Lincoln, Abraham

1 page (7 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.; 200 x 123 mm) on a sheet of paper headed in Lincoln's hand "Executive Mansion," [Washington,] 23 April 1861, to Gideon Welles ("Hon. Sec. of Navy"), accompanied by the original autograph envelope ("Hon. Sec. of Navy | Present | From the President"); letter and envelope lightly browned, the latter more so. Letter and envelope inlaid into slightly larger sheets and hinged to a mat with an engraved portrait of Lincoln.

Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, 4:342 (original unlocated)

1 page (7 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.; 200 x 123 mm) on a sheet of paper headed in Lincoln's hand "Executive Mansion," [Washington,] 23 April 1861, to Gideon Welles ("Hon. Sec. of Navy"), accompanied by the original autograph envelope ("Hon. Sec. of Navy | Present | From the President"); letter and envelope lightly browned, the latter more so. Letter and envelope inlaid into slightly larger sheets and hinged to a mat with an engraved portrait of Lincoln.
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Scarcely six weeks into his presidency—and on the day the Virginia secessionist convention ratified a temporary union with the Confederacy and Robert E. Lee took command of the Virginia militia—Lincoln seeks information about ship movements he had observed in the Washington Navy Yard: "I think I saw three vessels go up to the Navy Yard just now. Will you please send down and learn what they are?"

Basler notes that there is no reply from Welles in the Lincoln Papers, but as there was a cabinet meeting that day, the Navy Secretary most likely reported his findings to Lincoln in person.