USA > West Virginia > Preston County > History of Preston County (West Virginia) > Part 13
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"Resolved, That when we elected Delegates to the State Convention in February last, we never dreamed that the convention should have or exercise power to declare war, raise armies, appropriate money, set aside our election for
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representatives in Congress, or to elect for us delegates to the government of the Confederate States, or to do anything that would change our relations to the Federal Government without first giving the people the right at the polls to de- cide these great questions for themselves.
"Resolved, That if the manner of electing the first dele- gates to the Southern Congress is a fair foretaste of what the people who connected themselves with the new confed- eracy are to enjoy, it is discouraging in the extreme to the friends of free elections.
"Resolved, That we respond most heartly to the profes- sions of friendship expressed by the people of our neighbor- ing County of Fayette [Pa.] in the meeting lately held at Uniontown; that we have always looked upon the citizens of all the States, both North and South, as our fellow-coun- trymen, but with the people of Pennsylvania and the States northwest of the Ohio, we have been closely connected in trade and commerce, identified in interest, and, above all, allied by kindred and affection, and any interruptions of our friendly relations can never be brought about by any act of ours.
"Resolved, That the course of the metropolitan press, ap- parently sanctioned by the people of Richmond and many others during the sitting of the convention, toward the faithful and patriotic members of the northwestern counties of the State, has not done much to strengthen the ties that have so long bound us to our eastern brethren.
"Resolved, That there is not and never can be any iden- tity of material interest between the western and eastern portions of the State of Virginia; that the people of the two sections are separated from each other by barriers erected by the God of nature himself, and which can not be removed by the hand of man; and that it is, therefore, impossible for them ever to become a homogeneous people-a people with like interests or pursuits, requiring for their prosperity and happiness the same laws and institutions.
"Resolved, That in consideration of the foregoing facts,
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and the manifest determination of the people of Eastern Virginia to disrupt our connection with the Federal Union without our consent, and to unite the destinies of the State with a Southern Confederacy and thereby denationalize us, it is due from them to us that they unite with us in bringing about a division of the State on such terms and with such boundaries as may be just to all and will be most conducive to our internal tranquillity and the future prosperity of both sections.
"Resolved, That our true and faithful representatives in the Virginia State Convention, the Hon. William G. Brown and James C. McGrew, Esq., are deserving of the thanks of their constitutents, and that, whilst we return to them our thanks, we do not forget all those good and true men who earnestly labored with them in that body, for the mainten- nance of our rights and the preservation of the Union.
"Resolved, That, whereas it is contemplated by the coun- ties of Northwestern Virginia to hold a convention in the city of Wheeling on the 13th inst., for the purpose of con- sulting and determining what course the Northwest should pursue in the present disturbed condition of the country, and in view of the holding of said convention, your commit- tee would suggest that the meeting appoint four delegates from each district to attend said convention to represent the the people of this county therein.
"Resolved, That it be recommended to the people of this Congressional district, at the election on the 23d day of May, to vote for and elect a Delegate to a seat in the next Congress of the United States."
The following list of Delegates were appointed to the Wheeling Convention, to meet on the 13th of May :
District No. 1-H. C. Hagans, A. D. Hagans, Robert C. Crooks and Harrison Hagans.
District No. 2-David Graham, Solomon Miller, Jehu Jenkins and William Conner.
District No. 3-John Rodeheaver, William H. King, James W. Brown and William T. Kelley.
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District No. 4-Charles Hooton, Summers McCrum, John Elsey and John W. Bishoff.
District No. 5-William B. Zinn, John M. Jeffers, Isaiah Kirk and Joseph Deberry.
District No. 6-Alexander Shaw, James A. Brown, William T. Brown, Jesse T. McGinnis and Reuben Morris.
District No. 7-William P. Fortney, D. A. Litzenger, John Howard, William E. Tutt and George H. Kidd.
District No. 8-James G. Campbell, Albert L. Hooton, O. Purinton and H. LeBosquet.
Eloquent speeches were then made by William B. Zinn, John A. Dille and James A. Brown, after which the meeting adjourned.
Union meetings were still held at many different points in the county. One assembled at Coal Hill, and boldly advan- ced the idea of the separation of Western Virginia from the eastern part of the State. E. E. Hall was president of this meeting, and M. D. Orr secretary.
On the 13th of May, 1861, delegates from all the counties of Northwestern Virginia assembled in the city of Wheeling. At eleven o'clock a. m., the delegates assembled at Wash- ington Hall. It was an assemblage different from the gen- eral gatherings of conventions brought together by politicians and for ordinary political action. The faces of a class cf men were seen in this, that were always absent from the usual political conventions-men who never sought political preferment at the hands of the people-men who, awakened to the necessity of action by the crisis of the times, had come to the front to aid in devising measures for the best interests of Western Virginia. The meeting was called to order by Chester D. Hubbard, of Ohio County, upon whose motion William B. Zinn, of Preston, was called to the chair. George R. Latham was appointed temporary secretary, and the Rev. Peter T. Laishley, a delegate from Monongalia County, offered up prayer to the Deity for divine aid. In the afternoon, John W. Moss, of Wood County, was. elected president. Twenty-six counties were represented.
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
A committee consisting of one member from each county rep- resented, was appointed on State and Federal relations. Waitman T. Willey, of Monongalia, and Charles Hooton of Preston, were members of this committee.
On the second day the work of the convention began. It was determined to adopt a plan of immediate action. The nature of that plan gave rise to a very exciting controversy, The convention divided into two parties. One-the radical, or revolutionary-advocated the organization of Western Virginia into a State by the convention ; the other-the con- servative, or constitutional-advocated that authorized re. sistance to the illegal action of the government of Virginia at Richmond be recommended by the convention to the people of Western Virginia. They held that, until the government of Virginia at Richmond declared the State out of the Union, Western Virginia had no right that would be recognized by the General Government, to elect delegates to constitute a government to represent the State of Virginia, to say nothing of the idea of forming a new State in violation of the mode prescribed in the Constitution of the United States. The Revolutionary party was led by John S. Carlisle, and some of its supporters came to the city, at the heads of delegations with banners bearing the inscription, "New Virginia now or never." Waitman T. Willey was the able leader of the Con- stitutional party.
In the commencement of the contest the majority of the convention was with Carlisle. Old memories came up of the vast system of internal improvements built up by Eastern Virginia, and denial of sufficient appropriations for needed improvements in Western Virginia. Now, to these delegates seemed the opportune moment to carry into effect the long- cherished hope of separation from the eastern part of the State. At first, the delegates from Preston, with but a single exception, were with Carlisle. But after the discussion had waxed warm, and Willey had explained his views, they went solid with the conservative party.
The situation was perilous indeed. Northwestern Virginia
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
without organization, was powerless to offer effective resist- ance to seceesion. To organize against Letcher's govern- ment at Richmond (which was the legal government of the State, but acting illegally)-in what manner was it to be done so that it might rightfully aud lawfully claim the sup- port of the general government at Washington? This was the perplexing question. Both parties agreed that the fu- ture course of Northwestern Virginia should be that of or- ganized resistance to secession, but they differed as to the mode.
On the third day, at night, the committee on State and Federal relations reported through its chairman, Campbell Tarr. The report declared the ordinance of secession to be unconstitutional, null and void ; that the prohibition of the election of Congressmen at the May election was a usurpa- tion of power ; that the placing of the military power of the State under the control of the president of the Confederate States was a violation of the Constitution of the State It recommended the people to vote against secession; to vote for members of Congress of the United States; and, in the event of the ratification of the unconstitutional ordinance of secession by the people of the State, it further recommended the counties there represented, and any others disposed to co operate, to appoint, on the 4th day of June, 1861, dele- gates to a general convention to meet on the 11th of June. Each county was to appoint double the number of delegates to this convention that it was entitled to in the next House of Delegates; and the Senators and Delegates to be elected were to have seats in the convention. The report concluded with the view that Northwestern Virginia could lawfully and successfully appeal for a separation from the rest of the State, and form a government that would give effect to the wishes, views and interests of the people thereof. This report was adopted by the convention; there being but two dissenting voices in its five hundred members. The Hon. William G. Brown, of Preston, was called on, and he made an eloquent and powerfnl speech in favor of the Union, and of Western
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
Virginia acting constitutionally in organizing against the Government at Richmond. He said that if Western Vir- ginia so acted, the general government at Washington would support her; that the Southern Confederacy, being in a mi- nority, must eventually be conquered by the general govern- ment, which had for its support the North and the great Northwest ; and that the conquest of the South by the gen- eral government was but a question of time. The "Star Spangled Banner" was sung by the whole assembly, num- bering over a thousand persons, three cheers for the Union were given, and the convention adjourned.
During the session of the convention, a central committee was appointed to designate the place of meeting for the con- vention of June 11th. Its members were, John S. Carlisle, James S. Wheat, Chester D. Hubbard, Francis H. Pierpoint, Campbell Tarr, George R. Latham, Andrew Wilson, S. H. Woodward and James W. Paxton. After the convention ad- journed, this committee met and designated Wheeling as the place for the convention of June 11th to hold its session, and issued an address to the people of Northwestern Vir- ginia, urging them to oppose secession as the only means of saving themselves from civil war, and to send delegates to the June convention, which was to organize action. The address further requested the people to recollect the words of Howell Cobb, the president of the Montgomery Conven- tion, who had said that the people of the Gulf States need entertain no fears of any fighting in their States, as the the- ater of war would be along the Ohio River and in Virginia; and to remember that Daniel Webster had declared, in 1851, that the inhabitants of that portion of Virginia between the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio and Kentucky borders, could not hope to remain a part of Virginia one day after Virginia had ceased to be a part of the United States.
War was now regarded as inevitable, and events trans- piring indicated that its first operations would take place on the borders of Virginia. On the 21st of May, the Confeder- ate government was removed to the City of Richmond.
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
The war inaugurated by the bombardment of Fort Sumter, was now about to open in Virginia between the General Government and the Southern Confederacy, and we come to chronicle the death of Bailey Brown, the first man killed in the Great Rebellion, and who was a native of Preston. It is generally supposed that Colonel Ellsworth, who was shot at Alexandria, was the first victim of the war. Such is not the fact. Bailey Brown was the first man killed by soldiers, and the following account of the affair, in which he was shot, is given by Major W. P. Cooper in a letter to the Philadel- phia Times, in 1877, and verified to-day by his relatives and persons now living who saw his body the next day after he was killed.
Early in May, 1861, Governor Letcher and his council sent George A. Porterfield, with the rank of Colonel, into North- western Virginia, to organize the companies there being raised under the call for State troops. A company from Marion County, under the command of William P. Thomp- son, and two companies from Taylor County, one under com- mand of John A. Robinson, and the other under G. W. Hans- brough, rendevoused at Fetterman, one mile and a half be- low Grafton, on the 20th of May, 1861. On the 22d, the Harrison Guards of Clarksburg, under the command of W. P. Cooper, joined them. The combined force marched that evening up to Grafton and back to Fetterman. In the mean- time a "Union" company was formed at Grafton, and that night it marched down to the edge of Fetterman, where it halted about 9 o'clock, and sent two of its members, Bailey Brown and Daniel Wilson, forward to reconnoitre. They went down the railroad until they came near the run at the eastern end of the town, where Daniel W. S. Knight and George Glenn, of Captain Robinson's company, were sta- tioned. Knight commanded them to halt. They continued to advance, and Knight repeated his command once or twice. Brown by this time was close to Knight, and, drawing his re- volver, fired upon him, the ball passing through his ear. Knight, who was armed with an old-fashioned smooth-bore,
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
musket, loaded with slugs, returned the shot, and one of the slugs struck Bailey Brown in the breast, passing through his heart, killing him instantly. His body was taken to the town. hall, occupied by the Harrison Guards, and properly cared. for by them. When the firing took place, Wilson ran back and Glenn fired after him, the ball striking the heel of his boot. Bailey Brown, as above stated, was a native of Pres- ton County, and was brought up on a farm near Independ- ence. He was a descendant of Thomas Brown, who came from Eastern Virginia in early days, to the western part of Preston, then a part of Monongalia County. Knight was a native of Stafford County, Virginia, and formerly had lived in Preston, and was acquainted with Brown.
On Thursday, the 23d of May, 1861, the vote was taken in Virginia upon the ordinance of secession. The vote in Preston stood : "For Ratification," 63; "For Rejection," 2256 ; ma-" jority against secession, 2193. On this day, Northwestern Virginia elected three members of Congress to the House of Representatives of the United States. One of the members was the Hon. William G. Brown, of Preston.
Shortly after the election, the Union forces advanced east-> ward into the State, from Wheeling and Parkersburg, and. the Confederate forces fell back from Grafton to Phillippi, in Barbour, where they were surprised and barely escaped cap- ture. They retreated to Rich Mountain and Laurel Moun tain, whence they were afterwards driven by the forces of General Mcclellan ; and thus ended their occupation of Northwestern Virginia.
On Monday, the 27th of May, a report came to Kingwood, that the Confederate forces, about fifteen hundred strong, at Grafton were breaking camp to march upon Kingwood and. Morgantown, with the intention of arresting and hanging the Union leaders in these places. This news caused great excitement at Kingwood. The people of the place, not hav." ing any means of defense, thought it prudent that the threat- ened parties should leave the town and ascertain what means could be secured for the protection of Preston County,
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
With this view, some of the threatend parties left for Union- town, Pennsylvania, and other points, on Monday night. On Tuesday, the 28th, General C. E. Swearingen, commander of the Uniontown regiment of Pennsylvania militia, upon being informed by the flying citizens of Preston, of the threatened invasion of their county, despatched messengers through the mountains, calling upon his men to turn out, and by noon fifty four men, armed with good rifles, were on their way to Brandonville ; where upon their arrival, they were joined by some Maryland volunteers, and found the 104th regiment of Virginia militia assembled and under arms. On Thursday the news came that the Confederate forces had retreated, and the day was devoted to military training. A large number of people had gathered, and the most intense excitement pre- vailed. Several persons were arrested and obliged to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.
During this week, the 148th regiment of Virginia militia met to train, at Kingwood, where the great excitement over the expected Confederate raid had not yet subsided. The regiment proceeded from the training ground to a beautiful grove, about a half-mile east of Kingwood, and, forming a hollow square, several hundred men knelt down and with one voice took the oath of allegiance to the United States. It was an impressive scene- those kneeling ranks of men, with earnest faces and in a low but firm tone of voice, pledging their fealty to the Government of the United States-and one never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it.
When the Confederates fled to Philippi a letter was found from Governer Letcher to Colonel Porterfield, dated May. the 25th, in which Porterfield was directed to seize the arms sent to Wheeling by Secretary Cameron, and to "recover the State arms recently seized by the malcontents at Kingwood." ยท
On the 4th of June, Preston County elected four delegates to the Wheeling convention, to be held on the 11th of the same month.
The delegates from all the Northwestern counties met at. Washington Hall, in Wheeling, on the 11th of June, 1861.
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
The convention proceeded to organize by electing Arthur I. Boreman, of Wood County, president, and G. L. Cranmer, of Ohio County, secretary. The members present from Pres- ton were Charles Hooton, William B. Zinn, W. B. Crane, John Howard, H. Hagans and John J. Brown. All the members of the convention took an oath to "support the Federal Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof, anything in the Constitution and laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." The radical or revolutionary party had but few representatives, and their desire for the convention to organize a new State met with but little favor. The convention met for action, and it must either organize a new State or reorganize the old State. It proceeded to do the latter. A committee was appointed, consisting of thir- teen members, to prepare and report business to the con- vention. Hagans, of Preston, was a member of this com- mittee. This committee reported on the 13th of June "a. Declaration of the people of Virginia," in which was stated the legal and constitutional principle upon which their pro- ceedings to reorganize the State would be based, in the following language:
"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 subversive of, this purpose, it is right, it is the duty of the latter [the governed], to alter or abolish it. The Bill 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 in Rich- mond in February last without the previously expressed consent of such 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 permited, will inevitably subject them to a military despotism."
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The declaration then went on to state in detail the acts of the convention passed to the manifest injury of the people and tending to a military despotism, and concluded by say- ing that the delegates here assembled "do hereby, in the name and on behalf of the good people of Virginia, solemnly declare that the preservation of their dearest rights and lib- erties and their security in person and property, imperatively demand the reorganization of the government of the Com- monwealth, and that all acts of said Convention and Execu- tive, tending to separate 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, whether legislative, ex- ecutive, or judicial, are vacated." It received the unanimous vote of the convention. There were some who thought that the true legal and constitutional principle was not appre- hended in making the wrong and usurpation of the Rich- mond Convention to consist in the fact, that the legislature called the said convention without first taking the sense of the people, when the existing constitution of 1851 did not re- quire a previous submission of the question to the people, and only provided for a vote of the people on the ratification or rejection of its final work ; and that the legislature in call- ing the convention without submitting the question to the people violated no law, but only a time-honored custom, of submitting the call for such conventions to the voters. They claimed that the wrong of the Richmond Convention was in passing an ordinance in conflict with the constitution of the United States, and in endeavoring to carry it out, their acts became treasonable and void, and rendered the actors un. qualified to administer any longer the State Government : that the legal right to reorganize and officer the existing State Government remained in the loyal people of Virginia, though a minority ; that though the subsequent proceedings of the convention would undoubtedly be in substantial harmony with the correct theory,' yet its grave error in stating the le- gal and constitutional principle on which its proceedings were
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
to rest, would give rise to much future misunderstanding and hesitancy as to the legitimacy of the reorganization of the old, and formation of a new, State, on the part of some of the Federal authorities and the Press ..
The Declaration was made on the 17th by the convention, and on the 19th of June, it passed "an ordinance for the re- organization of the State Government;" and on the 20th, went into an election for officers, as, provided by the first. clause of the ordinance. The election resulted in the choice: of Francis H. Pierpoint, of Marion, for Governor, and Dan- iel Polsley, of Mason, for Lieutenant-Governor., A few days; afterward the convention chose James S. Wheat, of Ohio,. for Attorney-General, and selected Peter G. Van Winkle, Daniel Lamb, William Lazier, of Monongalia, William A. Harrison and S. T. Paxton, as members of the Governor's, council. The other executive offices were subsequently filled by electing L. A. Hagans, of Preston, Secretary of State ; Campbell Tarr, Treasurer; Samuel Crane, Auditor of Public. Accounts, and H. J. Samuels, Adjutant-General. The con- vention convoked a legislature to meet at Wheeling, com- posed of the delegates elected the May before. On the 25th of June the convention adjourned to the 6th of August, 1861.
The month of June, 1861, passed with not much of un- usual interest happening in Preston. On Sunday evening, the 9th, about 40 men, under command of Captain Miller, were detailed from the forces stationed at Rowlesburg, to visit St. George, the county-seat of Tucker, for the purpose. of capturing a. Confederate flag, which was reported to be, floating over the Court-house at that place. They were ac- companied by William Hall, of Rowlesburg, as guide. After a whole night's march through the dense forest along Cheat River, they arrived at early dawn on Monday morning, at St. George. Several persons were arrested and held as prisoners. until they took the oath of allegiance to the United States .. Two Confederate flags were found in the possession of the citizens, and taken. Captain Miller, finding everybody peaceably inclined, and having captured the flag for which
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