robert e. lee, and her other brother's god father was the marquis de lafayette, and her godmother was the queen of france. so very lofty asemblage that they ran with, clearly. my book doesn't just focus on the proceedings of the peace conference, it also talks a lot about what's going on outside the halls of the willard hotel and how they affect what's going on inside. some of the major characters whom i talk about are, of course, the president of the united states himself, james buchanan, who's heaving office shortly -- leaving office shortly, in the month of march, and is desperate that the peace conference you can seed. he's, of course, against dissolving the union. he thinks the states have no right to secede, but he also proclaims that he has no right to stop them. so he's kind of in a bond, and his last chance as he sees it is for the peace conference to succeed in some way, and he's cajoling them behind the scenes to make sure that happens. because he's a bachelor, his first lady at the white house is his niece, harriet lane, and she's hosting social events to which the peace delegates a