University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER II

THE WHEELING GOVERNMENT AND THE
FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA

During the period of strife and agony, Virginia lost a third
of her territory. There was created from the old Mother of
States a new daughter, West Virginia, out of due season and
against her wishes.[1]

Prior to 1851 there was constant strife between the eastern
and western sections of the State. It was the continuation of
the struggle between the old, rich, and more conservative section,
and the newer and more aggressive and more democratic
section. This struggle followed the line of the frontier as it
was pushed westward. Piedmont and the Valley became
closely associated with the older portion of Virginia. But the
Alleghanies set a barrier between the three eastern sections
and Trans-Alleghany which was never broken down, and which
made possible the disruption of the State.

The geographical character and situation of Western
Virginia caused a large part of that region to be more closely
affiliated with Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland than with
Eastern Virginia. The rivers led commerce to the North and
brought in Northern settlers. The mountains shut off communication
with the South. There developed in the two sections
enough social and economic differences to further separate
them. The west grew rapidly in numbers, but its representation
in the State legislature was not increased proportionally.
In fact, Virginia, like most of the older commonwealths, was
slow to drop the property qualifications and also slow to trust

William Smith

Governor, 1864-1865

the more democratic and less wealthy western region with too
much power. The question of representation was greatly
agitated for a dozen years before 1829. In that year the
Valley and Trans-Alleghany sections were strong enough to
secure the calling of a constitutional convention, which met in
Richmond on October 5, 1829. In this body 362,745 white
inhabitants of the Tidewater and the Piedmont were represented
by sixty-eight delegates; while the 319,518 white
inhabitants of the Valley and the Trans-Alleghany were
represented by only twenty-eight.[2]

At this time the Valley was in sympathy with the east, and
the dividing political line was shifted from the Blue Ridge to
the Alleghanies. Once again the State had escaped "the monstrous
tyranny of King Numbers," as the eccentric John
Randolph characterized a more popular government. The
Constitution of 1830 left the Western Virginians with their
old grievances, and they continued their strife for reform.
The Constitution of 1851 granted universal white manhood
suffrage, and so arranged the system of representation that
the western counties had a majority of four votes in the
Assembly in joint session. The west controlled the House of
Delegates and the east controlled the Senate. Arrangement
was made for redistricting at regular intervals in the future,
according to population. The people of West Virginia (as the
inhabitants had begun to call the Trans-Alleghany region)
thought that the system of representation could still be improved
and that slaves were not taxed heavily enough. But
there was very little political strife for the next ten years.
The west proceeded to elect a governor and state senators.
The commonwealth now entered upon an era of peace, reform,
and prosperity.

One of the long standing causes of friction between the two

sections was the fact that most of the money expended by the
State for works of internal improvement had gone to the aid
of improvements in its eastern part. Had Virginia taken the
advice given by Washington as early as 1753 to join more
closely the two great divisions of the Commonwealth, the separation
might not have come. The principal obstacle in the
way of this closer union, he said, would be "the unfortunate
jealousy, which ever has, and it is to be feared ever will, prevail,
lest one part of the State shall obtain an advantage over
the other parts."[3] Another great Virginian, Chief Justice
Marshall, was a member of a commission appointed by the
legislature to view certain rivers in the State. They explored
the upper waters of the James, crossed the mountains, and
followed the line of the unexplored New River. They mapped
out the course of the James River and Kanawha improvement,
which for almost a half century was the foremost
internal improvement scheme of Virginia.[4]

In 1861, of the 1,379 miles of completed railroad in Virginia
only 361 miles had been constructed in Western Virginia. The
building of internal improvements in that region had been
hampered by sectional jealousy; by the fact that it paid less
taxes than the eastern section; and by the difficulty of crossing
the mountains. There were also differences between the two
sections in regard to slavery. Within the counties now composing
the State of West Virginia, there were about 323,526
whites and 28,256 negro slaves. In what is now Virginia, there
were about 685,000 whites and 490,865 negro slaves. Although
Western Virginia had few slaves, there was no great hostility
to slavery there and no desire to keep the free negroes in their
midst. In 1860, only 2,709 such negroes lived in the western
counties, while there were 58,042 free colored persons in what
are now Virginia counties. Western Virginians were, therefore,

not much concerned with the questions of race and
slavery which greatly agitated the remainder of the State.

Yet with all these factors which tended to separate the two
sections, the dividing of Virginia did not result from a great
popular desire for separation on the part of the Western Virginians.
A close student of the disruption of Virginia writes,
"In western Virginia, outside of the northern Panhandle,
Lincoln was given practically no support [in 1860], even in
those counties where few slaves were held. * * * It cannot
be emphasized too strongly that, if the result of the election in
Western Virginia has any meaning at all, it means that the
people in that section had little more sympathy with the antislavery
propaganda than had their eastern brethren. * * *
It cannot be controverted that, whatever may be the popular
opinion to the contrary, the whole State of Virginia, from the
Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean, and from Pennsylvania and
Maryland to Kentucky and North Carolina, was pretty well
united on the general issues of slavery and states rights."[5]

Delegates from twenty-one counties voted for secession
and those of nineteen, the most wealthy and populous, voted
against secession. A number of eastern delegates voted
against secession, but all but one had their votes changed to
the affirmative later.[6]

On April 19, John S. Carlile, who had led the Union forces
in the Secession Convention, left for his home in Western
Virginia. On the next day, the remaining Unionists met in the
room of Sherrard Clemans at the Powhatan Hotel, and here
they decided to return to Trans-Alleghany, and found a new
state.[7] They left Richmond the next morning, with Governor
Letcher's permission, and before the end of the month they
were agitating against secession. Public sentiment in that
region, however, did not approve coercing the South. On
April 22, a Unionist meeting was held at Clarksburg in

Harrison County, the home of John S. Carlile, and it was
decided to call a convention of anti-secessionists at Wheeling.
Wheeling, the largest city in Western Virginia, was chosen
because it was thoroughly Unionist in sentiment. It was situated
on the old National Road, and on the Ohio River in the
northern Panhandle, close to and between the states of Ohio
and Pennsylvania. Union sentiment and propaganda found
an excellent means of expression in the Wheeling Intelligencer.
It was in this paper that the formal call for a convention was
published on April 27. In answer to this call, the larger
towns held mass meetings and elected delegates. The rural
districts, which contained three-fourths of the population, did
not take part in the movement. More than a third of the 429
men who were chosen came from the counties near Wheeling.
Twenty-six counties were not represented.

The first convention at Wheeling met on May 13, 1861. An
attempt to establish a new state failed. But a resolution was
adopted directing the people of Western Virginia to ignore
the Ordinance of Secession and to elect delegates to a convention
which was called to meet in Wheeling on June 11. This
convention, when it met, was a great disappointment to the
North. No enthusiasm was shown by the West Virginians for
enlisting in the Federal armies, and the attempt to organize a
new commonwealth had failed.

The June convention, in which twenty-seven counties were
represented, passed a resolution called the "Declaration of the
People of Virginia," in which it was declared that a majority
of the people had the right to change or abolish an inadequate
government. On June 19, an ordinance was adopted providing
for the reorganization of the State. A General Assembly
was to meet at Wheeling on July 1. The Assembly was
authorized to create a state debt. County and state officers
were required to take an oath of allegiance to the United
States. The convention then proceeded to elect the higher
state officers. F. H. Peirpoint was chosen governor of this
restored Virginia, after which the convention adjourned

(June 25) to meet again on August 6. The June convention
had been more in favor of separating the state than the
May convention, but recognized the expediency of not advocating
it too strongly at that time.

The so-called General Assembly of Virginia met at
Wheeling on July 2, 1861. The total number of members in the
two Houses probably never exceeded thirty-eight.[8] This body
chose as United States senators John S. Carlile and Waitman
T. Willey.

The formation of the Wheeling government as the
government of the whole State of Virginia was entirely
revolutionary. If Virginia were out of the Union, as it claimed
to be, the government at Richmond was the legal state government.
If the State had not seceded, as President Lincoln
claimed, then the government in Richmond was the real
government, and the proceedings at Wheeling were most
irregular.[9]

When Congress met in extra session on July 4, 1861, the
new group of "senators" and "representatives" from Virginia
presented themselves for admission. Lincoln, in his
message to Congress, advocated the recognition of the reorganized
government as the government of Virginia. The debate
on the subject in that body showed that the constitutional
questions in the way of recognition were formidable; but constitutionality
yielded to expediency and the applicants were
admitted. The "Wheeling," "Peirpoint," or "Restored"
government, as it is variously called, was now officially
recognized by both the President and Congress.

On August 6, 1861, the June convention met in its second
session. The chief question before it was the erection of a new
state out of the western counties. The committee on division
drew a boundary line which took in the twenty counties now
forming Western and Northern Virginia. Some of these were

not even represented in the convention and some were known
to be loyal to the Richmond government. This line of division
was warmly debated.

Finally, on August 20, a compromise ordinance was
agreed upon and was adopted. This ordinance provided that
thirty-nine counties should form the new state, which was to
be called "Kanawha." In addition, Berkeley, Greenbrier,
Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Morgan, and Pocahontas were
to decide by local option on October 24 whether or not they
wished to be annexed to the new commonwealth. On the same
day, the people throughout the territory comprising the new
state were to choose delegates to a constitutional convention.

The proceedings chronicled above were exceedingly irregular
and inconsistent. A West Virginia historian, Dr. James C.
McGregor, thus describes the sentiment of many people of
Western Virginia in regard to the new state:

"Just as the large body of western Virginians were neutral
in the conflict [the war] that was pending, so were they indifferent
as to the actions of the Wheeling government, showing
their disapproval by staying away from the polls. There was
a general feeling that the new state, if formed, would be the
result of a secret, restless desire on the part of aspiring politicians
to obtain offices. The people were suspicious of a ruling
clique which destroyed old constitutions and enacted new ones
with such ease and with so little regard to public sentiment.
The same group of men organized the May Convention, summoned
the June Convention, called together and sat as members
in the rump legislature; met one day as a convention and
passed an ordinance setting up a new state; met the next day
as the General Assembly of Virginia and gave their consent
to the very act which they had agreed to the day before;
created offices for themselves and fixed their own salaries.
Then, to cap the climax, a free vote was made impossible and
none but known adherents of the new state were permitted to
go to the polls. It was admitted that, even in the Panhandle,
there was no enthusiasm for the new state."[10]

The constitutional convention met at Wheeling on November
26, 1861, to frame a constitution for the proposed State
of Kanawha. The spirit in which the members worked is well
set forth in a remark of "Senator" Willey, who was present,
that "these are revolutionary times. The house is on fire and
we cannot be very technical." So great was the attachment to
the name "Virginia" among the constituents of its members
that the convention, by a large majority (30 to 14), named the
new state "West Virginia." Many speakers admitted in the
convention the strong sympathy for secession or the hostility
to the division of the State which existed in the counties which
they represented. According to Dr. McGregor, "So frank
were these admissions that the people of the western portion
of Virginia were southern in their sympathies that the convention
felt it necessary to reject a motion to have the debates
published."[11]

The sentiment in the convention was so strong against the
abolition of slavery that this body made no laws to that effect.
But the constitution forbade the entry of negroes into the
State, whether slave or free.

The constitution was submitted to the people in April, 1862.
It was adopted by a vote of 20,622 to 440. These figures do
not indicate the actual situation. A third of the affirmative
vote was cast in four northern Panhandle counties. The counties
bordering Virginia were silent. According to Dr.
McGregor, "The measure was practically adopted by a vote
of six counties, and the silent protests of more than twenty
other counties were passed unheeded; and the present State
of West Virginia is composed of counties, a majority of which
were opposed to the division of the State."[12]

On May 5, 1862, an extra session of the "Restored" legislature
met in Wheeling. This body of thirty-one delegates and
ten senators, acting in the name of the people of the whole
State of Virginia, gave the official consent required by the

Federal Constitution to the formation of the State of West
Virginia out of part of the State of Virginia.

On May 29, 1862, Senator Willey presented to the Senate
a memorial from the legislature of "Restored" Virginia giving
its consent to the formation of a new state from Western
Virginia. In this strange document, Virginia was represented
as urging Congress to dismember herself, because of the fact
that her own government in the past had mistreated the western
counties, who were represented as eager for separation
from the mother state. It also declared with peculiar frankness
that only those counties which were to form the new
commonwealth wished the separation; and, furthermore, that
there was much opposition even in these.

The request for dividing the State was championed in the
Federal Senate by Senator Willey. Senator Carlile, one of the
original leaders of the "new state" plan, pretended to favor
the division, but later in the session attempted to prevent its
accomplishment. The bill was the cause of much opposition
on account of the legal inconsistencies of the whole affair and
on account of its inexpediency. It was passed, however, on
December 10, 1862, by a party vote of ninety-six to fifty-five.
Lincoln requested the opinion of his cabinet as to the legality
and the expediency of the bill. The cabinet was equally divided
on the subject. Chase, Seward, and Stanton approved the
measure, and Bates (Attorney-General and a native of Virginia),
Blair, and Welles opposed it. President Lincoln
signed the bill and justified the admission of West Virginia
largely on the ground of expediency. He explained that since
it was a war measure, it would not furnish a disturbing
precedent in times of peace.

The act of admission was conditioned upon the acceptance
by the West Virginians of an amendment to the state constitution
providing for the gradual emancipation of slaves within
the State. The constitutional convention was accordingly
reassembled on February 12, 1863, and the constitution
amended. The amended constitution was ratified by a vote

of the people on March 26, and on April 19 the President
issued a proclamation declaring that West Virginia was ready
for admission, which would take effect on June 20, 1863. On
that date, West Virginia became a state of the Union. Virginia
had lost a third of her territory.

Governor, 1865-1868