Hampton Roads Peace Conference

Hampton Roads Peace Conference meeting held on Feb. 3, 1865, on board the Union transport River Queen in Hampton Roads, Va., with the object of ending the Civil War. President Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward represented the Union, and A. H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell, the Confederacy. The meeting was brought about through the efforts of Francis P. Blair (1791-1876). Unofficially, but with Lincoln's knowledge, Blair had discussed the possibility with Jefferson Davis of restoring peace through a united opposition to European intervention in Mexico. Lincoln's terms—reunion, acceptance of emancipation, immediate cessation of hostilities, and the disbanding of all Confederate forces—proved unacceptable to the South, and the conference failed.

Hampton Roads Peace Conference (February 1865) Abortive peace conference during the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln and Confederate vice president Alexander H. Stephens met in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The talks failed with the Confederate states declining to rejoin the Union.

Hampton Roads Conference unsuccessful peace talks at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on February 3, 1865, during the Civil War, between Union and Confederate representatives. It was the first meeting with the South that President Abraham Lincoln agreed to since the start of the war. Northern demands included a reunion of the nation and the emancipation of slaves, but the South would accept independence only.