Gideon Welles
(1802-1878)

Secretary of the Navy,
1861-1869

The insightful diary Gideon Welles kept during his tenure as Secretary of the Navy (1861-1869) is an extraordinary record of the people and events of official Washington during the Lincoln and Johnson administrations. Welles was a bureau chief in the Navy Department from 1846 until 1849. This brief stint was the extent of his practical experience when he assumed the position of Secretary of the Navy in 1861.

The job was daunting from the start. There was almost no effective navy to speak of, and what vessels were in existence were mostly old and scattered around the globe. Moreover, many senior officers had resigned during the secession crisis. In spite of difficulties, Welles succeeded in building a navy that played a vital role in winning the war. The Union blockade of the Confederate coast was typical of the challenges he faced with a makeshift fleet. Yet, in time, this grand strategy proved effective. Welles's endorsement of the ironclad vessels was ambitious for his day and had many influential detractors, however, it pointed in the direction of the modern navy.

An interesting addition to the Welles story is this excerpt from The Horse and Buggy Age in New England by Edwin Valentine Mitchell:

"After the Civil War a number of ex-slaves became coachmen for New England families. One of these coachmen whom I remember was Henderson Green, who had been a slave in Virginia. He had attached himself to the Gideon Welles family in Washington during the war and afterward returned with the family to Connecticut. He acted as body servant to Gideon's son, Colonel Thomas Welles, whenever the latter went on active service. At one engagement Henry became panic-stricken and fled when the shooting began, but stopped when he came to a bridge on which appeared a vision of Mrs. Gideon Welles, motioning him to return and saying, 'Go back, Henry, go back!' As he stood in greater awe of her than of the enemy, he returned to his place. After the war Colonel Welles accompanied Admiral Farragut on his cruise around the world and Henry went too.

He remained with the family until his death in 1911 and was buried in the Welles family lot in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, the only colored person buried in the cemetery, with the exception of a family that slipped past the authorities unnoticed. His burial with the family which he served for three generations gave Henry Green a brief measure of posthumous fame. There was a storm of protest, the Southern press being very emphatic in its view that the color line should be drawn after death."