of him were favorable. He said he had made money out of the
government, but not through the Navy Department, that he, S., had lost more
than forty thousand dollars by the Navy Department. When he left my room
Provost Marshal Baker arrested him in the hall. He was excessively alarmed, I
am told, and declined to ride with the provost marshal until told he must do
so.
The Eutaw made a trip down the river that was satisfactory
in its results, showing good speed. Another trip is to be made on Saturday, for
the naval committees.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 515-6
