Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[Laurie Verge]

OK Team - that hint narrows it down to someone named Seward (who was from New York), Fessenden (Maine), Chase (New Hampshire), McCulloch (Maine), Cameron (Pennsylvania), Stanton (Ohio), Bates (Missouri), Speed (Kentucky), Blair (Kentucky/Maryland?), Dennison (Ohio), Welles (Connecticut), and Smith (Indiana). Which name matches a politician originally from Vermont?

My first guess on this was the artifact had something to do with John Brown and that the politician was Montgomery Blair, because he was asked to be part of Brown's defense, I believe. The Vermont connection, however, doesn't pan out. The Vermont politicians during Lincoln's term have names of Morrill, Foot, Royce, Baxter, and Collamer.

This Yankee is gonna win unless someone can see a connection that I don't see.