With Lincoln’s authorization, Stanton, in cooperation with Dahlgren and Meigs, ordered several boats to be loaded with rocks and sunk at Kettle Bottom Shoals to keep the Merrimack from reaching Washington. When Welles and Fox protested against this “stone fleet,” Lincoln suspended the war secretary’s instructions, stipulating that the boats obstruct the channel only if the Confederate ironclad was approaching. The furious Stanton sniffed that Lincoln was under the impression that Fox possessed “the entire amount of knowledge in the naval world.” (Months later, when asked about the many idle canal boats lining the Potomac bank near the shoals, Lincoln explained: “Oh, that is Stanton’s navy. That is the fleet concerning which he and Mr. Welles became so excited about in my room. Welles was incensed and opposed the scheme, and it seems Neptune [i.e., Welles] was right. Stanton’s navy is as useless as the paps of a man to a sucking child. There may be some show to amuse the child, but they are good for nothing for service.”)
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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