As a border state, Kentucky stood to lose much in a sectional conflict. The Kentucky General Assembly recognized this and passed a resolution on January 29, 1861, accepting Virginia’s invitation to attend a peace convention in an “effort to adjust the present unhappy controversies.” The commissioners were: William O. Butler, J. B. Clay, J. F. Bell, C. S. Morehead, Charles A. Wickliffe, and James Guthrie.
The Old State Capitol, from the 1859 Kentucky Military Institute class album kept by C. E. Merrill. A native of Mississippi, Merrill drew a Confederate flag (now obliterated) with the caption “that waved Sept. 62” at the dome of the capitol. This referred to the Confederate occupation of the capital, which was reversed at the Battle of Perryville October 8, 1862. KHS Collections.
