Gideon Welles

Gideon Welles , 1802-78, American statesman, b. Glastonbury, Conn. He was (1826-36) editor and part owner of the Hartford Times, one of the first New England papers to support Andrew Jackson. An organizer of the Jacksonian forces in Connecticut, Welles served in the state legislature (1827-35). He was three times elected state comptroller of public accounts and was postmaster of Hartford. He was also chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing for the U.S. navy (1846-49). Leaving the Democratic party on the slavery issue, he helped found (1856) the Hartford Evening Press, a Republican paper, and in 1861 became Secretary of the Navy in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. Incorruptible, efficient, and something of a curmudgeon, Welles built the powerful Union navy of the Civil War. The construction of the Monitor and the other ironclads resulted largely from his support, and the victorious admirals David C. Farragut and David D. Porter were men of his choice. One of the first to recognize Lincoln's essential greatness, he thoroughly disliked some of his cabinet colleagues, notably William H. Seward and Edwin M. Stanton. Welles was a moderate who favored Lincoln's Reconstruction plan and, retaining his post under Andrew Johnson, stood by the President in his struggle with the radical Republicans in Congress. He returned to the Democratic party in 1868. Welles wrote Lincoln and Seward (1874), and his salty diary (ed. by H. K. Beale, 3 vol., 1960) is of immense value to the historian.

Bibliography: See biographies by R. S. West, Jr. (1943) and J. Niven (1973).

Welles, Gideon (1802–1878), secretary of the navy, 1861–69.A prominent political leader from Connecticut, Welles first served in the Navy Department during the Polk administration as chief of the navy's Bureau of Provisions and Clothing.

As Lincoln's secretary, he resisted public demands of ships for the Northern coastline while concentrating on blockading and strangling the Confederacy during the Civil War. Welles used monitors for Southern harbors and ironclad riverboats for the Mississippi River. In July 1861, he allowed ships to keep contrabands on board. By September, he authorized enlisting contrabands under the same regulations as other enlistments. And in July 1862, he ordered the East Gulf Blockading Squadron actively to recruit contrabands (runaway slaves).

Administratively, through Congress, Welles reorganized the navy. In July 1861, he established the post of assistant secretary and temporary volunteer officers to fill wartime needs. That August, he retired older, infirm officers. Automatic officer retirement for over‐age and service limits began in December. In July 1862, line officers received nine ranks, and staff bureaus were raised to eight. The bureau changes reflected the new technologies developing in gunnery and steam engineering. With minor modifications, Welles's administrative changes would remain in place until newer technologies after World War II demanded further reorganization.
[See also Navy, U.S.: 1783–1865; Navy, U.S.: 1866–1898; Union Navy.]

Bibliography

Gideon Welles , Diary, 3 vols., 1911.
John Niven , Gideon Welles, 1973.

George E. Buker