USA > West Virginia > Randolph County > The history of Randolph County, West Virginia. From its earliest settlement to the present, embracing records of all the leading families, reminiscences and traditions > Part 15
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119
THE RE-ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT,
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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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 the 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.
"Can this Government stand if it indulges constitutional constructions by which men in open rebellion against it are to be accounted, man for man, the equals of those who maintain their loyalty to it ? Are they to be accounted even better citizens, and more worthy of consideration, than those who merely neglect to vote ? If so, their treason against the Constitution enhances their constitutional value. Without braving these absurd conclusions we cannot deny that the body which consents to the admission of West Virginia is the Legislature of Virginia. I do not think the plural form of the words ' Legislatures ' and 'States' in the phrase of the constitution 'without the con- sent of the Legislatures of the States concerned ' has any reference to the new State concerned. That plural form sprang from the contemplation of two or more old States contributing to form a new one. The idea that the new State was in danger of being admitted without its own consent was not provided against, because it was not thought of, as I conceive. It is said ' the Devil takes care of his own.' Much more should a good spirit-the spirit of the Constitution and the Union-take care of its own. I think it cannot do less and live.
"But is the admission of West Virginia into the Union expedient ? This, in my general view, is more a question for Congress than for the Executive. Still I do not evade it. More than on anything else, it depends on whether the admission or rejection of the new State would, under all the circumstances, tend the more strongly to the restoration of the National authority throughout the Union. That which helps most in this direction is the most expedient at this time. Doubtless those in remaining Vir- ginia would return to the Union, so to speak, less reluctantly without the division of the old State than with it, but I think we could not save as much in this quarter by reject- ing the new State as we should lose by it in West Virginia. We can scarcely dispense with the aid of West Virginia in this struggle; much less can we afford to have her against us, in Congress and in the field. Her brave and good men regard her admission into the Union as a matter of life and death. They have been true to the Union under very severe trials. We have so acted as to justify their hopes, and we cannot fully retain their confidence and co-operation if we seem to break faith with them. In fact they could uot do so much for us if they would. Again, the admission of the new State turns that much slave soil to free, and this is a certain and irrevocable encroachment upon the cause of the rebellion. The division of a State is dreaded as a precedent. But a measure made expedient by a war is no precedent in times of peace. It is said that the admission of West Virginia is secession. Well, if we call it by that name, there is still
* See " Works of Abraham Lincoln," by John Nicolay and John Hay, vol. 2, p. 285.
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FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.
difference enough between secession against the constitution and secession in favor of the constitution. I believe the admission of West Virginia into the Union is expedient."
However, there was yet something to be done before West Virginia became a State. The bill passed by Congress and signed by President Lincoln went no further than to provide that the new State should become a member of the Union when a clause concerning slavery, contained in the bill, should be made a part of the constitution and be ratified by the people. The convention which had framed the State Constitution had adjourned to meet at the call of the chairman. The members came together on Febru- ary 12, 1863. Two days later John S. Carlile, who had refused to resign his seat in the Senate when asked by the Virginia Legislature to do so, made another effort to defeat the will of the people whom he was sent to Congress to represent. He presented a supplementary bill in the Senate providing that President Lincoln's proclamation admitting West Virginia be withheld until certain counties of West Virginia had ratified by their votes the clause regarding slavery contained in the bill. Mr. Carlile be- lieved that those counties would not ratify the constitution. But his bill was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 28 to 12.
The clause concerning slavery, as adopted by the constitutional con- vention on re-assembling at Wheeling, was in these words: "The children of slaves, born within the limits of this State after the fourth day of July, 1863, shall be free, and all slaves within the said State who shall, at the time aforesaid, be under the age of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-one years; and all slaves over ten and under twenty- one years shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent resi- dence therein." The people ratified the constitution at an election held for that purpose. The majority in favor of ratification was seventeen thousand.
President Lincoln issued his proclamation April 20, 1863, and sixty days thereafter, that is June 20, 1863, West Virginia was to become a State without further legislation. In the meantime, May 9, a State Convention assembled in Parkersburg to nominate officers. A Confederate force under General Jones advanced within forty miles of Parkersburg, and the con- vention hurried through with its labors and adjourned. It nominated Arthur I. Boreman, of Wood County, for Governor; Campbell Tarr, of Brooke County, for Treasurer; Samuel Crane, of Randolph County, for Auditor; Edgar J. Boyers, of Tyler County, for Secretary of State; A. B. Caldwell, of Ohio County, Attorney General; for Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Ralph L. Berkshire, of Monongalia County; James H. Brown, of Kanawha County, and William A. Harrison, of Harrison County. These were all elected late in the month of May, and on June 20, 1863, took the oath of office and West Virginia was a State. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel Webster in 1851 when he said that if Virginia took sides with a secession movement, the result would be the formation of a new State from Virginia's Transalleghany territory.
The creation of the new State of West Virginia did not put an end to the Re organized Government of Virginia. The officers who had held their seat of government at Wheeling moved to Alexandria, and in 1865 moved to Richmond, where they held office until their successors were elected. Governor Pierpont filled the gubernatorial chair of Virginia about seven years.
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FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.
In the summer of 1864 General Benjamin F. Butler, in command of Union forces in eastern Virginia, wrote to President Lincoln, complaining of the conduct of Governor Pierpont and the Secretary of State, intimating that they were not showing sufficient devotion to the Union cause. On August 9, 1864, Lincoln replied, and in the following language put a squelch on General Butler's meddling:
"I surely need not to assure you that I have no doubt of your loyalty and devoted patriotism, and I must tell you that I have no less confidence in those of Governor Pier- pont and the Attorney General. The former-at first as the loyal Governor of all Vir- ginia, including that which it now West Virginia, in organizing and furnishing troops, and in all other proper matters-was as earnest, honest and efficient to the extent of his means as any other loyal Governor. * ** * The Attorney General needs only to be known to be relieved from all question as to loyalty and thorough devotion to the national cause. "*
* Works of Lincoln, vol. 2. p. 690.
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CHAPTER XV.
:0:
ORGANIZING FOR WAR.
In a work of this sort it should not be expected that a full account of the Civil War, as it affected West Virginia, will be given. It must suffice to present only an outline of events as they occurred in that great struggle, nor is any pretence made that this outline shall be complete. The vote on the Ordinance of Secession showed that a large majority of the people in this State were opposed to a separation from the United States. This vote, while it could not have been much of a surprise to the politicians in the eastern part of Virginia, was a disappointment. It did not prevent Vir- ginia, as a State, from joining the Southern Confederacy, but the result made it plain that Virginia was divided against itself, and that all the part west of the Alleghany Mountains, and much of that west of the Blue Ridge, would not take up arms against the general government in furtherance of the interests of the Southern Confederacy.
It therefore became necessary for Virginia, backed by the other South- ern States, to conquer its own transmontane territory. The commencement of the war in what is now West Virginia was due to an invasion by troops in the service of the Southern Confederacy in an effort to hold the territory as a part of Virginia. It should not be understood, however, that there was no sympathy with the South in this State. As nearly as can be esti- mated the number who took sides with the South, in proportion to those who upheld the Union, was as one to six. The people generally were left to choose. Efforts were made at the same time to raise soldiers for the South and for the North, and those who did not want to go one way were at liberty to go the other. In the eastern part of the State considerable success was met in enlisting volunteers for the Confederacy, but in the western counties there were hardly any who went with the South. That the government at Richmond felt the disappointment keenly is evidenced by the efforts put forth to organize companies of volunteers, and the dis- couraging reports of the recruiting officers.
Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of Virginia, April 23, 1861, and on the same day he wrote to Governor Letcher accepting the office. Six days later he wrote Major A. Loring, at Wheeling, urging him to muster into the service of the State all the volunteer companies in that vicinity, and to take command of them. Loring was asked to report what success attended his efforts. On the same day Lieutenant-Colonel John McCausland, at Richmond, received orders from General Lee to proceed at once to the Kanawha Valley and muster into service the volunteer companies in that quarter. General Lee named four companies already formed, two in Kanawha and two in Putnam Counties,
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ORGANIZING FOR WAR.
and he expressed the belief that others would offer their services. McCaus- land was instructed to organize a company of artillery in the Kanawha Val- ley. On the next day, April 30, General Lee wrote to Major Boykin, at Weston, in Lewis County, ordering him to muster in the volunteer com. panies in that part of the State, and to ascertain how many volunteers could be raised in the vicinity of Parkersburg. General Lee stated in the letter that he had sent two hundred flint-lock muskets to Colonel Jackson (Stone- wall) at Harper's Ferry, for the use of the volunteers about Weston. He said no better guns could be had at that time. The next day, May 1, Gov ernor Letcher announced that arrangements had been made for calling out fifty thousand Virginia volunteers, to assemble at Norfolk, Richmond, Alex- andria, Fredericksburg, Harper's Ferry, Grafton, Parkersburg, Kanawha and Moundsville. On May 4 General Lee ordered Colonel George A Por- terfield to Grafton to take charge of the troops in that quarter, those already in service and those who were expected to volunteer. Colonel Porterfield was ordered, by authority of the Governor of Virginia, to call out the vol- unteers in the counties of Wood, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Ritchie, Pleasants and Doddridge, to rendezvous at Parkersburg; and in the coun- ties of Braxton, Lewis, Harrison, Monongalia, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur, Tucker, Marion, Randolph and Preston, to rendezvous at Grafton. General Lee said he did not know how many men could be enlisted, but he supposed five regiments could be mustered into service in that part of the State.
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