USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 25
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In compliance therewith, President Hall issued a call reconvening the Convention, and that body assembled in Wheeling on the 12th of February, 1863. Hon. John Hall being absent, Hon. A. D. Soper, of Tyler county, was elected President. The Constitution was so changed as to meet the requirements of Congress, an address to the people prepared, March 26th, 1863,
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fixed as the date for the vote upon the revised Consti- tution, and the Convention adjourned.
At the ensuing election a large vote was polled. The soldiers voted in the field wherever it was prac- ticable, the Fourth West Virginia Federal Infantry depositing their ballots in a box improvised for the purpose in the trenches before Vicksburg. The elec- tion resulted in a majority of seventeen thousand in favor of ratification.
In the meantime John S. Carlisle, who had refused to resign his seat, continued his opposition to the measure, doing all possible to retard its progress when he was unable to defeat it. On the 14th of February he presented a supplementary bill in the Senate pro- viding that the President's Proclamation declaring West Virginia admitted into the Union shall not be issued until the "counties of Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Fayette, Nicholas and Clay, now in possession of the so-called Confederate Govern- ment, and over which the Restored Government of the State of Virginia has not been extended, have voted on and ratified the condition contained in said act." On the 26th of February the Senate voted on this bill, and it was defeated by a vote of 28 to 12.
The result of the vote on the amended Constitution was certified to President Lincoln, and he issued his proclamation on the 20th of April. When, therefore, the sixty days expired-June 20, 1863-West Virginia began her career as a member of the Federal Union.
CHAPTER XXVII.
ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW STATE GOVERNMENT.
State and County Officers Elected-Inauguration of the Same-The Reorganized Government Moved to Alexandria and Thence to Richmond-Its Character- How West Virginia Obtained Jurisdiction over Berkeley and Jefferson Counties -Legislative and Judicial Proceedings Relative to the Same-Boundaries of the State and Area thereof.
ON the 9th day of May preceding the termination of the sixty days specified in the President's message. a State Convention assembled at Parkersburg for the purpose of nominating officers for the new Common- wealth. On the same day General Jones at the head of a Confederate force, reached Burning Springs, forty- two miles distant from Parkersburg, and a motion was offered by one of the members of the body to adjourn to Marietta, Ohio, but it was defeated, and the following nominations were made: For Governor, Arthur I. Boreman, of Wood county ; Auditor, Samuel Crane, of Randolph; Treasurer, Campbell Tarr, of Brooke ; Secretary of State, J. Edgar Boyers, of Tyler; At- torney-General, A. Bolton Caldwell, of Ohio county; Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Ralph L. Berkshire, of Monongalia, William A. Harrison, of Harrison, and James H. Brown, of Kanawha. All were elected without opposition on the fourth Thursday of the same month, at which time, judges of the Circuit Courts were elected in nine of the ten Judicial Districts as then existing ; viz. : First District, E. H. Caldwell ; Second, John A. Dille ; Third, Thomas W. Harrison ;
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Fourth, Chapman J. Stewart; Fifth, Robert Irvine ; Sixth, George Loomis; Seventh, Daniel Polsley; Eighth, Henry J. Samuels ; Tenth, John W. Kennedy. Mem- bers of the Legislature together with county officers `were also elected in all the counties of the State except those occupied by the Confederate forces.
The 20th of June arrived, and on that day the State Government machinery was put in force and the juris- diction and authority of the Old Dominion ceased in all the territory lying between the Alleghenies and the Ohio. There had arisen a New Dominion, small in area, but because of its vast mineral resources, destined to be a prominent factor in the great commercial in- terests of the Union of which the new State had become a member.
On the fourth Thursday in May, 1863, the day on which the new State officers were chosen, Governor Pierpont, who previously had held his position by appointment or election by the Convention, was elected Governor of Virginia by a vote of the people for the term of three years beginning January Ist, 1864, and as such continued at the head of the Restored Govern- ment. Immediately after the organization of the new State Government, he moved the archives of the Re- stored Government to Alexandria, on the Potomac, which henceforth continued to be the rallying centre of Unionism in Virginia, until the 25th day of May, 1865, when the seat of Government was a second time re- moved; this was from Alexandria to Richmond, after which the Restored Government became the recognized authority throughout Virginia, the Confederate State Government ceasing to exist.
Upon the arrival of Governor Pierpont at Richmond
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he was visited by citizens from all parts of the State, from whom he learned something of the extent of their misfortunes, to remedy which, as far as possible, he convened the General Assembly in extra session. Supplied by that body with a contingent fund, he relieved the destitution prevailing at the Western Lunatic Asylum, and the Institution for the Deaf, Dumb
and Blind, at Staunton. He made many appointments to public position without reference to party affiliations. Governor Pierpont remained in office beyond the limit of his term, serving until April 16th, 1868, when he was succeeded by Henry H. Wells, and retired to his home at Fairmont, having by his conciliatory adminis- tration done much toward removing the bitter animosi- ties engendered by civil war.
Much has been written regarding the informal character of the proceedings-legislative and executive -of the Restored Government. It is true that in much of the territory over which it asserted jurisdiction, the people neither had nor desired to have a voice in said government. This is evident when we examine the legislative records. In 1862, there were in Virginia fifty Senatorial Districts, of which only the following were represented in the Senate which convened at Wheeling on the second day of December that year ; Thirty-second District, represented by James Car- skadon ; Thirty-third, Greenbury Slack, Forty-fifth, Andrew Flesher ; Forty-sixth, Chapman J. Stewart ; Forty-seventh, James Burley; Forty-eighth, Blackwell Jackson ; Forty-ninth, Thomas Cather ; Fiftieth, Joseph Gist. In addition G. F. Watson occupied a seat as the representative of Accomack and Northampton counties on the Eastern Shore, and James T. Close sat in the
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same capacity for Fairfax and Alexandria. Nor was it.different in the Lower House. There sat members representing counties in which no election for delegates had been held. But while this is true, it is no less so .
of the Richmond State Government. In its legislative halls were representatives from counties west of the Alleghenies, which had elected delegates to the Wheel- ing Assembly, and in one instance, at least, a delegate thus chosen, instead of repairing to the latter city pro- ceeded to Richmond, where he was regularly reported by the Committee on Credentials, as entitled to a seat in the Assembly then in session in that city and duly seated and accredited as the representative of a county bordering on the Ohio river. Indeed, the title to a seat in the legislative bodies of both the National and Confederate Governments, was in some instances at this time as questionable as that in the similar depart- ments of the rival Virginia governments. John A. Bingham of Ohio, in a speech in the National House of Representatives, in 1862, stated that Mr. Segar then oc- cupying a seat in that body as the representative of the Accomack District of Virginia, did so basing his claim thereto upon the fact that at the last election in that district, twenty-five votes had been polled, all of which Mr. Segar had received, and this too in a district in which, two years before, nearly twenty thousand votes had been cast. Nor is the case different when we turn to the archives of the Confederate Government, for it there appears that representatives from both Kentucky and Missouri occupied seats in the Senate, although neither State ever passed an ordinance of secession.
Berkeley and Jefferson counties were not included in West Virginia at the time of the ratification of the
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Constitution and did not, therefore, vote upon the ques- tion. The Assembly under the 'Restored Government passed an act, January 31st, 1863, for the former and another on the ensuing 4th of March for the latter, providing that an election should be held on the fourth Thursday in May following, at the several voting places in the two counties, when the voters thereof might deter- mine whether they should be included in West Virginia, and if a majority of the votes polled were in favor of the same, the Governor of Virginia should then certify the result to the Governor of West Virginia. This was done, and on the 5th of August, 1863, the Legislature passed an act consenting to the admission of Berkeley, and by a similar enactment, November 2d following, Jefferson was also made a part of the New State.
No further action was taken in the matter until the autumn of 1865, when the returned Confederate soldiers expressed a preference for the jurisdiction of Virginia rather than West Virginia. In accordance with this view, preparations were made for opening the polls in Jefferson on the 12th of October, in the above mentioned year, for the election of members of the Assembly of Virginia, that being the day set apart in the proclamation of the Governor of that State for filling all vacancies in the Assembly and in the Con- gress of the United States. Governor Boreman having learned of the proposed election, on the 9th of October issued a proclamation warning all persons against engaging in it, and at the same time requested General W. H. Emory, commanding the "District of West Virginia," to assist the civil authorities in execut- ing the laws. This checked the movement and no election was held.
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But the question was yet far from final settlement. The General Assembly of Virginia convened at Rich- mond on the first Monday in December, 1865, and on the 5th of that month, repealed the act of 1863, by which the counties in question were transferred to West Virginia. Then the authorities of the New State appealed to the 39th Congress, and in response thereto, that body passed a bill March 2d, 1866, declaring " the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson to be a part of West Virginia, and in all matters subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the same as if they had been a part of the New State at the time of its formation." Virginia, still unwilling to yield, brought suit against West Vir- ginia in the Supreme Court of the United States for the recovery of the counties. The case came on for hearing at the December term of 1866, when it was ably argued for Virginia by B. R. Curtiss and A. Hunter, and for West Virginia by B. Staunton and Reverdy Johnson. No decision was reached at that time, and the case was not again called until the De- cember term of 1870, when Mr. Taylor, the State's Attorney General, B. R. Curtiss and A. Hunter appeared for Virginia, and B. Staunton, Charles J. Faulkner and Reverdy Johnson for West Virginia, after which a decision in favor of the latter was ren- dered, Judges David Davis, Nathan Clifford, and Ste- phen J. Field dissenting. (Sec XI Wallace's United States Supreme Court Reports, pp. 38 and 39.)
This decision determined the present boundaries of the State. Many were the propositions which were made during the New State movement relative to the territory to be embraced within its limits, one of which was to exchange Accomack and Northampton on the
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Eastern shore for Garrett and Allegheny-the two Western counties of Maryland. This was, however, abandoned. A brief description of the present boun- daries is as follows : Beginning at the mouth of Oak creek, where the western boundary line of Pennsylva- nia crosses the Ohio; thence with the meanderings of that river and including the islands therein, to Virginia Point at the mouth of Big Sandy river; thence with that stream to the mouth of Knox creek, a corner of the States of Kentucky and Virginia; thence with a line of and including the counties of McDowell and Mercer to the top of East River mountain ; thence with said ridge and with Peter's mountain to the Allegheny mountains ; thence with the top of the same to Hay- stack Knob, a corner of Virginia and West Virginia ; thence with the southern line of and including Pendle- ton county to the top of Shenandoah mountains ; thence with the same and Branch mountain to a corner of Hardy and Rockingham counties; thence with the line of and including the counties of Hardy, Hamp- shire, Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson to a point on the Maryland and Virginia line where the Potomac river intersects the Blue Ridge ; thence with the mean- derings of the Potomac to the confluence of Savage river and the North Branch of the Potomac ; thence with the meanderings of the latter to the head spring
. thereof at the "Fairfax Stone ;" thence due north with the western boundary line of Maryland to a point on the Pennsylvania line, a corner of the States of Mary- land, and West Virginia ; thence west with the south- ern boundary line of Pennsylvania to the southwest corner of that State, and thence with the western boundary of that State to the place of beginning. The
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territory thus embraced includes an area of 24,645 square miles. This extent of territory is equal to twenty times that of Rhode Island ; ten times that of Delaware; five times that of Connecticut ; three times that of Massachusetts, and more than twice that of Maryland. It is about equal to the aggregate area of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and Vermont. At the time the State was admitted there were forty-eight counties. The addition of Berkeley and Jefferson increased the number to fifty. Four new counties-Mineral, Grant, Lincoln and Sum- mers-have been formed, making the present number fifty-four. Each will be noticed in the Second Part of this work.
Within this area is great diversity of surface. The entire section may be described as mountainous or hilly. In the eastern and southern portions the ele- vations, in many places, exceed 4000 feet above the sea. From these heights there is a general slope toward the northwest. At its lowest altitudes, along the Ohio, its elevation is but from 600 to Soo feet above the sea. The stream erosion, as the waters seek the outlet afforded by the Ohio, has cut the plateau on this side into a network of crooked ridges with deep gorges or narrow valleys, which diminish, however, as they ap- proach the northwestern boundary, until in the imme- diate proximity of the Ohio they are rounded and softened in outline, and the valleys become broad and are exceedingly fertile.
The northeastern quarter of the State is drained by the Potomac, which thrusts its long branches far back into the plateau. In all the water-courses of the State the descents are rapid, affording enormous water
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powers, which even now are but slightly utilized. Over the greater part of this magnificent domain the virgin forests still wave, furnishing immense opportunities for producing timber of the most valuable kinds. Vast beds of coal underlie some 16,000 square miles of the State, affording another natural source of wealth.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MILITARY OPERATIONS WITHIN THE STATE.
First Federal Troops in Western Virginia-First Virginia Federal Infantry-First Engagement within the Limits of the State-Battle of Falling Waters-En- gagement at Rich Mountain-Confederates defeated at Carrick's Ford and Death of General Garnett-Engagement at Barboursville-General Wise in the Great Kanawha Valley-Engagement at Scarey Creek-Surprise at Ken- nedy's Hill and Death of Major Hall-Skirmish at Pore's Hill-Battle of Carnifex Ferry-Surprise at High Log Run-Firing upon the Town of Eliza- beth-Engagement at Traveler's Repose or "Camp Barteau "-Battle of Camp Allegheny-Burning of Guyandotte-Running Fight near Barboursville -Battle of Lewisburg-Surrender at Spencer-General Miles' Surrender at Harper's Ferry-Lightburn's Retreat from the Kanawha Valley-Capture of General Scammon and Staff-Burning of the Steamer " B. C. Levi "-Engage- ment at Hurricane Bridge-Attack on Steamer " Victress"-Action at Point Pleasant-Skirmish at Tuckwiler's Hill-General Jones burns the Oil at Burn- ing Springs-Battle of Dry Creek or White Sulphur Springs-Skirmish at Sugar Tree Creek-The Dublin Raid and Battle of Cloyd Mountain-Battle of Droop Mountain-Ambuscade at Curry's Farm-Skirmish at Raccoon Creek-Engagement at Winfield and Death of Colonel Thurman-Official Statement of the Number of Men from West Virginia in the National Service -Estimate of the Number from the State that entered the Confederate Service.
OWING to the geographical position and the dis- tracted and divided condition of the people, some of the stern realities of war were witnessed in West Vir- ginia. Here was presented a condition of affairs only existing in the border States. It was that of thousands of brave and determined men hastening to the recruit- ing officers and enlisting in the ranks of the respective armies under the flag-emblem of the cause they be- lieved to be just. Thousands entered the Federal army and did valiant service on almost every battle- field of the war, while hundreds of others hastened over the Blue Ridge and in the ranks of the "Stone-
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wall Brigade " or other organizations added lustre to the annals of the Confederate arms. Much that oc- curred within the limits of the State belongs to gen- eral history, and for that reason only that of local in- terest is here presented.
The first Federal troops organized within the State was a regiment enlisted for three months, which col- lected on Wheeling Island and, under the command of Colonel B. F. Kelly, was mustered into service as the First Virginia Federal Infantry, May 15, 1861, by Major Oaks, of the United States Army. On the 25th of the same month it was joined by the first Federal troops that crossed the Ohio river. It was an Ohio regiment commanded by Colonel Lander. About the same time a Confederate force was collecting near Grafton under Colonel Porterfield. The troops from Wheeling proceeded by way of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but the Confederates fell back to Philippi in Barbour county. The Federals followed and on the 3d day of June reached that position, where an engagement took place in which the Con- federates were forced to retreat. The loss was slight on both sides. Colonel Kelly was severely wounded in the breast, but recovered and afterward rose to the rank of brigadier-general. This was the first engage- ment of the civil war west of the Allegheny mountains.
During the month of June, 1861, General Johnston concentrated a Confederate force numbering fifteen thousand men at Harper's Ferry. General Robert Patterson lay on the Maryland side of the Potomac with an equal, if not superior, force, and on the 30th of the month moved with the seeming intention of at- tacking Johnston ; but the latter held his position, and
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on the 2d of July Patterson's advance crossed the Potomac at Williamsport and was fired upon by the Berkeley County Border Guards. With the entire army across and General Abercrombie's brigade in the advance the march began by the turnpike leading to Martinsburg. At Falling Waters, five miles distant from Williamsport, the Confederate outposts were dis- covered, and a mile farther on the engagement began. The combatants were Abercrombie's brigade, consist- ing of the 11th Pennsylvania and Ist Wisconsin regi- ments, McMullin's Rangers, a detachment of Phila- delphia cavalry, and Perkin's battery of six guns on the Federal side, and the regiments afterward compos- ing the famous "Stonewall" brigade on that of the Confederates. Whilst the firing was kept up for two hours the loss on either side was slight. It was Stonewall Jackson's first battle. He withdrew to Harper's Ferry and Patterson continued the march to Martinsburg, in the vicinity of which he spent more than two weeks in inaction, while Johnston, having destroyed the public property at Harper's Ferry, marched up the valley and over the Blue Ridge. As Blucher slipped away from Grouchy at Wavres, to de- cide the fate of Napoleon at Waterloo, so Johnston had stolen away from Patterson, and by forced marches arrived just in time to save the day and make a Waterloo for the Federal arms at Bull Run.
May 6, 1861, General McClellan assumed command of the department of Western Virginia, while General Garnett occupied a similar position in the Confederate service. The latter was posted at Beverly, in Ran- dolph county, from which position General McClellan resolved to force him east of the mountains. To ac-
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complish this his force was separated in two divisions, and beginning the march from Grafton the left wing, commanded by General Morris, moved by way of Philippi, while the right proceeded by way of Clarks- burgh and Buckhannon, the latter in Upshur county. Meanwhile the Confederates under General Pegram, the second in command, advanced northward and forti- fied a position near Bealington in the southern part of Barbour county. General Morris halted and constructed
earthworks. The divisions united, Pegram's position was flanked July 12th, his force completely routed, and himself made prisoner. They fell back to Beverly, whence Garnett began a retreat toward St. George, in Tucker county, but was overtaken by the Federals at Carrick's Ford, on Cheat river, where his force was defeated, he being among the slain. He was a brave and meritorious officer, and had won distinction in the Mexican War.
On the 11th of July, 1861, the 2d Kentucky Fed- eral Infantry landed at Guyandotte and went into camp. On the night of the 13th, a detachment con- sisting of four companies marched out on the road leading to Barboursville, the county seat of Cabell, and early the next morning, reached Mud River Bridge, within a few hundred yards of the town. Here, on the ridge just in the rear of the courthouse, was posted a body of about three hundred and fifty Confederates under the command of Colonel James Ferguson, and a portion of the Border Rangers under Captain-after- ward General-A. G. Jenkins. The Federals ap- proached the bridge and received the first fire, which they returned, and having a vast superiority in arms, hastily crossed the bridge, carried the ridge beyond, and
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took possession of the town. The Federals lost five killed and eighteen wounded. The Confederate loss was one killed and one wounded, the former being James Reynolds and the latter Absalom Ballinger.
In June, 1861, ex-Governor Henry A. Wise entered the Kanawha Valley with a Confederate force of four thousand and established his headquarters at Charles- ton. A Federal force was speedily collected at Galli- polis, Ohio, for the purpose of operating against him. It consisted of the 21st Ohio Infantry, Colonel Jesse S. Norton ; the 11th Ohio, Colonel De Villiers ; the 2d Kentucky, Colonel Woodruff; the Ist Kentucky, Colonel George W. Neff, and Captain C. S. Cotter's Battery A, of the Ist Ohio light artillery. This force, under command of Colonel J. D. Cox, began its march up the Great Kanawha, and on the 17th of July reached the mouth of Scarey creek, in Putnam county, where was posted a body of Confederates, consisting of the Border Riflemen, Captain A. R. Barbee ; the Kanawha Riflemen, Captain George S. Patton ; Captain John S. Swann's Rifle Company ; Major Sweeney, commanding a body of Infantry ; Captain Thomas Jackson's Battery of light artillery ; Captain J. M. Corn and Colonel A. G. Jenkins, commanding cavalry. At an early hour Colonel De Villiers, Colonel Woodruff and Lieutenant- Colonel Neff rode upon the field, and, mistaking a body of Confederates for their own men, entered the line and were made prisoners. Brisk firing continued ; Lieutenant-Colonel T. J. Allen, of the 21st Ohio, fell mortally wounded, and Colonel Norton received a severe wound. Night came on and the Federals fell back to Pocatalico river, leaving twenty-one dead and thirty wounded. The Confederates, whose loss was
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