Who is this person?

[David Lockmiller]

(04-05-2024 05:51 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Clement Vallandigham?

I shall give you credit for your answer by quoting from Professor Burlingame's work Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Vol. Two, pages 695-96:

In addition to cultivating Radicals, Lincoln attempted to placate some Conservatives, including the prominent Peace Democrat, James W. Singleton of Illinois. According to one source, “Lincoln’s immediate friends were working to make the[Democratic] nominee and platform of the party as odious as possible.” In that effort “they were largely assisted” by Singleton, “who was one of the leaders of the anti-McClellan faction in the democratic party and a strong supporter of Vallandigham.”109

In September, [1864] Lincoln showed Singleton a politically embarrassing letter by McClellan. Soon thereafter, Singleton delivered a scathing anti-McClellan speech. Coming from a Peace Democrat, his words carried weight with members of that faction. On October 18, he met at Cincinnati with other Peace Democrats to nominate a new presidential candidate. There he presided over an informal convention and helped draft a platform that defended slavery as a positive good, described the people of the Confederacy as “brothers in blood” and recommended that “we should make all possible efforts to join them in a mutual policy of unconditional negotiation for the attainment of peace.” When Alexander Long declined to serve as the rump party’s candidate, the convention adjourned without fielding a ticket. Since they could not agree on a standard-bearer, Singleton told the delegates that he was unable to support McClellan and preferred Lincoln. Subsequently, the president told Singleton: “you have done more than any one else to insure my reelection.”111 [Proceedings of the peace convention, Cincinnati Commercial, 20 Oct. 1864, copied in the New York Daily News, 24 Oct. 1864]

I don't think anyone would have discovered the correct answer without reading Professor Burlingame's book. I just happened to read this quote in the book and thought it to be important for the detailed knowledge of our forum participants.