Existing comment:
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles:
An Andrew Jackson Democrat from Connecticut, Welles' credentials to run the Navy Department were meager: during the Polk administration he had overseen the Navy's Bureau of Provisions and Clothing. Lincoln himself joked that "Uncle Gideon" couldn't tell the different between a ship's bow and its stern.
This didn't prevent Welles, with his flowing beard and grey wig, from earning from wartime nickname of Neptune. Not only did his department successfully enforce a blockade of the South; it also conducted a number of successful amphibious operations that were critical to northern victory.
Welles kept a diary that remains one of the best insider accounts of the Lincoln presidency. |