Raynors HCA 2018-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/21/2018
WELLES, Gideon (1802-1878), nicknamed "Neptune", was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although opposed to the Union blockade of Southern ports, he duly carried out his part of the Anaconda Plan, largely sealing off the Confederate coastline and preventing the exchange of cotton for war supplies. This is viewed as a major cause of Union victory in the Civil War, and his achievement in expanding the Navy almost tenfold was widely praised. Welles was also instrumental in the Navy's creation of the Medal of Honor. War-date Letter Signed “Gideon Welles” 1pp. quarto, Navy Department, February 15, 1862, and reads in part: “...In consequence of the extraordinary demands for heavy ordnance and the fact that private establishments cannot produce near the quantity required I most earnestly ask the committee to recommend an appropriation of two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) dollars to enable this Department to commence at once the casting of the heaviest ordnance at the Washington Navy Yard...” Fine condition.
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