Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of one letter written on April 6, 1861, from anonymous writer G.D.P. to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. The letter discusses the rising threat of southern and border state secession on the brink of the Civil War.
Gideon Welles (1802-1878) began his political career in 1827 as a Democrat in the Connecticut House of Representatives where he served for two terms, after which he went on to hold several other government positions. In 1854, Welles joined the newly formed Republican Party, due to its close alignment with his anti-slavery views. Because of his strong support of Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election, Welles was appointed to Lincoln’s cabinet as the Secretary of the Navy in 1861. Welles served as Secretary of the Navy for the duration of the Civil War, and after Lincoln’s death continued his tenure in the cabinet throughout the length of Andrew Johnson’s presidency.
In an April 6, 1861, letter to Gideon Welles, then Secretary of the Navy under President Abraham Lincoln, anonymous writer G.D.B. expressed his worries that the Lincoln administration’s policies toward the South would prompt the 7 “cotton states” and the 8 border states to secede from the Union. In his letter, G.D.B. referenced the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, in which representatives voted against secession, however, G.D.B. argued that Lincoln’s decision to continue to support Forts Sumter and Pickens rather than give them up to the Confederacy would “fan the secession.” Lincoln ordered a resupply of Fort Sumter on April 4, 1861, just two days before G.D.B. wrote to Gideon Welles. Though G.D.B. wrote from Baltimore, a city with southern sentiments in a border state, he was against the outbreak of war and implored Welles “to not bring upon this beloved nation the horrors of a civil war.”
The Library purchased this letter in 2026 with the support of the Bruce C. Creamer fund.
Administrative Information
Submit request (Aeon)
