The Hampton Roads Conference was an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate an end to the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. On February 3, 1865, near Fort Monroe

Fort Monroe

Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...

 in Newport News, Virginia

Newport News, Virginia

Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...

, aboard a ship, the River Queen

River Queen (steamboat)

The River Queen was a sidewheel steamer operating as a ferry serving the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket during the late 19th century. It is closely associated with President Abraham Lincoln and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.-Construction:...

, President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 and Secretary of State William H. Seward

William H. Seward

William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...

, representing the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 government, met with Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Senator Robert M. T. Hunter

Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter

-References:* Patrick, Rembert W. . Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 90–101.-External links:* – A speech by R. M. T. Hunter before the U.S. House of Representatives, May 8th, 1846...

, and Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell

John Archibald Campbell

John Archibald Campbell was an American jurist.Campbell was born near Washington, Georgia, to Col. Duncan Greene Campbell...

, representing the Confederate States of America

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 (CSA).

Francis P. Blair had speculated that the war might be brought to a close and the two embattled areas of the nation reunited by directing the armies of both areas to attack Emperor Maximilian

Maximilian I of Mexico

Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...

 in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, but that topic did not come up.

The conference lasted for four hours, but no agreements were produced. President Lincoln dominated the proceedings. The three men who represented the Confederacy made little or no impression on those who represented the Union, and were not authorized to accept any offer, other than independence. The Confederate commissioners immediately returned to Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 at the conclusion of the conference. The war was to continue.

Lincoln's position

President Lincoln's positions were these:

• He disapproved of the joint attack on the French in Mexico.
• He wished for "the voluntary abolition of slavery by the southern states.
• He refused to consent to any treaty with the Confederate government.
• After their surrender, he was in favor of re-admitting representatives of the Southern States to Congress.
• He favored the payment by the Federal Government of a fair indemnity to the former slaveholders
  Compensated Emancipation
  Compensated emancipation was a method of ending slavery in countries where slavery was legal. This involved the person who was recognized as the owner of a slave being compensated monetarily or by a period of labor for releasing the slave...
  
  .
• He would not weaken the Emancipation Proclamation
  Emancipation Proclamation
  The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
  
  .
• The complete restoration of the Union must be the final result of the war, or the war would continue to be fought.

The Confederates insisted on independence, and no agreement was reached.