Diary of Gideon Welles Volume I: Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson

Wanting a man from New England Lincoln took an ex-Democrat trained in public business who had manifested his courage and the earnestness of his conviction by casting loose from his old associates on the question of slavery; and who also had shown a natural aptitude for politics a quality which Mr. Lincoln possessing it himself in a high degree did not undervalue in others. --John T. Morse Jr. in the Introduction 1909Diary of Gideon Welles Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson Vol. I offers the view and experiences of Gideon Welles Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War of the Abraham Lincoln administration and of the Andrew Johnson administration that followed. This volume covers the period of 1861 to March 30 1864.It was a lifelong custom of Gideon Welles to keep a diary including during his years in public office. By 1909 his diaries edited by Welless son Edgar were published.