CHAPTER XXVII

VIRGINIA DISMEMBERED

T SEEMS proper at this point to give a brief account of the dismemberment of Virginia and of the formation of the "restored Government" at Wheeling, although Mr. Stuart had no connection with them, in order that the political situation in Virginia at the close of the war between the States may be understood. In 1859, John Letcher was elected Governor of Virginia, succeeding Wise, and entered upon the duties of his office, January 1st, 1860. In the following November, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States by the agitators and by the extreme anti-slavery party. As soon as the result of the election was known in the Southern States, there was great excitement, and conventions were called to take action as to the best course to pursue. Several of these States passed ordinances of secession, and Virginia was urged to cast her lot with them.

It was in this condition of public affairs that Governor Letcher called an extra session of the General Assembly, as provided by the Constitution, to meet in Richmond on January 7th, 1861, to take into consideration the alarming condition of the country. One week after the Assembly convened, an act was passed, on January 14th, 1861, providing for the election of members of a Convention to assemble in Richmond on Wednesday, February 13th. The election was to be held on February 4th, and a separate poll was to be opened, "to take the sense of the 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 or rejection."

It was further provided that immediately upon the pas sage of the act providing for the Convention, the Governor should issue a proclamation giving notice of the time of holding the election and of the meeting of the Convention. The Convention was to consist of one hundred and fifty-two members, to be chosen for and by the several counties and cities, as prescribed by the constitution of the State for the election of members of the House of Delegates. The delegates were duly elected, and at the same time the people by a large majority decided that any action taken by the Convention should be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection. The Convention assembled on February 13th; the ordinance of secession was passed on April 17th, and was submitted to the people on the 25th day of May, 1861, when it was ratified by an overwhelming majority. The vote in the counties east of the Alleghany Mountains was almost unanimous for ratification, while in those west of those mountains it was nearly as decisive in favor of rejection.

As soon as the ordinance of secession was passed, most of the members representing the counties and cities west of the Alleghany Mountains withdrew from the Convention and determined to oppose the action taken by every means in their power. Meetings were at once called in a number of those counties denouncing the action of the Richmond Convention in passing the ordinance of secession. One of these meetings, under the leadership of John S. Carlisle, who had been a delegate to the Richmond Convention, was held at Clarksburg, and was attended by a very large number of citizens from various counties. Resolutions were adopted declaring that the action resorted to by the secessionists to transfer the State from its allegiance to the Federal Government to the so-called Confederate States, was wholly unjustifiable and that they would resist such action to the bitter end. The meeting also recommended that the people of each of the counties in Northwestern Virginia should appoint not less than five delegates from each county to meet in convention at Wheeling on the 13th of May following "to determine upon such action as the people of

Western Virginia should take in the present fearful emergency."

In response to this invitation delegates were chosen and met in Wheeling on the appointed day. The convention was organized and the committee on credentials reported delegates from twenty-six counties present. The convention was divided upon the question of immediate action. Carlisle favored immediate action, division of the State, and the formation of a government for the counties represented. On the other hand, W. T. Willey insisted that this was an informal meeting, and that the convention could not bind the people by its action. He declared with much force that the vote of the people of Virginia upon the ordinance of secession had not been taken, and, therefore, the State of Virginia still had a government which was recognized by the Constitution of the United States, and any action taken for the purpose of forming a new government would be revolutionary.

An acrimonious debate arose which lasted two days, and it seemed as if nothing would be accomplished. Finally the committee on state and federal relations asked leave to report, and this interrupted the discussion. The report reviewed the secession controversy from its inception to that time; declared that the loyalty of the people represented there to the Union would continue in spite of the efforts of the people in the eastern part of the State to take them out; and recommended in the event of the ratification of the ordinance of secession at the election to be held on May 23rd, 1861, the day appointed for taking the vote, that the people in the various counties appoint delegates on June 4th to meet in a general convention on the 11th of the same month at some place to be thereafter designated, "to devise such measures as the safety and welfare of the people they represented should demand, each county to appoint a number of representatives to the convention equal to double the number to which it was entitled in the next House of Delegates; and that the senators and delegates to be elected at the general election on the fourth Thursday in May

should be entitled to seats in the convention as members." The report also recommended that a committee of nine members should be appointed with power to carry into effect the objects of the convention.

The report was unanimously adopted; the central committee was appointed, and this convention, known as "The First Wheeling Convention," adjourned sine die.1

At the election held on May 23rd, the ordinance of secession was ratified by a large majority in the State at large, but the vote of the counties west of the Alleghany Mountains was largely for rejecting it. Delegates were elected in these last named counties on June 4th, as provided by the Wheeling Convention, and met on the 11th of that month in what is known as "The Second Wheeling Convention." Thirty-five counties were represented with seventy-seven delegates. The convention was organized, and a committee of thirteen members was appointed to prepare and report business. The officers and members were sworn to support the Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof as the supreme law of the land, anything in the ordinances of the Convention which assembled in Richmond on February 13th, 1861, to the contrary notwithstanding, and no reference was made to the Constitution of Virginia.

On June 13th, the committee submitted a report entitled: "A Declaration of the People of Virginia, represented in Convention at the City of Wheeling, Thursday, June 13, 1861." After appealing to the Supreme Ruler of the universe for the rectitude of their intentions, this Declaration proceeds: "We *** 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 in property imperatively demand the reorganization of the government of the Commonwealth, and that all acts of said Convention and Executive tending to

Virginia and Virginians, Vol. 1, page 358.

separate this Commonwealth from the United States, or to levy or carry on war against them, are without authority and void; and that the offices of all who adhere to said Convention and Executive, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, are vacated."

The report was adopted on June 17th, and the convention proceeded to reorganize the government of Virginia. On June 19th an ordinance was passed authorizing the convention to appoint a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Attorney-General for the State of Virginia, “to discharge the duties and exercise the powers which pertain to their respective offices by the existing laws of the State, and to continue in office for six months, or until their successors be elected and qualified."

The ordinance also declared that the delegates elected to the General Assembly on the 23rd day of May, 1861, and the senators entitled under existing laws to seats in the next General Assembly, together with such delegates and senators as might be elected under the ordinances of the Convention or existing laws to fill vacancies, who should qualify themselves by the oath or affirmation set forth, should constitute the Legislature of the State to discharge the duties and exercise the powers pertaining to the General Assembly. They were to assemble in the City of Wheeling on the 1st day of July, 1861, and proceed to organize themselves, as prescribed by existing laws, in their respective branches. They were to take an oath swearing or affirming that they would 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 ordinance of the Convention which assembled in Richmond on the 13th of February, 1861, to the contrary notwithstanding; and that they would uphold and defend the Government of Virginia as vindicated and restored by the convention which assembled at Wheeling on June 11th, 1861.

1Acts of Assembly, 1861-65, page 40.