Mellon to speak Thursday at Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum

QUINCY — The Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum, 128 N. Fifth, recently announced the History Happy Hour program at the museum for February.

Rob Mellon, local historian and executive director of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County, will present “Mission Impossible: The Washington Peace Conference of 1861,” at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20. A mini reception at 5 p.m. will offer light refreshments.

A peace conference was held in February 1861 at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., as a last major attempt to avert disunion. An assembly of 131 delegates were appointed, and 21 states were represented.  The group consisted of former cabinet members, ex-governors, former senators, state supreme court justices and one former president. 

Tasked with a nearly impossible task, the “Old Gentlemen’s Convention” is viewed by many to be a complete failure. While the peace conference did not avert the Civil War, it did slow the downward spiral of disunion which helped keep the border states in the union and smoothed the Electoral College election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln.

The public is welcome. There is no cost to attend. Donations to the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum will be accepted on-site.

For more information, visit the official Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum at www.lincolndouglasdebatemuseum.com.