Photographic reproduction of a letter dated May 11, 1861, from Henry Stevens to Governor Erastus Fairbanks telling Fairbanks how proud he is of Vermont's stance on the upcoming conflict. He also indicates he had thought of returning to America to lend his support, but he decided to follow Benjamin Franklin's example and support the good cause from Europe.

Henry Stevens, Jr. was born in Barnet, Vermont on August 24, 1819. He studied at Middlebury College in 1838-1839. He graduated from Yale in 1843 and studied at the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Law School in 1843-1844. In 1845 he went to London, where he was employed during most of the remainder of his life as a collector of Americana for the British Museum and for various public and private American libraries. He died at South Hampstead, England on February 28,1886.

Erastus Fairbanks was born in Brimfield, Massachusetts on October 28, 1792. He and his brother Thaddeus founded the Fairbanks Scale Company in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. He was first elected Governor of Vermont in 1852, and was elected again in 1860. He died on November 20, 1864.