USA > West Virginia > Barbour County > The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 15
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Monongalia County-Waitman T. Willey, William Lazier, James Evans, Leroy Kramer. W. E. Hanaway, Elisha Coombs, H. Dering, George McNeeley, H. N. Mackey, E. D. Fogle, J. T. M. Laskey, J. T. Hess, C. H. Burgess, John Bly, William Price, A. Brown, J. R. Boughner, W. B. Shaw, P. L. Rice, Joseph Jolliff, William Anderson, E. P. St. Clair, P. T. Lashley, Marshall M. Dent, Isaac Scott, Jacob Miller, D. B. Dorsey, Daniel White, N. C. Vandervort, A. Derranet, Amos S. Bowlsby, Joseph Snyder, J. A. Wiley, John McCarl, A. Garrison. E. B. Taggart, E. P. Finch.
Marion County-F. H. Pierpont, Jesse Shaw, Jacob Streams, Aaron Hawkins, James C. Beatty, William Beatty, J. C. Beeson, R. R. Brown, J. Holman, Thomas H. Bains, Hiram Haymond, H. Merryfield, Joshua Carter, G. W. Jolliff, John Chisler, Thomas Hough.
Mason County-Lemuel Harpold, W. E. Wetzel, Wyatt Willis, John Goodley, Joseph McMachir, William Harper, William Harpold, Samuel Davis, Daniel Polsley. J. N. Jones, Samuel Yeager, R. C. M. Lovell, Major Brown, John Greer, A. Stevens, W. C. Starr, Stephen Comstock, J. M. Phelps, Charles B. Waggener, Asa Brigham, David Rossin, B. J. Rollins, D. C. Sayre, Charles Bumgardner, E. B. Davis, William Hopkins, A. A. Rogers, John O. Butler, Timothy Russell, John Hall.
Ohio County-J. C. Orr, L. S. Delaplain, J. R. Stifel, G. L. Cranmer, A. Bedillion, Alfred Caldwell, John McClure, Andrew Wilson, George Forbes, Jacob Berger, John C. Hoffman, A. J. Woods, T. H. Logan, James S. Wheat, George W. Norton, N. H. Garrison, James Paull, J. M. Bickel, Robert Crangle, George Bowers, John K. Botsford, L. D. Waitt, J. Horn- brook, S. Waterhouse, A. Handlan, J. W. Paxton, S. H. Woodward, C. D. Hubbard, Daniel Lamb, John Stiner, W. B. Curtis, A. F. Ross, A. B. Cald-
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well, J. R. Hubbard, E. Buehanon, John Pierson, T. Witham, E. MeCaslin. Pleasants County-Friend Cochran, James Williamson, Robert Parker, R. A. Cramer.
Preston County-R. C. Crooks, H. C. Hagans, W. H. King, James W. Brown, Summers MeCrum, Charles Hooten, William P. Fortney, James A. Brown, G. H. Kidd, John Howard, D. A. Letzinger, W. B. Linn, W. J. Brown, Reuben Morris.
Ritehie County-D. Rexroad, J. P. Harris, N. Rexroad, A. S. Cole. Roane County-Irwin C. Stump.
Taylor County-J. Means, J. M. Wilson, J. Kennedy, J. J. Warren, T. T. Monroe, G. R. Latham, B. Bailey, J. J. Allen, T. Cather, John S. Bur- dette.
Tyler County-Daniel Sweeney, V. Smith, W. B. Kerr, D. D. Johnson, J. C. Parker, William Pritehard, D. King, S. A. Hawkins, James M. Smith, J. H. Johnson, Isaae Davis.
Upshur County-C. P. Rohrbaugh, W. H. Williams.
Wayne County-C. Spurlock, F. Moore, W. W. Brumfield, W. H. Cop- ley, Walter Queen.
Wirt County-E. T. Graham, Henry Newman, B. Ball.
Wetzel County- Elijah Morgan, T. E. Williams, Joseph Murphy, Wil- liam Burrows, B. T. Bowers, J. R. Brown, J. M. Bell, Jacob Young, Reu- ben Martin, R. Reed, R. S. Sayres, W. D. Welker, George W. Bier, Thos. MeQuown, John Alley, S. Stephens, R. W. Lauck, John MeClaskey, Richard Cook, A. McEldowney, B. Vaneamp.
Wood County-William Johnston, W. H. Baker, A. R. Dye, V. A. Dun- bar, G. H. Ralston, S. M. Peterson, S. D. Compton, J. L. Padgett, George Loomis, George W. Henderson, E. Deem, N. H. Colston, A. Hinckley, Ben- nett Cook, S. S. Speneer, Thomas Leach, T. E. MePherson, Joseph Dagg, N. W. Warlow, Peter Riddle, John Paugh, S. L. A. Burche, J. J. Jackson, J. D. Ingram, A. Laughlin, J. C. Rathbone, W. Vroman, G. E. Smith, D. K. Baylor, M. Woods, Andrew Als, Jesse Burehe, S. Ogden, Sardis Cole, P. Reed, John MeKibben, W. Athey, C. Hunter, R. H. Burke, W. P. Davis, George Compton, C. M. Cole, Roger Tiffins, H. Rider, B. H. Bukey, John W. Moss, R. B. Smith, Arthur Drake, C. B. Smith, A. Mather, A. H. Hateher, W. E. Stevenson, Jesse Murdoek, J. Burehe, J. Morrison, Henry Cole, J. G. Blackford, C. J. Neal, T. S. Conley, J. Barnett, M. P. Amiss, T. Hunter, J. J. Neal, Edward Hoit, N. B. Caswell, Peter Dils, W. F. Henry, A. C. Mckinsey, Rufus Kinnard, J. J. Jackson, Jr.
The convention assembled to take whatever action might seem proper, but no definite plan had been decided upon further than that Western Vir- ginia should protest against going into Seeession with Virginia. The ma- jority of the members looked forward to the formation of a new State as the ultimate and chief purpose of the convention. Time and eare were necessary for the accomplishment of this objeet. But there were several, chief among whom was John S. Carlile, who boldly proclaimed that the time for forming a new State was at hand. There was a sharp division in the convention as to the best method of attaining that end. While Carlile led those who were for immediate aetion, Waitman T. Willey was among the foremost of those who insisted that the business must be conducted in a business-like way, first by re-organizing the Government of Virginia, and then obtaining the consent of the Legislature to divide the State. Mr. Carlile actually introduced a measure providing for a new State at once.
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THE RE-ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT.
It met with much favor. But Mr. Willey and others pointed out that pre- cipitate action would defeat the object in view, because Congress would never recognize the State so created. After much controversy there was a compromise reached, which was not difficult, where all parties aimed at the greatest good, and differed only as to the best means of attaining it.
At that time the Ordinance of Secession had not been voted upon. Vir- ginia had already turned over to the Southern Confederacy all its military supplies, public property, troops and materials, stipulating that, in case the Ordinance of Secession should be defeated at the polls, the property should revert to the State. The Wheeling Convention took steps, pending the election, recommending that, in case Secession carried at the polls, a con- vention be held for the purpose of deciding what to do-whether to divide the State or simply re-organize the Government. This was the compromise measure which was satisfactory to both parties of the convention. Until the Ordinance of Secession had been ratified by the people Virginia was still, in law if not in fact, a member of the Federal Union, and any step was premature looking to a division of the State or a re-organization of its Gov- ernment before the election. F. H. Pierpont, afterwards Governor, intro- duced the resolution which provided for another convention in case the Ordinance of Secession should be ratified at the polls. The resolution pro- vided that the counties represented in the convention, and all other counties of Virginia disposed to act with them, appoint on June 4, 1861, delegates to a convention to meet June 11. This convention would then be prepared to proceed to business, whether that business should be the re-organization of the Government of Virginia or the dividing of the State, or both. Having finished its work, the convention adjourned. Had it rashly attempted to divide the State at that time the effort must have failed, and the bad effects of the failure, and the consequent confusion, would have been far-reaching. No man can tell whether such a failure would not have defeated for all time the creation of West Virginia from Virginia's territory.
The vote on the Ordinance of Secession took place May 23, 1861, and the people of eastern Virginia voted to go out of the Union, but the part now comprising West Virginia gave a large majority against seceding. Delegates to the Assembly of Virginia were elected at the same time. Great interest was now manifested west of the Alleghanies in the subject of a new State. Delegates to the second Wheeling Convention were elected June 4, and met June 11, 1861. The members of the first convention had been ap- pointed by mass-meetings and otherwise, but those of the second conven- tion had been chosen by the suffrage of the people. Thirty counties were represented as follows:
Barbour County-N. H. Taft, Spencer Dayton, John H. Shuttleworth. Brooke County-W. H. Crothers, Joseph Gist, John D. Nichols, Camp- bell Tarr.
Cabell County-Albert Laidly was entered on the roll but did not serve. Doddridge County-James A. Foley.
Gilmer County-Henry H. Withers.
Hancock County-George M. Porter, John H. Atkinson, William L. Crawford.
Harrison County-John J. Davis, Chapman J. Stewart, John C. Vance, John S. Carlile, Solomon S. Fleming, Lot Bowers, B. F. Shuttleworth.
Hardy County-John Michael.
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Hampshire County-James Carskadon, Owen J. Downey, James J. Bar- racks, G. W. Broski, James H. Trout.
Jackson County-Daniel Frost, Andrew Flesher, James F. Scott.
Kanawha County-Lewis Ruffner, Greenbury Slack.
Lewis County-J. A. J. Lightburn, P. M. Hale.
Monongalia County-Joseph Snyder, Leroy Kramer, R. L. Berkshire, William Price, James Evans, D. B. Dorsey.
Marion County-James O. Watson, Richard Fast, Fontain Smith, Fran- cis H. Pierpont, John S. Barnes, A. F. Ritchie.
Marshall County-C. H. Caldwell, Robert Morris, Remembrance Swan. Mason County-Lewis Wetzel, Daniel Polsley, C. B. Waggener.
Ohio County-Andrew Wilson, Thomas H. Logan, Daniel Lamb, James W. Paxton, George Harrison, Chester D. Hubbard. Pleasants County-James W. Willamson, C. W. Smith.
Preston County-William Zinn, Charles Hooten, William B. Crane, John Howard, Harrison Hagans, John J. Brown.
Ritchie County-William H. Douglass.
Randolph County-Samuel Crane.
Roane County-T. A. Roberts.
Tucker County-Solomon Parsons.
Taylor County-L. E. Davidson, John S. Burdette, Samuel B. Todd. Tyler County-William I. Boreman, Daniel D. Johnson.
Upshur County-John Love, John L. Smith, D. D. T. Farnsworth. Wayne County-William Ratcliff, William Copley, -W. W. Brumfield. Wetzel County-James G. West, Reuben Martin, James P. Ferrell.
Wirt County-James A. Williamson, Henry Newman, E. T. Graham.
Wood County-John W. Moss, Peter G. VanWinkle, Arthur I. Bore- man.
James T. Close and H. S. Martin, of Alexandria, and John Hawxhurst and E. E. Mason, of Fairfax, were admitted as delegates, while William F. Mercer, of Loudoun, and Jonathan Roberts, of Fairfax, were rejected be- cause of the insufficiency of their credentials. Arthur I. Boreman was elected president of the convention, G. L. Cranmer, secretary, and Thomas Hornbrook, sergeant-at-arms.
On June 13, two days after the meeting of the convention, a committee on Order of Business reported a declaration by the people of Virginia. This document set forth the acts of the Secessionists of Virginia, declared them hostile to the welfare of the people, done in violation of the constitution, and therefore null and void. It was further declared that all offices in Vir- ginia, whether legislative, judicial or executive, under the government set up by the convention which passed the Ordinance of Secession, were vacant. The next day the convention began the work of re-organizing the State Gov- ernment on the following lines: A Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General for the State of Virginia were to be appointed by the convention to hold office until their successors should be elected and qualified, and the Legislature was required to provide by law for the elec- tion of a Governor and Lieutenant Governor by the people. A Council of State, consisting of five members, was to be appointed to assist the Gov- ernor, their term of office to expire at the same time as that of the Governor. Delegates elected to the Legislature on May 23, 1861, and Senators entitled to seats under the laws then existing, and who would take the oath as required, were to constitute the re-organized Legislature, and were required
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to meet in Wheeling on the first day of the following July. A test oath was required of all officers, whether State, County or Municipal.
On June 20 the convention proceeded to choose officers. Francis H. Pierpont was elected Governor of Virginia; Daniel Polsley was elected Lieutenant Governor; James Wheat was chosen Attorney General. The Governor's council consisted of Daniel Lamb, Peter G. VanWinkle, William Lazier, William A. Harrison and J. T. Paxton. The Legislature was re- quired to elect an Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State as soon as pos- sible. This closed the work of the convention, and it adjourned to meet August 6.
A new Government existed for Virginia. The Legislature which was to assemble in Wheeling in ten days could complete the work.
This Legislature of Virginia, consisting of thirty-one members, began its labors immediately upon organizing, July 1. A message from Governor Pierpont laid before that body the condition of affairs and indicated certain measures which ought to be carried out. On July 9 the Legislature elected L. A. Hagans, of Preston County, Secretary of Virginia; Samuel Crane, of Randolph County, Auditor; and Campbell Tarr, of Brooke County, Treas- urer. Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile were elected to the United States Senate.
The convention which had adjourned June 20 met again August 6 and took up the work of dividing Virginia, whose government had been re-or- ganized and was in working order. The people wanted a new State and the machinery for creating it was set in motion. On July 20 an ordinance was passed calling for an election to take the sense of the people on the question, and to elect members to a constitutional convention at the same time. In case the vote favored a new State, the men elected to the consti- tutional convention were to meet and frame a constitution. The conven- tion adjourned August 2, 1861. Late in October the election was held, with the result that the vote stood about twenty-five to one in favor of a new State.
CHAPTER XIV,
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:0:
FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA,
The Re-organized Government of Virginia made all things ready for the creation of the new commonwealth. The people of Western Virginia had waited long for the opportunity to divide the State. The tyranny of the more powerful eastern part had been borne half a century. When at last the war created the occasion, the people were not slow to profit by it, and to bring a new State into existence. The work began in earnest August 20, 1861, when the second Wheeling Convention called upon the people to vote on the question; and the labor was completed June 20, 1863, when the officers of the new State took charge of affairs. One year and ten months were required for the accomplishment of the work; and this chapter gives an outline of the proceedings relative to the new State during that time. It was at first proposed to call it Kanawha, but the name was changed in the constitutional convention at Wheeling on December 3, 1861, to West Vir- ginia. On February 18, 1862, the constitutional convention adjourned, sub- ject to the call of the chairman. In April of that year the people of the State voted upon the ratification of the constitution, and the vote in favor of ratification was 18,862, and against it, 514. Governor Pierpont issued a proclamation announcing the result, and at the same time called an extra session of the Virginia Legislature to meet in Wheeling May 6. That body met, and six days later passed an act by which it gave its consent to a divi- sion of the State of Virginia and the creation of a new State. This was done in order that the constitution might be complied with, for, before the State could be divided, the Legislature must give its consent. It yet remained for West Virginia to be admitted into the Union by an Act of Congress and by the President's proclamation. Had there been no opposi- tion, and had there not been such press of other business this might have been accomplished in a few weeks. As it was there was a long contest in the Senate. The opposition did not come so much from outside the State as from the State itself. John S. Carlile, one of the Senators elected by the Legislature of the Re-organized Government of Virginia at Wheeling, was supposed to be friendly to the cause of the new State, but when he was put to the test it was found that he was strongly opposed to it, and he did all in his power to defeat the movement, and almost accomplished his pur- pose. The indignation in Western Virginia was great. The Legislature, in session at Wheeling, on December 12, 1862, by a resolution, requested Carlile to resign the seat he held in the Senate. He refused to do so. He had been one of the most active advocates of the movement for a new State while a member of the first Wheeling Convention, in May, 1861, and had been a leader in the new State movement before and after that date.
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FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Why he changed, and opposed the admission of West Virginia by Congress has never been satisfactorily explained.
One of the reasons given for his opposition, and one which he himself put forward, was that Congress attempted to amend the State constitution on the subject of slavery, and he opposed the admission of the State on that ground.". He claimed that he would rather have no new State than have it saddled with a constitution, a portion of which its people had never ratified. But this could not have been the sole cause of Carlile's opposition. He tried to defeat the bill after the proposed objectionable amendment to the constitution had been satisfactorily arranged. He fought it in a deter- mined manner till the last. He had hindered the work of getting the bill before Congress before any change in the State Constitution had been proposed.
The members in Congress from the Re-organized Government of Vir- ginia were William G. Brown, Jacob B. Blair and K. V. Waley; in the Sen- ate, John S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey. In addition to these gentle- men, the Legislature appointed as commissioners to bring the matter before Congress, Ephraim B. Hall, of Marion County, Peter VanWinkle, of Wood County, John Hall, of Mason County, and Elbert H. Caldwell, of Marshall County. These commissioners reached Washington May 22, 1862. There were several other well-known West Virginians who also went to Washing- ton on their own account to assist in securing the new State. Among them were Daniel Polsley, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia; Granville Parker and Harrison Hagans. There were members of Congress and Sen- ators from other States who performed special service in the cause. The matter was laid before the United States Senate May 29, 1862, by Senator Willey, who presented the West Virginia Constitution recently ratified, and also the Act of the Legislature giving its consent to the creation of a new State within the jurisdiction of Virginia, and a memorial requesting the admission of the State. In presenting these documents, Senator Willey addressed the Senate and denied that the movement was simply to gratify revenge upon the mother State for seceding from the Union and joining the Southern Confederacy, but on the contrary, the people west of the Alle- ghanies had long wanted a new State, and had long suffered in consequence of Virginia's neglect, and of her unconcern for their welfare. Mr. Willey's address was favorably received, and the whole matter regarding the admis- sion of West Virginia was laid before the Committee on Territories, of which Senator John S. Carlile was a member. It had not at that time been suspected that Carlile was hostile to the movement. He was expected to prepare the bill. He neglected to do so until nearly a month had passed and the session of Congress was drawing to a close. But it was not so much the delay that showed his hostility as the form of the bill. Had it been passed by Congress in the form proposed by Carlile the defeat of the new State measure must have been inevitable. No one acquainted with the circumstances and conditions had any doubt that the bill was prepared for the express purpose of defeating the wishes of the people by whom Mr. Carlile had been sent to the Senate. It included in West Virginia, in addi- tion to the counties which had ratified the constitution, Alleghany, Augusta, Berkeley, Bath, Botetourt, Craig, Clark, Frederick, Highland, Jefferson, Page, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah and Warren Counties. The hostility in most of those counties was very great. The bill provided that those counties, in conjunction with those west of the Alleghanies, should
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FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.
elect delegates to a constitutional convention and frame a constitution which should provide that all children born of slaves after 1863 should be free. This constitution was then to go back to the people of the several counties for ratification. Then, if the Virginia Legislature should pass an Act giving its consent to the creation of a new State from Virginia's terri- tory, and the Governor of Virginia certify the same to the President of the United States, he might make proclamation of the fact, and West Virginia would become a State without further proceedings by Congress.
Senator Carlile knew that the counties he had added east of the Alle- ghanies were opposed to the new State on any terms, and that they would oppose it the more determinedly on account of the gradual emancipation clause in it. He knew that they would not appoint delegates to a constitu- tional convention, nor would they ratify the constitution should one be sub- mitted to them. In short, they were strong enough in votes and sentiment to defeat the movement for a new State. All the work done for the crea- tion of West Virginia would have been thrown away had this bill prevailed.
Three days later, June 26, the bill was called up, and Charles Sumner proposed an amendment regarding slavery. He would have no slavery at all. All indications were that the bill would defeat the measure for the new State, and preparations were made to begin the fight in a new quarter. Congressman Wm. G. Brown, of Preston County, proposed a new bill to be presented in the House of Representatives. But the contest went on. In July Senator Willey submitted an amendment, which was really a new bill. It omitted the counties east of the Alleghanies, and provided that all slaves under twenty-one years of age on July 4, 1863, should be free on arriving at that age. It now became apparent to Carlile that his bill was dead, and that West Virginia was likely to be admitted. As a last resort, he proposed a postponement till December, in order to gain time, but his motion was lost. Carlile then opposed the bill on the grounds that if passed it would impose upon the people of the new State a clause of the constitution not of their making and which they had not ratified. But this argument was de- prived of its force by offering to submit the proposed amendment to the people of West Virginia for their approval. Fortunately the constitutional convention had adjourned subject to the call of the chair. The members were convened; they included the amendment in the constitution, and the people approved it. However, before this was done the bill took its course through Congress. It passed the Senate July 14, 1862, and was immedi- ately sent to the Lower House. But Congress being about to adjourn, further consideration of the bill went over till the next session in Decem- ber, 1862, and on the tenth of that month it was taken up in the House of Representatives and after a discussion continuing most of the day, it was passed by a vote of ninety-six to fifty-five.
The friends of the new State now felt that their efforts had been suc- cessful; but one more step was necessary, and the whole work might yet be rendered null and void. It depended on President Lincoln. He might veto the bill. He requested the opinion of his cabinet. Six of the cabinet officers complied, and three favored signing the bill and three advised the President to veto it. Mr. Lincoln took it under advisement. It was be- lieved that he favored the bill, but there was much anxiety felt. Nearly two years before that time Mr. Lincoln, through one of his cabinet officers, had promised Governor Pierpont to do all he could, in a constitutional way, for the Re-organized Government of Virginia, and that promise was con-
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FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.
strued to mean that the new State would not be opposed by the President. Mr. Lincoln was evidently undecided for some time what course to pursue, for he afterwards said that a telegram received by him from A. W. Camp- bell, editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer, largely influenced him in deciding to sign the bill. On December 31, 1862, Congressman Jacob B. Blair called on the President to see if any action had been taken by the Executive. The bill had not yet been signed, but Mr. Lincoln asked Mr. Blair to come back the next day. Mr. Blair did so, and was given the bill admitting West Vir- ginia into the Union. It was signed January 1, 1863.
On December 31, 1862, President Lincoln gave his own views on these questions in the following language :*
" The consent of the Legislature of Virginia is constitutionally necessary to the Bill for the Admission of West Virginia becoming a law. A body claiming to be such Legis- lature has given its consent. We cannot well deny that it is such, unless we do so upon the outside knowledge that the body was chosen at elections in which a majority of the qualified voters of Virginia did not participate. But it is a universal practice in the popular elections in all these States to give no legal consideration whatever to those who do not choose to vote, as against thic effect of those who do choose to vote. Hence it is not the qualified voters, but the qualified voters who choose to vote, that constitute the political power of the State. Much less than to non-voters should any consideration be given to those who did not vote in this case, because it is also matter of outside knowl- edge that they were not merely neglectful of their rights under and duty to this Govern- ment, but were also engaged in open rebellion against it. Doubtless among these non- voters were some Union men whose voices were- smothered by the more numerous Seces- sionists, but we know too little of their number to assign them any appreciable value.
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