Wilkes, Jane J. (fl. 1863) to Charles Wilkes [incomplete]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00496.265 Author/Creator: Wilkes, Jane J. (fl. 1863) Place Written: s.l. Type: Letter Date: circa 1 March 1863 Pagination: 4 p. ; 20 x 13.3 cm. Order a Copy
Incomplete letter from which author has been inferred (says "Mrs. Wilkes" in the body). Mrs. Wilkes discusses her meetings with President Lincoln, Secretary of Navy Gideon Welles, Secretary of State William Seward, Senator Issac Arnold, and General John Sedgwick in trying to get her husband husband's rank of Commodore reinstated (it had been annulled according to this letter). Wilkes was disrated (becoming a captain on the retired list) in November 1862, on the ground that he had been too old to receive the rank of commodore under the act then governing promotions. Recipient inferred from the lines "I freely stated your case" and "my dearest husband." Probably referring to Lincoln, she says he "admired your action in the Capture of Mason and Slidell." Also quotes an endorsement of Lincoln (not recorded in Basler): "I wish the Secy of the Navy to know that I am ready to do anything to set Commodore Wilkes right, which may be legally within my power, & not improper in the view of the Navy Department. And I will thank the Secy. of the Navy to indicate to me, what in his opinion, I can do, consistently with rule, above stated. Signed. A. Lincoln. March 1st 1863." This letter was penned before Wilkes's court martial in 1864 (see GLC00267.348 for a copy of the report on Wilkes's court martial).
Wilkes, who was well known for his scientific voyages before the Civil War, was the commander of the "San Jacinto," which stopped the neutral ship "Trent" and captured the Confederate diplomats Mason and Slidell in 1861. Conflicts with the Navy Department, probably stemming from his treatment during the Trent affair negotiations and his disrated rank, culminated in Wilkes' court-martial early in 1864 over the publication of a letter he wrote to Gideon Welles castigating the Secretary for statements made against Wilkes in his annual report. On 26 April 1864, Acting Rear Admiral Wilkes was found guilty by court-martial of disobedience of orders, insubordination, and other specifications and was sentenced to receive a public reprimand and suspension from the service for three years. President Lincoln reduced the term of suspension to one year, at the conclusion of which Wilkes retired from the Navy. On 6 August 1866, he was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list and, for the remainder of his life, worked for the completion of publication of the results of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition.
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