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Collection Gideon Welles Papers

Related Resources

Selected Archival Collections

For Library of Congress collections, please click on the catalog record links for a fuller description and additional links to available online finding aids, indexes, and digital collections.

  • Samuel Warren Abbott Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Nathaniel Prentiss Banks Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Blair and Lee Family Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, Princeton, N.J. Finding aid available online External.
  • Blair Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Simon Cameron Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Salmon P. Chase Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • The Salmon P. Chase Papers. Edited by John Niven. Microfilm edition. Frederick, Md.: University Publications of America, 1987. LC catalog record.
  • John A. Dahlgren Letters and Notebook, 1864-1870, undated, New-York Historical Society, New York, N.Y. Catalog record available online External.
  • John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Samuel Francis du Pont Papers, accession WMSS:IX:A-C, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del. Finding aid available online External.
  • John Ericsson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • David Glasgow Farragut Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • David Glasgow Farragut Papers, 1826-1913, Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. Catalog record External and finding aid External available online.
  • Gustavus Vasa Fox Collection, 1823-1919, Naval History Society Collection, NHSC-Fox, New-York Historical Society, New York, N.Y. Catalog record External and finding aid External available online.
  • Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Joseph R. Hawley Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Henry Hotze Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Mark Howard Papers, 1826-1888, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record External and finding aid External available online. 
  • Andrew Johnson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Samuel Phillips Lee Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Abraham Lincoln Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • John Marston Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Consult the online version of Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States and National Archives online catalog for more information on Record Group 80, General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1798-1947.
  • John Niles Autobiography and Biography, undated, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • John Niles Estate Papers, 1856-1860, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • John M. Niles Papers, 1815-1856, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • David D. Porter Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • David D. Porter Papers, 1861-1870, Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. Catalog record available online External.
  • Rodgers Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • William Henry Seward Papers, Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation, University of Rochester Libraries, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.  Finding aid available online External.
  • William Henry Seward Papers, circa 1776-1910. Microfilm publication. Woodbridge, Conn.: Primary Source Microfilm, Thomson/Gale, 1983. Consists of original documents from the Seward collection at the University of Rochester. LC catalog record.
  • Robert Wilson Shufeldt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Edwin McMasters Stanton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • Ransford E. Van Gieson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • James Wadsworth Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record. Photograph of Gideon Welles is included in John Hay photograph album.
  • Edgar T. Welles Papers, 1858-1900, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Finding aid available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Collection, 1835-1868, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Ill. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Correspondence, 1843-1844, Manuscripts and Special Collections, New York State Library, Albany, N.Y. Catalog record available online through New York State Library catalog External.
  • Gideon Welles Diary, 1822 Oct. 12-1823, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Diary, 1831-1842, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Diary, 1854, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Journal, 1860-1861, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Letterbooks, 1861-1862, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Letters, 1861-1862, Mss. 1701, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Louisiana State University Libraries, Baton Rouge, La. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Manuscript, ca. 1878, Mss. 3001, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Louisiana State University Libraries, Baton Rouge, La. Catalog record available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Papers, 1758-1814, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record External and finding aid External available online.
  • Gideon Welles Papers, 1825-1878, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library, New York, N.Y. Finding aid available online External.
  • Gideon Welles Papers, 1846-1902, Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. Catalog record External and finding aid External available online.
  • Mary Jane Hale Welles Papers, 1846-1848, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Finding aid available online External.
  • Welles Family Papers, 1708-1876, 1774-1827, Manuscript Collection Personal Papers RG 069, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Conn. Catalog record available online External.
  • Charles Wilkes Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.
  • John Lorimer Worden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. LC catalog record.

Selected Writings By or Associated with Gideon Welles

Edited editions of Gideon Welles's diaries, essays and manuscripts are listed by the respective editor.

  • Beale, Howard K. "Is the Printed Diary of Gideon Welles Reliable?" American Historical Review 30, no. 3 (1925): 547-552. LC catalog record.
  • Beale, Howard K., ed. Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson. 3 vols. New York: W. W. Norton, 1960. LC catalog record.
  • Bernitt, Muriel, ed. "Two Manuscripts of Gideon Welles." New England Quarterly 11, no. 3 (Sept. 1938): 576-605. LC catalog record.
  • Gienapp, William E., and Erica L. Gienapp, eds. The Civil War Diary of Gideon Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy. Urbana, Ill.: Knox College Lincoln Studies Center and University of Illinois Press, 2014. LC catalog record.
  • Meneely, A. Howard, ed. "Three Manuscripts of Gideon Welles." American Historical Review 31, no. 3 (Apr. 1926): 484-494. LC catalog record.
  • Mordell, Albert, comp. Selected Essays by Gideon Welles. 2 vols. New York: Twayne Publishers,1959-60. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Spencer, J. Ronald, ed. A Connecticut Yankee in Lincoln's Cabinet: Navy Secretary Gideon Welles Chronicles the Civil War. Hartford, Conn.: The Acorn Club, 2014. LC catalog record.
  • Welles, Edgar T., ed. Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson. 3 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1911. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Administration of Abraham Lincoln." The Galaxy 23, no.1 (Jan. 1877): 5-23. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Administration of Abraham Lincoln." The Galaxy 23, no. 2 (Feb. 1877): 149-159. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Administration of Abraham Lincoln." The Galaxy 24, no. 4 (Oct. 1877): 437-450. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Administration of Abraham Lincoln." The Galaxy 24, no. 5 (Nov. 1877): 608-624. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Administration of Abraham Lincoln." The Galaxy 24, no. 6 (Dec. 1877): 733-745. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Admiral Farragut and New Orleans with an Account of the Origin and Command of the First Three Naval Expeditions of the War. First Paper." The Galaxy 12, no. 5 (Nov. 1871): 669-683. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Admiral Farragut and New Orleans with an Account of the Origin and Command of the First Three Naval Expeditions of the War. Second Paper." The Galaxy 12, no. 6 (Dec. 1871): 817-832. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "The Capture and Release of Mason and Slidell." The Galaxy 15, no. 5 (May 1873): 640-651. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Fort Pickens. Facts in Relation to the Reinforcement of Fort Pickens, in the Spring of 1861." The Galaxy 11, no. 1 (Jan. 1871): 92-107. Available through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Fort Sumter. Facts in Relation to the Expedition Ordered by the Administration of President Lincoln for the Relief of the Garrison in Fort Sumter." The Galaxy 10, no. 5 (Nov. 1870): 613-637. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "History of Emancipation." The Galaxy 14, no. 6 (Dec. 1872): 838-851. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Letters of Gideon Welles (1860-1871)." The Magazine of History, with Notes and Queries, Extra Number (No. 105) 27, no. 1 (1924): 7-39. LC catalog record.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Lincoln and Johnson. Their Plan of Reconstruction and the Resumption of National Authority. First Paper." The Galaxy 13, no. 4 (Apr. 1872): 521-532. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Lincoln and Johnson. Their Plan of Reconstruction and the Resumption of National Authority. Second Paper." The Galaxy 13, no. 5 (May 1872): 663-673. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Lincoln's Triumph in 1864." Atlantic Monthly 41, no. 246 (Apr. 1878): 454-468. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. Lincoln and Seward. Remarks upon the Memorial Address of Chas. Francis Adams, on the Late William H. Seward, with Incidents and Comments Illustrative of the Measures and Policy of the Administration of Abraham Lincoln. And Views as to the Relative Positions of the Late President and Secretary of State. New York: Sheldon & Company, 1874. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External and Internet Archive. Reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1969. LC catalog record.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Mr. Welles in Answer to Mr. Weed. The Facts of the Abandonment of Gosport Navy-Yard." The Galaxy 10, no. 1 (July 1870): 109-119. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Nomination and Election of Abraham Lincoln. Account of His Administration. No. 1." The Galaxy 22, no. 3 (Sept. 1876): 300-308. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Gideon. "Nomination and Election of Abraham Lincoln. Account of His Administration. No. 2." The Galaxy 22, no. 4 (Oct. 1876): 437-446. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles Gideon. "The Opposition to Lincoln in 1864." Atlantic Monthly 41, no. 245 (Mar. 1878): 366-376. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Wells, William S., comp. The Original United States Warship "Monitor." Copies of Correspondence between the Late Cornelius S. Bushnell, of New Haven, Conn., Captain John Ericsson and Hon. Gideon Welles. New Haven, Conn.: n. p., 1899. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.

Selected Other Resources

  • Bergeron, Paul H. Andrew Johnson's Civil War and Reconstruction. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2011. LC catalog record.
  • Canney, Donald L. Lincoln's Navy: The Ships, Men, and Organization, 1861-65. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1998. LC catalog record.
  • Chase, Salmon P. The Salmon P. Chase Papers. 5 vols. Edited by John Niven. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1993-1998. LC catalog record.
  • Chronicling America, digitized historic American newspapers, available online through the Library of Congress.
  • Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877, Primary Documents in American History, Library of Congress web guide. Available online.
  • Dahlgren, Madeleine Vinton. Memoir of John A. Dahlgren, Rear-Admiral United States Navy, by His Widow. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Company, 1882. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Du Pont, Samuel Francis. Samuel Francis Du Pont: A Selection from His Civil War Letters. 3 vols. Edited by John D. Hayes. Ithaca, N.Y.: Published for the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library by Cornell University Press, 1969. LC catalog record.
  • Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. LC catalog record. Reprint, New York: Perennial Classics, 2002. LC catalog record.
  • Fox, Gustavus Vasa. Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1861-1865. 2 vols. Edited by Robert Means Thompson and Richard Wainwright. New York: Printed for the Naval History Society by the De Vinne Press, 1920. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. Reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1972. LC catalog record.
  • Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. LC catalog record.
  • Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. LC catalog record.
  • Hearn, Chester G. Lincoln, the Cabinet, and the Generals. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010. LC catalog record.
  • Hendrick, Burton J. Lincoln's War Cabinet. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1946. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. Reprint, Garden City, N.Y.: Dolphin Books, 1961. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. Reprint, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1965. LC catalog record.
  • Henkels, Stan V.  The Papers of the Late Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson… Catalogue No. 1342, for auction held on January 4, 1924. Philadelphia: Stan V. Henkels, 1923. Available online through Internet Archive.
  • Johnson, Andrew. The Papers of Andrew Johnson. 16 vols. Edited variously by LeRoy P. Graf, Ralph W. Haskins, and Paul Bergeron. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1967-2000. LC catalog record.
  • Lincoln, Abraham. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Edited by Roy P. Basler. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953-1955. LC catalog record. Available online External courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
  • Macartney, Clarence Edward. Lincoln and His Cabinet. New York, London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931. LC catalog record.
  • McKitrick, Eric L. Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1960. LC catalog record. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. LC catalog record.
  • McPherson, James M. War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012. LC catalog record.
  • Musicant, Ivan. Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. LC catalog record.
  • Neels, Mark Alan. "Lincoln's Conservatives: Conservative Unionism and Political Tradition in the Civil War Era." Ph.D. dissertation. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 2015.
  • Niven, John. Gideon Welles: Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. LC catalog record. Reprint, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. LC catalog record.
  • Paullin, Charles O. "A Half Century of Naval Administration in America, 1861-1911. Part I: The Navy Department During the Civil War, 1861-1865." U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 38, no. 144 (Dec. 1912): 1309-1336. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Paullin, Charles O. "A Half Century of Naval Administration in America, 1861-1911. Part II: The Navy During the Civil War, 1861-1865." U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 39, no. 1 (Mar. 1913): 165-195. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Paullin, Charles O. "A Half Century of Naval Administration in America, 1861-1911. Part III: The Second Administration of Gideon Welles, 1865-1869." U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 39, no. 2 (June 1913): 735-760. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Paullin, Charles O. "President Lincoln and the Navy." American Historical Review 14, no. 2 (Jan. 1909): 284-303. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Phifer, Gregg. "Andrew Johnson Loses His Battle." Tennessee Historical Quarterly 11, no. 4 (Dec. 1952): 291-328. LC catalog record.
  • Polser, Aubrey H., Jr. "The Administration of the United States Navy, 1861-1865." Ph.D. dissertation. University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1975.
  • Porter, David D. Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1885. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Available online. The site offers a number of photographs and illustrations of or including Gideon Welles.
  • Sullivan, William Joseph. "Gustavus Vasa Fox and Naval Administration, 1861-1866." Ph.D. dissertation. The Catholic University of America, 1977.
  • Summers, Mark Wahlgren. The Ordeal of the Reunion: A New History of Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014. LC catalog record.
  • Symonds, Craig L. Lincoln and His Admirals. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. LC catalog record.
  • Taaffe, Stephen R. Commanding Lincoln's Navy: Union Naval Leadership during the Civil War. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2009. LC catalog record.
  • United States Naval History Division. Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861-1865. 6 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1961-1965. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External. Reprinted as single volume, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Navy, 1971. LC catalog record.
  • United States Naval War Records Office. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894-1922. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • Welles, Albert. History of the Welles Family in England and Normandy, with the Derivation from Their Progenitors of Some of the Descendants in the United States. New York: A. Welles, 1876. LC catalog record. Available online through HathiTrust External.
  • West, Richard S. Gideon Welles: Lincoln's Navy Department. Indianapolis and New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1943. LC catalog record.
  • West, Richard S. Mr. Lincoln's Navy. New York: Longmans, Green, 1957. LC catalog record.

Created September 2018