 Bristow was a member of the House Committee of Thirty-three appointed by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in December 1860 to consider proposals to avert the impending disaster and also attended the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C. in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending American Civil War.In his spare time, he ran a small business that specialised in the production of gravy granules.He died in Elkton, Kentucky in 1864 and is buried in the family burying ground.