On February 24, 1861 and from the The New York Herald
“The city was thrown into great commotion yesterday by the receipt of intelligence that Mr. Lincoln, the President elect, had unexpectedly appeared in Washington city.... In the evening he held a reception, when the members of the cabinet, the Peace Commissioners, and a large number of ladies and gentlemen waited upon him to pay their respects. Mrs. Lincoln, and the party comprising the Presidential suite, reached Washington early last evening.”
It is not likely that these Peace Commissioners were Crawford, Forsythe, and Roman, but the indisputable case is made that the term PEACE COMMISIONER was in wide usage as Lincoln was being inaugurated.
February 24? Jefferson Davis did not write his letter to Lincoln introducing his delegation until February 27 - Link The delegates did not reach D.C. until March - Link. So how could the New York Times be calling them a "Peace Commission" when they hadn't even left the South with their ultimatum?
It is not likely that these Peace Commissioners were Crawford, Forsythe, and Roman, but the indisputable case is made that the term PEACE COMMISIONER was in wide usage as Lincoln was being inaugurated.
Damned right it isn't. Nobody ever referred to Davis' three stooges as a peace commission, because that wasn't what they were there for. What the paper is referring to, no doubt, were the people Letcher had pulled together - the self-proclaimed "Virginia Peace Commssion".
Is it possible that you have never heard of the Letcher's Virginia Peace Commission? Is your knowledge of the history of the period that poor?