In 1864, America was more than weary of the bloody civil war. At that moment, James R. Gilmore made a suggestion to Abraham Lincoln to take to Confederate President Jefferson Davis a set of accords by which the North would be willing to have peace. But the purpose of the trip was to propose terms that Lincoln and Gilmore knew Northerners (and the rest of the world) would consider fair and that the Confederates would never accept, thereby gaining Jeff Davis the scorn of the world. It would also help secure Lincoln the 1864 election. What made Gilmore the man to take the message was his familiarity with the South. He'd spent 20 years there as a businessman before the war and knew many prominent people. Right after the attack on Fort Sumter, he was asked to meet with Abraham Lincoln to talk about southern feelings. They subsequently met many times.