Gideon Welles

US politician, secretary of the navy, and journalist, born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, USA. As part owner and editor of the Hartford Times (1826–36), he endorsed Jacksonian democracy. Although he failed in his efforts to become a representative, senator, and governor, he held several state political offices (1826–44) until becoming chief of the US Navy's Bureau of Provisions and Clothing (1846–9). Opposed to slavery, he left the Democratic Party (1854) and helped organize the new Republican Party, founding the Hartford Evening Press to promote the Republicans' goals. The newly elected President Lincoln, knowing he needed a New Englander in the cabinet, appointed Welles as a member. As secretary of the navy (1861–9), he managed the department with great energy, enterprise, and economy, gaining a reputation for freeing it as far as possible from political favouritism. Under his leadership, the navy quickly expanded, adopted the ironclads and other new technology, successfully blockaded the Confederacy, and contributed greatly to the eventual Union victory. He did not get on with all his fellow cabinet members, and he deplored Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus in 1863, but he supported his moderate plans for reconstruction, and backed Andrew Johnson when he was impeached. After leaving the cabinet, he wrote a series of important magazine articles, one of which was expanded to become Lincoln and Seward (1874). His diary of the Civil War period (revised by him in later years, not published until 1911) provides a revealing glimpse of the times.

Gideon Welles

24th United States Secretary of the Navy
In office
March 7, 1861 – March 4, 1869
Preceded by	Isaac Toucey
Succeeded by	Adolph E. Borie
Born	July 1, 1802 Glastonbury, Connecticut, USA
Died	February 11, 1878 Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Political party	Democrat, Republican
Spouse	Mary Jane Hale Welles

Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802–February 11, 1878) was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869.

Born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, Welles earned a degree at Norwich University.

Welles was a Jacksonian Democrat, who worked very closely with Martin Van Buren and John Niles. His chief rival in the Connecticut Democratic Party was Isaac Toucey who Welles would later replace at the Navy Department.

Largely due to his strong anti-slavery views, Welles shifted allegiance in 1854 to the newly-established Republican Party, and founded a newspaper in 1856 (the Hartford Evening Press) that would espouse Republican ideals for decades thereafter. Welles strong support of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 made him the logical candidate from New England for Lincoln's cabinet, and in March 1861 Lincoln named Welles his Secretary of the Navy.

Welles found the Navy Department in disarray, with Southern officers resigning enmasse. Several weeks later, when William Seward argued for a blockade of Southern ports, Welles argued vociferously against the action but was eventually overruled by Lincoln.

Despite his successes, Welles was never at ease in the United States Cabinet.

After leaving politics, Welles returned to writing, authoring several books before his death, including Lincoln and Seward in 1874.