On the morning of February 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward met with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, Senate President Robert M. T. Hunter, and Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell in the saloon of the steamboat River Queen off Hampton Roads, Virginia. The topic of the conversation was peace. The men agreed not to document the meeting, and nobody was allowed in the saloon except a steward who served refreshments. The negotiations proved fruitless because the parties could not agree to Lincoln's terms that the country must be reunited and slavery must be abolished in the South.

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