# Appendix — Virginia v. West Virginia

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## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Appendix
- **Published:** January 1, 1911
- **Citation:** 220 U.S. 1

## Text

“APPENDIX.

Substitute for House Joint Resolution No. 25.
(Adopted February 21, 1908.)
Raising a Committee to consult with the Board of Public Works
coneerning the Virginia Debt. .
Wuereas, The defense of this State in the Equity Suit of the
Commonwealth of Virginia vs. West Virginia, is now vested in the
Attorney General and the Board of Public Works of the State;
and,
Wuereas, said Attorney General and Board have expressed a
wish that a non-partisan Committee of citizens and property hold-

‘ ers be appointed with whom they can advise and take counsel as

to the matters involved in said suit; therefore, be it

Resolved, That John W. Mason and William G. Bennett, of
the First Congressional District, Frank M. Reynolds and John
J. Cornwell of the Second Congressional District, William A. Mac-
Corkle and Samuel Dixon of the Third Congressional District, E.
M. Gilkeson and George W. Curtin of the Fourth Congressional
District, C. W. Campbell and Isaac T. Mann of the Fifth Congres-
sional District, and Nathan Goff, Johnson N. Camden, John K.
Thompson and F. B. Enslow at large, be and they are hereby ap-
pointed such Committee; and it shall be their duty to advise with
the Board of Public Works of the State and make such recommen-
dations as they may deem best to protect the interests and welfare
of the people of the State in said matters.

The members of said Committee shall take the oath provided by
the Constitution, which shall be filed with the Governor. It shall
convene on the call of the Governor, and shall make report to the
Legislature from time to time of its proceedings. Vacancies in said
Committee by death, resignation, failure or refusal to serve or
otherwise, shall be filled by the Board of Public Works.

Judge Mason’s Letter to Governor Dawson.

‘‘Parrmont, W. VA., May 29, 1908.

‘‘Hon. Wa. M. O. Dawson, Governor.
‘‘Drar Sir: The Legislature of West Virginia at its last session
by joint resolution adopted February 21, 1908, appointed me a

380 APPENDIX.

member of a non-partisan committee with whom the Attorney
General and the Board of Public Works might- advise and counsel
in regard to the matters involved in the suit in equity of the Com-
monwealth of Virginia vs. State of West Virginia, now pending
in the Supreme Court of the United States.

‘‘T am profoundly grateful for the compliment done me by the
legislature, and have very reluctantly reached the conclusion that |
cannot aceept the appointment without vacating the ‘position I
now hold as Cireuit Judge. It was the purpose of the framers
of the Constitution of this State not only to separate and keep
distinct the legislative, executive and judicial departments, so that
neither shal] exercise powers properly belonging to either of the
others, and that no person shall ‘exercise more than one of them
at the same time. except that justices of the peace shall be eligible
to the legislature.’ as provided in article 5. but they also deemed
it wise to prohibit judges from holding any other office under this
or any other Government, hence the provision contained in see-
tion 16, Article VIII, ‘No Judge. during his term of office, shall
practice the profession of law or hold any other office. appointment
or public trust. under this or any other government. and the ac-
ceptance thereof shall vaeate his judicial office.’ [T have reached
the conelusion that persons serving on this committee will do so by
‘appointment within’ the meaning of the Constitution. The reso-
lution in express terms provides that the persons named ‘be and
they are hereby appointed such committee.” and then defines the
duties required of them, and requires each member to ‘take the
oath provided by the Constitution’ and file it with the Governor.
The oath meant, I assume, is the oath required by section 5, of
Article IV. To comply with this requirement each member must
take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution of this State, and to faithfully discharge the duties
of the office to the best of his skill and judgment. After taking
and subscribing such oath and filing it with the Governor, the
person doing so could scarcely be heard to deny that the position
is an ‘office’ or ‘appointment.’

**T have reached this conclusion with regret. The suit referred
to is a very important one—involving the property and the honor
of the people of our state. As a citizen. and. consequently one of
the defendants, I would gladly aid in preparing our ease and in
doing all within my power to have it properly presented to the dis-
tinguished Court which is to pass upon it. It is more than a mere

eS ad re en

APPENDIX. 381

law suit. The honor of two commonwealths is involved. The
people of Virginia, so far as they have any control of the case, will
not demand of us anything more than a fair and just settlement
of this account, and all loyal West Virginians will join in this de-
mand and require nothing more of Virginia. But, unfortunately,
Virginia’s case has passed almost entirely beyond her control and
into the hands of speculators who, are condueting this suit for the
money there is in it for them. This combination may not be more
corrupt than other combinations formed for speculative purposes,
but it is well that we realize that there is behind this movement an
unlimited amount of money and an unscruplous combination of
Wall Street stock gamblers. But if we are true to ourselves, they
are absolutely powerless to harm us; all their efforts and intrigues
will come to naught if our case is properly prepared and all the
facts laid before the Court. We must not lose sight of the fact
that the case is to be heard and determined by the greatest Court
in the world. If we lose in this Court it will be because our
cause is bad, or the facts are not all brought before the Court. We
go into Court handicapped. to some extent, by a sentiment which
these speculators have been laboring for years to create :—that
West Virginia is in some way endeavoring to evade settlement with
Virginia. s

‘Ag evidence of this, they point to the so-called West Virginia
Certificates and say we repudiate these evidences of indebtedness.
Certainly we repudiate every liability on account of them, and
most solemly protest against having anything to do with them,
or the holders thereof. The issuing of these certificates was a
great wrong. The men of Virginia, then in power, hard pressed
by the creditors of the State and perhaps somewhat piqued by
the action of our people in forming the new state, lid great in-
justice to West Virginia and placed our people in an improper
light before the world, when they issued these certificates. We
have persistently and continuously refused to recognize them.
We have always been ready and willing to settle with Virginia, but
not with the holders of these bonds. If any part of the Virginia
debt is properly chargeable to West Virginia, we want to pay
it. We don’t want the people of Virginia to pay anything that we
should pay. We asked for an accounting with Virginia long before
she issued these certificates and were refused consideration, or even
the courtesy of a hearing. It is the grossest injustice to charge

382 APPENDIX.

us with attempting to evade an accounting and settlement with
Virginia.

‘*We are now in a Court of Justice where these charges will
have no bearing on the merits of the case. The Court will proceed
to make a settlement without any regard to the question as to why
it was not made sooner. We are now most concerned in preparing
our side of the case. We are represented in Court by learned
and distinguished counsel. They will look after the law and
properly present our case, but we must furnish them the evidence.
We know we don’t owe anything on account of these so-called West
Virginia Certificates, and we believe we should not, in equity
and good conscience, be required to pay any of the debt, but
whether we should pay any part of the debt depends wholly upon
the facts. We have been told by our fathers that in the distri-
bution of the money for which Virginia issued her bonds there
was not-a ‘fair divide.’ Practically all of the money was spent
in improvement east of the Alleghanies, and we paid more than
our share before the separation.

‘*The men who had control of public affairs in Virginia during
the time this debt was being contracted had no confidence in the
ability of the people inhabiting the mountain counties to pay any-
thing, and hence dealt with them on a cash system. They never
expected any money spent here to be returned, and hence they
doled it out to us with a parsimonious hand.

‘For many years prior to 1861 the people living in north-
western Virginia had complained bitterly of the basis of legislative
representation, unequal taxation, and a selfish distribution of the
public revenues and funds. Dr. Alexander Campbell and Philip
Doddridge and other prominent men of the west, in the great
Constitutional Convention of 1829-30, warned the people of the
east what would be the result if this injustice continued.

“*It is not true that the demand for the formation of the State
of West Virginia arose out of the differences of opinion in relation
‘to the civil war. The real trouble long antedated 1860. We
were simply submitting to iajustice and biding our time. The
peculiar condition created by the attempted secession of some of
the people of Virginia afforded that opportunity and we availed
ourselves of it and the state was formed in strict compliance with
law. We would have demanded the new state in the course of
time, no matter whether living under a new Confederacy or the
Unitel States Government. When the new state was formed

APPENDIX. 383

it provided by its Constitution of 1863, Article VIII, section 8,
that ‘An equitable proportion of the public debt of the Com-
monwealth of Virginia, prior to the first day of January, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and sixty one, shall be assumed
by this State,’ and section 9 of the Ordinances of the State of
Virginia, passed August 19, 1861, provided how this debt shall be
ascertained.

‘““The State of Virginia has permitted the use of her name in this
suit and the Court, so far, has held that we are properly in Court
and must make our defense. It is now for us to make good our
contention. After the lapse of many years, and the death of the
men who were personally acquainted with the facts together with
the difficulties of tracing these transactions, it is no easy task to
ascertain the whole truth.

‘“There seems to be a disposition on the part of some of our
people to eriticize, rather than aid; the persons charged by law
with the duty of preparing our case. They seem to think that the
present State administration and the dominant party alone are
sued, and are almost willing that these Wall Street speculators
may succeed, provided it may embarrass their political antagonists.
This is not only bad politics, but it is unwise and unpatriotic.
If there is any honorable way to get rid of this suit, why don’t
they suggest it? If they are in possession of any facts necessary
for the defense, why don’t they make them known? If the case
is not being properly defended, by all méans tell us why. We hear
much talk about compromise and settlement out of Court. All
law suits arising out of controversies of this character are simply
involuntary arbitration, and I know of no body of men to whom
this controversy can be submitted with such confident assurance
that it will be fairly, properly and justly settled, as to the Supreme
Court of the United States.

““T wish that those of our people who have been tempted
to criticize could see the folly of such a course and remember that
we are all parties to the suit and that contentions among co-de-
fendants will benefit none but the plaintiff.

‘You will please say to the members of the Board of Public
Works that while I cannot act officially as a member of the Ad-
visory Committee, for the reasons stated above, yet it will afford
me great pleasure to aid them in any way that I can. I am, my
dear sir,

‘““Yours very truly,
(Signed) Jonun W. MASON.

i Ne eae ant er eT EER tee
LEELA TET EL ELLEN RE UNS SOE ERS IP LINING Ta ELEY

3384 APPENDIX.

Part of Speech of Hon. Waitman T. Wiley,

In THE UNITED States SenaTE, JuLY 14, 1862, oN THE ADMISSION
or West Vireinia INTO THE UNION.

(See Congressional Globe, Part 3, 2d Sess. 37th Cong., p. 2415.)

* * + * * * ” * * * * * * * *

Mr. President, before I answer this question,* I desire to correct
a misapprehension which I find is prevalent, not only throughout
the country, but likewise here. It seems to be supposed that this
movement for a new State has been conceived since the breaking
out of the rebellion, and was a consequence of it—that it grew
alone out of the abhorrence with which the loyal citizens of West
Virginia regarded the traitorous proceedings of the conspirators
east of the Alleghanies, and that the effort was prompted simply
by a desire to dissolve the connection between the loyal and dis-
loyal sections of the State. Not so, sir. The question of di-
viding the State of Virginia, either by the Blue Ridge mountain,
er by the Alleghanies, has been mooted for fifty years. It has
frequently been agitated with such vehemence as to threaten ser-
iously the public peace. It has been a matter of constant strife and
bitterness in the Legislature of the State. The animosity existing
at this time between the North and South is hardly greater than
what has at times distinguished the relations between East an ©
West Virginia, arising from a diversity of interests and geographical
antagonisms. Indeed, so incompatible was the union of the terri-
tory lying west of the Alleghany mountains with the territory
lying east thereof, under one and the same State municipality, that
so long ago as 1781, several of the States insisted that Virginia
should include in her act of cession all her trans-Alleghany ter-
ritory making the Alleghany mountains her western, as they
were her natural, boundary. A committee in the Fejeral Congress
about this time, made a strong report, suggesting such a boundary ;
and Mr. Madison records that—

‘*From several circumstances, there was reason to believe that
Rhode Island. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Deleware, if not
Maryland likewise, retained latent views of confining Virginia to
the Alleghany mountains.’’—Madison’s Debates. Vol. 1, pp. 463-
465.

*This was a question asked by Senator Willey of the United States Senate
whether or not Congress ought to give her consent to the admission of West Vir-
ginia into the Union,

SONAR 2 SS PAAR EERIE hey om ere

APPENDIX. 385

Secondly. 1 respectfully solicit the attention of Senators to the
geographical position of the proposed new State. Look at the map.
Observe how this territory lies, like a wedge driven in between the
State of Ohio on one side, and the States of Pennsylvania and
Maryland on the other, and is completely cut off from all con-
venient intercourse with East Virginia by the Alieghany moun-
tains. the sky-kissing summits of which are proposed as the eastern
boundary of the new State. How is it possible to identify these
two sections of the State of Virginia in a common State policy, or
system of internal ineprovements, or economical interests? You
have only to examine the geography of the State to see that this
is impracticable. It never has been done. It cannot be done.
Hence the revenues of the State heretofore, with slight exceptions,
have all been expended in the construction of lines of improve-
ment avoiding those impassable mountain barriers, and leading
to the South and Southwest in directions which have not only not
benefitted the northwest section of the State, (that part contained
in the new State), but have, indirectly, operated to its serious dis-
advantage. This sectional appropriation of the State's revenues
has long been inveighed against as unfriendly and unjust, and has
engendered bitter sectional animosity between the counties lying
east and those lying west of the Alleghanies. But, perhaps, it
might be more charitable to attribute this policy to an absolute
necessity growing out of the utter impracticability of constructing
any improvement connecting the two sections of the State.

Third. This application for admission as a new State is predi-
cated on considerations of industrial and commercial necessity.
The people living within the limits of the projected new State
never had, and never can have, any trade or commerce with
Eastern Virginia. There is no means of getting back and forth
between the two sections by any direct and convenient way.’ There
never has been; there never can be. The impediments are in-
superable. Trans-Alleghany sells nothing to cis-Alleghany ; and
vice versa. The traffic and commerce between the two sections
has not amounted to fifty thousand dollars in the last twenty
years. The natural and best markets of West Virginia are Balti-
more, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, &e. If Eastern Virginia were willing
to do so, she has not the ability to push her railways and other
means of transportation and travel into the northwest; and if
she had both the will and the ability, all such improvements in

386 APPENDIX.

Virginia could only carry the trade and staples of West Virginia
beyond better and nearer markets.
* * * % * * * * *« * * * ~ a *
(Sge Congressional Globe, Part 4, 2nd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 3317.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * x * *
Now, sir, I wish to make another remark in answer to the Sena-
tor from Illinois. He seems to have fallen into the mistake, eom-
mon to almost every person, that this movement was conceived in
a desire to separate ourselves from the disloyal portion of the
State of Virginia, that it grew out of our national difficulties, out
of the secession of Virginia from the Federal compact. No, sir:
no. These circumstances may have precipitated action upon. it;
they may have given us the opportunity to effect the long-cherish-
ed desire of our section of the State; but this eomtroversy is older
than I am; | have heard it ever since I can remember anything.
It grows not out of these national dissensions; it grows not out
of loyalty or disloyalty to the Government; it grows not out of
this question of secession; but it grows out of the social, geographi-
eal, commercial, industrial distinction and antagonisms that never
ean be reconciled by the power of man. The Almighty, with his
own eternal hand, has marked the boundary between us. We
live upon waters that flow into the valley of the Mississippi; our
eastern brethern live upon waters that flow into the Potomae and
the Chesapeake; and there is a chain of impassable mountain bar-
riers between us that prevent, and will forever prevent, all con-
nection, all social relations, all interchange of traffie and ecom-
modities by any convenient means of transportation. Owing to
these facts, we ask this separation. and we place it upon these
large national grounds; not upon the questions of secession and
disloyalty. If those were the only questions at issue, I would say
to the western people, as I have hitherto said to them, stand fast,
not only until the Union is restored, but until all Virginia again
is made loyal to the national flag, and until we all dwell. together
again beneath its ample folds in peace and in security. But, sir, we
never can dwell] in harmony, not because now we are separated by
principles of secession and anti-secession, or loyalty and disloyalty,
but because the Almighty, with His own hand, has placed barriers
between us that separate our trade and our intercourse, because
our social relations are different, because our places of market are
different, because our industrial interests are different, amd be-
eause, on account of these facts, ou. internal resources have never

Ss a FEF OS ae ER UGE a I NEEL LS RET MN RET ee

APPENDIX. 387

been developed, andnever can be developed while we are connected
with Eastern Virginia.

This new proposed State contains within its towering hills and
mountains, treasures richer, perhaps, than ean be found within
the limits of any other State within this Confederacy, and there
they have lain, ever since the establishment of this Government, un-
developed, unworked, valueless, and they must continue to re-
main so unless a different policy be pursued. Is it just to the
people there? Is it just to the loyal people of Virginia that
they shall be thus trampling under their feet treasures whieh,
if developed, would be of untold value, but are valueless be-
neath their feet in consequence of the antagonisms of State policy
Which must ever exist, until there is a separation between tne
sections?

Upon these grounds, then, we place this issue; not upon those
other grounds. If those other grounds were alone the eonsidera-
tion which moved us, I, for one, would east my fortunes in the
common bark, and when Virginia went down, if she did, I would
go down with her, as I intend to do anyhow, so far as our natural
fortunes are concerned.

But the Senator from Illinois takes oeeasion to say that a divis-
ion of the State will operate against the reorganization of the
eastern section of Virginia; that the Wheeling government, as
he calls it, is a neucleus around which the other counties as they
are relieved of the pressure that is upon them, ean be brought un-
der the State authority. Sir, where is the county east of the Blue
Ridge today that can be recognized by any other power than that of
military authority? not one. You tell me of Alexandria. How
long would Alexandria acknowledge the authority of the govern-
ment at Wheeling if you were to withdraw your soldiers?

How long would any other county east of the Blue Ridge do
it? There is not a county, in my estimation, and much as I re-
gret to have to say it, let me tell the Senator from Illinois that
the only mode by whieh Virginia can be brought into subjeetion
again to the State and national authorities is by the stern power
of the military arm. If this new State is established it leaves
the laws of Virginia as they now exist, both in the new State and
in the old State precisely the same as before. There is the re-
vised code, there are all the officers, there is all the machinery of
the law. What are they worth in a civil point of view? Nothing.
You have today to enforce authority by the sword, and you will

388 APPENDIX.

have to do it still if you continue with the old state, and you will
have this embarrassment, you will have a civ authority in the
western part of the State incapable of exercising any power in
the eastern part of the State, and it will be obligatory upon the
United States, before this rebellion is subdued in Eastern Virginia,
1o appoint a military Governor, and therefore you will have in the
State of Virginia a military Governor and a civil Governor. Sepu-
rate the sections and each can govern itself according to the
civil laws, and you will not be embarrassed by the civil govern-
ment in one section of the State, and vou may be left free to
exercise the necessary military authority in the other portions of
the State. All this matter about granting letters of administra-
tion can be done about as well in the State after the division as
it can be now under the existing state of affairs.

Again: the Senator undertakes to say, and urges as another rea-

son why this State should not be divided. and the new State re-
ceived into the Union. that it wout®be the admission ‘of another
slave State. So far as the slaves themselves are concerned, what

is the fact? If you do not admit the State, what is the facet? Ev-
ery one of them will remain in perpetual bondage. I am arguing
the case now on his own principles; | am not saying whether
slavery is right or wrong; but I am speaking gratia argument.
“Taking his own premises as true, and his views of slavery as
true, what will be the result of this policy? If you do not divide
the State, it follows that every slave within the limits of the pro-
posed new State will remain in bondage forever. And yet the
people who desire to become a new Commonwealth make a propo-
sition here today that all slaves born after the 4th of July next
shall be freed, and that all slaves over ten years of age shall be
free at twenty-one, and all over fifteen shall be free at twenty-
five. With what proffer to the honorable Senator from Illinois,
he would rather have no State at all. because it would bring
in a slave State, and keep these slaves forever in bondage. There
is an old maxim, a homely one, but it is very true, that half a loaf is
better than no bread sometimes.

There is another remark which I wish to answer. I happened
to say the other day, and I reiterate it now, upon the authority
of personal communication with a great many citizens of North-
western Virginia, and upon the authority of a great many letters
which I have received within the last fort-night, that unless the
relief is granted to the people of that section of the State which

RAEN PP OTE LYRE NORTEL NEE. emt Ce

APPENDIX. 389

this bill will afford, thousands upon thousands of them will take up
the little all they have and find’ a home elsewhere. Such is my in-
formation, and I believe it. But the honorable Senator inquired,
how will the erection of that section of the State into a new
State relieve us from the difficulties of which we complain, how will
it bring about security and peace that will retain those citizens
Within its limits? So far as the enemy abroad are concerned, they
can invade us as well if we are erected into a new State, as
they can without it; but we do not fear the enemy, we do not fear
the national foe, we fear the guerrillas in our midst, we fear the
slumbering secessionism that remains there, as my colleague has
stated; but give us this new State, and you destroy at once that
singular sentiment of State pride, and the new State having
once been established, those people will go with the State, acknowl-
edging, singular as it may seem, a supreme allegiance to the
State rather than to the United States.

These are some of the reasons, but I want to show to the honor-
able Senator from Illinois how this thing will operate. Suppose
the rebellion is put down all over Eastern Virginia; suppose, as
I hope will be the ease, that this prediction will be fulfilled and
that those secessionists may be driven out: will our condition be any
better? Our diffieulties are geographical; they are sectional.
Look at the state of facts in Eastern Virginia. The State of Vir-
ginia is indebted to almost every man east of the Blue Ridge; al-
most every man has serip for a horse, or a wagon, or a bag of
wheat furnished to the confederate troops. Carry us back to
Eastern Virginia, and what is the result? This people to whom
the State government is thus indebted will send to the Legislature
men who will reflect their will, and what will that be? They will
enact laws not only to prevent our receiving any benefit of the
State revenues for improvements in our western section, as we
have always been prevented, but we shall have imposed upon us,
through the overwhelming majority, through the influence of the
popular will, the payment of the debts which eastern Virginia has
contracted in sending men across our borders to murder our citi-
zens and burn our houses, besides having furnished ten thousand
men in resisting them, and paying our proportion of the national
debt. That will be’ our condition if we are carried back into
Eastern Virginia; and it is no wonder our people are excited;
it is no wonder that by seores they have been beseeching the mem-
bers of the Committee on Territories, coming here from their

READE ig sorte Rito MEARS rm ppp

390 APPENDIX.

homes at their own expense, beseeching that now when they may,
they may have a separate and independent existence. It will
injure no one; it will not injure Virginia; it will not injure the
Union. It will give to this Union, and to those who desire it, in
due time a free State.

Part of the Speech of Hon. Jacob B. Blair

Or VIRGINIA, IN THE Hovust oF REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 16, 1862,
ON THE ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA INTO THE
UNION OF STATES.

(See Congressional. Globe, Part 4, 2nd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 327.)

* * * “« * * * ™ oe *% * * % % od

Ms. Speaker, having now. as I think. shown that the Legislature
of the restored government of Virginia is the Jegitimate and con-
stitutional Legislature of Virginia, and consequently possessed of
full power to give the consent required by the Constitution of
the United States to the formation and erection of the proposed
new State. I now propose to offer some reasons why Congress
should not withhold its consent to the admission of West Virginia
into the Union. But before proceeding to do so, T desire to dis-
abuse the minds of all these who may be laboring under the im-
pression that this project of erecting a new State within the
jurisdiction of Virginia has been set on foot and the idea sug-
gested since the commencement of this war. Nothing. sir. could
be further from the facts. The question of the division of the
State has not only been suggested, but to a greater or less extent
agitated for the last forty vears.

The desire of the people west of the Alleghany mountains to
be separated from those residing cast of the mountains, has grewn
out of causes wholly unconnected with the war, and of whieh [
will speak before IT conclude my remarks.

I have always thought. and still think, that there are but few
who will ‘take the trouble to examine the map of the State of
Virginia who will not be convinced that not only justice demands
that the people occupying the western slope of the Alleghany
mountains should be permitted to form a new State out of that

APPENDIX. 391

territory in order that they might pass laws suitable to their own
wants and peculiar condition, but that it is the interest of those
residing east of that range of mountains that such a separation
should be made. What commercial intercourse, let me ask, ex-
ists between them? None, literally none. My colleague in the
Senate in that excellent speech of his delivered on presenting the
memorial to that body asking that Western Virginia might be
admitted into the Union, gave it as his opinion that there had
not been over fifty thousand dollars of traffic and commerce be-
tween the two sections during the last twenty years. I thought
the estimate a high one, and so remarked to my colleague from
the tenth district, (Mr. Brown), who replied that there never had
been but one commercial transaction come under his observation,
and that was an exchange of two dogs. How could it be other-
wise when there are no railroads, canals, or water communication
between the two sections of the State? There stand the Alle-
ghany mountains, between the valley and the great Northwest,
with their immense base and lofty summits speaking by the au-
thority of the God of nature to those who reside on either side,
saving. ‘‘thus far shalt thou come, and no further.’’

Mr. Speaker, Virginia has spent millions upon millions in wild
schemes of internal improvements, and not withstanding she has
had Henry A. Wise for her Governor, a man in whose head. I
will venture to say. more wild impracticable, and, I might as
well add, devilish schemes originated than in the brain of any
other man, yet he never seriously dreamed of, much less suggested,
the idea of pushing a railroad through the Alleghanies. De-
prived, therefore, of any road connecting the two sections of the
State, exeept two narrow mud turnpike roads, the loeation of
either of which, in many places. would puzzle the most. skillful
engineer to find, it may be imagined that the commerce .between
the eastern and western parts of the State is not very extensive,
and the intercourse between the people somewhat limited.

The two reads I have referred to are the Staunton and Park-
ersburg and the Northwestern turnpike roads. The former is
located from Staunton to Parkersburg. and the latter from Win-
chester to Parkersburg. It is my fortune, Mr. Speaker, to reside
at the city of Parkersburg, on the bank of the river Ohio. where,
as I have always said, these two roads terminate. I know. there-
fore, whereof I speak when I declare that there are not one hun-
dred travelers that pass over these two roads from Staunton or

203 APPENDIX.

Winchester to Parkersburg, or vice versa, during an entire year.
Before this war commenced, our delegates to the General Assem-
bly, and all others who desired to visit the city of Richmond, the
eapital of the State, were of necessity compelled to leave the State
in order to get there, unless they went by way of Staunton and
Winchester, over one of the roads I have mentioned.

Again: the habits, tastes, and industrial pursuits of the people
residing in the two sections of the State are as unlike each other
as perhaps any two States in the Union. Those who reside east
of the Alleghany mountains have long been distinguished as the
F. F. V.’s. They are a kind and hospitable people, generally
men of wealth and ease. They know but little and eare less about
the arts and sciences of the day. They raise but little more corn or
wheat than is necessary for their own use, depending entirely on
raising a crop of young negroes to add to their yearly wealth.
Not so with the people of the west. They are generally limited
in means, but a hardy, industrious, and energetic people. While
they do not claim by birth or otherwise to be superior to their
eastern brethren or their countrymen at large, they do maintain
they are the equals of either. This difference in the interests,
habits, and social institutions of the two sections of the State,
coupled with the fact that there can never be to any extent any
commercial intercourse between them, renders it almost if not
quite impossible to enact laws suitable to the wants and cireum-
stances of both. That negro slavery requires laws of a more
stringent and peculiar character than qny other species of prop-
erty, I think all will admit; and that these laws are distasteful
if not inimical to the interests of those who do not own slaves, 1
think is equally clear.

Now, if this be clear of negro slavery generally, is it not doubly
so in a State like Virginia, where all, or nearly all, of those who
own slaves reside east of the Alleghany mountains? If any one
has doubted the truth of this proposition, I think in the history
of the legislation of Virginia may be found the most conclusive
evidence. Prior to the year 1850, that part of Virginia lying
between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains, known as
the valley of Virginia, was almost as much neglected by the State
as tnat part lying west of the Alleghanies. The two sections con-
tained a white population of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand
more than the residue of the State, and yet they were in a minor-
ity in both branches of the General Assembly. It was in the year

APPENDIX. 393

1850, Mr. Speaker, that the convention was called which formed
the present constitution of Virginia. It is a period in the history
of the State which will long be remembered by not only those who
were members of that convention, but by the people of the State
at large. The people of the west and valley, smarting under the
wrongs and injustice that had been done them through a long
series of years, laid aside for once all party considerations and
elected their best and truest men to represent them in said con-
vention, and instructed them to demand that the representation
in the Legislature should thereafter be based on the white pop-
ulation of the State, and not on the mixed or arbitrary basis as
it then was. As soon as the convention met it was apparent that
the eastern part of the State was not disposed to yield to the
demands of the valley and the west. Day after day, and week
after week passed, until several months were spent in discussing
what was called the white and mixed basis, and so violent was
the discussion at times that it was feared that a compromise of
conflicting views was impossible, and that the convention would
break up in a row and leave the difficulty to be settled at the
point of the sword. But finally the slave interest triumphed,
and by the terms of the compromise the rights and interests of the
people residing west of the Alleghanies were wholly disregarded,
and the people doomed to perpetual bondage unless released of the
passage of this bill. It was, in truth and in faet, a compromise be-
tween the valley, the former ally of the west, and the eastern
part of the State, to which the delegates west of the Alleghanies
were compelled to give their consent. How was this compromise
effected, and what were its terms? The delegates residing east
of the Blue Ridge said in substance to the delegates residing in
the valley, ‘“‘you knew that part of Virginia lying west of the
Alleghany mountains is principally settled by emigrants from
western Pennsylvania, the State of Ohio, and the New England
States. You also know that they are opposed to the institution
of slavery, and if they were not, slavery can never exist there
to any extent for two obvious reasons: first, beeause the laws of
climate forbid it, and seeondly, a slave has but to eross the line
into Pennsylvania, or the Ohio River into the State of Ohio, and
he is free. This being the case, slavery, has only a nominal ex-
istence there. Now, you people of the valley, like we of the
vast, have sprung from quite a different stock. We do not be-
long to the ‘mudsills’ of society. You, like we, are largely in-

394 APPENDIX.

terested in not only protecting but continuing the institution of
slavery. This being the case, come let us reason together; let us
compromise this matter, and take care of ourselves; and let this
mongrel race beyond the Alleghanies take care of themselves;”’
and, Mr. Speaker, to make a long story a short one, the east and
the valley struck a bargain by which they secured for themselves
the control of the legislative department of the State until the
day of judgment and a day after, and leaving those residing west
of the Alleghanies to shift for themselves the best they could.
They formed a constitution for the State of Virginia, and to show
the House how shamefully the west was treated, I will read three
or four lines of the twenty-third section of article four of that
delectable instrument :

. ‘*Every slave who has attained the age of twelve years
shall be assessed with a tax equal to and not exceeding that
assessed on lands of the value of $300. Slaves under that
age shall not be subject to taxation.”’

Here you will perceive that all slaves over twelve years of age
are only taxed equal to and not to execed that assessed on land
of the value of $300, while all slaves under twelve vears of age
are wholly exempt from taxation. By this little provision no less
than $200,000,000 worth of property of the citizens of the valley
and those residing in the eastern part of the State was relieved
from taxation, while every knife and fork: every bed, whether
feather or straw: every horse, mare or gelding, whether blind,
spavined, or wind-broken; every old clock, whether it had refused
to tell of the passing hours or not: in a word, every species of
property, real, personal. and mixed, west of the Alleghany moun-
tains, was taxed. taxed, taxed!

Now, Mr. Speaker, where and how was this money spent, thus
wrung from the hard earnings of the people of the west? Look
upon the map. and you will find the question incontrovertibly an-
swered. See how the eastern part of the State is checkered over
with railroads in every direction—no less than five, and perhaps
more, running to and through the city of Richmond—all having
been built. either in whole or in part, at the expense of the State.
Now, sir, look west of the Alleghanies, and see how many you
will find there. Here is the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, running
along the line between Virginia and Pennsyivania, and terminat-
ing at the city of Wheeling. How much did the State contribute
to that great improvement? Not a dollar! On the contrary, it

APPENDIX. 395

was years before she would even give her consent that it should
be built at all over the soil of Virginia. Then, again, here is a
branch of the same road, known as the Northwestern Virginia
road. which has its terminus at the city of Parkersburg, not one
dollar to build which did the State contribute. Sir, we petitioned
the Legislature of the State for fifteen or twenty years for the
privilege of building that road over our own soil, with our own
means. before our prayer was granted. Why, Mr. Speaker, this
partial legislation? Why was the west deprived of the benefits
so lavishly showered upon the east? We all know in the west
the reason. They did not attempt to conceal the facet that they
regarded us unsound on the slavery question; and that every
railroad and turnpike made through the western part of the State
would induce emigration to that part of the State: and that every
man that settled there added that much to the strength of the
west. Hence it was the policy of our eastern brethren to retard
in every way possible the settlement of the west.

Now. sir. I ask whether it is possible for a State to prosper
where such antagonistic interests exist. Is it not the interest of
hoth that a division should take place, that each may pass such
laws as their respective wants and interests may require? :

But it is argued by those who opposs this bill. that we should
wait until the whole State is restored and every county in the
State is fully represented in the Legislature. and then get the
consent of the Legislature. and Congress will admit us at onee.
In reply to this reasoning | have this to say; that the people of
the west are not disposed to let the present opportunity pass,
when they can accomplish that which they have so long desired
to attain, and which justice and right demand should be done.
History affards but few instances where men clothed with power
voluntarily give it up. If was Gnee said by Virginia's most gift dd
sens. that there was no way of judging the future but by the past;
and if we look in this instance to the past to ascertain what our
eastern brethren would be most likely to do in regard to this
question when (if ever) they shall be fully represented in’ the
Legislature of the State. we are forced to the conclusion that,
instead of giving their consent to the ereetion of a new State
within the jurisdiction of Virginia, they would, if possible, rivet

the chains more tightly upon us. and compel us te pay not only
our just proportion of the debt of the State before the passage
of the ordinance of secession, but any debt that has been con-

396 APPENDIX.

tracted by Letcher & Co. in prosecuting this unholy war against
the United States.

Again, it is argued that if the Legislature of the State, when
the whole State is restored, will not give its consent to the erection
of the new State, a convention of the people of the State can be
called, and a new Constitution be framed, and many if not all
the grievances now complained of by the west will be corrected,
and a division of the State rendered unnecessary. This reason-
ing, Mr. Speaker, is fallacious. By an examination of the con-
stitution of Virginia it will be seen that the valley and eastern
part of the State have a majority in both branches of the Gen-
eral Assembly, and is it reasonable to suppose that they will econ-
sent to the calling of a convention to frame a new constitution in
order to yield to the west that which has heretofore been denied
her, and which will greatly and materially abridge the rights of
the east? Certainly not. But, sir, if a convention was called,
the delegates from the east and the valley would form a majority
of the convention, and consequently the west would be still at
their merey; for let it be borne in mind that while the valley
was, to some extent, prior to the year 1850, identified with the
west, since that period, by the clause in the constitution of 1850
to which I have already referred, and by connecting the valley
and the east together by building the Tennessee, the Central, and
the Manassas Gap railroads, it is now fully identified with the
east. Now, I ask any candid man to tell me what relief have
we residing west of the Alleghanies to expect by waiting until the
whole State is restored for anything else that can or may happen
in the future. Sir, we are doomed to perpetual bondage unless
Congress grants us relief by the passage of this bill. And in-
stead of being a bill entitled ‘‘A bill for the admission of the
State of Western Virginia into the Union, and for other purposes,”
it ought to be entitled ‘* A bill for the release of three hundred and
thirty-four thousand white people residing west of the Allegha-
nies from a worse than Egyptian bondage, and for the admission
of the new State of West Virginia into the Union.’’

Sir, if peace to eur distracted country was proclaimed tomor-
row, and every sword now drawn in deadly strife returned to its
scabbard, it would bring no peace to Western Virginia. The old
feuds and differenees existing between the two seetions of the
State, arising out of the conflict of interests that I have already
mentioned, intensified by what has grown out of this war, pre-

APPENDIX. 397

clude the idea of the two sections of the State ever living in peace
under the same State government again. The boundary of the
proposed new State embraces an area of twenty-four thousand
square miles, and an aggregate white population of over three
hundred and thirty-five thousand; also an aggregate slave popu-
lation at the beginning of the war of a little over twelve thousand,
which ‘it is reasonable to suppose is not now more than half that
number. It is the opinion of everyone, I believe, without an
exception, who has written about or examined the internal wealth
of the several States of the Union, that Virginia contains more
resources of wealth than any other State; and that these resources
are principally confined to that part of Virginia embraced within
the lines of the new State all will admit. Look at her wells of
oil on the banks of the Little Kanawha river, pouring forth their
hundreds of barrels per day ; her immence beds of bituminous cannel
coal, her deposits of ore, her water-falls, and her forests of tim-
ber. Then, sir, look at her lands; say nothing about their adapta-
tion to the growth of wheat, corn, and for grazing; as a wool-
growing country it has no superior, if it has an equal on the
globe. Many have already embarked in that enterprise and have
met with the most gratifying suecess, and I will venture to pre-
dict that before many years West Virginia will be the great wool-
growing as well as manufacturing region of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, Virginia is one of the oldest States in the Union.
As I have remarked before, it is conceded that she possesses more
elements of wealth than, perhaps, any other State, and yet it is
a humiliating fact that she is at least fifty years, if not more,
behind her daughter Ohio jn population, wealth, and nearly every-
thing that makes a State great and prosperous. Why is this?
I repeat the question, why is this? Sir, to my mind the reason
is obvious. When not affirming and reaffirming the resolutions of
1798-99 and discussing political abstractions, we were wasting our
time and energies in the vain endeavor to reconcile irreconcilable
interests between the two sections of the State, instead of dividing
the State on the line made by nature into two independent States,
that the inhabitants of cach might develop their own internal
wealth and pass laws suitable to their own wants and conditions.
Sir, we cannot, even with your aid, recall the past, but we may
with it improve the future.

Mr. Speaker, in reference to the question of slavery in the
new State, I have but a word or two to say. The laws of climate

NCL RELIES LS «SEERA UIE TINIAN OE TONE EA eg

398 APPENDIX.

forbid its existence there, nor is it the desire or wish of the peo-
ple that it should be a slave State. Hence it was that I cheer-
fully consented that that question might be settled at onee by in-
serting the clause contained in this bill. The further extension
slavery under this Government has become an absolute idea.
And if one of the results of this war be the extinetion of slavery
in the border States, and the shaking to its very center the in-
stitution in every southern State, let the South remember that it
was she who filled the goblet, and if she is compelled to drink
its contents to its very dregs, she cannot say to the border States,
**vou did it.”’
_ Mr. Speaker, there is another consideration which, although
not germane to this bill, I cannot refrain from alluding to before
closing my remarks. It is the noble and patriotie stand taken by
the people of northwestern Virginia at the very commencement of
this causeless and unfortunate war. Yes, sir, the news had hardly
reached the patriotic people of northwest Virginia that an or-
dinance of secession had passed withdrawing Virginia from the
Union, before they had met, and, kneeling before the altar of
their country, they resolved that. come what might. they would stand
by the old flag and the Union which their fathers had bequeathed
to them. How they kept their resolve, let incontrovertible facets
answer.

The tenth congressional district, represented on this floor by
my colleague, (Mr. Brown.) and my own district, the eleventh,
containing together a white population of not over one hundrel
and twenty-five thousand, have now in the service of the United
States over eleven thousand men exclusive of those who have
come from other parts of the country and enlisted in Virginia.
Sir, one little county in my district—a county within whose lim-
its a traitor dare not enter—with a voting population of about
one thousand, jhas sent to the field four hundred and sixty men.
I allude to the glorious and patriotic county of Ritchie. Tell me,
sir, where are the two congressional districts and where the county
that has in proportion to its population turned out as many men
for this war? They cannot be found.

Mr. Speaker, when the impartial historian shall write the his-
tory of this war, the heroie and patriotic course of the people of
northwestern Virginia will form not only one of its most inter-
esting but brightest chapters. Sir. bound as we are to the great
West by ties made by the God of nature, we could not if we would,

APPENDIX. 399

and would not if we could, change our relations to the Govern-
ment of the United States; no, sir, no. Let me say to the Rep-
resentatives on this floor from Ohie, Indiana, Llinois, and other
western States, that your destiny is ours, and that whatever is
in store for you in the impenetrable future is likewise in store
for us. Come, therefore, and aid us in the passage of this bill,
to the end that we may be erected into a new State, that you
with us may share in the riches and blessings that will flow by
developing the inealeulable mineral wealth of northwest Virginia,
which will, in the future as in the past, unless our request is
granted, remain buried in the bosom of our mountains.

Mr. Speaker, one word more and I have done. It is said by
these who desire some excuse, if | may so speak, to oppose this
bill, that they cannot bear the idea of dividing the old Common-
wealth of Virginia, which has given birth to so many great states-
men. and around whose history so many delightful associations
cluster. Sir, I yield to no man in the regard, not to say love,
I have for the good old Commonwealth. It was on her soil I
first opened my eyes to the light of heaven. [ read with childish
pride, and point with delight to her history and the part her
sons have taken heretofore in the councils of the nation. Nay
more, I would obliterate, if possible, from the memory of man the
humiliating and unjustifiable position she now oceupies towards
that Government she has contributed so largely to build up. But
what of all this? Did she lose any of her historic renown when
she ceded to the General Government the territory now compris-
ing the great Northwest, or when she permitted her daughter,
Kentueky, to set up for herself, that she might have a name in
history? No. sir, no! And thus it will be if her youngest
daughter, West Virginia, is permitted to assume all the responsi-
bilities of one of the States of this Union. Instead of detracting
from her fame and history, it will add to both, and the time
will come when she will point with pride and pleasure, as did the
Spartan mother, to her children, and say ‘‘these are my jewels.”’

Mr. Speaker, pass this bill and you will carry joy and gladness
to every loyal heart in northwestern Virginia. Pass it, and you
buoy up the hearts and strengthen the arms of those that have
grown faint and weak in defending their homes, and maintaining
that Government which is the hope of the friends of constitutional
libérty throughout the civilized world. Yes, pass it, and you will
do ‘that which justice and right demand, and we will ever cel-

400 APPENDIX.

ebrate the event as we do the birthday of our national existence,
with bonfires and illuminations, and songs of thanksgiving and
praise.

4

Part of the Speech ot Hon. William G. Brown,

In THE House or REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 9, 1862, ON THE
ADMISSION OF West VirGiniA INTO THE UNION.

(See Congressional Globe, Part 1, 3d Sess. 37th Congress, p. 41.)
* * * * * * * * * “ * * * * *

Mr. Brown, of Virginia. I was about leaving the question of
legitimacy of the government of Virginia, when I was interrupted
by the order of the day. I have already referred to the conven-
tion of May, 1861; but I beg leave to read some of the resolutions
of that convention. I do so because the gentleman from Kansas
was pleased to speak of that body as a mob. Sir, I wish the gentle-
man from Kansas could have looked upon that convention of five
hundred men. I have never served in a body more conspicuous
in point of talent or appearance. And if gentlemen will only
read the resolutions passed by that body, and compare them with
the views of the gentleman from Kansas, | think they will find
them to compare very well in point of ability.
* * * * * * ok * * of * * * * ¥*

If the views, then, of the gentleman from Kansas be correct, |
have no right to a seat upon this floor. If Virginia is a Territory,
then by the unauthorized and illegal act of secession of that State
I have no business to a seat upon this floor. The Wheeling con-
vention resolved that it would hold elections for Congressmen and
for members of the State Legislature upon the regular day of
Election. Upon that day, sir, there was a larger vote. given in
my district than had ever been given before. I was returned to
the House of Representatives by a majority of more than fifteen
thousand over al] the other persons voted for. The vote was al-
most unanimous for me. The delegates to the Virginia Legislature
were also elected by the people of Virginia by a large vote. But
I need not advert to my own district as the only one where this was
the case. The adjoining district of my colleague (Mr. Blair)
voted in the same way. My colleague was also elected by a very
large majority. The vote in West Virginia was larger than had
ever been given before. The members to the General Assembly

APPENDIX, 401

were elected on the day fixed by law for their election. They were
elected for the very purpose of reorganizing the State government,
and maintaining their allegiance to the Constitution and the laws
of the United States. They denied the power of the separate ac-
tion of the Richmond usurpation to sever them from this govern-
ment, and to destroy their right to the enjoyment of the laws of
Virginia as they were. :

I will insert in my remarks, if I should see proper, the resolutions
passed by the convention of the 11th of June, 1861, which reestab-
lished the loval government of Virginia.

. Mr. Speaker, I will remark before I take my seat, that the extent

of territory of West Virginia is larger than some of the old thirteen
States of the Union, embracing some twenty-four thousand square
miles. Its population is larger than some of those old states. We
have a population of three hundred and thirty thousand, giving us,
under the apportionment of 1860, three Representatives upon this
floor, which is all we claim in the pending bill, leaving eight represen-
tatives to the remaining portion of old Virginia. So much for that
matter.

With regard to our revenue, I will add a word. The revenue col-
lected within the boundaries of the new State in 1859 can be stated.
I have no accurate estimates since that year. I hold in my hand the
report of the Auditor, which fixes the revenue in the forty-eight coun-
ties included in the bill of the Senate, for the year 1859, at $620,-
061.39, a sum larger than is collected in many of the old States of
the Union.

Now, sir, there are other considerations why this House should ad-.
mit West Virginia into the Union. The bill ought to be passed at
once as a matter of expediency. It is not a new question with the
people of West Virginia. They have been struggling for it for forty
years. ‘They were on the point of revolution in 1829-30, when East-
ern Virginia yielded a small pittance of the power to them—not
what they were entitled to, but enough to reconcile them for the
moment. In 1850 we were again upon the point of revolution be-
cause we were denied our proper representation in the Legislature of
Virginia. They then yielded to us our proper representation in the
House of Representatives, but they denied them to us in the Senate.
They fixed the Senate upon the mixed basis, as they called it. They
gave us our proper weight in one branch of the Legislature, but in
the other they held the power to control us. As an equivalent for
what they gave us, they retained in the constitution the provision

402 APPENDIX.

that was most oppressive and unjust. They retained a provision that
the Legislature should not tax negroes under twelve years of age at
all. I need not tell you, sir, that the negro population is to be found
in Eastern Virginia. All that valuable class of property, many of
them then worth from a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars—the ne-
groes under twelve years of age—was entirely exempt from taxation,
and the remaining portion of the negro property was only taxed as
property at the value of $300. Although the negroes should bring
more than a thousand dollars it was fixed that they should only be
valued at $300 each. While every article of our property was taxed
at its full value, the negro was almost exempt from taxation. We
protested against it, but we were powerless because they retained
in the Legislature an undue proportion of the representative power.

But, sir, that is not all. They raised—not upon the property in
these negroes—large sums of money for the purpose of constructing
railroads. They collected of the $600,000 a large amount for the
purpose of constructing railroads in Eastern Virginia — railroads
they are now using for our subjugation and for the destruction of
the Union. They built them out of our money. They raised reve-
nue in an undue proportion upon us, and then expended it within
their own localities. A greater outrage was never committed upon
a loyal people. ‘

But, sir, I could assign another reason. Our relations, always un-
friendly and unkind in consequence of their oppression, are doubly
so now, because of our loyalty. We, sir, are the only people within
the limits of a seceded State that declared open resistance to the
revolution. The five hundred delegates who assembled at Wheeling
to inaugurate the project of reestablishing the government of Virgin-
ia upon a loyal basis, went with their lives in their hands. They
were threatened with expulsion from the State. They were threaten-
ed with the gallows. At the time we assembled there the southern
troops were marching with all possibie speed for the purpose of in-
timidating us, and to prevent us from the exercise of our allegiance
to the laws. They were, sir, within fifty or sixty miles from Wheel-
ing. A people never did exhibit more firmness and more determina-
tion than the loyal people of Virginia on that occasion. So far as
we had any intimation from this Government, it was through the
last message of Mr. Buchanan, who denied that it had the right to
coerce a seceded State. Virginia had seceded and annexed herself
to the Southern confederacy; and here were about three hundred
thousand loyal people of Virginia, without any assurance of aid frotn

————

> APPENDIX. 403

this Government, determined that if the policy of the incoming Ad-
ministration should be the same as that of Mr. Buchanan, and would
not give us aid, we would, for the love of the Government of our
fathers, take up arms and resist the southern confederacy ourselves.
And, indeed, we did not know but that this Government, under the
views of Mr. Buchanan, might aid the southern confederacy in sup-
pressing us as an insurrection. It was a new question; but we were
resolved upon one thing, and that was, that if we were-carried out
of the old State of Virginia, and our connection with this govern-
ment broken up, it should be done by force and ut the point of the
bayonet.

How does that people now stand? We have in the field, fighting
for this Government, sixteen regiments raised almost exclusively with-
in the limits of the new State. We have supplied more than our full
quota, and that not by drafting but by volunteering. When the last
requisition was made upon us, we furnished the number promptly.
In my own county and district nearly every fighting man is now in
the army. Are we to be turned back to the old Commonwealth, there
to be oppressed by her to be driven from the borders, if persecution
can drive us from our homes? Many of our citizens say they will
leave the homes of their fathers and seek new homes in the West
unless they can be relieved from this threatened load of oppression
and danger. My advice to them has been otherwise. J have told
them not to run after liberty in another land, but swear by the God
of their fathers that they will bring liberty to their own homes ; and
we will do it by the aid of this Government and the blessing of God, :
and we will be a free people. .

I received this morning from the Legislature of the State of Vir-
ginia, sitting at Wheeling, a dispatch containing a resolution passed
by that body, asking this House to pass the Senate bill just as it
passed the Senate. I had the honor yesterday of presenting peti-
tions from the people of Virginia, numbering some five thousand,
asking tlie same thing. My colleague (Mr. Blair) presented ‘a batch
of similar petitions. There is but one voice among our constituents,
and this is in favor of a division of the State.

Mr. Bingham. Will the gentleman from Virginia allow me to
Say that I am prepared to make # report upon those petitions which
were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, to the effect that
the prayer of the petition be granted 2

Mr. Brown, of Virginia. I desire to put this House right upon
one further point, and then I will leave this question to the House

404 APPENDIX.

for their final action, so far as I am concerned. It has been asserted,
and understood in some quarters, that the organization of the gov-
ernment at Wheeling was for the purpose of forming a new State.
I am prepared to say that when that convention originally met in
Wheeling, although there were a few radicals there who wanted to
form a new State without reinstating the old State of Virginia, we
voted them down, and commenced the exercise of gur original rights
as freemen to build up the loyal government of Virginia; and, al-
though we designed eventually to ask for this separation, and it was
what we anxiously desired, yet we determined to be a law-abiding peo-
ple, and ask for what we desired through the forms of law. We
think we have brought ourselves within the forms of law, and we
think we have conducted ourselves in such a manner as to recommend
us favorably to the consideration of this body; and now, in the name
of my constituents, and of the loval men of Virginia, I most earnest-
ly appeal to this body to give us the relief we ask, and grant us the
prayer we have made. With these remarks I shall leave’ the case
with the House. The following are among the proceedings of the
convention assembled on the 11th of June, 1861:

A DECLARATION OF THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA, REPRESENTED IN CON-
VENTION, AT THE City OF WHEELING,
Tuurspay, JUNE 13, 1861.

The true purpose of all government is to promote the welfare and
provide for the protection and security of the governed; and when
any form or organization of government proves inadequate for or sub-
versive to their purpose, it is the right, it is the duty of the latter,
to alter or abolish it. The Bili of Rights of Virginia, framed in
1776, reaffirmed in 1830, and again in 1851, expressly reserves this
right to a majority of her people. The act of the General Assembly,
calling the convention which assembled at Richmond in February
last, without the previously expressed consent of such a majority, was
therefore a usurpation; and the convention thus called has not only
abused the powers nominally intrusted to it, but, with the connivance
and active aid of the executive, has usurped and exercised other
powers, to the manifest injury of the people, which, if permitted, will
inevitably subject them to a military despotism.

The convention, by its pretended ordinances, has required the peo-
ple of Virginia to separate from and wage war against the Govern-
ment of the United States, and against the citizens of neighboring

APPENDIX. 405

States, with whom they have heretofore maintained friendly, social,
and business relations.

It has attempted to subvert the Union founded by Washington and
his copatriots, in the former days of the Republic, which has confer-
red unexampled prosperity upon every class of citizens, and upon
every section of the country. It has attempted to transfer the al-
legiance of the people to an illegal confederacy of rebellious States,
and required their submission to its pretended edicts and decrees,

It has attempted to place the whole military force and military
operations of the Commonwealth under the control and direction of
such confederacy, for offensive as well as defensive purposes.

It has, in conjunction with the State executive, instituted, where-
ever their usurped power extends, a reign of terror intended to sup-
press the free expression of the will of the people, making elections
a mockery and a fraud.

The same combination, even before the passage of the pretended
ordinance of secession, instituted war by the seizure and appropri-
ation of property of the Federal Government, and by organizing and
mobilizing armies with the avowed purpose of capturing or destroy-
ing the captial of the Union. °

They have attempted to bring the allegiance of the people of the
United States into direct conflict with their subordinate allegiance
to the State, thereby making obedience to their pretended ordinances
treason against the former.

We, therefore, the delegates here assembled in convention to devise
such means and take such action as the safety and welfare of the
loyal citizens of Virginia may demand, having maturely considered
premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition
to which this once happy Commonwealth must be reduced unless
some regular adequate remedy is speedily adopted, and appealing to
the Supreme Ruler of the universe for the recititude of our intentions,
do hereby, in the name and on behalf of the good people of Virginia,
solemnly declare that the preservation of their dearest rights and
liberties, and their security in person and property, imperatively de-
mand the reorganization of the government of the Commonwealth,
and that all acts of said convention and executive, tending to sepa-
rate this Commonwealth from the United States, or to levy and carry
on war against them, are without authority and void; and that the
offices of all who adhere to the said convention and executive, wheth-
er legislative, executive, or judicial, are vacated.

406 APPENDIX.

AN ORDINANCE For THE REORGANIZATION OF THE STATE GOVERN-
MENT, PasseD JUNE 19, 1861.

The people of the State of Virginia, by their delegates assembled
in a convention at Wheeling, do ordain as follows:

1. A Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General for
the State of Virginia shall be appointed by this convention, to dis-
charge the duties and exercise the powers whick. pertain to their re-
spective offices by the existing laws of the State, and to continue in
office for six months, or until their successors be elected and quali-
fied; and the General Assembly is required to provide by law for an
election of Governor and Lieutenant Governor by the people as soon
as in their judgment such an election can be properly held.

2. A council, to consist of five members, shall be appointed by
this convention, to consult with and advise the Governor respecting
such matters pertaining to his official duties as he shall submit for
consideration, and to aid in the execution of his ofticial orders. Their
term of office shall expire at the same time as that of the Governor.

3. The Delegates elected to the General Assembly on the 23rd day
of May last, and the Senators enittled under existing laws to seats
in the next General Assembly, together with such Delegates and Sen-
ators as may be duly elected under the ordinances of this convention,
or existing laws to fill vacancies, who shall qualify themselves by tak-
ing the oath or affirmation hereinafter set forth, shall constitute the
Legislature of the State, to discharge the duties and exercise the
powers pertaining to the General Assembly. They shall hold their
offices from the passage of this ordinance until the end of the terms
for which they were respectively elected. They shall assemble in the
city of Wheeling, on the Ist day of July next, and proceed to or-
ganize themselves as prescribed by existing laws, in their respective
branches. A majority in each branch of the members qualified as
aforesaid shall constitute a quorum to do business. A majority of
the members of each branch thus qualified, voting affirmatively,
shall be competent to pass any act specified in the twenty-fourth
section of the fourth article of the constitution of the State.

4. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, mem-
bers of the Legislature, and officers now in the service of the State,
or of any county, city, or town thereof, or hereafter to be elected or
appointed for such service, including the judges and clerks of the
several courts, sheriffs, commissioners of the revenue, justices of the
peace, officers of the city and municipal corporations, and officers of

—7_"

APPENDIX. 407

the militia, and officers and privates of volunteer companies of the
State, not mustered into the service of the United States, shall each
take the following oath or affirmation before proceeding in the dis-
charge of their several duties:

I Solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution
of the United States, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, as the
supreme law of the land, anything in the constitution and laws of the
State of Virginia, or in the ordinances of the convention which as-
sembled at Richmond on the 13th of February, 1861, to the con-
trary notwithstanding: and that I will uphold and defend the govern-
ment of Virginia as vindicated and restored by the convention which
assembled at Wheeling on the 11th day of June, 1861.

If any elective officer, who is required by the preceding section to
take such oath or affirmation, fail or refuse so to do, it shall be the
duty of the Governor, upon satisfactory evidence of the fact, to issue
his writ declaring the office to be vacant, and providing for a special -
election to fill such vacancy, at some convenient and early day to be
designated in said writ; of which due publication shall be made for
the information of the persons entitled to vote at such elections; and
such writ may be directed, at the discretion of the Governor, to the
sheriff or sheriffs of the proper county or counties, or to a special
commissioner or commissioners to be named by the Governor for the
purpose. If the officer who fails or refuses to take such oath or af-
firmation be appointed by the Governor, he shall fill the vacancy
without writ; but if such officer be appointed otherwise than by the
Governor or by election, the writ shall be issued by the Governor,
directed to the appointing power, requiring it to fill the vacancy.

ArtHur I. Boreman, President.
G. L. Cranmer, Secretary.

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WASHINGTON HALL.

THE BIRTH-PLACE OF WEST VIRGINIA.

the City of Baltimore and the States of Virginia and Maryland, who arrived at the
City of Wheeling on that date, having been carried thither by the first through traln
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River. It was totally destroyed by fire
November 30, 1876.

r AER TIRE RENE U et aege ia as les he s Ne fe i ta

x
i

HOW WEST VIRGINIA WAS MADE.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST CONVENTION

OF THE

PEOPLE OF NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA

— |

WHEELING
MAY 13, 14 AND 15, 1861,

AND THE

JOURNAL OF THE SECOND CONVENTION

OF THE

PEOPLE OF NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA

AT

WHEELING,

WuicH ASSEMBLED, JUNE 11TH, 1861, AND CoNTINUED IN SESSION
Unti. June 25TH. ApdsgourNeD UntiL August 6TH, 1861.
REASSEMBLED ON THAT DATE, AND CONTINUED IN SEs-
sion Untm Avaust 21st, WHEN IT
ADJOURNED sine die.

WITH APPENDIXES

AND AN
INTRODUCTION, ANNOTATIONS AND ADDENDA
BY
VIRGIL A. LEWIS, M. A.,

STATE HISTORIAN AND ARCHIVIST.

PuBLIcATION Direcrep sy Hon. Wutaam G. Coney, ATTORNEY-
GENERAL OF West Virorn1A, December 1, 1909.

NEWS-MAIL COMPANY
PUBLIC PRINTERS
Charleston, W. Va,

PREFATORY AND EXPLANATORY.

Sources of Information..

Forty-eight years have come and gone since the two Conven-
tions of the people of Northwestern Virginia assembled at
Wheeling in the year 1861, and yet their proceedings were never
printed in book form. The Secretaries of the First Convention,
were Judge Gibson Lamb Cranmer, of Ohio County; Charles B.
Waggener, of Mason County; and Marshall M. Dent, of Monon-
galia County. Judge Cranmer was the Secretary of the Second
Convention, and was the custodian of the manuscript proceed-
ings, journals, and other documents of these Conventions. What
became of this manuscript material? Judge Cranmer died sev-
eral years since. Hon. Granville D. Hall, who was the
stenographic reporter of the proceedings of both these Conven-
tions for the Daily Intelligencer of .Wheeling, and who is still
living, and residing at Glencoe, Illinois, had some correspond-
ence with Judge Cranmer in 1899, concerning the manuscript
material of these Conventions, and he has kindly furnished us
with the following extracts from: letters which he received from
Judge Cranmer, whose home was on Wheeling Island. Under
date of March 28, 1899, he said:

“During the flood of 1884, as you are doubtless aware, I lost my manu-
scripts (which were voluminous,) since when, I have lost courage in
attempting to duplicate them to any extent.”

Under date of December 4, 1899, he said:

“As you are probably aware, the manuscript I had prepared concerning
the re-organizaticn of Virginia, was destroyed in the flood of 1884, to-
gether with my data; and since then I have not undertaken to re-write
a

Under date of December 28, 1899, he said:

“I am not sure whether or not, I have informed you of the disposition
of the papers referred to in your letter of December 4th. Under the in-
structions of the Governor at that time, I shipped all papers and docu-
ments in my possession, as secretary. to Alexandria, Va., at the time
when the seat of government of the re-organized Government of Virginia
was removed to that city.”

Query :-—Were the journals of these Conventions a part of the

manuscript documents sent to Alexandria, at the time of the re-
moval of the seat of Restored Government from Wheeling to that
place in 1863; or were they included in those ruined in the

i eee Ee: BAS SOIT ba: i IH Ee Pag RT emestay

4 PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY.

residence of Judge Cranmer on Wheeling Island, at the time of
the great flood in the Ohio river, in February, 1884? Judge
Cranmer does not say whether these journals were included iu
the manuscript material sent to Alexandria in 1863, or in that lost
in his home in 1884. As to this, the fact will in all probability
never be known. The writer has made diligent inquiry at Alex-
andria, and also at Richmond, but found no trace of these jour-
nals; and two years since, was informed by Hon. D. Q. Eggleston,
Secretary of the Commonwealth, that no such documents are in
the possession of the State of Virginia. The inference therefore,
is, that they were lost in the flood referred to by Judge Cran-_
mer. This would indicate that the only records of the Proceed-
ings and Journals of these Conventions, now in existence, are
those printed in the Daily Intelligencer, of Wheeling. This news-
paper was founded in 1852, the first issue thereof appearing on
the 24th of August, that year. Its founders were E. B. Swear-
ingen and Oliver I. Taylor; the latter and Joseph H. Pendleton be-
ing the editors. Later, the publishers were Pendleton and Beatty,
who in 1856, sold the paper to Archibald W. Campbell and John
F. MeDermot, the former becoming the editor-in-chief. He
speedily rose to a prominent place among the newspaper men of
the Ohie Valley, a position which he continued to occupy to the
end of his life. He was a delegate to the Convention which nom-
inated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency, and the Intelligen-
cer supported him for that position in the ensuing campaign.
There were then, weekly, tri-weekly, and daily editions, the last
being a four-page. twenty-inch, seven-column paper. Its
edit _nost vigorously opposed the secession of Virginia, and
with uke interest, supported the movement of Northwestern
Virginia which resulted in a Restored Government, and the for-
mation of the new State of West Virginia. He gave himself,
without reserve, to the work of educating and preparing the peo-
ple of Northwestern Virginia for the high destiny he had faith
to believe awaited them. On the exchange list of the Intelligen-
cer, were all the other newspapers published in Northwestern
Virgina, and from them a vast mass of history material was re-
produced. Hence its files covering the years of the Civil War
are priceless. But two of these are believed to be in existence;
one being in the public library im the city of Wheeling; the
other in the possession of the State Department of Archives and

+e

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. 5

History. It is from this last that the Proceedings and Journals
of the two Conventions of 1861, are herewith printed. They are,
no doubt, as accurate, and fuller and more complete, than the

- routine journals kept by the Secretaries of these Conventions.

In addition to the record of routine business, they contain much
of the discussions and debates, with addresses to the people,
and ordinances, and other documents not usually found in
the journals of deliberative bodies. Because of this, they are
far more complete than are the journals of the State Conven-
tion at Richmond a few months before; or is that of the Constitu-
tiona! Convention at Wheeling, a few months later. For these rea-
sons, the files of the Daily Intelgencer are, and must continue to
be, the chief sources of the history of the organization of
the Restored Government of Virginia, and the formation of the
State of West Virginia. From these the following records of the
Proceedings and Journals of the First and Second Conventions
of the peopi» of Northwestern Virginia in 1861, have been accu-
rately transe: ibed; the only changes made being the re-arrange-
ment of the lis’ of delegates, and the use of full given names, in-
stead of initials, in cases where the said names are well known.
When an omitted word or phrase has been supplied, it has
been enclosed in brackets, thus [——-]; and if of an explanatory
character, curves have been used to enclose it, thus (——). In
some instances, abbreviations have been expanded, that their
meaning might be rendered plain.
December 12, 1909. VL. ALL.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION—EXTRA SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
VircGInia—THE StTatr CONVENTION—ORDINANCE OF SECESSION
—ALIIANCE BETWEEN VIRGINIA AND THE CONFEDERATE STATES
—Anopt1cN OF THE Provis‘toNAL CONSTITUTION OF THESE
SratEs—A ProvISIONAL ARMY—CITIZENS OF VIRGINIA AB-
SOLVED FROM THEIR ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED StaTtesS—THE
Srare ADMITTED AS ONE OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF
AMERICA.

The New Year—that of 1861—was inaugurated throughout
Western Virginia with as bright a winter day as ever dawned over
this Trans-Allegheny Region. The early morning was sharp and
frosty, but the sun shone out gloriously} and long before noon the
frost, together with the light snow that here and there covered the
earth along the northern hillsides, with other evidences of winter,
were dispelled; and a warm balmy breeze came from the South-
west, as if to complete the delusion that nature had gone back to
the autumn-time again. There was on every hand the same holi-
day appearance as of yore; fire-crackers, torpedoes, the discharge
of fire-arms, cakes, candies, feasting, clean clothes and friendly sal-
utations, with the compliments of the season, in fifty thousand
homes which dotted the wide expanse all the way from where the
Ohio rolls its onward course to the Gulf, across the mountains to
where the waves of the Chesapeake dash against the shore-lands of
Virginia. Thus began in Western Virginia—the year 1861—the
most memorable in all American history.

But, even then differences existed between the South-
ern and Northern sections of the country, which threat-
ened not only to destroy the Union, but to wreck society
itself, and which did produce the most terrible civil war of all time.
On the 20th of the preceding December, South Carolina had adopt-
ed an Ordinance of Secession declaring that the Union hitherto
existing between South Carolina and the other States was dissolved.

8 How West Virginta Was Mabe.

This sentiment spread with great rapidity and by the first of Feb-
ruary, 1861, five other States—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, and Louisiana — had all taken similar action.
The Senators and Representatives of these States re-
signed their seats in the National Congress and _ re-
turned to their homes to become leaders of the for-
tunes of their people. On the 4th day of February, 1861,
delegates from six of the seceded States assembled at Montgomery,
Alabama, and formed a new Government called the Confederate
States of America. Four days later, this was organized by the
election of Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, as Provisional President,
and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, as Vice-President.

An Extra Session of the General Assembly of Virginia.

Very soon Virginia became a theatre on which were enacted most
remarkable scenes in the tragedies and dramas of history. Under
the provisions of her Constitution adopted in 1851, the General
Assembly held biennial sessions. The winter of 1860-61, was the
period of vacation. Influenced by the pressure of events, Governor
John Letcher, on the 15th day of November, 1860, issued a procla-
mation convening the General Assembly in extra session, on Mon-
day, January 7, 1861. In this, he said: ‘‘Great excitement pre-
vails in the public mind, and prudence requires that the represen-
tatives of the people of this Commonwealth should take into con-
sideration the condition of public affairs and determine calmly and
wisely what action is necessary in this emergency.”’

In obedience to this proclamation of the Governor, the General
Assembly convened in the Capitol at Richmond, on the date
fixed,— January 7, 1861. In his message to this body, Governor
Letcher said: e

‘‘The proposition for the call of a State Convention, to deter-
mine the position which Virginia shall take, in view of passing
events, appears to have been received with very general favor. As
this subject has been niuch discussed by the people in their pri-
mary meetings, it is not only proper, but it is doubtless expected
that I shall refer to it in this communication. * * * I have
my convictions upon this question, and I give expression to them
in declaring my opposition at this time, to the call of a State Con-
vention. I see no necessity for it at this time, nor do I now see any
good practical result that can be accomplished by it. I do not con-
sider this a propitious time to moot the question, and I apprehend

THE ACTION OF VIRGINIA. 9

from indications that have been exhibited, that serious difficulties
and embarrassments will attend the movement.’

Speedily the views of a majority of the members of the Assembly
became known, and they were at variance with those of the Gov-
ernor. On the second day of the session, that body adopted Resolu-
tion No. 1, relating to the coercion of a State, the text thereof being

as follows:

1. “Resolved by the general assembly of Virginia, that the Union being
formed hy the assent of the sovereign states respectively, and being con-
distent only with freedom and the republican .nstitutions guaranteed to
each, cannot and ought not to be maintained by force.

2. “That the government of the Union has no power to declare or
take war against any of the states which have been its constituent
members.

3. “Resolved, that when any one or more of the states has determined,
or shall detertinine, under existing circumstances, to withdraw from the
Union, we are unalterably opposed to any attempt on the part of the
federal government to coerce the same into re-union or submission, and
that we will resist the same by all the means in our power.”2

On the 2ist day of January ensuing, another resolution was
adopted by the Assembly. This was ‘‘Joint Resolution No. 2, con-
cerning the position of Virginia in the event of the dissolution of

the Union’’. It was as follows:

“Resolved by the general assembly of Virginia, That if all efforts to
reconcile the unhappy differences existing between the two sections of
the country shall prove to be abortive, then, in the opinion of the general
assembly, every consideration of honor and interest demands that Vir-
ginia, shall unite her destiny with the Slaveholding States of the
South.”3

The Assembly continued in session until April 4, 1861. Other

resolutions similar to the foregoing were adopted and many acts
of general legislation were enacted.

The State Convention and the Ordinace of Secession.

A majority of the members of the General Assembly differed in
their opinions from that of Governor Letcher, and on the 14th day
of January, but seven days after the session began, an act was
passed providing ‘‘For electing members of a Convention and to
convene the same.’’ Never before in the history of Virginia had
there been a State Convention which had not been authorized by
a majority vote of her people. Now this was changed, the Assembly
assuming the right to provide for and call a Convention. The dele-

. See message of Governor Letcher, pp 21-22—printed in the Senate Journal of
Extra Session of the General Assembly, convened at Richmond, January 7, 1861.

5 Acts of the Generni Assembly—Extra Session convened January 7, 1861—
Pp. 337.

a Acts md the General Assembly—Extra Session convened January 7, 1861.

/

10 How West VireintaA Was Mabe.

gates thereto were to be elected on the 4th of February, 1861, and
at the said election the Commissioners were required to ‘‘Open a
separate poll to take the sense of te qualified voters as to whether
any action of said Convention dissolving our connection with the
Federal Union or changing the Organic Law of the State, shall be
submitted to the people for ratification ; and in order to ascertain
the sense of the voters upon the question aforesaid, the said officers
shall cause to be kept a poll-book to be headed ‘‘Upon the ques-
tion of referring such action to the people for their dezision’’s
which poll-book shall have two columns—the one headed ‘‘For re-
ferring to the people,’’ and the other ‘‘ Against referring to the
people,’’ and the names of those who vote for the former shall be
written under the former heading, and those who vote for the lat-
ter, under the latter heading.”’

The date fixed for the assembling of the Convention was Wed-
nesday, the 13th of February. The number of Delegates was one
hundred and fifty-two, of whom forty-seven were from counties
now included in West Virginia. The Convention assembled on the
date fixed, and on that day there was a memorable scene in
and around the old State House at Richmond. There Virginia had
convened her renowned jurists, profoundest thinkers and literary
characters. There sat ex-President John Tyler, Henry A. Wise,
ex-Governor of the Commonwealth, and many others who had held
high positions in the councils of the State and Nation.

A temporary organization was effected by the election of James
H. Cox of Chesterfield County; and he was escorted to the chair
by George W. Summers and Spicer Patrick, the delegates from
Kanawha County—now in West Virginia. Then William F. Gor-
don, clerk of the House of Delegates, was appoined temporary
Secretary. A permanent organization was declared to he in order
and John Janney, of Loudon County, was elected President. In
his address to the Convention, he said:

‘‘T tender you my sincere and cordial thanks for the honor you
have conferred upon me, by calling me to preside over the delibera-
tions of the most important Convention that has been assembled
in this State since the year 1776 * * * It is not my purpose
to indicate the course which this body will probably pursue, or the
measures it may be proper to adopt. The opinions of today may
all be changed to-morrow. Events are thronging upon us, 3 and we
must deal with them as they present themselves. * *

Gentlemen: There is a flag which for nearly a century been
borne in triumph through the battle and the breeze, ahd which now

THE AcTION oF VIRGINIA. 11

floats over this capitol, on which there is a star representing this
ancient Commonwealth, and my earnest prayer, in which I know
every member of this body will cordially unite, is that it may re-
main forever; provided always that its luster is untarnished. We
demand for our own citizens perfect equality of rights with those
of the empire States of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio; but
we ask for nothing that we will not cheerfully concede to those of
lwelaware and Rhode Island. * * * :

(entiemen: This is no party Convention. It is our duty on an
s#on like this to elevate ourselves into an atmosphere in which
party passion and prejudice cannot exist—to conduct all our de-
‘erations with calmness and wisdom, and to maintain with firm-
vow. whatever position we may find it necessary to assume.’’

When the President finished his address, John L. Eubank of the
city of Richmond, was elected permanent Secretary. A Committee
on Federal Relations, consisting of twenty-one members, was ap-
pointed February 16, 1861. It consisted of Robert Y. Conrad, of
Frederick County; Henry A. Wise, of Princess Anne County;
Robert E. Seott, of Fanquier County; Wm. Ballard Preston, of
Montgomery County; Lewis E. Harvie, Amelia and Nottaway
Counties; William H. Mefarland, Richmond City; William Mce-
Comas, Cabell County; Robert Montague, Matthews and Middlesex
Counties; Samuel Price, Greenbrier County; Valentine W. South-
all, Albemarle County; Waitman T. Willey, Monongalia County;
James C. Bruce, Halifax County; William W. Boyd, Botetourt and
Craig Counties; James Barbour, Culpepper County; Samuel C.
Williams, Shenandoah County; Timothy Rives, Prince George and
Surry Counties; Samuel McD. Moore, Rockbridge County; George
Blow, Jr., Norfolk City; Peter C. Johnson, Lee and Scott Counties;
John B. Baldwin, Augusta County; John J. Jackson, Wood County
—seventeen from what is now Virginia, and four from what became
West Virginia.

On the same day the President appointed the following Commit-
tee on Elections, viz: Alpheus F. Haymond, of Marion County,
(now in West Virginia) ; William L. Goggin, of Bedford County;
William G. Brown, of Preston County, (now in West Virginia) ;
J. R. Chambliss, of the Greeneville-Sussex Delegate District; Allen
T. Caperton, of Monroe County, (now in West Virginia) ; William
Ambler, of Louisa County; Algernon S. Gray, of Rockingham
County; Eppa Hutton, of Prince William County; John A. Camp-
bell, of Wythe County; William M. Tredway, of Pittsylvania

4. See Journal of the Convention.—pp. 8, 9, 10.

12 How West Virainta Was Mane.

County; and Addison Hall of the Lancaster-Northumberland Del-
egate District.

The business of the Convention was now fairly begun, and reso-
lutions were poured upon the Convention with great rapidity, far
the greater number being referred to the Committee on Federal
Relations. They were expressive of divers sentiments and conflict-
ing opinions. The Governor was requested to furnish the number
ef Enrolled Militia and the number and character of arms distrib-
uted to Volunteer companies. # RESOLUTION OF HON. JAMES BUPLEY, THE DELEGATE FROM MARSHALL COUNTY,
IN THE RICHMOND CONVENTION, MAKCH 16, 1861.

Mr. Burley who sought to know why, if Virginia seceded from the
Union, one part of a State might not separate from the other part,

28 How West ViraintA Was MADE.

favor of striking West Virginia from Eastern Virginia and forming @
State independent of the South. and firm to the Union.”18

On the 26th of January, a large number of voters assembled at
Cameron, in Marshall County, and declared that it was ‘‘their duty
as well as interest to make their sentiments known, and they are,
that we are unfaltering in our devotion to the Union as bequeath-
ed our fathers; that the Union and Constitution have committed
no wrong, but have secured most graciously and admirably in our
mission, and continue so to do, if they are maintained.’’!*

On January 29th, a County Convention in Ohio county, declared
as follows: ;

“In the name and on behalf of the people of Ohio County, we do sol-
emnly declare and say “That the unity of Government which constitutes
one people, is still dear to us. It is a pillar in the edifice of our real
independence; the support of our tranquility at home—our peace abroad;
9 ats safety, of our prosperity; of that liberty which we so _ highly
prize.’’15

Another meeting in that county on the same day resolved:

“That we are loyal to ghe Constitution and the Union of the United
States, but we are unalterably opposed to Secession as being a doctrine,
in our opinion wholly unauthorized by the Constitution as In no degree
a remedy for any of the evils of which we complain; whatever may be
the doctrine of the Convention as to coercion.16

On February , 1861, a meeting of the citizens of Brooke
county resolved :

“That of all the people of these United States, we, the people of the
so called Pan-handle Region of Virginia, are the most to be affected by
the Secession of this State. By it we would be put in an “inferior con-
dition to these herein mentioned,” and subject only to taxation to sup-
port a Government in the extreme South, in which we have no interest
in common with the people.’’17

submitted a series of resolutions of which the following was the last;
this, on his motion, was laid on the table, and ordered to be printed:

“Resolved, That the right of revolution ahove recognized can be exercised as well
by a portion of the citizens of a State against their State government, as it can
be exercised by the whole people of a State against their Federal Government; and,
when the powers of a State Government are used for purposes of unjust discrimi-
nations against a portion of the citizens or a particular section of the State, in
imposing upon one portion or section an undue proportion of the burdens of
the State Government, and in exempting frora taxation a peculiar species of prop-
er‘y belonging, to a great extent, to ancther portion of the citizens and located
mostly in another section of the State, thus increasing taxation upon alli other
intvrests in order to favor a “peculiar interest’’; the people thus oppressed after hav-
ing exhausted all constitutional efforts to obtain redress, would be justified in resisting
the collection of al! revenue from them until the injustice aforesaid was removed.
And that any change of the relation Virginia now sustains to the Federal Govern-
ment, against the wishes of even a respectable minority of her people, would be
such an act of injustice perpetrated upon the rights of that minority as to justify
tiem in changing their relation to the State Government by separating themselves
from that section of the State that had thus wantoaly disregarded their interests
and defied their wi!l—particularly when the cause assigned for the change of Vir-
ginia’s relation to the said Fedetal Government is the alleged insecurity in the said
last mentioned Government of the peculiar species of property thus protected by
the organic law of the State from contributing its due share to the support of tho
gaid State Government 0) prohibiting the taxing of a large portion of said
property, and limiting the portion subject to taxation to a specific tax far less
than that imposed upon every other species of froperty.’’ See Journal of the Con-
vention—March 16, 1861. p. 104.

18. Published in the Plain Dealer and copied into the Wheeling Daily Intellli-
gencer—fFep. 4, 181.

14. See Daily Intelligencer——Jan. 29, 1861.

15. See Daily Intelligencer—Feb. 1, 1861.

16. See Daily Intelligencer—Jan. 30, 1861.

i7. See proceedings of mecting in Wellsburg Herald, copied into Wheeling Intelll-
gencer, Feb. 4, 1861.

29

As stated in Chapter I, page 14, the Convention sitting at Rich-
mond, adopted an Ordinance of Secession, April 17, 1861. We
have seen that because of this action on the part of the Conven-
tion, there was great rejoicing not only in Richmond, but through-
out all Eastern Virginia. But, how different were the conditions
in Northwestern Virginia. There anxious thousands impatiently
awaited intelligence from the capital city on the James. But none
came, for at that time, there was but one line of telegraph con-
necting the East with the West and that night—April 18th—it
was broken at Harper’s Ferry. On the streets of Morgantown,
Clarksburg, Weston, Parkersburg, Wheeling, Wellsburg, and
other towns, earnest men looked each other in the face to see
reflected back an expression of the feeling which agitated their
own breasts. Nothing definite was known in some of the counties
until the arrival home of delegates from Richmond. Then a thrill
of excitement shook the country from the Alleghenies to the Ohio,
and but a few days sufficed to fan into flame the sectional jealous-

MovEMENTS IN NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA.

ies of other years.

As previously stated, there were forty-seven members in that
Convention representing counties in Western Virginia—now West
Virginia. They were as follows, that is to say, from:

Barbour County—Samuel Woods.
Berkeley County—Allen C. Ham-
mod and Edmund Pendleton.
Brarton, Nicholas, Clay and Web-

ster—Benjamin W. Byrne.
Brooke County—Campbell Tarr.
Codell County—Wm. McComas.
Doddridge and Tyler—Chapman J.
Stuart.
Logan, Boone and Wyoming—James
Lawson.
Marion County—Alpheus F. Hay-
mond and Ephraim B. Hall.
Marshall County—James Burley.
Mason County—James H. Couch.
Mercer County—Napoleon B.
French.

Monongalia County—Waitman 7.
Willey, and Marshall M. Dent.
Fayette and Raleigh—Henry L.

Gillispie.
Gilmer, Wirt and Calthoun—C. B.
Conrad.
Greenbrier County—Samuel Price.
Hampshire County—Edward M.
Armstrong and David Pugh.
Hancock County—George McC. Por-

ter.
Hardy County—Thomas Maslin.

Harrison County—John S. Carlile
and Benjamin Wilson.

Jackson and Roane—Franklin P.
Turner.

Jefferson County—Alfred M. Bar-
bour and Logan Osburn.

Kanawha County—George W. Sum-
mers and Spicer Patrick.

Lewis County—Caleb Boggess.

| Monroe County—Allen T. Caperton

and John Echols.

Morgan County—Johnson Orick.
Ohio County—Sherrard Clemens
and Chester D. Hubbard.

Pendleton County—-Henry H. Mas-
ters.

Pocahontas County—Paul McNeil.

Pleasants and RKichie—Cyrus Hall.

Preston County—Wm. G. Brown
and James C. McGrew.

Putnam County—James W. Hoge.

Randolph and Tucker—John N.
Hughes.

Taylor County—John S. Burdett.

Upshur County—George W. Berlin.

| Wayne County—Burwell Spurlock

| Wetzel County—Leonard S. Hall.

Wood County—John J. Jackson.

30 How West VirerstA Was MADE.

Of these members from what became West Virginia those voting
against the Ordinance of Secession, were:

Edward M. Armstrong, George W. Berlin, Caleb Boggess, Wm.
G. Brown, John S. Burdett, James Burley, Benjamin W. Byrne,
John 8. Carlile, Sherrard Clemens, C. B. Conrad, James H. Couch,
Alpheus F. Haymond, Chester D. Hubbard, John J. Jackson, Wm.
MeComas, James ©. MeGrew, Henry H. Masters, Logan Osburn,
Spicer Patrick, Edmund Pendleton, George McC. Porter, Samuel
Price. David Pugh, Marshall M. Dent, Ephraim B. Hall, Allen C,
Hammond, James W. Hoge, Burwell Spurlock, Chapman J. Stu-
art, George W. Summers, Campbell Tarr and Waitman T. Willey
—thirty-two in all.

Those voting for the Ordinance were:

Allen T. Caperton, John Echols, Napoleon B. French, James
Lawson, Johnson Orick, Henry L. Gillispie, Cyrus Hall, Leonard
S. Hall, John N. Hughes, Samuel Woods and Franklin P. Tarner—
eleven in all. ,

Those not voting upon the question were Thomas Maslin, Ben-
jamin Wilson, Alfred M. Barbour and Paul MecNeil—four in all.

Those who voted in the negative and afterward changed to the
affirmative, were George W. Berlin and Alpheus F. Haymond.

Those who did not vote, but afterwards signed the Ordinance of
Secession, were Alfred M. Barbour and Paul MeNeil.

The Western members who voted against the Ordinance hasten-
ed to leave Richmond. John S. Carlile departed for his home in
Harrison County, the evening of the same day on which the vote
was taken. The next day there was a meeting of delegates from the
Western part of the State. in the room of Sherrard Clemens at the
Powhatan (now Ford’s) hotel in the city, to determine upon a
course of action. Among those present were James Burley, Sher-
rard Clemens, Marshall M. Dent, Ephraim B. Hall, Chester D.
Hubbard, John J. Jackson, James C. McGrew, Spicer Patrick,
Chapman J. Stuart, George MeD. Porter and Campbell Tarr. Nei-
ther Waitman T. Willey nor William G. Brown was present, they
not having been present when the call was made for the hurried
gathering. General Jackson acted as chairman; and _ it was re-
solved that all should leave the Convention city for their homes on
the first train, proceeding by way of Alexandria and Washington,
Chester D. Hubbard and Sherrard Clemens, the latter of whom
was stil suffering from a wound received in a duel with O. Jen-
nings Wise, proceeded to Baltimore, and thence by way of Har-

MoveMENTS IN NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA. 31

risburg and Pittsburg to Wheeling, where they arrived on the
19th of April. Waitman T, Willey, William G. Brown, Caleb
Boggess and others speedily reached their homes over the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad. A day or two later George W. Summers,
‘James H. Couch, James W. Hoge and others left Richmond for
their homes by way of Staunton and Lewisburg; and thus the
membership from the Western part of the State was greatly re-
duced.'8

in” ViRGINIANS EXPELLED ‘FROM THE CONVENTION—VACANCIES
As stated elsewhere. the State Convention at Richmond held one Regular Session
and two Adjourned Sessions. The kegilar Session began Wednesday, February 12,
18¢1, and ended July }. 1861. The Secrnd Adjourned Session began Wednesday,
November 12. 1861, and ended December 6, 1861. -

On Thursday, June 20, 1861, Alpheus F. Haymond, one of the Delegates from
Marion County, West Virginia, and Chairman of the Committee on Elections and
lrivileges. presented a “Report in Relation to Abcent Members’’ in which it was
sited that this Committee “had come to the following conclusions and observa-
tions, to-wit-

First, As to the members ef the Convention who are absent: Caleb Boggess, of
Lewis county; Sherray Clemens, of Ohio county; John Echols, of Monroe coun-
ty: James W. Hoge otf Putnam county: Thomas Maslin, of Hardy county; Spicer
Patrick. of Kanawha connty; Edmurd Perdieton, of Berkeley county; Burwell
Snurlock® of Wayne county; Frenklin P. Turner, of Jackson county; and Benjamin
Wilson, of Harrison county, who have not as yet attended the Convention during its
present session (the first adjourned session) ; some are in the fleld serving the State;
some are detained on account of sickness, and others ure absent from causes unknown
to the Committee. It has not been able to ascertain that these members are absent
from their seats by reason of disloyalty to Virginia or sympahy with her enemy.

Secondly, As to certain other absent members :—It appearing to the satisfaction
of the Committee that William G. Brown and James C. McGrew, of Preston county ;
James Burley, of Marschall county; John ‘S. Burdett ,of Taylor county; John
S. Cariile, of Harrison county; Marshall M. Dent and Waitman T. Willey, of
Monongalia county ; Chester D. Hubbard, of Ohio county; George McC. Porter. of
Hancock county; Chapman J. Stuart, of Doddridge county; Campbell Tarr, of
Brooke county; and John J. Jacksen, of Wood county, elected members of this Con-
vention, have been engaged in a conspiracy against the Commonwealth of Virginia,
and are now engaged in aiding and abetting the open evemies of Virginia :—There-
fore, RESOLVED, That the said William G. Brown, John S. Burdett, John S. Carlile,
Marshall M. Dent, Waitman T. Willey, Chester D. Hubbard, John J. Jackson, George
McC. Porter, Chapman J. Stuart and Campbell Tarr, be and they are hereby expelled
from this Convention and that their seats be and are hereby declared vacant.

Thirdly, The Committee further report that James H. Couch, of Mason county ; and
George W. Summers, of Kanawha county, have resigned their seats; that elections
to fill their vacancies have been held, but official information has not been received
as to who is elected. .

On motion, the Report was laid on the table, ordered printed, and the Committee in-
structed to report the tesimony on which the Report was based. See Journal of the
Convention. Vol. I, P. 257: and Documents No. XXVII, of the Convention.

On June 28th, the Resolution in the above Report came up for action. A division
of the question was @emanded and ordered The next day the name of Wil-
liam G. Brown, of Preston county, was called and he was expelled by a vote of seven-
ty-three yeas to eleven nays. Then James Burley and John S. Burditt were ex-
pelled the same day the vote standing eighty-five yeas; nays one. Next came the
name of John 5S. Carlile who was expelled, the vote being eighty-two yeas; nays one.
Then the seats of Marshall M. Dent, Ephraim B. Hall, and Chester D. Hubbard were
declared vacant, John J. Jackson was exyelled at the game time, the vote sanding

lution so far as it related to James C. McGrew, George McC. Porter, Chapman J.
Stuart and Campbell Tarr, and they were expelled. Mr. Haymond of Marion county,
the chairman of the Comraittee, then moved that so much of the Resolution #8 re-
lated to Waitman T. Willey be recommitted to the Committee, This was om Set.
urday, June 29th, and on Monday, July ist, the Convention adjourned to mee again
on the 13th of November elsulns.

It reassembled at the time, t is being the beginning of the second adjouried ses-
sion. Three days later—November 16th—the Convention adopted the following
resolution :

“Resolved, That Waitman T. Willey be and he is hereby expelled as a member of
this body on account of his disicyalty to the Confederate States and his adherence
to the enemies of the same * (See Journal of the Convention, Vol. I, p. 326.) Mean-
time, John N. Hughes, the delegate from Randolph county, had been killed in the
Confederate army at the Battle of Rich Mountain, July ii, 1861.)

32

How West Virewi, Was Mane.

By the 20th of April a number of the returned delegates from
the Northwest were narrating to great gatherings of interested
hearers their recent experiences, and urging them to prepare for
resistance of the Secession movement at the ballot-box, on the fol-
lowing 23rd of May. Now it was that there began a series of meet-
ings which have no parallel in the history of our country, nor else-
‘where, unless it be the citizen assemblies in the early days of the
French Revolution ; and this too, in a sparsely settled region where
the facilities for convening were of the most primitive character.

At an immense mass meeting in Monongalia County, April 22d,
at which Hon. Francis H. Pierpont and Hon. William G. Brown

were the orators: it was resolved that:

The time had come when every friend of the Union should rally to
the support of the flag of his country, and defend the same; that the
people of Monongalia. regardless of past affiliations, hereby enter their
solemn protest against the Secession of the State; and that they owed
undying fidelity to the Union: and that they would cling to it despite

November 18th, Mr. aapment reported Document No. 34, which provided for filling
vacancies in the membership of the Convention. During the recess between July ist
and November 13th, elections were held In the Centederate military camps, from t
West Virginia counties, in b og there were vacancies, and the soldiers voted ee
successors to the members who had been expelled. Six soldiers from Marion county
voted at the Court House in Richmond and elected a successor to Ephraim B. Hall.
eum, the 19th of November the Convention adopted a Preamble and Resolution as
a ?

_ ‘ana Whereas, These vacancies could not be filled in the mode prescribed by law,
in consequence of the occupation of said counties by the public enemy—

“And Whereas, The Governor in order to provide for the exigency, issued a procla-
mation (advisory in its perenne inviting the loyal citizens of those counties to
vote in their respective camps for delegates to fill these vacancies. Under said

roclamation, elections were accordingly held in several camps, at which elections
poy H. Pendleton was chosen es the successor of Chester D. Hubbard of Ohio

shall M. Dent of = county ; Robert ‘Cow and C. J. Cresap

William G. Brown and James C. MeGrew, respective’ Preston county; John A

Robinson to succeeed J S. Burdett of Taylor county; William P. euc-
John S. Carlile of Harrison county ; ard

of the Randolph- .
“ it Th Ordained, That elections be and the same are hereby ratified,
5 said Jos "Seoeg h H. Pendleton, Joseph D. Pickett, Jefferson T. Martin, Jonathan

was laid on t le.

deavored secure action on this Report, but was unable so. Two later
A"ras pani called” wp. but, ction Danponed, Tt was the last Gay of the Genven:
tion and matter was nevermore heard

MovEMENTS IN NORTHWESTERN ViIRéINIA, 33

the efforts of the people of Eastern Virginia to precipitate them into
the gulf of Secession, and consequent ruin.19
By a great mass meeting of the citizens of Wetzel County, at

New Martinsville, April 22d, it was resolved :

“That Secession is not the remedy for the troubles so unfortunately
resting wpon our country, and we believe it would be for the interest of
Virginia to remain in the Union, believing that our rights can be main-
tained in the Union, but that they will certainly be erdangered out of it.”
Purther, they resolved, “That the Union sentiment of this people is such
that we pledge our votes against any act of Secession which would sever
us as a State from the Federal Government.”20

THE CONVENTION AT CLARKSBURG IN HARRISON
COUNTY—CALL FOR UNITED ACTION.

All had been independent action in the individual counties, but
now they were to act together. It remained for a call for united
action to go out from Clarksburg—the birthplace of Stonewall
Jackson. There, on Monday, April 22d, 1861, nearly twelve hun-
dred citizens of Harrison County convened in compliance with a
call issued forty-eight hours previously. The Convention was or-
ganized by the election of John Hursey, as Chairman, and John W.
Harris, Secretary. There were eminent speakers present, and
great enthusiasm prevailed. Before adjournment, Hon. John S.
Carlile, submitted the following preamble and resolutions which
were adopted without a dissenting voice a

PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS.

WHERBAS, The Convention now in session in this State, called by the
Legislature. the members of which had been elected twenty months before
said call, at a time when no such action as the assemblage of a conven-
tion by legislative enactment was eontemplated by the people, or expected
by the members they elected in May, 1859, at which time no one antici-
pated the troubles recently brought upon our common country by the
extraordinary action of the State authorities of South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Lovisiana, and Texas, has, contrary to the
expectation of a large majority of the people of this State, adopted an
ordinance withdrawing Virginia from the Federal Union. .

And WHEREAS, By the law calling said Convention, it 1s expressly de
clared that no such ordinance shall have force or effect, or be of binding
obligation upon the people of this State, until the same shall be ratified
by the voters at the poiis.

And WHEREAS, We have seen with regret that demonstrations of
hostility, unauthorized by law, and inconsistent with the duty of law-
abiding citizens, still owing allegiance to the Federal Government, have
been made by a portion of the people of this State against the said
Government.

And WHEREAS, The Governor of this Commonwealth has, by pro-
slamation, undertaken to decide for the people of Virginia, that which
they have reserved to themselves, the right to decide by their votes at
the polls, and has called upon the volunteer soldiery of this State to re-
port to him and hold themselves in readiMess to make war upon the
19. ooo Weanee “rection and Formation of the State of West Virginia.” p. 39.
20. See ing Daily Intelligencer—April 25, 1 !

* See J. H. Diss Debar’s “Hand-Book of West Virginia,” pp. 13, 14, 15. Also
the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer of April 26. 1861. ;

84 ! How West Viretnia Was Mabe.

Federal Government, which Government is Virginia’s Government, and
must in law and of right continue so to be, until the people of Virginia
shall, by their votes, and through the ballot-box, that great conservator
of a free people’s liberties, decide otherwise.

And WHEREAS, The peculiar situation of Northwestern Virginia, se-
parated as it is by natura) barriers from the rest of the State, pre-
cludes all hope of timely succor in the hour of danger from other por-
tions of the State, and demands that we should look to and provide
for our own safety in the fearful emergency in which we now find our-
selves placed by the action of our State authorities, who have disregarded
the great fundamental principle upon which our beautiful system of
Government is based, to-wit: “That all governmental power is derived
from the consent of the governed,” and have without consulting the
people, placed this State in hostility to the Federal Government by
seizing upon its ships and obstructing the channel at the mouth of Eliza-
beth river; by wresting from the Federal officers at Norfolk and Rich-
mond the custom houses; by tearing from the Nation’s property the
Nation’s flag, and putting in its place a bunting, the emblem of rebellion,
and by marching upon the National Armory at Haryper’s Ferry; thus
inaugurating a war without consulting those in whose name they pro-
fess to act.

And WHEREAS, The exposed condition of Northwestern Virginia re-
quires that her people should be united in action, and harmonious in
purpose—there being a perfect identity of interests in times of war as
well as in peace—Therefore,

Be it RESOLVED. That it be and is hereby recommended to the peo-
ple in each and all of the counties composing Northwestern Virginia to
appoint delegates, not less than five in number, of their wisest, best,
and discreetest men, to meet in Convention on the 13th day of May next,
to consult and determine upon such action as the people of Northwestern
Virginia should take in the present fearful emergency.

RESOLVED, That Hon. John S. Carlile, Waldo P. Goff, Hon. Charles 8.
Lewis, John J. Davis, Solomon S. Fleming, Lot Bowen, Dr. William Dun-
kin, William E. Lyon, Felix Sturm and James Lynch, be and are here-
by appointed delegates to represent this county in said Convention.

JOHN HURSEY, President.

JOHN W. HARRIS, Secretary. :

That evening, Mr. C. E. Ringler, editor and proprietor of the

Western Virginia Guard, published at Clarksburg, issued an extra
edition of his paper in which was printed an ‘‘ Address of the
Convention to the people of Northwestern Virginia.’’ In this the
foregoing ‘‘Preamble and Resolutions’’ were embodied. Messengers
mounted on horse-back, bore copies of the Guard to Weston, King-
wood and Morgantown, and to adjoining and adjacent counties.
Other copies were distributed along the lines of railroad westward
to Wheeling and Parkersburg; eastward to Martinsburg, and
even to the Lower Potomac. The time was short—but twenty
days—the emergency great, and from Hancock County to Wayne
and from Wood, to Berkeley, the people hastened to comply with
the request of the Clarksburg Convention. Public meetings were
held in counties, in cities, jn towns, at churches, school-houses, and
eross-roads, and delegates appointed to the proposed Convention
at Wheeling. Days seemed weeks, but time passed and brought
the eventful 13th day of May, 1861.

PROCEEDINGS
OF THE FIRST CONVENTION OF
THE PEOPLE OF NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA AT
WHEELING, VIRGINIA.

FIRST DAY.

(See Roll of Members at end of the Second Day’s Proceedings.)

MONDAY, MAY 13, 1861.
FORENOON PROCEEDINGS.”

‘“The Convention of Delegates from twenty-seven Western Vir-
ginia Counties assembled in this city, at Washington Hall, yes-
terday at 11 o’clock. On motion of Chester D. Hubbard, Maj.
William B. Zinn, of Preston county, was called to the chair. Hon.
John S. Carlile, of Harrison County, conducted Mr. Zinn to the
chair. Mr. Zinn returned thanks for the honor conferred upon
him in appointing him temporary chairman of the Convention;
eraved the indulgence of the house, and said he would discharge
the duties te the best of his humble abilities. (Applause.) George

1. Hon. Granville Davidson Ha!l who was the stenographic reporter of the First
and Second Conventions of the People of North Western Virginia in 1861, was born
in Harrison County, now West Virginia, September 17, 1837. He received a liberal
education and was early interested in Hterature. In 1859 he entered the em ploy of
the Wheeling Intelligencer. In 1860 he was one of the Virginia State Electors on
the Lincoln and Hamlin ticket. The following pages of this work give evidence as
te the character of his work in reporting the Proceedings and Journals of the Con-
ventions of 1861. He was the first clerk of the West Virginia House of Delegates,
his term beginning June 20, 1863—the natal day of the State. In 1864, he was
eleeted Secretary of State for the term of two years, serving from March 4

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40386001_0221%3A1. Public record. Not legal advice.