USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 23
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It has, in conjunction with the State executive, insti- tuted, wherever their usurped power extends, a reign of terror intended to suppress 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 appropriation of the property of the Federal Government, and by organizing and mo- bilizing armies, with the avowed purpose of capturing or destroying the capital 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 mak- ing obedience to their pretended ordinances treason against the former.
We, therefore, the delegates here assembled in con- vention to devise such measures and take such action as the safety and welfare of the loyal citizens of Vir- ginia may demand, have maturely considered the prem- ises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy commonwealth must be reduced unless some regular adequate meas- ure is speedily adopted, and appealing to the Supreme Ruler of the universe for the rectitude of our intentions, do hereby, in the name and on the behalf of the good
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people of Virginia, solemnly declare that the preserva- tion of their dearest rights and liberties, and their security in person and property, imperatively demand the reorganization of the government of the Common- wealth, 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, executive, or judicial, are vacated."
On the 14th, the Convention began the work of reorganizing the government of Virginia, and on the same day the committee reported the following Ordi- nance, which was adopted on the 19th, without a dis- senting voice :-
AN ORDINANCE FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT.
The people of Virginia, by their Delegates assem- bled in Convention at Wheeling, do ordain as follows :-
I. A governor, lieutenant-governor, and attorney- general, for the State of Virginia, shall be appointed by this Convention, 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, and the General Assembly is required to provide by law for an election of governor and lieuten- ant-governor by the people as soon as in their judg- ment such election can be properly held.
2. A council, to consist of five members, shall be appointed by this Convention, to consult with and ad-
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vise the governor respecting such matters pertaining to his official duties as he shall submit for their consider- ation, and to aid in the execution of his official 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 23d day of May last, and the senators entitled under existing laws to seats in the next General Assem- bly, together with such delegates and senators as may be duly elected under the ordinances of this Conven- tion, or existing laws, to fill vacancies, who shall qualify themselves by taking the oath or affirmation hereinafter set forth, shall constitute the Legislature of the State, to discharge the duties and exercise the powers per- taining 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 first day of July next, and proceed to organize themselves as prescribed by existing laws, in their respective branches. A majority in each branch, of the members qualified as aforesaid, shall constitute a quo- rum 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- seventh section of the fourth article of the constitution of the State.
4. The governor, lieutenant-governor, attorney-gen- eral, members of the Legislature, and all 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 and commissioners of the reve-
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1 nue, justices of the peace, officers of the city and municipal corporations, and officers of militia, and offi- cers 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 pro- ceeding in the discharge of their several duties :-
"I do 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 Virginia, or in the ordinances of the Convention which assembled at Richmond on the thirteenth of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, to the contrary notwithstanding; and that I will uphold and defend the government of Virginia as vindicated and restored by the Convention which assembled at Wheeling on the eleventh day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-one."
3. 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 Gover- nor, 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 con- venient and early day to be designated in said writ ; of which due publication shall be made for the informa- tion of the persons entitled to vote at such election ; 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 affirmation be appointed by the Governor, he shall fill the vacancy without writ, but if such officer
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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. CRAMNER, Secretary.
The next day, June 20th, the Convention proceeded to the election of officers, as provided for by the first section of the Ordinance. The chief executive came first, and Francis H. Pierpont, of Marion county, was unanimously elected Governor of Virginia; Daniel Polsley, of Mason, was elected Lieutenant-Governor, and James S. Wheat, of Ohio county, was chosen Attorney-General. Under the second section of the Ordinance, Peter G. Vanwinkle, of Wood ; Daniel Lamb, of Ohio ; William Lazier, of Monongalia ; Wil- liam A. Harrison, of Harrison, and J. T. Paxton, of Ohio, were chosen members of the Governor's council. James S. Wheat discharged the duties of Adjutant- General for a month, when H. J. Samuels, of Cabell county, was appointed to that position, and occupied the same until the formation of the New State. An ordinance was adopted requiring the General Assem- bly, as soon as convenient, to elect an Auditor of Public Accounts, a Treasurer and Secretary of the Commonwealth.
J. H. Hagans, Ist West Virginia Report, p. 63, says that: "Having reorganized the Government, and elected a chief executive officer, and provided for the election of all other officers, civil and military, the labors of the Convention were evidently drawing to a close. Nothing had been done that appeared to
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directly inaugurate the popular movement for the for- mation of a new State. In reality, however, the true theory had been adopted, and the only legitimate mode of arriving at the most desirable result had been con- ceived and acted upon by the Convention. If the government, thus restored, was acknowledged by the Federal authorities as the only government in Virginia, then the legislative branch of it could give its assent to the formation of a new State, as provided for by the Constitution of the United States. Leaving the great question to be adjusted at a subsequent day, the Con- vention adjourned on the 20th of June, to meet on the first Tuesday in August."
MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
The third clause of the ordinance, passed June 19th, provided for the meeting of the General Assembly on the Ist day of July, the members of which had been duly chosen at the general election on the 23d day of May, and in pursuance of the ordinance, that body convened at Wheeling on the day appointed. The session was held in the Custom house, in which the offices of the Governor and other State officers had been located. Upon calling the roll, it was ascertained that there were thirty-one members present. A speaker and clerk were chosen, after which the Gov- ernor's message was received. In it he reviewed, at considerable length, the action of the Richmond Con- vention, the history of the movements which led to the reorganization of the State Government and his own election. He informed the House that he had entered into a correspondence with the President of the United States, and informed him of the circum-
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stances surrounding the loyal Government of Virginia, and had received from him, through the Secretary of War, assurances that all constitutional aid would be promptly rendered.
Accompanying the message, were copies of com- munications received from the Secretary of the Inte- rior, certifying to the apportionment of representation to which Virginia was entitled in the Thirty-eighth Congress, according to the census of 1860. The attention of the Assembly was called to the fact that the President, in a proclamation recently issued, had declared vacant the seats of all representatives from Virginia in the Congress of the United States, by reason of their active participation in the effort to overthrow the Federal Government, and he recom- mended that the Assembly at once proceed to fill such vacancies by the election of members who should apply for seats in the National Congress, as represent- atives of Virginia under the Restored Government.
The General Assembly, on the 9th of July, went into an election, and on joint ballot elected L. A. Hagans, of Preston county, Secretary of the Common- wealth ; Samuel Crane, of Randolph, Auditor of Pub- lic Accounts, and Campbell Tarr, of Brooke, Treasurer. They then proceeded to ballot for United States Sena- tors, which resulted in the election of John S. Carlisle, of Harrison, and W. T. Willey, of Monongalia, as the successors of R. M. T. Hunter and James M. Mason, who had resigned their seats in that body. They, together with the representatives-William G. Brown, Jacob B. Blair and Kellian V. Whaley-from the three congressional districts west of the mountains,-who had been elected at the same time the members of the
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General Assembly were chosen, at once proceeded to Washington, where "They were admitted to seats in the respective houses as Senators and Representatives from Virginia." On the 24th of July, the Assembly, having finished the business before it, adjourned. "
Thus the machinery of the Restored Government was in complete working order ; but this did not satisfy the people, many of whom had for years entertained the fond hope that some time their relations with the East should be severed, and a new State, independent of Virginia, should rise, west of the Alleghenies. All felt that the auspicious moment had now come, and it was impressed upon the members of the Convention, which was to re-assemble August 6th, 1861, that there was but one duty to perform, and that was to perfect the organization of a new State.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
THE NEW STATE OF KANAWHA.
A Government without Money-Governor Pierpont borrows on the Credit of his own private Fortune-Military Seizure of the State Funds deposited in the Ex- change Bank of Weston-Money due Virginia from the National Government collected-Reassembling of the Convention, August 6th-The Action of the Richmond Convention declared Null and Void-Ordinance providing for the Formation of a New State-Vote upon the Same-Delegates to a Constitutional Convention elected.
WHEN Governor Pierpont assumed the duties of the position to which he had been chosen, he was without office furniture or money. He occupied a vacant room in the Custom-House; some one brought pen, ink and a quire of paper. Soon after the meeting of the Assembly in July, it was reported that it would adjourn for the reason that there were no funds and the mem- bers were without money. Should it do so, all would be lost. The morning after the proposed adjournment was reported to the Governor, he resolved to borrow ten thousand dollars on his own private credit, and asked Peter G. Van Winkle if he would indorse his notes. He promptly replied that he would, and the two went to the Merchants' and Mechanics' Bank of Wheeling and informed Mr. Brady, the cashier, that they wished to see him and Mr. Lamb, cashier of the Northwestern Bank, together. He was soon present and the Governor informed them that "a government without money was of no account," and that he wanted ten thousand dollars-five thousand from each bank.
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Mr. Brady replied that it was a rule of his bank not to loan to a State without an affirmative vote of the directors. Then said the Governor: "I do not want to borrow it on the credit of the State. I propose giving my personal note for the amount and Mr. Van Winkle will indorse it. If our government succeeds, you are sure of your money in sixty or ninety days, and, if it fails, your money is not worth a cent on the dollar." Mr. Brady replied by saying: "Governor, you are a good negotiator. You shall have the
money." Mr. Lamb retired and in a day or two informed the Governor that five thousand dollars had been placed to his credit in the Northwestern Bank. Thus the embarrassment was relieved, and what had been doubt and despair gave way to assurance and hope.
Early in the spring of 1861 the Richmond State Government sent thirty thousand dollars in specie to Weston, where it was deposited in the Exchange Bank of Virginia, to be used in paying for material and work on the Trans-Allegheny Asylum at that place. On the morning of the Ist of July, 1861, Governor Pierpont appointed John List agent to repair to Weston and secure the money, and at the same time tele- graphed General Rosecrans, then in command of the Federal troops at Clarksburgh, requesting him to de- tail a detachment of cavalry for twenty-four hours' secret service. List reached Clarksburgh in the after- noon and found the troops in readiness. Leaving that · town at dark, the long silent ride continued throughout the night, and at daylight on the morning of the 2d the roads leading to and from Weston were strongly picketed. List called on the cashier and
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demanded the money. The latter claimed that there was a large amount due for labor. List, however, took twenty-eight thousand dollars, and with his escort, returned to Clarksburgh, whence he conveyed the money to Wheeling. It was placed in the banks in that city. The president and cashier of the Weston bank followed, and the matter was at length adjusted by the Wheeling banks giving to the Weston bank credit for the amount, and in addition, for the premium on specie. The money was afterward used in building the Weston Asylum.
On the 14th day of March, 1862, the Richmond Legislature passed an act, in the preamble to which it is recited, that " an armed military force, as public ene- mies, entered the vaults of the Exchange Bank of Vir- ginia, and took therefrom about twenty-seven thousand dollars of its specie, and that the said military expedi- tion operated under and in pursuance of orders from an usurped authority, claiming to be a government established within the limits of Virginia, without authority of the Legislature; and further, that the money so abstracted was deposited in one or more of the banks of this Commonwealth, located in the city of Wheeling, whose officers were co-operating with and professing allegiance to said usurped government, and had notice of the ownership and robbery of such money." The bill then proceeds to declare how Jona- than M. Bennett, treasurer of the asylum, may proceed to recover the money.
On the 4th day of September, 1841, the Federal Congress passed an act providing for the payment, to the several States, of the proportion of each, due from the sale of public lands. Virginia had never drawn 23
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the amount due her, and the Assembly under the Re- stored Government, at its July session, 1861, passed a joint resolution instructing the executive to appoint one or more persons to receive the money due, which then amounted to forty thousand dollars. In compli- ance with this act, Governor Pierpont appointed A. W. Campbell, Daniel Lamb, and J. W. Paxton, agents on the part of the Restored Government of Virginia, who received and receipted for the same.
REASSEMBLING OF THE CONVENTION.
August 6th, 1861, the Convention reassembled at Wheeling. Three days later it adopted an Ordinance declaring that : " All ordinances, acts, orders, resolu- tions and other proceedings of the Convention which assembled at Richmond on the thirteenth day of Feb- ruary last, being without the authority of the people of Virginia constitutionally given, and in derogation of their rights, are hereby declared illegal, inoperative, null, void, and without force or effect." The body, however, hastened to the performance of its chief work-that of preparing for the formation of a New State-and on the 20th adopted the following :-
ORDINANCE TO PROVIDE FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW STATE OUT OF A PORTION OF THE TERRITORY OF THIS STATE.
WHEREAS, It is represented to be the desire of the people inhabiting the counties hereinafter mentioned to be separated from this Commonwealth, and to be erected into a separate State, and admitted into the union of States, and become a member of the United States :--
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I. The people of Virginia, by their delegates assem- bled in convention at Wheeling, do ordain that a new State, to be called the State of KANAWHA, be formed and erected out of the territory included within the fol- lowing-described boundary : beginning on the Tug fork of Sandy river, on the Kentucky line where the counties of Buchanan and Logan join the same; and running thence with the dividing lines of said counties and the dividing line of the counties of Wyoming and McDowell to the Mercer county line, and with the dividing line of the counties of Mercer and Wyoming to the Raleigh county line ; thence with the dividing line of the coun- ties of Raleigh and Mercer, Monroe and Raleigh, Greenbrier and Raleigh, Fayette and Greenbrier, Nicholas and Greenbrier, Webster, Greenbrier and Pocahontas, Randolph and Pocahontas, Randolph and Pendleton, to the southwest corner of Hardy county ; thence with the dividing line of the counties of Hardy and Tucker, to the Fairfax Stone; thence with the line dividing the States of Maryland and Virginia, to the Pennsylvania line; thence with the line dividing the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, to the Ohio river ; thence down said river and including the same, to the dividing line between Virginia and Kentucky, and with the said line to the beginning; including within the boundaries of the proposed new State the counties of Logan, Wyoming, Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, Webster, Randolph, Tucker, Preston, Monongalia, Marion, Tay- lor, Barbour, Upshur, Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Clay, Kanawha, Boone, Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, Mason, Jackson, Roane, Calhoun, Wirt, Gilmer, Ritchie, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Doddridge , Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock. It was provided that the boun-
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daries thus described might be so changed as to include within the proposed. State, the counties of Greenbrier and Pocahontas, or either of them, and also the counties of Hampshire, Hardy, Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson, or any one of them, and also such other counties as lie contiguous to the said boundaries ; if they or any one of them, by a majority of the votes cast, shall declare their wish to form part of the proposed State. It was further provided that an election should be held at the several voting places in the counties included in the above boundaries, on the fourth Thursday of the ensuing Octo- ber, for the purpose of determining the sense of the people concerning the question of the formation of a new State. A separate poll was to be taken at the same time for the election of delegates, whose duty it should be, in case the majority was in favor of the new State, to assemble at the City of Wheeling, on the 26th of November, 1861, for the purpose of framing a con- stitution for the same. The returns were to be made to the Secretary of the Commonwealth at Wheeling, when the Governor, having ascertained the result to be in favor of the new State, was to make proclamation of the same not later than the 15th of November, and at the same time issue a call for the delegates to con- vene for the purpose of framing a State Constitution. The work being completed, the body adjourned August 21, 1861.
Virginia, during the autumn of 1861, presented a scene having no parallel in the political history of any American Commonwealth. All the territory east of the mountains lay within the jurisdiction of the Richmond Government, at the head of which was Governor John Letcher, itself tributary to the government of the Con-
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federate States. Over the territory west of the moun- tains, the Restored Government, with its capital at Wheeling, exercised authority and proclaimed allegi- ance to the Federal Government. In addition to these rival administrations, there existed in the domain lying between the Alleghenies and the Ohio a germ from which was being developed a new commonwealth. Its chief promoters were men who saw in the ultimate tri- umph of the Federal arms, a return of Virginia to the Union and a continued exercise of what they termed the tyrannical domination of the East over the West. This they had opposed for half a century, and now they were determined to avail themselves of the opportunity, and by the location of a State line along the crest of the Alleghenies, secure a complete and permanent separa- tion of the two sections. History tells how well they succeeded.
The vote was taken in October, as prescribed by the Ordinance of the Convention, and as canvassed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and proclaimed by the Governor, stood eighteen thousand four hun- dred and eight for the new State, and seven hundred and eighty-one against it. The returns showed that in Hampshire county polls had been opened at but two precincts-Piedmont and New Creek-the vote stand- ing one hundred and ninety-five in favor of the new State, and eighteen against it. It also appeared that polls had been opened at but two precincts in Hardy county, where there were one hundred votes for the new State and none against it. Delegates to the Con- stitutional Convention were elected in all the counties then within the present limits of the State, except Mon- roe, Webster, Berkeley, Jefferson, Greenbrier, Poca- hontas and Calhoun.
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CHAPTER XXV.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
Meeting of the Body-Its Organization-Roll of Members-Proposed Name of the State changed from " Kanawha " to " West Virginia"-The Subject of Slavery-The " Battelle Resolutions "-The Same rejected by the Convention- Report of John A. Dille-The Constitution referred to the People-Its Ratifica- tion-Informal Vote upon the Second of the Battelle Resolutions.
ON the 15th of November, 1861, Governor Pierpont issued a' call requesting the delegates of the Constitu- tional Convention to assemble November 26th, in com- pliance with the requirements of the Ordinance of August 30th. In accordance therewith, that body assembled in the Federal court room at Wheeling, and was called to order by Chapman J. Stewart, of Dod- dridge county. The permanent organization resulted in the election of John Hall, of Mason, as President, Ellery R. Hall, of Taylor county, Secretary, and James C. Orr, of Ohio county, Sergeant at-arms.
The following are the names, together with the counties represented, of the men who framed the first Constitution for West Virginia :-
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