Overview

Gideon Welles's 1861 appointment as secretary of the navy placed him at the hub of Union planning for the Civil War and in the midst of the powerful personalities vying for influence in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. Although Welles initially knew little of naval matters, he rebuilt a service depleted by Confederate defections, planned actions that gave the Union badly needed victories in the war's early days, and oversaw a blockade that weakened the South's economy. Perhaps the hardest-working member of the cabinet, Welles still found time to keep a detailed diary that has become one of the key documents for understanding the inner workings of the Lincoln administration. In this new edition, William E. and Erica L. Gienapp have restored Welles's original observations, gleaned from the manuscript diaries at the Library of Congress and freed from his many later revisions, so that the reader can experience what he wrote in the moment. With his vitriolic pen, Welles captures the bitter disputes over strategy and war aims, lacerates colleagues from Secretary of State William H. Seward to General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, and condemns the actions of the self-serving southern elite he sees as responsible for the war. He just as easily waxes eloquent about the Navy's wartime achievements, extols the virtues of Lincoln, and drops in a tidbit of Washington gossip. Carefully edited and extensively annotated, this edition contains a wealth of supplementary material. The appendixes include short biographies of the members of Lincoln's cabinet, the retrospective Welles wrote after leaving office covering the period missing from the diary proper, and important letters regarding naval matters and international law.

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9780252038525

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Reviews

A must have for any Civil War collection. --Brian Dirck, author of Lincoln and the Constitution

It is hard to imagine any Lincoln administration, Civil War military, or Civil War naval studies without Welles' revelations as an inside man to the workings of a government fighting for its life, or his often pungent and sharp-edged personality clips... this user-friendly volume will be the preferred source for one of the most astute observers and active participants of the Civil War. --Naval History One of the primary sources for understanding both the Northern war effort and the federal government at its highest levels... Extremely important for all libraries. Essential. --Choice This diary--especially in its original, fresh, unexpurgated form as presented here--is surely one of the most important building blocks for our understanding of the Civil War. --From the Foreword by James M. McPherson, author of War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865 A must have for any Civil War collection. --Brian Dirck, author of Lincoln and the Constitution

This diary--especially in its original, fresh, unexpurgated form as presented here--is surely one of the most important building blocks for our understanding of the Civil War. --From the Foreword by James M. McPherson, author of War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865 A must have for any Civil War collection. --Brian Dirck, author of Lincoln and the Constitution

Author Information

William E. Gienapp was a professor of history at Harvard University. He authored Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America and The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 among other publications. Erica L. Gienapp earned a degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley.

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