Until then he had not suspected that
there was doubt and bewilderment about the Powhatan at Brooklyn.
One of those dispatches which Lincoln had so hastily signed
provided for detaching the Powhatan from the Charleston
expedition and sending it safe out of harm's way to Pensacola.
The commander of the ship had before him the conflicting orders,
one from the President, one from the Secretary of the Navy. He
was about to sail under the President's orders for Pensacola; but
wishing to make sure of his authority, he had telegraphed to
Washington. Gideon Welles was a pugnacious man. His dislike for
Seward was deepseated. Imagine his state of mind when it was
accidently revealed to him that Seward had gone behind his back
and had issued to naval officers orders which were contradictory
to his own! The immediate result was an interview that same
night between Seward and Welles in which, as Welles coldly
admitted in after days, the Secretary of the Navy showed "some
excitement." Together they went, about midnight, to the White
House. Lincoln had some difficulty recalling the incident of the
dispatch on the 1st of April; but when he did remember, he took
the responsibility entirely upon himself, saying he had had no
purpose but to strengthen the Pickens expedition, and no thought
of weakening the expedition to Charleston.
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