WELLES, Gideon (1802-1878)

DISCUSSING THE APPOINTMENT OF A CANDIDATE FOR A COLLECTORSHIP, IN AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED BY GIDEON WELLES, AS SECRETARY OF THE NAVY IN ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S CIVIL WAR CABINET, WASHINGTON [DC], SEPT. 8, 1862, TO FREDERICK S. WILDMAN, DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

Single sheet, folded. 17 cm. 2 pp. of text, rectos only, approx. 85 words, on stationery with the blind embossed stamp of Philps & Solomon, Washington D.C. [stationers and book publishers]. Welles addresses Wildman, in response to a letter from him, on the subject of candidates for the Collectorship: "On many accounts I regretted the [course?] taken in one or two of the appointments. There were, I believe, but two of the eight candidates of democratic antecedents as presented, and you were one of the two... I thought improperly & injudiciously excluded. In all these appointments of the different states, the senators have assumed very much to themselves...." Welles goes on to say he hopes to hear from Wildman again. He also briefly mentions the war: "The war news of the day is interesting and exciting." Item #65722

Gideon Welles, a Connecticut native, was appointed Pres. Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy in 1861, a position he retained in Pres. Johnson's administration. The news of early September 1862 included Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army advancing into Maryland, and Stonewall Jackson's men moving towards Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) in Maryland was fought on Sept. 17. Frederick Wildman (1805-1893) was a prominent banker in Danbury, Connecticut. He served in both the state house and senate before the Civil War, and was state treasurer from 1857-58.

Price: $350.00