Republican (1804-1875) who served as the governor of Connecticut during the Civil War and later as a United States senator. Civil War-dated ALS as governor, signed “Wm. A. Buckingham,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8, State of Connecticut, Executive Department letterhead, February 2, 1861. Handwritten letter to Gideon Welles, who a month later would be appointed as Secretary of the Navy by President Abraham Lincoln. The letter, in part: “I have been solicited to appoint commissioners to the convention which is to be held in Washington on the 4th inst but have not done so. I have received no intimation from Virginia that a representation from Conn. is desired (except what I have seen in the newspapers). I telegraphed you this noon inquiring your views but as I have received no reply I fear it did not reach you.” In fine condition, with a small piece of old tape to the top edge of the first page.
In a final effort to resolve sectional division and avert Civil War, a Peace Conference was held at Willard's Hotel in Washington two days after this letter was written. The conference featured a total of 131 representatives from 14 free and seven slave states—none of the seven secession-committed Deep South states attended—and featured John Tyler making opening remarks to the audience that included six former cabinet members, nineteen ex-governors, fourteen former senators, fifty former representatives, and twelve state Supreme Court justices. The three-week convention culminated with the drafting of a seven-point constitutional amendment that was soundly rejected in the Senate by a 28-7 vote, and a last attempt for negotiations between Unionist southerners and representatives from the incoming Republican government was nullified by the First Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. On the same day as the Peace Conference, delegates from six states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana—met in Montgomery, Alabama, to establish a new unified government, which they named the Confederate States of America.
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