To the call of Virginia, twenty states responded; and their
representatives met on the 4th day of February, 1861, in the City of
Washington. It was a notable gathering. Among the prominent members were
William P. Fessenden and Lot M. Morrill, of Maine; George S. Boutwell
and Charles Allen, of Massachusetts; David Dudley Field, Erastus
Corning, William E. Dodge and General John E. Wool, of New York; Robert
F. Stockton and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; David Wilmot
and A. W. Loomis of Pennsylvania; Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland; Thomas
Ruffin and J. M. Morehead, of North Carolina; James Guthrie and Charles
A. Wicliffe, of Kentucky; Salmon P. Chase, William S. Groesbeck and
Thomas Ewing, of Ohio; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, and James Harlan, of
Iowa.
Mr. Rhodes says: "The historical significance of the Peace Convention
consists in the evidence it affords of the attachment of the Border
Slave States to the Union."[358]