January 26th Rare Autograph & Book Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/26/2023
This is a beautifully written letter from the Secretary of the Union Navy Gideon Welles. It has the heading of Navy Department and is dated August 18th, 1862. It was written to Acting 3rd Assistant Engineer Ansel B. Besse. Besse served from July 1862 until December 1865 and served on several ships including the U.S.S. Merrimac. The letter informs Besse that because he missed the first ship he was to sail on, he should board the U.S.S. Connecticut. It is beautifully written on an 8" by 10" sheet of paper.
Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878), 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 the Union victory in the Civil War, and his achievement in expanding the Navy almost tenfold was widely praised.
With One of a Kind Collectibles LOA
Gideon Welles ALS as Secretary of the Navy August 1862
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