Letter from Secretary Gideon Welles to his son Thomas

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

This is a personal letter from Gideon Welles to his son Thomas. This is a bifolio letter written in dark ink on off-white colored paper. The letter is dated at the top right:[Washington / 5th March 1865] and begins [My Dear Tom]. The letter's text fills the front page, both inside pages and half the back page. The letter congratulates Thomas on his recent military promotion and recounts the recent inauguration of President Lincoln: [The inauguration passed off pleasantly and well. There was a great crowd, exceeding any previous one I have ever witnessed at an inauguration].

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