ARCHIVAL LETTERS

Letter Re: Mary Louveste from Gideon Welles

Hartford
17 August 1872

I have received a communication from Mrs. Mary Louveste, of Norfolk, Virginia, stating that certain papers which she received from Gen Wool, myself and others relative to important services which she rendered to the government in 1861 and 1862 were left with Admiral Porter for perusal and have never been returned to her or her husband –requesting me to furnish her a certificate to supply the place of the one that is lost.

I have no copy of the memorandum which I gave her, but I well recalled the service she rendered under extreme peril in the winter of 1861 ’62. The Secessionists were at that time fitting the “Merrimac” to attack our squadron in Hampton Roads, and were vigilant and circumspect the Navy Department and the government from obtaining any information of their proceedings. It was with great difficulty that we could procure facts on which we could rely from spies and persons who made their escape through the lines. The “Monitor,” which subsequently encountered the “Merrimac,” was at that time under contract to be completed in January and the Department near solicitous to ascertain the progress of the work at Norfolk, for it was our intention, were the “Monitor” completed in season, that she should proceed to Norfolk and destroy the “Merrimac” in dry dock.

It was whilst we were in this state of anxiety, with but vague and indefinite information, that this colored woman, Mary Louveste, came to the Navy Department, and requested to see me alone. Not a word would she communicate in the presence of anyone, but when we were alone she informed me she was from Norfolk, told me the condition of the vessel, and took from her clothing a paper, written by a mechanic who was working on the “Merrimac,” describing the character of the work, its progress and probable completion. The information corroborated and confirmed that which we had, in various ways, received from others.

Mrs. Louveste encountered no small risk in bringing this information to the Department, and other facts, I understand, to Gen Wool. If the government is paying for services of this description, I am aware of none more meritorious than this poor colored woman whose zeal and fidelity I remember and acknowledge with gratitude.

My statement is somewhat in detail, in order that the importance and value of her services may be appreciated, and is as accurate as my memory serves me, after the lapse of ten years.

Gideon Welles
Secretary Of the Navy