Details
WELLES, GIDEON, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln. Original autograph manuscripts (unsigned), published in The Galaxy (Jan. 1871, pp. 93-107) under the title of "Fort Pickens: Facts in Relation to the Reinforcement...in the Spring of 1861." 44 pages, 4to (some on imprinted Navy Dept. letterheads), numbered 1-24 and 1-20. WITH EXTENSIVE REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS IN WELLES'S HAND.
The manuscript does not include the first four and the last four paragraphs of the article as printed. It also does not contain Welles's quotations from official records which had previously been printed elsewhere. There are numerous slight modifications of the text.
The manuscript deals with naval, military, and civil incidents of April 1861, "a month pregnant with facts of unsurpassed interest in American history." He discuses the consequences of the vague "truce" made between the "do-nothing" Buchanan administration and the Florida secession governmnet, and the Confederate charge of violation by the Fort Pickens reinforcement. Welles also writes of the question of loyalty in connection with the failure to reinforce in obedience to the first order, and the consequent secret mission of Lieut. Worden. Later he comments on the irregular procedure in the imposition on Lincoln which removed the Powhatan from operations at Fort Sumter, and the impropriety of Lieut. Porter's hasty departure for Pensacola.
The manuscript does not include the first four and the last four paragraphs of the article as printed. It also does not contain Welles's quotations from official records which had previously been printed elsewhere. There are numerous slight modifications of the text.
The manuscript deals with naval, military, and civil incidents of April 1861, "a month pregnant with facts of unsurpassed interest in American history." He discuses the consequences of the vague "truce" made between the "do-nothing" Buchanan administration and the Florida secession governmnet, and the Confederate charge of violation by the Fort Pickens reinforcement. Welles also writes of the question of loyalty in connection with the failure to reinforce in obedience to the first order, and the consequent secret mission of Lieut. Worden. Later he comments on the irregular procedure in the imposition on Lincoln which removed the Powhatan from operations at Fort Sumter, and the impropriety of Lieut. Porter's hasty departure for Pensacola.