David Wilmot - Later Career

Later Career

In 1857 Wilmot was the first Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, although he lost to William F. Packer. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860 and was a key figure in obtaining the nomination for Abraham Lincoln. Wilmot was considered for a cabinet post by Lincoln, but he declined, and in 1861 he was elected to the Senate to fill the seat of Simon Cameron. He served in that body from 1861 until 1863.

He was also a member of the peace convention of 1861, held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending American Civil War. Wilmot was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as judge of the Court of Claims in 1863 and served until his death in Towanda in 1868. He is interred in Riverside Cemetery; a Pennsylvania State historical marker is placed at Williams St, at Riverside Cemetery, Towanda identifying the cemetery as his resting place.