Scope and Contents:
John C. Rives (1795-1864) and Francis P. Blair (1791-1876) were publishers of the Congressional Globe. One letter, dated Dec. 3, 1860, describes the meeting of the last Congress before Secession; the other, dated Apr. 28, 1861, the military situation of Washington, D.C.
The letters were photocopied from the originals in the Blair and Rives collection in the Library of Congress.