The Comet Strikes – April 17, 1861 – The Conclusion by Jim Surkamp

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ACT IV – SCENE III – THE SECESSION CONVENTION GOES INTO THE FIRST DAY OF SWORN-SECRET SESSION, ALLOWING FIERCE AND GUT-WRENCHING DEBATE (CONTINUED)

Early, Cameron, Madison, Wilson, Jackson

April 16 – Tuesday, Richmond, VA: First Day of Secret Session
The Convention goes into secret session. The commissioners report on their conversation with President Lincoln: Mr. Randolph urges immediate defense measures, and secession, while Mr. Stuart advises against secession before Virginia has consulted the border states. The Governor communicates the call of the U. S. Secretary of War for Virginia militia. Mr. Preston submits an ordinance of secession. Mr. Scott speaks in favor of resistance, but proposes a referendum on secession. Members from western Virginia discuss the effect of secession on their section of the state. Other members continue the discussion of secession, with most of those speaking opposed to precipitate action.

{The PRESIDENT—
I beg leave to lay before the Convention the following communication from the Governor of the Commonwealth.

{EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
April 16th, 1861.
Gentlemen of the Convention: In response to your resolution, this day adopted, I communicate herewith a dispatch received last evening. This is the only information I have received on this subject. I expect to hear further by the mails of to-day.
Respectfully,
JOHN LETCHER

The following is the telegraphic dispatch referred to in the communication:

WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington, April 15th, 1861.

Call made on you by to-night’s mail for three regiments of militia for immediate service.

Simon Cameron

SIMON CAMERON
Secretary of War

(Shortly thereafter, President Janney resumes the proceedings.)

The PRESIDENT—
I beg leave to submit a communication from the Governor of the Commonwealth for the consideration of the Convention.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, April 16, 1861. Gentlemen of the Convention:
I have received the telegraphic dispatch herewith transmitted, addressed to Mr. Charles Harris, and by him placed in my hands. I understand the person transmitting it is reliable. The delegates from that section, however, know Mr. Hathaway, and can furnish the body with information on this point.
Respectfully,
JOHN LETCHER

NORFOLK, April 16, 1861
To Charles Harris, at one of the Hotels:
Information has been received here that five hundred Federal troops will be here to-morrow morning to defend the Navy Yard. The Merrimac and Cumberland are taking on board everything they can. The Cumberland took all the money out of the Custom House to-day. See Governor Letcher and get him to send an order here by telegraph to obstruct the channel, and plant batteries on the Elizabeth river for our protection. Do it immediately or much will be lost. Wm. H. Parker is now on his way to Richmond to see Gov. Letcher on this subject. Arrangements are nearly all ready, and we only await the authority to act. In haste.
JOHN R. HATHAWAY}

(The Convention resumes.)

Mr. GEORGE BLOW, JR., of Norfolk City—
I will state, sir, for the information of the Convention, that the gentleman whose name is appended to that despatch, is one of the most respectable and respected citizens of Norfolk. (The communication and the accompanying despatch were laid upon the table.)

{THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION

{Mr. WM. B. PRESTON, of Montgomery—
I arise, with feelings of the deepest pain, to, offer something to the House that is tangible, and to express my opinion in this exigency. I hold in my hand what I am compelled to offer and what, in a measure, circumstances have accidentally made me the origin of.

***It is an ORDINANCE OF SECESSION.

I offer it to the House, and I trust that God shall extend his mercy to me – on this occasion.*** He is my witness that I am devoting every service of my heart to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

That Ordinance has not been offered under the influence of circumstances or telegraphic information. It is offered on the basis of the report we brought here from Washington, and the proclamation of the President.

I cannot, I will not recede now from the grounds I have taken. I feel that I would be unworthy of the position I occupy here, were I to take one step backwards. Those who choose this lead may follow. Those who don’t choose have a right to take whatever course their judgments may dictate. I will not upbraid them if they choose to take a position different from that which I have marked out for myself. I shall go through all these struggles with a consciousness that I have done my duty to my country, and I believe I have done it to God, and I feel that in this contest God himself will be with us. I now submit the Ordinance:}

{AN ORDINANCE to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution. The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States,Now, therefore, we, the

people of Virginia, do declare and ordain, That the ordinance adopted by the people of this State in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified; and all acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution aforesaid, is

hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty, which belong and appertain to a free and independent State. And they do further declare, That said Constitution of the United States of America, is no longer binding

on any of the citizens of this State. This ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day, when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon, on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.

Done in Convention in the city of Richmond, on the seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia.}

Mr. JOHN J. JACKSON, of Wood—
For more on John J. Jackson, Click Here

I did not suppose that it was the intention of the Convention to bring that matter before the body at this period. I had a desire to say something, and it is the last opportunity I expect to have ever to lift my voice in this or any other deliberative body. I expect, as an old man, to give utterance to the views I have upon this question, with perfect frankness and candor, and in order to give me a fair opportunity to do so, I hope it will be the pleasure of the Convention to adjourn till morning.

Mr. MONTAGUE—
I am very much exhausted, and I would move to adjourn until 4 o’clock, PM. The Convention re-assembled at 4 o’clock.

The PRESIDENT—
I beg leave to present a communication from the Governor of the Commonwealth.

{EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
April 16, 1861.

Gentlemen of the Convention:

By the mail of this evening, I received from Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, the communication and pamphlet herewith transmitted for your consideration.
I communicate also a dispatch from W. B. Cooke, of Norfolk city. To this dispatch I have replied, instructing the pilots not to take out of that port any war vessels.
Respectfully,
JOHN LETCHER}

The following is the communication received from Simon Cameron, referred to above:

{WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, April 15, 1861.

SIR: Under the act of Congress “for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, repel invasions,” etc., approved Feb. 28, 1795, I have the honor to request your Excellency to cause to be immediately detached from the militia of your State the quota designated in the table below, to serve as infantry or riflemen for the period of three months, unless sooner discharged.

Your Excellency will please communicate to me the time at or about which your quota will be expected at its rendezvous, as it will be met as soon as practicable by an officer or officers to muster it into the service and pay of the United States. At the same the oath of fidelity to the United States will be administered to every officer and man.

The mustering officer will be instructed to receive no man under the rank of commissioned officer who is in years apparently over forty-five, or under eighteen, or who is not in physical strength and vigor.

Quota from Virginia: 3 Regiments, to be composed of 3 Colonels, 3 Lieut. Colonels, 3 Majors, 3 Adjutants (Lieutenants), 3 Surgeons, 3 Surgeons’ Mates, 3 Sergeant Majors, 3 Drum Majors, 3 Fife Majors, 30 Captains, 30 Lieutenants, 30 Ensigns, 120 Sergeants, 120 Corporals, 30 Drummers, 30 Fifers, 1,920 privates. Total of officers, 111; do. of men, 2,229. Aggregate 2,340.

The rendezvous for your State will be at Staunton, Wheeling and Gordonsville.
I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, your ob’t serv’t,
SIMON CAMERON,
Secretary of War}

Mr. WISE—
I would call the attention of the Convention to the fact that the Governor does not inform us what his reply is to the requisition made upon him by the President for Virginia’s quota of troops. I think, sir, that before that requisition could be possibly executed, it becomes our duty to order him not to obey it. The matter requires immediate action . . .

Mr. STUART—
I would hope that the Convention would not lay aside the order of business. The course suggested would imply a distrust of the Governor in reference to the discharge of his duty. I think I can say, with confidence, that there is no danger of the Governor’s responding affirmatively to that communication. . .

Mr. WISE—
I do not mean to express any distrust or confidence; but I do mean to say, so far as I am concerned, that I mean to do my duty. We are here representing the sovereignty of the State, and we have a part to act, as well as the Governor.

I hope the Governor will refuse to obey this requisition. I find that he has sent us two communications informing us that the requisition has been made upon him, but has not intimated what his answer might be. . .

Mr. STUART—
Certainly, sir. . .

{Mr. JOHN J. JACKSON, of Wood—
It was not my purpose in rising before the recess to make any extended remarks, nor should I do so now but for some remarks which have fallen from gentlemen on the the other side.

No gentleman upon this floor appreciates this occasion with more solemn feelings than I do. Sir, I feel choaked – I scarcely have utterance to convey to you the estimate I form of the magnitude of the subject which we are now deliberating upon; and, sir, above all things, I am utterly incompetent to portray, even in the feeblest manner, the momentous consequences, which, in my humble judgment, hang upon the present movement. . .In times of revolution to be patriotic is to shout for war. In times of revolution to be a traitor is to counsel peace. I stand, I fear, in that relation upon the present occasion.

An old man, sir, “to the manor born,” never out of Virginia, except in the public service, educated in the Military Academy, I served five years in the public service, and after leaving that service, which I have to recollect with bitterness, because of its consequences to me, I was pursued with a degree of violent hostility by the abolitionists along the Ohio borders, which few men could have withstood. Sir, it was in that very service that I had caused the arrest of several individuals along the Ohio river, who were subsequently brought here and punished in your criminal courts. It was in consequence of that, sir, that I became the object of unceasing attacks through the whole extent of my abolition country. In consequence of my services to the Commonwealth on that occasion, my servants were taken from me. I suppose there is no gentleman within the sound of my voice that has suffered as much as I have in the cause of the Commonwealth. I lost from $15,000 to $20,000 worth of servants, and yet it seems that gentlemen would insinuate doubts as to my integrity on the question of the Commonwealth’s interests.

But I can bear this – I can bear anything when I believe it comports with my country’s good. . . . I have done, in short, all that lies in my power in order to effect reconciliation, and restore peace and unity. I have now been conducted by gentlemen upon this floor to the brink of a yawning gulf, and I feel to-day as if I was at a funeral – not the funeral of my friends or relatives, as I have often been-but the funeral of my country; aye, sir, a funeral which must be but the forerunner of many a disaster, and much suffering.

I have no heart; no, no, sir-none whatever. I stand here an old man; I have loved my country; I have served my country; I have served this Commonwealth long, faithfully, earnestly-doubtless, not so well as I might have done -not so well as many others, doubtless, have done; but I served her with my whole heart. I served her thirty-five years ago on this floor; and though not a very old man in the public service of the Commonwealth,***I stand here to-day having taken the oath to support the Constitution of the United States twenty-seven times. Was that an unmeaning ceremony? Was it of no consequence that I called the eternal God to witness that I would be true to the Constitution of Virginia as well as the Constitution of the United States? *** Is it there registered for nothing? (Pointing his finger towards Heaven.) In a few years more I expect to be confronted with Him. My time is nearly ended. I am in the “sear and yellow leaf,” and the question now propounded to me is-twenty times I have taken the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, . . . is it compatible with my obligations, not only to my country, but with my obligations of duty to God, that I shall obliterate this magnificent fabric of self-government, this Constitution of which we are so often reminded . . . I am called upon to obliterate that; to efface it from the memory of man. Will we not have to pause? Will not ordinary spirits fail as they enter upon the unholy task. The man who was cradled under the stars and stripes; who was nurtured and cherished under them; who grew to manhood under their benignity and protection, and who now stands in the enjoyment of every civil right which he needs – I say that a man so blessed should pause and reflect upon these benefits before taking this fatal step. It was a great work to create man, but it was a greater work to keep him from pursuing the path of ruin and degradation. It was in fact the work of a demon to drag him from his high eminence, and pervert him from his noble destiny. It was a great work to create this Government; but it is the work of a Lilliput alone to destroy it. Who is it that purposes to be the architect to reconstruct this Government? Who is it?

. . . simultaneously with the departure of the Commissioners, Fort Sumter was attacked, and the country being thus in a state of revolution, the presumption was that no favorable answer would be given by the President, even though he should otherwise be disposed to show a conciliatory spirit. Just as the Commissioners were appointed, Mr. Pryor started for South Carolina, and there informed the authorities of the appointment of this commission, and of the probability of their receiving a favorable reply unless some step was taken, such as the attack upon Fort Sumter, to convulse the country, and thus put a stop to negotiation. The attack upon the fort soon followed, and we have now the result, at least, so far as relates to the action which Virginia evidently contemplates taking.

. . . The gentleman from Richmond (Mr. RANDOLPH), astounded me beyond measure this morning, when he intimated that it is war to garrison the whole State, but not war to seize upon the public property within the limits of Virginia; and if that be the case,* is it in the power of this Convention to make an act of war which will change the relations of the people of this Commonwealth to the government of the United States? Have they not declared that you can do no act changing the relations of the people of Virginia to the General Government, without submitting it to them? If you seize upon ships-if you seize upon the Armory at Harper’s Ferry-is not that an act of war, changing the relations of the people of Virginia to the General Government? . . . The people of Virginia, if they had been permitted to have done so, would have voted down the Convention altogether. They never dreamed that they were clothing you with the power of war,* and yet the very ordinance which the gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON), has proposed, involves an act of war. True, the ordinance will have to be submitted to the people; but a determination will already have been formed by this act of war, to go out. If the people vote down this ordinance, what then? . . .

I do not want to trifle with the people. I do not want to do that which will stultify myself before them. If you mean war, say so truly; throw your scabbard away, and tell the people that you mean to do just what you do.

. . . ***Why, sir, the gentleman from Pittsylvania (Mr. SUTHERLIN), spoke to-day with patriotic warmth. If he was as old as I am, he would not be as warm. There are two sides to this question; and it is the duty of an old man to counsel circumspection, for he brought us to the verge of an opening chasm which I did dread to tumble into.

. . . That God may grant you sufficient light and wisdom to do what is best, is my earnest prayer.***}

{Mr. SCOTT, of Fauquier—
Mr. President: We have met in secret session for the purpose of a free and full comparison of opinions, and I trust the comparison will be made deliberately and calmly.

I propose to avail myself of the occasion to explain some of the views which present themselves to my mind as worthy to be considered by this body.

Mr. President: From my earliest manhood I have cherished strong feelings of nationality, and have habituated myself to regard our Federal Union as a national necessity-a necessity arising from both social and geographical causes, affecting, in equal degree, all parts of the country-and, until a recent time, I have never entertained a doubt of its continuance. But when the people of the country separated into sectional parties, and upon purely sectional issues waged party conflicts for the possession of political power, my confidence in the strength of the Union abated, and my feelings of attachment to it diminished. Nevertheless, for a time I clung to these feelings, and still cherished the hope that our nationality would survive these conflicts, and our Union and Constitution endure.

But, Mr. President, these feelings have gone – this hope has fled.* I no longer believe that the Union of our fathers and the Government founded upon it can be preserved.* I have brought myself to look upon a dissolution as inevitable; nay, more, in the presence of the events that surround us, and spread their baneful influences over the land, I look upon it as a necessity, and as desirable. I can never bring myself to consent that the slaveholding States shall become the subject provinces of the non-slaveholding States, to which condition their continuance in this Union, in my judgment, will reduce them.

I am, therefore, in favor of a dissolution, and make here this deliberate declaration of that opinion. The resolutions adopted by this body in open session commit us all to the same, unless this Republican invasion can be driven back upon its authors.

For one, I shall stand by the resolutions, and will tread no step backwards. In disregard of our formal resolutions, in the face of our solemn, deliberate and recorded opinions, at a time when we were struggling to keep the peace unbroken and save the Union, the party in power has proclaimed a war, and entered upon measures of coercion.

. . . and when I see the people of the non-slaveholding States, of all classes and conditions, of all professions and pursuits, of all political parties, unite in support of them, and, making themselves parties to the war, proclaim that the price of our safety is submission to their rule, I am ready to say that we will not pay the price; and I am, therefore, ready to cut loose from them, and dissolve altogether the connection which subsists between us.

Mr. President, . . . whatever conclusion we come to, must remain unexecuted until it receives the approbation of the people. Our power extends no farther than to recommend what in our judgment the people ought to do; we cannot command, we cannot bind them.

. . . I am for resisting this aggression, and will vote to advise resistance by all. But in what form shall resistance be made and when shall it begin? A proposition is made that we shall recommend to the people the adoption of an ordinance by which, immediately, this State is to be separated from all political connection with the Federal Government, and made to resume the powers of an independent sovereignty.

. . . The diversity in this body, to a great extent, is sectional, and the same will be found to be true outside of it. The State comprises a large area, and, both socially and geographically, is divided into sections, and this fact presents a consideration that ought not to be overlooked in the determination of this question. It would be deplorable indeed if the sectional controversy which is sundering the bonds that have connected the South with the North, should infuse its venom into the domestic relations of our own State, and poison the peace of our own firesides.

. . . When we return to our constituents and tell them that we have adopted an ordinance of secession, they will naturally desire to know what will be the consequences of its ratification. We can tell them it will sever their connection with the Federal Government; but they will need no information on that point. No one will be so ignorant as not to know that such will be its first consequence. They will ask what will be its next. While it changes their political relations with the people of the other States, will it also change their peaceful relations? Will it bring on war? How are we to answer these questions? I appeal to my friend from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON), to my friend from Richmond city (Mr. RANDOLPH), to tell me what answers are to be given.

Mr. RANDOLPH—
I would say to them, no; the war is already brought on, and it is necessary for you to defend yourselves against that war.

Mr. SCOTT-
* It will not do for the gentleman from Richmond city to tell me that war already exists. Whatever of war there is consists merely of hostility about some of the Southern ports, to which, under present circumstances, it must necessarily be confined. Against this war the Southern States are in a condition to make defence; the border States shield them against internal assault. For the present, it seems to me, that this is the best attitude for all parties. The Southern States have preparation to make, and they will thus be best enabled to make it.. . . But when we secede what will be our condition? The enemy will be in possession of Harper’s Ferry, of Fortress Monroe, of Fort Calhoun and of the Gosport Navy Yard; and our harbors will be blockaded. In what manner will we obtain supplies? How will it be with the other border States?. . .Our men are brave and hardy; but neither bravery nor hardihood will suffice to meet the shock of war without arms and equipments.* These have to be obtained. If we secede now they must be obtained after secession, and what I desire to ask is whether it will not be better to make the purchases in advance? Whether preparation for the war had not better precede than follow its declaration? Whether we may not more easily purchase what we want and supply our necessities whilst our commerce is free than after our ports are closed?

My position on the border, possibly, makes me more sensitive on this subject than those whose interior position renders them safe from hostile incursions. . . . If we begin the war before we are prepared for operation, the enemy will be the assailants, and we will feel at our door-sills the shock of battle and the ruin of war; but if we prepare beforehand, this shock and ruin may be driven to the homes of those who provoke them.

Mr. President, it is manifest that this body is greatly divided in opinion on this question, insomuch that at the present moment it is uncertain on which side the majority will be found. . . . If the views of some of our friends on the other side had obtained, and this Convention had, at an earlier day, before the President’s proclamation, adopted an ordinance of secession, in my judgment it would have led to a division of the State, whereby the Blue Ridge of mountains might have become the line of division; and, when this ordinance is adopted, in the present condition of our affairs, the danger of discord is most imminent. For myself, I would avoid discord.

. . . Between the two policies, this Convention is divided-some are for instant secession and the adoption of an ordinance, others are opposed to secession, but will acquiesce in the determination of a border State Conference. Now our action in the premises is not to be final. If the ordinance of secession be adopted it must be submitted to the ratification of the popular vote, and then this body must reassemble to carry the mandate of the people into effect.

. . .let us agree to submit both policies to the people in a way that they may select without embarrassment between them. Those who prefer the policy of immediate secession can vote their instruction to the Convention, while those who prefer the policy of consultation and concert of action with the other border States can vote their instruction in like manner. I can see no just objection to this plan; it deals fairly by the people, and presents the question for determination in a manner to be understood by all. If a majority vote for the ordinance of secession, the Convention will reassemble immediately and carry it into effect – or if the majority be for consultation the steps necessary to attain that end can be taken. In no way can anything be lost by it to the cause of secession.

I have prepared a paper containing the scheme to which I have adverted, and propose it as a substitute for the proposition of the gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON).

Regretting that I have consumed so much of the time of the Convention, I submit the substitute, and ask that it be read by the Clerk. The Clerk read the substitute as follows:

Whereas, at the election held Pursuant to the act passed the 14th January, 1861, providing for the choice of members of this Convention, it was determined by the people of this Commonwealth that any action of this Convention dissolving the connection of this State with the Federal Union should be submitted to them for ratification or rejection; and, whereas, differences exist as to the action proper to be recommended for the adoption of the people of this State in the present posture of our Federal relations-it being the opinion of some that this State ought, at once, by separate and immediate secession, to revoke the powers granted by her to the Federal Government, and the opinion of others that before any final measure shall be taken in the premises, a consultation for the purpose of concerted action should be had among the eight slaveholding States yet remaining in the Union : and, whereas, certain resolutions adopted by this Convention, among other things, recommend a consultation for that purpose, to be held at Frankfort, in the State of Kentucky, on the last Monday in May next, to which the said State of Kentucky and the said States of Arkansas and Missouri have signified their intention to send delegates: and whereas, it is desirable to ascertain the preferences of the people of this State between the two modes of proceeding: It is, therefore, ordered by this Convention, that at the general election to be held for this Commonwealth, on the 4th Thursday in May next, the commissioners of election, at the several places of voting in their several counties and cities, shall open a separate poll to take the sense of the qualified voters on the question aforesaid.

  1. The poll book shall be headed, “Upon the question of co-operation or separate secession,” and shall contain two columns, one headed “For co-operation among the slaveholding States yet remaining in the Union,” and the other “For separate and immediate secession,” and the names of those who vote for co-operation shall be written under the former heading, and the names of those who vote for separate and immediate secession shall be written under the latter heading.
  2. The said commissioners shall make return of the number of persons voting for each proposition at the time and in the manner provided by law in the case of other elections, and shall forthwith deliver the returns to the clerks of their respective counties and corporations, and it shall be the duty of such clerks respectively to transmit immediately to the Governor of the Commonwealth copies of the said returns so delivered to them respectively.
  3. The Governor shall make proclamation of the result, and if it appear that a majority of all the legal votes cast upon the said question be in favor of separate and immediate secession, it shall be his duty to notify the members of this Convention, within thirty days thereafter, to re-assemble at the Capitol, in the city of Richmond, on a day specified, and such vote shall be taken to be instructions to this Convention to pass an ordinance of immediate secession dissolving the connection existing between the State of Virginia and the Federal Union, known as “the United States of America.”
  4. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause to be sent to the clerks of each county and corporation as many copies of this order as there are precincts therein, using special messengers for that purpose, when necessary; and it shall be the duty of the said clerks to deliver the same to the sheriffs for distribution, whose duty it shall be forthwith to post the said copies at some public places in each election district.
  5. The expenses incurred in providing poll books and in procuring writers to enter the names of the voters therein, shall be defrayed as in the case of election of members of the General Assembly.}

{Mr. GEO. W. RANDOLPH—
I desire to say a few words in regard to the military preparations of the State. I feel it a duty to say something on this subject, inasmuch as I was a member of the commission appointed by the State to purchase arms for her defence.

I am much surprised to hear the gentleman from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT) say that this State had made no preparations for war and was in no condition to enter upon a campaign.

My own belief is that this State is far better prepared than any Northern State in the Union. She can arm, at least, 25,000 men with arms now in her arsenals and in the hands of her troops, and she has sufficient arms-the worst of them equal to the arms used by the United States army in Mexico-for upwards of 2,000 infantry and not less than 3,000 cavalry. She has powder for at least two campaigns for a train of artillery. Her supply of musket powder is by no means sufficient; but there will be a magazine in this city conducted on private account, which will manufacture a large supply of this kind of powder, and the State can have what she wants. I have been informed by the agent for the Dupont Mills, that at any time powder is needed, they can supply us to an unlimited extent. We would have had a much larger supply on hand were it not for a failure of the appropriation necessary for that and kindred purposes. The arms that our troops have, are precisely the arms that will be brought against us. They were purchased out of the United States Armory, and are not at all inferior to those which the 75,000 men called for by the President will have, if they come here; and, so far as drill is concerned, the State has several thousand men in drill since the Harper’s Ferry affair, who can challenge comparison with any similar number, North or South. I believe there is no State in the country that can bring such an efficiently drilled force in the field to-day as Virginia can.

. . . The gentleman (SCOTT) declares that he is in favor of secession; and how does he propose to get out? By seceding? No; but by getting the States, that everybody knows will not secede, to join with Virginia in a consultation which is destined to end in nothing but mischief, by delaying action and allowing the enemy an opportunity of fastening his fangs tighter upon us . . . . If I stand alone, I mean to record my vote this night, I hope, for immediate secession; and I mean to follow it up with a resolution, calling upon the Governor of this Commonwealth to organize the whole military force of the State, in order to repel invasion, defend our soil, and maintain our honor, until assistance can come from some other quarter.}

Mr. JOHN GOODE, JR., of Bedford—
I do not rise to make a speech. I rise to do what I have never done in a deliberative body before. It seems to me that whatever action is to be taken by this body, ought to be taken now. Argument has been exhausted, and the time has come for action, if action is to be had. I now move the previous question, from a high solemn sense of duty.

The call was sustained.Ten minutes being allowed each speaker under the rule, to show cause why the main question should not be put-

{Mr. WAITMAN T. WILLEY, of Monongalia, said—
Mr. President: I had no expectation, and of course have no right, now to enter upon the discussion of the subject; but I wish to record my protest against the application of this rule at this time. I have seen intimations that were not to be mistaken, as to what was to be the result of our deliberations to-day. I have contemplated, with a melancholy and with a regret, which never pressed my heart before, the attitude in which the proud old Commonwealth of Virginia now stands; and, though these feelings have recurred frequently during the deliberations of this Convention to my mind, they come up with peculiar force this day.

I had, sometimes, in the indulgence of a patriotic hope, wished that I could have lived a century hence, to see the advancement of our civilization, the power and greatness of our country, and the value of a great name. Instead of that, I live to see the hour of the commencement of our disintegration and down fall. I have lived to see the hour when the proud flag, under which we have lived in safety and honor for nearly a century, and which waved victoriously over many a battle field, is to be trailed in the dust, and I have lived to see the hour when Virginia, who gave the first impulse to the ball of the revolution, is about to put her foot on that flag, on the very soil that gave it glorious birth. Sir, I will not be led away by my feelings. I rose, as I have mentioned just now, to protest against this measure, in the name of my constituents; in the name of the people of Virginia; in the name of liberty, and in the name of God. If you were to ordain this day that my constituents and the people of North-western Virginia should be delivered over to death and destruction, in so many words, you could not express the meaning of what will result from this Ordinance of Secession, if it passes.

Sir, I could give what I have – I would willingly give all my little estate-as God is my judge, standing in the capitol of Virginia, I would leave my farm, as a small sacrifice, to save my country, if it was acceptable. But I have a wife and children; I represent a constituency that have wives and children; I represent an old, patriotic father, born amid the thunders of the Revolution, whom I went out of my way to see as I came down here, with the frosts of ninety-five winters gathered upon his revered head; and the last words he told me when he gave me his blessings were: “My son, save this Union, or never let my eyes rest upon you again.”

You cannot make any line through any of your counties throughout Western Virginia, that will more effectually dissever the people of Virginia lying along our North western border from those on the other side of the line, than will this ordinance of secession. These 450 miles of border State line will interpose a barrier between fathers and sons, fathers-in-law and sons-in-law, that no effort of ours can overcome.}

Mr. WISE—
You will all associate as before; there will be nothing to prevent it.

Mr. WILLEY—
No, sir. Secession is war, and the man on this side of the line that does not rally to the call of his State, is a traitor; and if I meet a man from the other side of the line with weapon in hand, and fail to shoot him, in disregard of the order of a superior officer, I will be hung as a traitor. So help me God, I will be hung as a traitor, if this omission will involve such a penalty. I protest against this measure. I do it in the name and for the lives and property of North-western Virginia.

Mr. HALL—
Except Wetzel.

Mr. WILLEY—
Oh, except Wetzel! I don’t mean to doubt the courage of Wetzel.

{Mr. GEORGE W. BERLIN, of Upshur—
Mr. President, I would be remiss to my duty if I were to remain silent at this time. I am very reluctant, nevertheless, to waste the time of this Convention with any remarks on this subject, although I deem it necessary to discuss it very briefly. I cannot submit, in view of the ruin that is to be drawn down upon us, and the policy that is to be inaugurated, to be forced into silence.

What is our situation? We are situated beyond the mountains, isolated from the rest of the State by these almost impassable mountain barriers-cut off from all connection with our Eastern brethren or the South. The policy of this State always has been to withhold from us all railroad facilities with the Eastern portion of the State, and we are now left with out the means of transporting troops or munitions of war to aid us in the coming struggle. While thus isolated from the rest of the State, we have an exposed border of 450 miles, stretching along the lines of two of the most powerful free States in the Union. In addition to this disadvantage, we are left without the means of defence. We are destitute of arms and munitions of war of every description. There are scarcely half a dozen guns west of the Alleghanies, while we are equally destitute of magazines. We are as perfectly in the power of our enemies, in the event of war, as any people under God’s Heaven ever were; and, in view of this condition, you seem determined to precipitate us into war, which must inevitably result in our ruin, if some timely aid, not now visible, is not afforded us. . . . As it was remarked, the people of Western Virginia are the descendants of those who fought with your ancestors in times past. They are to-day a warlike people, and it is only necessary to say that they are mountaineers, to establish that fact, because no race of mountaineers have ever been conquered or enslaved when they have resisted.

. . . But I cannot discuss this question in the brief space of ten minutes. I can only say, in addition to what I have already stated, that I must, in behalf of my constituents, protest against this ordinance of secession.}

{Mr. FRANKLIN P. TURNER, of Jackson and Roane—
I merely rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of saying that there is at least one portion of North-Western Virginia which do not desire that the protest of the gentleman from Monongalia (Mr. WILLEY) shall apply to. . . . I desire to say that if I had the opportunity, I would find a substitute and record my vote for the proposition of the gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON). I desire to make this statement now . . . I repeat again, that the protest of the gentleman from Monongalia (Mr. WILLEY), does not apply to the whole population of the North-West; and that among my constituency there are to be found as true and loyal heroes as any upon the soil of Virginia.}

(NOTE: Here Delegate Baldwin does what President Lincoln suggested: move for an adjournment albeit not sine die, and this motion was very timely in that opposition to the Secession Ordinance was given. But whether the motion to adjourn was an intentional plan by Baldwin to buy time to canvass the western delegates overnight and then adjourn sine die the following day will never be known, because others did not rally behind his motion here to adjourn.-ED)

{Mr. BALDWIN, of Augusta—
I move that this House do adjourn, and upon that I call the yeas and nays.

The motion was subsequently withdrawn.

{Mr. ALGERNON S. GRAY, of Rockingham—
In common with my colleagues from Rockingham (Messrs. COFFMAN and LEWIS), I have cast a silent vote on all occasions, since we came to this Convention. I prefer now to speak in this solemn hour, before this Convention, of my people. On the 25th day of January (June-ED), 1788, our ancestors met here and ratified the Constitution of the United States; and for three-quarters of a century a history has been written of prosperity and glory unparalleled, in grandeur and magnificence, in human history.

This 16th day of April, we, the representatives of the people, meet here again. What shall be the record of this hour, which we shall present to those who are to come after us? It is well for gentlemen all around me that, in their conscience, they can feel that they come to the work of this solemn hour with the same love of country, and the same love of liberty as our fathers. Woe to the man who does not feel it.

Sir, I had desired not to speak now of the subject before us; but of my people and my own duty. Oh! with what earnestness I have wished this day that I was with them face to face, to hear from their own voices what they would have me do in this hour of peril and destiny. I would to God I could draw around me here, in your presence, that loyal, patriotic, just and upright people who sent me here with my colleagues, upon the swelling waves of Union feeling. But the times have changed. We came here under circumstances of excitement; but we have added to it here now, that which convulses our hearts. I am free to confess that my own Virginia heart rises to repel- the invasion that is spoken of in the distance.

Sir, in this hour I think not of my own personal feelings, but look with an earnestness that I never before felt towards the people among whom I was born and where I dwell. I have, in the isolation of my chamber, in the dread hours of the long night, ardently yearned to know what they would have me to do. I have in this isolation reviewed silently their past lives, my conversations with them, their meetings with me at the cross-roads, in the school and on the hustings, and now I feel that their voices come over the mountains to me to-night, to direct, encourage and animate me; as did the voices of their fathers direct Washington at Yorktown.

. . . I believe that a day will yet come when Virginia shall hear the voice of her people deciding what her destiny shall be. There will be no division after that decision shall be made; but, until then, I am slow to believe that anything like unanimity will prevail.

Under all these circumstances I believe that this night, approaching the dreadful hour, it is my duty to cast the vote of my people for the plan by which the greatest hope is left of re-building the Republic that they have loved so well.It may be that it is gone forever. It may be that a new season and a new creation may be opened to them. . . . What then must I do? I believe in my heart, that, standing here to-night and knowing the will of my people, which I trust I do, and feeling all the responsibilities of a representative heavily bearing on my heart, I believe I would not betray them, if I knew their will, to save my life. It is therefore in that spirit and under these circumstances, and looking hopefully to the future, fearing only my God, and deeply sympathizing with the proud and loyal people who I represent, that I shall cast my vote here to-night for the proposition of the gentleman from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT).

I thank you for the kindness with which I have been listened to in an hour that my heart has been oppressed with sadness.}

{Mr. SAMUEL A. COFFMAN, of Rockingham—
Mr. President, I had supposed that I could have said nothing on this subject. I had trusted that I might remain a mute spectator of the acts that transpired around us; but, sir, circumstances that point directly to myself; the position that my colleague has just taken with regard to the vote that he shall cast for the substitute of the gentleman from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT), is one that I feel impelled now openly and avowedly, to cast my vote against.

. . . Mr. President, I am not in the habit of addressing public assemblies. I am a plain man; but I think that when a plain proposition is presented to me, I can see it in its proper bearing, and comprehend the nature and character of acts whose responsibility is forced upon us.

I have made up my mind, days ago, that the only salvation for Virginia was secession. I believe, sir, that she can no longer remain in this Union with honor to herself, and I will therefore cast my vote for an ordinance of secession. I have the gratifying intelligence this evening from my own county that a meeting was held in the town of Harrisonburg last Monday at which the expression of the people of the county was overwhelming in favor of immediate secession.}

{Mr. JUBAL A. EARLY, of Franklin—
I hope I may be permitted to say a few words. I have sat in my seat all day, and imagined that I could see a ball of flame hanging over this body. Without meaning to reflect upon the motives and the conduct of gentlemen, I have felt as if a great crime was about being perpetrated against the cause of liberty and civilization.

During the progress of this Convention, we have frequently referred to the example of our fathers in the Revolution. They took no precipitate course of action. They protested and remonstrated for years. They had their armies in the field twelve months before they decided upon the final act of separation from the British Government. ***The State of Virginia herself never adopted the Declaration of Independence until after our armies had been in the field for twelve months. She instructed her representatives to propose in the Congress of the United States a Declaration of Independence. Sir, I see no reason why we should act more precipitately than those men whose true devotion to country, and whose patriotism is a common theme among all of us.

I cannot permit the occasion to pass, when an ordinance of secession has passed this body, without expressing my feelings upon it in addition to casting my vote against it.*** It may be that such a vote, which I feel bound to give, shall draw upon me some censure. I trust I shall have manhood and firmness enough to endure, because the course I propose to pursue I feel to be in the interest of my country, in the interest of my State, and in the interest of the cause of liberty itself. What must be the result, the inevitable result of this proceeding? War, sir-such a war as this country has never seen, or, until recently, has never dreamed of. I should like to know, if we are engaged in war, what are the means of transportation of arms from this portion of the State to North-western Virginia? How will men and arms come from North-Western Virginia to this portion of the Commonwealth? As I understand, there are but two ways of transportation from Eastern to North-western Virginia. One way is through the Federal Capital, and thence by way of the Relay House near Baltimore, over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
. . . I don’t come here to look merely to my own section. There is not a portion of the State, from the Eastern Shore to the Pan Handle, that is not dear to me. I cannot, by my vote, adopt a course of action which will bring upon a part of the State the evils which I believe secession and war in its footsteps will bring upon the Western and North-Western parts of this State.

I trust, therefore, it may not be the decision of this Convention to hurry us into a vote upon this question this evening.}

{Mr. SAMUEL G. STAPLES, of Patrick—
Mr. President, I claim the indulgence of the Convention while I submit a few remarks to its consideration upon the propositions now pending before it.

The gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON) has proposed that a simple ordinance of secession be adopted by the Convention and submitted to the people for ratification or rejection. To this proposition the gentleman from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT) offers an amendment, by which it is proposed to submit to the decision of the people the question of secession or a conference of the border slave States. I shall vote against the proposition of the gentleman from Fauquier, because I can see no good result to be obtained by a border slave State conference. I am unwilling to submit the destiny of Virginia, in this great contest, to the hands of any body of men but those selected by her to represent her sovereignty in Convention. She alone must be the arbiter of her own destiny. Besides, Mr. President, the rapidly shifting scenes of the day admonish us of the imperious necessity for instant action; and, in my judgment, the time has now arrived when Virginia should resume the sovereign powers she conferred upon the General Government and form such alliances, offensive and defensive, as her honor and her interest may demand. I shall, therefore, vote for the ordinance of secession submitted by the gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON).

It is quite obvious to all of us that the necessity for debate has passed, and that the time for action has arrived. We are now in the midst of revolution, and the appalling circumstances under which we are surrounded admonish us of the necessity of firmness, promptness and decision. Ten days ago, I was known as a Union man-attached to the Union of these States by the hallowed memories of the past, and by the glorious hopes of a brilliant future, in which its unexampled career warranted us in indulging. I was elected under a pledge to resort to all honorable, constitutional means to preserve it in its integrity and purity just as our fathers formed it. . . . All we asked of the Federal authorities at Washington was, a pacific, a conciliatory policy . . . but we simply declared that we could not consent that the Federal power, which was in part our power, should be exerted for the purpose of subjugating the people of any of the States to the Federal authority.. . . They declared in the Declaration of Independence that, “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security.”

The Parliament of Great Britain asserted the right to tax the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, and it was precisely on this question they made the revolution turn. The amount of taxation was trifling, but the claim itself was inconsistent with liberty, and that was in their eyes enough. . . .
It is, Mr. President, this principle, held sacred in the bosoms of all true Virginians, that has aroused the people of Virginia to arms, to resist the usurpation of Abraham Lincoln, and the dangerous doctrines contained in his proclamation of war against the seceded States. They see in it “a seminal principle of mischief-the germ of unjust power” which, if assented to by them, will result in the overthrow of the Constitution, the destruction of the liberties they now enjoy, and will bind them hand and foot to the car of Federal power, and they are rising in their majesty and strength to vindicate, by an appeal to arms, their rights and their honor. . . . The framers of the Federal Constitution never dreamed of incorporating into that instrument a provision authorizing the Federal Government to exert force against a seceded State; for in a discussion of a resolution offered by Mr. Randolph in the Convention of 1787, “authorizing an exertion of the force of

the whole against a delinquent State,” Mr. Madison observed “that the more he reflected on the use of force, the more he doubted the practicability, the justice and the efficacy of it, when applied to a people collectively, and not individually. . . . In the 43d number of “The Federalist,” Mr. Madison, in discussing “what relation is to subsist between the nine or more States ratifying the Constitution, and the remaining four who do not become parties to it,” observed: “It is one of those cases that must be left to provide for itself. In general, although no political relation can subsist between the assenting and dissenting States, yet the moral relations will remain uncancelled. The claims of justice, both on one side and on the other, will be in force and must be fulfilled; the rights of humanity must in all cases be duly and mutually respected; whilst considerations of a common interest, and, above all, the remembrance of endearing scenes which are past, and the anticipations of a speedy triumph over the obstacles to remain, will, it is hoped, not urge in vain moderation on one side and prudence on the other.”

The Convention, under this resolution, elected Messrs. Preston, Randolph and Stuart, who immediately proceeded to Washington on their mission of peace. Before they reached that city, the country was startled by the intelligence that Mr. Lincoln had, in violation of his well understood pledge, sent a messenger to the city of Charleston and informed Governor Pickens that he intended to reinforce Fort Sumter, peaceably, if he could, forcibly, if he must. No one could for a moment suppose that the Confederate States would passively permit troops and provisions to be thrown in Fort Sumter, to overawe and control the people of the South; and such an act being regarded by them as a virtual declaration of war, an attack on the Fort was immediately commenced, but not, however, until an effort had been made by the authorities of the Confederate States to prevent a hostile collision.

. . . Before the bombardment of the Fort commenced, and after a demand for its surrender had been made, the Secretary of War informed General Beauregard that they did not desire to bombard Fort Sumter if Major Anderson would state the time at which, as intimated by him, he would evacuate. This Major Anderson declined doing, and, as I have remarked, the bombardment began. This was followed by a proclamation of war by the President of the United States, and a requisition upon Virginia for 3,500 troops to aid in the subjugation of her sister Southern States. Now let it be borne in mind that this Convention had, by a very large majority resolved that they never would consent that the Federal power, which is in part their power, should be exerted for the purpose of subjugating the people of such States (the Confederate States), to the Federal authority; and this resolution was advocated and adopted upon the ground that inasmuch as our institutions were based upon the principle that government was founded upon the consent of the governed, and that all power vests in and emanates from the people, the people of Virginia could never consent to take part in a contest against their Southern brethren, who had done nothing more than change their form of government to suit themselves. The question is now narrowed down to this : Shall Virginia unite her fortunes with the Northern people, and take part in this war of subjugation and conquest, or shall she resume the powers she conferred upon the Federal Government, and form such alliances with the Confederate States as her honor and interest demand? . . . Mr. President, this Union, as our fathers formed it, has been dissolved; the fairest political fabric the world ever saw has been undermined by corruption, and has toppled to its foundation. It is now a question of the restoration of the Union. It cannot be done. That has passed away. The bloody proclamation of the petty tyrant who now disgraces the chair which Washington once filled, has dissipated the last ray of hope that lingered in the bosom of the most hopeful. If there were Union men in Virginia once, there are no Union men here now. We are for resistance to the death. . . . Our whole civilization is at stake, and the liberty or bondage of millions yet unborn depend upon the result of this contest. In the folly and madness that rules the hour, an attempt has been made to coerce the Southern States; but it will not succeed. I shall cheerfully vote for and subscribe my name to this ordinance of secession, regarding it as the proudest act of my life; one from which this proud Commonwealth will receive no detriment; by which the liberties under which we were born will be kept entire, and transmitted unimpaired to our posterity; and the heritage of our children will be one of honor, and not of shame-of freedom, and not of slavery.}

{Mr. JOHN B. BALDWIN, of Augusta—
I desire to say a few words. I must acknowledge that I am surprised and disturbed to see the course pursued here upon this floor by men who, like myself, were elected as Union men, representing Union constituencies, and men who have, from the commencement of the session of this body, concurred with me in opinion and co-operated with me in action in shaping the policy that was to be pursued by this Convention. They have seen occasion to change their views in regard to a matter of policy. . . . What I do complain of is this, that these gentlemen, who have thus changed their views and policy, without conference at all with those who have concurred with them during the session; without opportunities of exchanging views, come here into this body, and, uniting with those whom we have been opposed to during the entire session, determine to prevent me and all the rest of their associates in opinion and action from having any opportunity whatever to debate this now most important feature of the business of this body.

. . . When I ask them to submit to us one of the alternatives proposed to the people of Virginia, and leave the people to decide which is right, they refuse even to allow their constituents, who have directed them in their course of co-operation, up to within two or three days past – their associates upon this floor who have laboriously united with them in seeking to carry out this policy – they utterly refuse us any part in submitting this policy for the approval of the people, and refuse to let the people themselves have an opportunity of determining their policy. . . . I regard this as an exceedingly dark hour in the history of this State; and one of the worst symptoms I see in regard to it is, that so soon as gentlemen who have been cautious, deliberate, prudent in counsel and action, consent to go for secession, they seem to change the whole character of their motives and disposition; and from having before insisted constantly upon deliberation and investigation at every point, they stand firm around their guns with the most rabid of all the precipitators. These gentlemen have suddenly become the most rabid of all, sir. There seems to be something in the hour; there seems to be something in the fever with which our people have been seized; there seems to be something in the excitement which pervades the community, which renders me hopeless of being able to see anything that can put a stop or check to the war, which I think promises nothing but calamity and mischief. . . . But, sir, it seems that we are to be pressed to a vote upon this proposition to-night. It seems to be determined that this act is to be performed to-night sir. All I can say is, that while I shall earnestly battle against it, while I shall earnestly deprecate it, I shall offer no factious opposition to it.I can only say that, so far as I am concerned, in view of the responsibility that I owe to God and man, I cannot concur in the act which is about to be done.}

{Mr. BENJAMIN WILSON, of Harrison—
I beg pardon of this Convention while I assign the reason that induced me to vote for the proposition of the gentleman from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT). We all admit that war is now imminent, nay, inevitable. It cannot be denied but that it is necessary for Virginia to take some action . . . The only question about which we differ, as I understand, is as to the manner in which she should protect herself. It is very important, and very desirable in this crisis that we should have the unanimous concurrence and co-operation of our people. . . . There is no use in endeavoring to disguise the fact that the institution of slavery is one of the acting causes that brought about this calamity. . . I understand that this Ordinance cannot be operative until the people pass upon it; and whilst we are in the embarrassing predicament of having passed the Ordinance of Secession, our enemies will go on preparing, and we will be liable to attack upon any of our borders without the means of defence . . . I think it is better for us to call to our aid the border slave States, whose co-operation in the coming struggle is essential to our success.I think it is an act of unnecessary precipitancy for us to pass this Ordinance of Secession to-night. I regard it as precipitate to pass it at all now, without first taking counsel with our sister border States of Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. After that, we will be better prepared to take action; and we go into the conflict with the additional prestige, which the approval and co-operation of these States would confer. Run your eyes around your borders, and you will find that there are three sides of Virginia exposed to the enemy. Let us preserve our present position, at least for a while, and we can repel the assaults of the General Government as well in the Union as out of it. We can call to our aid men and munitions of war in the Union as well as out; and, in view of these circumstances, I think it better we should wait for a conference of these States.}

{Mr. CARTER, of Loudoun—
I have not troubled this Convention for a moment since we have been in session. I don’t want to trouble them now; but I want to make an appeal to those gentlemen with whom I have been co-operating up to the present, or, at any rate, until within a few days, and to ask them to aid me in carrying the question that this Convention now adjourn.

I make that motion.

Mr. WISE—
I ask the yeas and nays upon the motion.

The call was sustained, and the question being taken, resulted-yeas 76, nays 66-as follows:The Journal adds Lawson to the negative votes listed here, to make a total of 65.

YEAS-Messrs. Armstrong, Aston, Baldwin, Baylor, Berlin, Blow, Boggess, Boyd, Branch, Brent, Brown, Burdett, Burley, Byrne, Campbell, Caperton, Carter, Coffman, C. B. Conrad, R. Y. Conrad, Couch, Critcher, Custis, Dent, Deskins, Dorman, Dulany, Early, Echols, French, Fugate, Gillespie, Gravely, Gray, Ephraim B. Hall, Hammond, Haymond, Hoge, Holladay, Hubbard, Hughes, Hull, Jackson, Marmaduke Johnson, Peter C. Johnston, Lewis, McComas, McGrew, Macfarland, Marshall, Marye, Masters, Moore, Nelson, Osburn, Patrick, Pendleton, Porter, Price, Pugh, Rives, R. E. Scott, Wm. C. Scott, Sharp, Sitlington, Spurlock, A. H. H. Stuart, Chapman J. Stuart, Summers, Tarr, White, Whitfield, Wickham, Willey, Wilson, Mr. PRESIDENT-76.

NAYS-Messrs. Ambler, A. M. Barbour, James Barbour, Blakey, Boisseau, Borst, Bouldin, Bruce, Cabell, Cecil, Chambliss, Chapman, Clemens, Conn, J. H. Cox, R. H. Cox, Fisher, Flournoy, Forbes, Garland, Graham, Gregory, Goggin, John Goode, Jr., Thos. F. Goode, Hale, L. S. Hall, Harvie, Holcombe, Hunton, Isbell, Kent, Kindred, Leake, C. K. Mallory, J. B. Mallory, Miller, Moffett, Montague, Morris, Morton, Orrick, Parks, Preston, Randolph, Richardson, Seawell, Sheffey, Slaughter, Southall, Speed, Staples, Strange, Sutherlin, Tayloe, Thornton, Tredway, R. H. Turner, Tyler, Waller, Williams, Wise, Woods, Wysor-64.

Mr. TURNER, of Jackson, stated that if he had not paired off with an absent member, he would have voted “no.”

The Convention then adjourned until 10 o’clock, A.M., to-morrow.}

ACT V – THE WISE-IMBODEN COUP

Ashby, Wise, Lt. Jones, J. Jones, Imboden, Strother

ACT V – SCENE I – SECESSION FEVER CONSUMES RICHMOND

April 16 – Tuesday, Metropolitan Hall (near the Convention at the Capitol), Richmond, VA:

Wise’s clerk, John R. Jones wrote:
{This day the Spontaneous People’s Convention met and organized in Metropolitan Hall. The door-keeper stood with a drawn sword in his hand. But the scene was orderly. The assembly was full, nearly every county being represented, and the members were the representatives of the most ancient and respectable families in the State. David Chalmers, of Halifax County, I believe, was the President, and Willoughby Newton, a life-long Whig, among the Vice-Presidents. P. H. Aylett, a grandson of Patrick Henry, was the first speaker. And his eloquence indicated that the spirit of his ancestor survived in him. But he was for moderation and delay, still hoping that the other Convention would yield to the pressure of public sentiment, and place the State in the attitude now manifestly desired by an overwhelming majority of the people. He was answered by the gallant Capt. Wise, who thrilled every breast with his intrepid bearing and electric bursts of oratory. He advocated action, without reference to the other Convention, as the best means of bringing the Unionists to their senses. And the so-called Demosthenean Seddon, and G. W. Randolph (grandson of Thomas Jefferson), Lieut.-Gov. Montague, James Lyons, Judge Robertson, etc., were there.

Never, never did I hear more exalted and effective bursts of oratory. And it was apparent that messages were constantly received from the other Convention. What they were, I did not learn at the moment; but it was evident that the Unionists were shaking in their shoes, and they certainly begged one – just one – -day’s delay, which was accorded them. The People’s Convention agreed to adjourn till 10 o’clock A.M. the next day. But before we separated a commotion was observed on the stage, and the next moment a Mr. P., from Gov. Wise’s old district, rushed forward and announced that he had just arrived from Norfolk, where, under instructions, and with the acquiescence of Gov. Letcher, he had succeeded in blocking the channel of the river; and this would either secure to us, or render useless to the United States, certain ships of the navy, stores, armament, etc., of the value of millions of dollars. This announcement was received with the wildest shouts of joy. Young men threw up their hats, and old men buttoned their coats and clapped their hands most vigorously. It was next hinted by some one who seemed to know something of the matter, that before another day elapsed, Harper’s Ferry would fall into the hands of the secessionists.

At night the enthusiasm increases in intensity, and no further opposition is to be apprehended from the influence of Tim Rives, Baldwin, Clemens, etc. etc. It was quite apparent, indeed, that if an ordinance of secession were passed by the new Convention, its validity would be recognized and acted upon by the majority of the people. But this would be a complication of the civil war, now the decree of fate. (Jones, pp. 13-30)}

ACT V – SCENE II – A CHANCE ENCOUNTER ON BANK STREET. WISE AND IMBODEN HATCH THE PLAN

April 16 (evening) – Tuesday, Bank and 10th Street, Richmond VA:

{After many weeks of very trying debate, principally participated in by Robert E. Scott and John B. Baldwin on the one side, and Henry A. Wise on the other; and after the committee, by a vote of 13 to 8, had rejected the proposition of Mr. Wise to take a stand of armed neutrality between the Federal powers of Washington City and the Confederate powers at Montgomery, and to fight in the Union against the invasion of either by the other, and to prevent the troops of either from crossing the territory of Virginia; and when it had become manifest that the people in the State were becoming impatient at the inaction of the Convention, Wise, worn down by overwork and anxiety and despairing of any fair adjustment or prompt action, was walking from the committee, the sittings of which were held in the Mechanics Hall, on Bank Street, and met Captain J. D. Imboden on the pavement, near Tenth, next the Capitol Square. After a pleasant salutation. Wise spoke to Imboden

of his impatience at the delay of the Convention, and of the dark prospect of events, and said, “Do you remember, sir, what passed between you and me, when I was governor, at the moment when you thanked me for the order permitting you to have two brass field-pieces for your company of artillery at Staunton?” Captain Imboden replied, “Yes, I do, sir,” and repeated that he was bound to obey the call of Wise for those guns whenever made. Wise then said: ‘What was a joke then, is earnest now. I want those guns with which to aid in the immediate capture of the United States Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry; can they be had with all the men you can raise?” Captain Imboden replied, “They can, and if you say so, the men shall be raised and the arsenal shall be taken.” Wise then inquired, “What boys, reliable and brave, are in town?” Imboden named several and promised to look immediately for others, and Wise told him to notify as many such as he could find in the city, to meet him at the Exchange Hotel at about seven o’clock p.m. At the hour named Captain Imboden had assembled, in a room on the first floor of the hotel passage to the left of the entrance as you go in, Oliver Funsten, Richard Ashby, Turner Ashby, John S. Harbour, Alfred Barbour, John A. Harman, and John Imboden, who were joined by Wise. Wise stated to them the object of calling them together. Turner Ashby asked what was proposed. ***Wise replied that the first thing required was some official, or semblance of official authority, to make the movement, and proposed the appointment of a committee of three to wait on (Governor Letcher and to ascertain whether he would support or countenance, at least, an attempt to secure the arms and munitions of war at Harper’s Ferry. The proposition was at once adopted; and J. D. Imboden, Oliver Funsten, and Alfred Barbour were appointed the committee, and the meeting waited for their report about an hour, when they returned and reported briefly that

Governor Letcher declined to entertain or consider the matter, as he was under some informal pledge not to do so or promote any hostile action against the United States, without first apprising the Convention and conferring with it. Wise then said, “Well, gentlemen, you have heard the report; are you willing and ready to act on your own responsibility?” The meeting unanimously voted to act without official authority, and Turner Ashby, addressing Wise, said, “You have been governor of Virginia, and we will take orders from you, sir, as if you were now governor; please draw your orders.” Wise immediately drew, in writing, a brief plan of action and the orders conformable thereto.*** Mr. Alfred Barbour was then superintendent of the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry; he was directed to repair to the arsenal at once and to prepare the operations there. Turner Ashby was despatched at once to Fauquier to rouse the Black-Horse Cavalry there. Captain Imboden was instructed to move his company of artillery at once, and John A. Harman was sent to Staunton to rally all the volunteers he could to move with Imboden’s artillery. At this moment Milton Cary came into the meeting and was requested to see to railroad transportation; went out and brought in Colonel Edmund Fontaine, the president of the Central Railroad, and transportation was arranged. Whilst the meeting was in session. Wise received a telegram saying that Federal troops were on their way to Harper’s Ferry, which was read. All were ordered to report promptly to Wise and to move at once, — that night, — and the meeting adjourned sine die. The whole time of the meeting for report and all did not occupy more than three hours, and it adjourned about eleven p.m. (Barton Wise, pp. 275-280)}

John Imboden’s later account adds:
{The movement, it was agreed, should commence the next day, the 17th, as soon as the convention voted to secede, provided we could get railway transportation and the concurrence of Governor Letcher. Colonel Edmund Fontaine, president of the Virginia Central railroad, and John S. Barbour, president of the Orange and Alexandria and Manassas Gap railroads, were sent for, and joined us at the hotel near midnight. They agreed to put the necessary trains in readiness next day to obey any request of Governor Letcher for the movement of troops.

. . . A committee, of which I was chairman, waited on Governor Letcher after midnight, and, arousing him from his bed, laid the scheme before him. He stated that he would take no step till officially informed that the ordinance of secession was passed by the convention. He was then asked if contingent upon the event he would next day order the movement by telegraph. He consented. . . . On returning to the hotel and reporting Governor Letcher’s promise, it was decided to telegraph the captains of companies along the railroads mentioned to be ready next day for orders from the governor. In that way I ordered the Staunton Artillery, which I commanded, to assemble at their armory by 4 PM on the 17th to receive orders from the governor to aid in the capture of the Portsmouth Navy Yard. This destination had been indicated in all our dispatches, to deceive the Government at Washington in case there should be a “leak” in the telegraph offices. Early in the evening a message had been received by ex-Governor Wise from his son-in-law Doctor Garnett of Washington, to the effect that a Massachusetts regiment, one thousand strong, had been ordered to Harper’s Ferry. Without this reinforcement we knew the guard there consisted of only forty-five men, who could be captured or driven away, perhaps without firing a shot, if we could reach the place secretly. The Ashbys, Funsten, Harman, and I remained up the entire night. (Imboden, John D. (1888). “Jackson at Harpers Ferry in 1861.” Battles and Leaders. Vol. 1. Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buel (Ed.). New York, NY: Century Co. pp. 111-125)}

ACT V – SCENE III – WISE DISCLOSES HIS ACTIONS TO A SURPRISED CONVENTION IN SECRET SESSION

April 17 – Wednesday, Richmond, VA: Second Day of Secret Session
{The Governor transmits his refusal to supply troops to the U. S. Secretary of War, and also communicates the Adjutant General’s report on Virginia’s volunteer force and armaments. A large number of delegates comment on Mr. Preston’s proposal of secession and Mr. Scott’s substitute, and vote down the latter. Delegates debate the ordinance of secession, and adopt it by a vote of 88 to 55. Mr. Randolph proposes that the Governor be authorized to call up troops and borrow money for defense. Mr. Scott proposes a Committee on Military Affairs. The Convention adopts Mr. Randolph’s resolutions on defense, and Wise’s proposal to inform the President of the Confederate States that Virginia has seceded.}

{JOHN F. LEWIS recounted: Next morning (Wednesday, April 17), I took Colonel Baldwin to the house of Mr. (John Minor) Botts, who told him he was informed such an interview had taken place (with President Lincoln). Colonel Baldwin did not deny it. In answer to Mr. Botts’ question, how in the name of God

he could take the responsibility of withholding the knowledge of such an interview from the Convention. The only answer Mr. Baldwin made was by taking out his watch and saying: “It only wants twenty minutes of the hour of meeting of the Convention, when a most important vote is to be taken” . . .(Hall, p. 175)}

(Well into the proceeding-ED)

{. . . THE PRESIDENT [Mr. JOHN JANNEY]—
Shall the main question be now put-which is on the substitute offered by the gentleman from Fauquier [Mr. SCOTT].

The vote having been put on ordering the main question to be put, was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. PRICE, of Greenbrier—
I call for the yeas and nays on the substitute.

The call was sustained, and the roll having been called, resulted-yeas 64, nays 77, as follows:The Journal adds Armstrong and White to the affirmative votes listed here. The Journal adds Ambler, Addison Hall, and Leake to negative votes listed here, to arrive at a total of 79; however, apparently only Ambler should be added, since Leake and Hall were paired.

YEAS-Messrs. Janney [President], Aston, Baldwin, Baylor, Berlin, Boggess, Brent, Brown, Burdett, Burley, Byrne, Campbell, Carter, Clemens, C. B. Conrad, R. Y. Conrad, Couch, Critcher, Custis, Dent, Dulany, Early, French, Fugate, Gillespie, Gravely, Gray, Ephraim B. Hall, Hammond, Haymond, Hoge, Holladay, Hubbard, Hull, Jackson, Peter C. Johnston, Lewis, McComas, McGrew, J. Marshall, Masters, Moore, Nelson, Osburn, Patrick, Pendleton, Porter, Price, Pugh, Robert E. Scott, William C. Scott, Sharp, Sitlington, Spurlock, Alexander H. H. Stuart, Chapman J. Stuart, Summers, Tarr, Whitfield, Wickham, Willey, Wilson-64.

NAYS-Messrs. James Barbour, Blakey, Blow, Jr., Boisseau, Borst, Bouldin, Boyd, Branch, Bruce, Cabell, Caperton, Cecil, Chambliss, Chapman, Coffman, Conn, James H. Cox, Richard H. Cox, Deskins, Dorman, Echols, Fisher, Flournoy, Forbes, Garland, Graham, Gregory, Jr., Goggin, John Goode, Jr., Thomas F. Goode, Hale, Cyrus Hall, L. S. Hall, Harvie, Holcombe, Hughes, Hunton, Isbell, Marmaduke Johnson, Kent, Kindred, Lawson, Macfarland, Chas. K. Mallory, James B. Mallory, Marye, Sr., Miller, Moffett, Montague, Morris, Morton, Neblett, Orrick, Parks, Preston, Randolph, Richardson, Rives, Seawell, Sheffey, Slaughter, Southall, Speed, Staples, Strange, Sutherlin, Tayloe, Thornton, Tredway, Robert H. Turner, Tyler, Waller, Williams, Wise, Woods, Wysor -77.

(NOTE: Because Alfred Barbour was en route to Harper’s Ferry, he did not vote on April 17th.-ED}

{. . . Mr. WISE—

(displaying and placing on the table a long-barreled horse pistol for effect) I know the fact, as well as I can know it without being present at either the time or place, that ***there is a probability that blood will be flowing at Harper’s Ferry before night. I know the fact that the harbor of Norfolk has been obstructed last night by the sinking of vessels. I know the fact that at this moment a force is on its way to Harper’s Ferry to prevent the reinforcement of the Federal troops at that point. I am told it is already being reinforced by 1,000 men from the Black Republican ranks. I know the fact that your Governor has ordered reinforcements there to back our own citizens and to protect our lives and our arms. In the midst of a scene like this, when an attempt is made by our troops to capture the navy yard, and seize the Armory at Harper’s Ferry, we are here indulging in foolish debates, the only result of which must be delay, and, perhaps, ruin.

I move the previous question.***}

The call was sustained. Ten minutes was allowed under the rule for each man to show why the main question should not be put.

{. . . Mr. JOHN B. BALDWIN, of Augusta—
We have been appealed to, Mr. President, to take upon ourselves a portion of the responsibility of the passage of the ordinance of secession. If an ordinance of secession becomes the act of Virginia, we will have to share in the responsibility that is to attach to it-that is, all of us that intend to share the fortunes of the State. I am one of those who intend to share the fortunes of the State, come weal, come woe; and I shall take and bear my full share of the responsibility of the act of the State. But, sir, we are now in council as to what should be the act of the State; and I cannot see how any gentleman who does not think the act a wise act for the State, can share the responsibility of making it the act of the State.

I am one of those, sir, who believe that this act is an exceedingly unwise one, to be done now and under the circumstances by which we are surrounded. I have indicated that opinion by the vote which I gave for the proposition of the gentleman from Fauquier. I shall indicate that opinion again by the vote I shall give against the ordinance of secession. I claim the right as a representative upon this floor; as the representative of a free people living under a constitutional form of government; I claim the right, while a matter is in council, to give my vote according to my opinion. When I am overruled, and the act of the State is determined, then comes the time for united action upon the results of the council of the States, and then I shall be found sharing the fortunes of Virginia.

Sir, the gentleman from Princess Anne [Mr. WISE] says that we are already in the midst of war. The Governor of this State at his instance and the instance of others, has already directed assaults to be made upon Harper’s Ferry and Gosport Navy Yard.}

Mr. WISE—
I did not say that.

Mr. BALDWIN—
I understood him to say that the Governor, at his instance, had directed steps to be taken with a view of taking Harper’s Ferry and Gosport Navy Yard. If that is the case, I feel it to be my duty to tell my people not to march under an order that the Governor had no right to give.

{Mr. WISE—
I will state to the gentleman that it is to protect his people from being cut to pieces by the Wide Awakes-his people, who have marched to Harper’s Ferry, I hope, in time to prevent the Wide-Awakes from getting the 20,000 arms at that place-that he has ordered out reinforcements. This has been done at the instance of a gentleman from this city. It is now too late to recall these people, if the gentleman could, and I hope he never would recall them, if he could. The Augusta troop are acting nobly in this matter, and I only wish my people had the honor of taking that stronghold.}

{Mr. BALDWIN—
I have no doubt that my people will be found ready, at all times and under all circumstances, to uphold the honor of their country. They have never been found wanting on that point.

But, sir, I am speaking here as the representative of the people in a constitutional government, in regard to an act which the people themselves, by a majority of 60,000, directed should not be consummated without their voice at the polls; and I say that to consummate this act in defiance of the solemn action of the sovereign people of Virginia, I care not how patriotic the impulse which actuated such a course, is in derogation of the sovereign rights of the people of Virginia, who have appointed to settle it at the polls. I do not undertake to discuss, because I do not know the fact, that any portion of the people of Virginia have undertaken to assume the responsibility of making war, or opening hostilities; but, sir, I do undertake to say that it is a fearful responsibility that any one undertakes who plunges this State into civil war, unprepared as she is.

Sir, the Governor is said to have sent men for the protection of my fellow citizens who are gone on this mission. I have no doubt that the Governor, in whatever he has done and will do, will be actuated by a high patriotism. I have high confidence in his patriotic purposes and his pure and sincere devotion to the interests of the State, as well as his capacity to preside over her destinies; but I feel it to be due to myself to say, that in recording my vote here, I cannot record my vote as one of the counsellors of the State of Virginia for a measure which my judgment does not approve. I repeat, sir, that when it shall become the act of the State, when my opinions shall be overruled it is a matter to be taken home to the hearts of the whole State, and to be sustained by the hands of the whole State. God forbid that I should be the one to make the slightest objection to carrying into action, aye, into determined action whatever the people of Virginia, in their sovereign capacity, solemnly determine shall be done.

Sir, I regard this as the most solemn hour of my life, and I would be wanting in that candor which belongs to the position I occupy, and to the friends by whom I am surrounded here, if I had withheld this declaration of my position. I wish I could look upon this matter as other gentlemen here seem to look upon it. I wish I could participate in the feelings which seem to light up the countenances of friends whose opinions and patriotism I respect. But, sir, to me the future looks dark-dark and dreary; and while I trust I shall have a stout heart and strong arm to carry me through this as through any other duty to which my country may call me, while it is yet to be determined upon, my voice is against it.}

ACT V – SCENE IV – AN AGONIZED CHASM OF DIFFERENCE IN FINAL SECRET SESSION

Row 1 (l-r): LEWIS, HALL, RIVES, JANNEY, MCPORTER, CRITCHER, OSBURN

Row 2 (l-r): CAPERTON, EARLY, TYLER, BALDWIN, BURDETT, WISE, FISHER

{. . . Mr. LOGAN OSBURN, of Jefferson—
Mr. President, I have no disposition to detain the Convention further than to remark that I voted for the proposition of the gentleman from Fauquier with great cordiality and much pleasure, because its plan of co-operation with the border slave States seemed to me to embrace the great want which, it is to be feared, will prove detrimental to us when it will be too late to remedy it. We need, moreover, considerable preparation, and this we would have an opportunity of making if the proposition of the gentleman from Fauquier was carried. I have received letters from my constituents since I came here, and they all sustained me in the position which I have taken here. I received a letter last night which takes this position. All in fact are utterly opposed in sentiment to the adoption of an ordinance of secession, and, convinced, that this is the general sentiment of my people, I feel bound to vote against it. While doing so, I am not disposed by any vote I shall cast here to prevent entire unanimity in the action of this body. I hope that no emergency will prevent gentlemen here from submitting their action to the people. If they adopt an ordinance of secession, I shall most cheerfully acquiesce. . . }

{. . . Mr. JOHN JANNEY, of Loudoun (Lieutenant Governor ROBERT L. MONTAGUE, of Mathews and Middlesex, in the Chair) —
I beg the indulgence of the Convention while I depart from a resolution I formed the moment you elected me to that chair-to take no part in your deliberations. But the moment has come when I feel myself impelled, by a sense of duty, to state, with all the brevity I can, the reason why I cannot vote for this ordinance of secession. I always feel the force of every appeal that is made to me by my friend from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT), and when he invited us all to come up and present a united front in favor of this ordinance, I felt as if I would have done it, if I could, without violating my own sense of duty.I know not what course I may pursue when I go home, although I am determined now to vote against this ordinance of secession. But if I had resolved, from the moment my foot touched the soil of the county in which I live, to urge the people there to vote for the ordinance of secession, I would, as a matter of policy, vote against it; and I appeal to all gentlemen, who have been representing Union constituencies like myself, to say, if, by carrying out the will of their constituencies here in the vote they are about to give, they could not return home and operate with more power, and more influence upon them, than if they vote here to violate the will of those constituents who sent them.

Sir, I know what is before me;I know that an Ordinance of Secession is war, a cruel, bloody, civil war. The gentleman from Augusta (Mr. STUART), who spoke yesterday, alluded to my county and its position. Sir, it is true as he has intimated, there is a large revolutionary highway over which the armies of the country marched North and South, during the whole of that war; which I cross every day that I put my foot outside of my office. There is the old highway over which Braddock’s army was marched to Saratoga; and there is that old highway now leading into the heart of the most populous and powerful portion of the great State of Pennsylvania, with its three million of inhabitants, and we within three miles of that State, separated from it only by a river that is fordable for six months in the year.I desire to know of gentlemen here to day if any power that ever governed any civilized nation upon the face of the earth, ever plunged their country into a war with such fearful odds against them, without having a single battalion of regular soldiers, with a beggarly account of empty armories and magazines, with a frontier of more than 1,200 miles without a fort or fortification upon any one of its headlands.

. . . Gentlemen must have read history in vain if they can point out to me any boundary between two nations in any civilized continent on the globe where the same result has not been produced. Aye, gentlemen, your wives and children in the county of Montgomery, up in the mountains, the wives and children of the gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. PRESTON) and the gentleman from Bedford (Mr. GOGGIN) will all be asleep peacefully at midnight, when others will be fleeing with their children in their arms, by the light of their burning dwellings.

What I demand of you is this: will you make a declaration of war-for that is what this ordinance of secession will amount to-without preparing to defend our people who live upon the frontier, who are exposed to the assaults of the enemy, and upon whom they will come thick and heavy? I see before me now my venerable friend from Charles City (Ex-President TYLER). I demand to know of him, if he were President of the United States, whether he would ever have recommended to Congress to declare a war under such circumstances as now press upon us, with a force against him of eighteen to one, with a powerful navy upon the other side, and he without a gun boat; with armies drilled and disciplined, and with a command of 800,000 militia, would he have recommended to Congress to pass a declaration of war without waiting sixty days to make some preparation for it? I imagine not, sir.

We have been told here that the power of these Confederate States once organized into a regular government, with a regular army, would be sufficient to meet the emergency of a war such as is now threatened. Gentlemen, that is a tried failure. I tell you that the Confederate army never will and never can march to our assistance. Not that they are not as brave and gallant men as any in the world; but they will use all their means and power to protect themselves at home.

The proposition of my friend from Fauquier (Mr. SCOTT), was a favorite proposition of mine, and I think ought to have been adopted, because it would have given us time, at least, to have expended this million appropriated by the Legislature before the shock of arms should come upon us.
. . . This ordinance of secession was brought before this body yesterday. The previous question was moved upon it and the ten minutes rule adopted, and now we are called upon to give a vote that, in my judgment, is pregnant with the issue of human freedom all over the globe. I believe that if this experiment fails there is no hope left for representative government and liberty regulated by law.*** I believe that the dark night of universal despotism will settle down over the whole globe, upon the failure of this great experiment of ours. This is not the only proposition before us. Not at all. We have other propositions before us. We have a proposition in the resolutions and in the amendments to the Constitution which are laying over. These contain a plan of conference and co-operation with those border sister States of ours. I thank the Convention, not only for the kindness and indulgence that they have extended to me now, but for that which I have received in my entire sphere of action during the whole session of this body. I have felt it due to my constituents to enter this, their protest, in view of the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed, against this act dissolving the Union. . .}

{Mr. MIERS W. FISHER, of Northampton—
. . . ***The gentleman says that there will be a declaration of war as soon as the ordinance of secession is passed. Has he forgotten that a declaration of war is already made by Abraham Lincoln? ***Has he forgotten that Abraham Lincoln, as President of the United States, has called upon Virginia to furnish her quota of troops, not only to suppress the insurrection or the rebellion, as he chooses to call it, in the Confederate States, but even in our own Commonwealth? If this ordinance be adopted, and the gentleman from Loudoun (Mr. JANNEY) believes afterwards that Abraham Lincoln can exercise any restraint upon him, I hope it will be a constitutional restraint; and that if, as the gentleman apprehends, war should be declared, which I maintain is already declared, it will be a declaration in keeping with the forms presented by the Constitution, and not an act of usurpation, such as he seems thus disposed to perpetrate. If Congress shall declare war, I accept the issue. I never mean to be deferred from declaring my rights because I apprehend that some stronger men than myself will try to wrest it from me.}

. . . Mr. WISE—
I ask for the yeas and nays upon the adoption of the ordinance.

The call was sustained.

Mr. WM. B. PRESTON—
I would ask that the vote be first taken on the ordinance itself, and that the preamble be acted upon afterwards.

It was so ordered.

The question was then taken on the adoption of the ordinance.
When the name of Mr. TIMOTHY RIVES, of Prince George and Surry, was called, he said: The Government being already overthrown by revolution, I vote “aye.”

Mr. A.T. CAPERTON, of Monroe, before the vote was announced, said: I have no doubt there are many gentlemen who, upon a night’s reflection, would be disposed to record their votes in favor of this ordinance of secession; and, with a view to afford them an opportunity of a night’s reflection, and in order to have the vote as nearly unanimous as possible, I move we adjourn.

Mr. A.H.H. STUART, of Augusta—
I have heard the question asked whether gentlemen were at liberty to speak of the result of this vote. I think it is a matter of the very highest importance that the matter should be kept secret for the present.

The question was then taken on the motion to adjourn, and lost. The vote on the adoption of the ordinance of secession was then announced. It stood-yeas 88, nays 55, as follows: The Journal adds Rives to the affirmative votes listed here.

YEAS-Messrs. Ambler, Aston, Jas. Barbour, Blakey, Blow, Boisseau, Borst, Bouldin, Boyd, Branch, Bruce, Cabell, Campbell, Caperton, Cecil, Chambliss, Chapman, Coffman, Conn, James H. Cox, Richard H. Cox, Critcher, Deskins, Dorman, Echols, Fisher, Flournoy, Forbes, French, Garland, Gillespie, Graham, Gregory, Goggin, John Goode, Thomas F. Goode, Hale, Cyrus Hall, L. S. Hall, Harvie, Holcombe, Hughes, Hunton, Isbell, Marmaduke Johnson, P. C. Johnston, Kent, Kindred, Lawson, Leake, Macfarland, Chas. K. Mallory, James B. Mallory, Marye, Sr., Miller, Moffett, Montague, Morris, Morton, Neblett, Orrick, Parks, Preston, Randolph, Richardson, Robert E. Scott, William C. Scott, Seawell, Sheffey, Slaughter, Southall, Speed, Staples, Strange, Sutherlin, Tayloe, Thornton, Tredway, Robt. H. Turner, F. P. Turner, Tyler, Waller, Whitfield, Williams, Wise, Woods, Wysor-88.

NAYS-Messrs. Jno. Janney [President], Armstrong, Baldwin, Baylor, Berlin, Boggess, Brent, Brown, Burdett, Burley, Byrne, Carlile, Carter, Clemens, C. B. Conrad, R. Y. Conrad, Couch, Custis, Dent, Dulany, Early, Fugate, Gravely, Gray, Ephraim B. Hall, Hammond, Haymond, Hoge, Holladay, Hubbard, Hull, Jackson, Lewis, McComas, McGrew, Marshall, Masters, Moore, Nelson, Osburn, Patrick, Pendleton, Porter, Price, Pugh, Sharp, Sitlington, Spurlock, Alexander H. H. Stuart, Chapman J. Stuart, Summers, Tarr, White, Wickham, Willey-55.}

{(NOTE: Barton Wise Henry Wise’s grandson gives this account which he states came from his grandfather): The next morning he (Henry Wise) awaited telegrams at the hotel and received one from Captain Imboden, at Gordonsville, saying he was there with the volunteers under General Harper, and his guns, pressing forward to Harper’s Ferry. Wise immediately hastened to the Convention then in session. For some weeks previously telegrams had been announced to that body, with the news of hastening its action, until, at last, they lost their effect and had become an object of derision. As soon as one was named, voices would exclaim: “Another Democratic alarm! “Immediately upon reaching his seat, Wise addressed the president and said: “Mr. President, I arise to announce no “Democratic telegram,” but to say to you and this body that I know that armed forces are now moving upon Harper’s Ferry to capture the arms there in the arsenal for the public defence, and there will be a fight or a foot-race between volunteers of Virginia and Federal troops before the sun sets this day!”

And he asked the Convention whether it would sanction and support the movement on foot. If a hand grenade had been thrown in among the members, it could not have caused more consternation. Wise said no more, but went to Mr. Holcombe and Mr. George W. Randolph, told them what he had done and urged them to see Governor Letcher and to prevail upon him to reenforce the volunteers and to sanction their movement. They went immediately to the governor’s room and returned quickly, requesting Wise’s presence with Governor Letcher. He went forthwith to the governor’s chamber and inquired what he (Governor Letcher) would do? He answered that he would back the movement then and issued orders at once.

After a very short conference Wise returned to his seat in the Convention.
Mr. Robert Y. Conrad was on the floor, protesting warmly against the movement as unauthorized and illegal, involving, in fact, all the consequences of treason, and the whole people in a war to which the most of them were opposed. Mr. John B. Baldwin and others, but especially Mr. Baldwin, followed in a strain of awful lamentation and forebodings; denounced the act as a usurpation, as revolutionary and disturbing to peaceful measures, and interfering with the labors of that Convention toward compromise and conciliation. He asked who had assumed to instigate and organize so rash a folly? Whoever they were, he could not, for one, sanction or countenance their disastrous and unauthorized action. Wise rose and announced that he, and he alone, had originated and ordered the movement and assumed its whole responsibility; and he inquired of Mr. Baldwin whether he would or not, now that the movement was on the march, aid the people, who had waited on the Convention too long in vain, in seizing arms for their own defence. Mr. Baldwin said that he could not, and he hoped the Convention would not partake in any such fearful responsibility. It was not the act of the people, and those who had assumed to act for the whole State must, if they had made for themselves a bloody bed, lie upon it and take all the consequences, which he apprehended would be sad and fatal. They should not have his sanction, or aid, or countenance. As yet it was not known to him or the Convention of what portion of the people the volunteers were composed.

Wise then rose and said: “Mr. President, I have often heard old Augusta boasted of as the heart of Virginia. Heretofore I have been content to acquiesce by silence, in this claim of her preeminence over other members of our body politic, as a sort of political if not poetical license, for I always accorded her the highest rank among the sections of the State; but now I know, I feel in every fibre of every extremity of my body that she is the heart of Virginia. I feel her grand and noble pulse throbbing through every nerve, and kindling emotions in my heart of admiration and gratitude. Let me tell the gentleman from Augusta [Mr. Baldwin’s home] that the patriotic volunteer revolutionists, whom he consigns to bloody beds, are his constituents of Augusta, — his friends and neighbors of Staunton. They are the men who are marching under my orders to take up their own arms for their own defence! The self-sacrificing Kenton Harper is leading his neighbors and command to all the dangers and risks of taking Harper’s Ferry, and the question is: Shall they be doomed, unsupported, to bloody beds?” This appeal silenced Mr. Baldwin; he looked aghast; he dropped his austere mien of reprehension at the movement; and the whole body (then in secret session) was thrown into bewildering excitement by Mr. Baylor, Baldwin’s colleague, rushing by, almost over seats and down aisles, making his way to Wise. It might be to assail him, but no; it was to grasp his hand, with tears streaming down his cheeks, and exclaiming: “Let me grasp your hand! I don’t agree with you, I don’t approve your acts; but I love you! I love you!”(Barton Wise, pp. 275-280)

{On the eve of the passage of the ordinance, it appeared probable that a number of members, from what is now West Virginia, would retire. A member of the Convention, Judge John Critcher, thus describes a scene in which Wise arraigned their leader for this contemplated withdrawal. It was plainly premeditated.

Before he [Wise] arose, I noticed his suppressed agitation. Ex-President Tyler, who knew what was coming, turned his chair about ten feet in front of Wise, with his back to the president of the Convention. As Wise proceeded with his arraignment of Summers, Mr. Tyler lost control of his feelings and

tears trickled freely down his cheeks. The speaker was supernaturally excited. His features were as sharp and rigid as bronze. His hair stood off from his head, as if charged with electricity. Summers sat on the left of the chair, white and pale as the wall near him. It was the most powerful display of the sort I ever witnessed. I have heard Wendell Phillips, Beecher, Mr. Clay, Daniel O’Connell, Lord Brougham, Sir Robert Peel, Thiers, Guizot, and Lamartine; but never witnessed any display of eloquence like this, and in this opinion Mr. Tyler concurred. I have often wished that Wise’s remarks could have been preserved. It was in vain, during the excited debate that ensued in the secret session, that the extreme Union men remonstrated, and that old John Janney, of Loudoun, the president of the body, left his seat, and with tear-dimmed eyes and a voice trembling with emotion, pleaded with the Convention not to sever the tie that bound Virginia to the Federal Government, and lay bare his beautiful home to the invader. The adoption of the ordinance by a vote of 88 to 55, on the afternoon of the 17 th, left no doubt in the minds of the members as to where their paramount allegiance was due; and the instrument was then, or later on, signed by all the delegates, wdth the exception of about six or eight from the western part of the State. Governor Letcher, who on the night of the 16th had ordered a secession flag which had been placed over the Capitol to be hauled down, forthwith took active steps to place the Commonwealth in a condition of defence. From that time forward the sentiment of the people living within the present limits of Virginia may be said to have been a unit in favor of resisting invasion by the Federal Government. (Barton Wise, pp. 277-281)}

{The scenes witnessed within the walls of that room, as detailed by members, have no parallel in the annals of ancient or modern times. On the morning of the 17th, WISE, the member from Princess Anne, rose in his seat and drawing a large Virginia horse-pistol from his bosom laid it before him, and proceeded to harangue the body in the most violent and denunciatory manner. He concluded by taking his watch from his pocket and, with glaring eyes and bated breath, declared that events were now transpiring which caused a hush to come over his soul. At such an hour, he said, Harper’s Ferry and its armory were in possession of Virginia soldiers; at another period the Federal navy-yard and property at Norfolk were seized by troops of the State. It was then that the Union members saw the object of the other assemblage, which had sat with closed doors from its beginning and whose concealed hand, seizing the reins of government, had left them the form without the power to resist. (Waitman Willey quoted in Hall, p. 183)}

{In a letter written on April 17th to his wife, Logan Osburn reflected both the mood at the convention and also the mood of pro-Union delegates: It is now between ten and eleven oclock at night and the convention is still in session. I paired off with a gentle-man of the opposite side for the night to enable me to drop you a few lines and try to get a little sleep. The Convention went into secret session on tuesday, and its injunctions sealed the lips and silenced the pens of the whole body so far as its action is concerned until secrecy is removed. Whilst I will not divulge our actions Ifeel constrained to say that the last three days will form an epoch in my life that I fear I will never be able to refer to with composure. I have often said to you in great seriousness in the last six months that I feared the days of our republic were about numbered, & that the Sun of our National liberty was about to set. It is with me now no longer a matter of doubt. You will see by the papers that the authorities of our State have already inaugurated a revolution by the seizure of public property, vessels in our harbours, Gosport Navy Yard & Ex Gov. Wise told me to day a dispatch had been sent for the seizure of the armory at Harper’s Ferry.

Andrew Hunter is here, and told me he left home yesterday and all was quiet there then. The City is full of strangers brought hither I suppose by the circular to which I have Heretofore alluded. All precipitation and Secessionists thrown upon us just as the action was made on Fort Sumpter, evidently made at the suggestion of Roger A. Pryor (who is there) with a view of drawing some rash act out of the President at Washington (like the proclamation) to spend its full force upon this Convention at a critical moment of its deliberations and at the very time of the assemblage of the multitude of secessionists.

The whole scheme was evidently matured long ago, and but a small part of it is yet developed, and that the least offensive of it. “Lincoln has committed an outrage on the Rights of the great, the gallant, and the conservative Union Party of Virginia, for which posterity must ever hold him responsible, the consequences of which will not only entirely destroy that noble party but rear over it a Red Republican Revolutionary party that will plunge our glorious country and recently happy people into all the horrors of civil war. Had he only evacuated the Forts Sumpter and Pickens (for which he had no use) and given positive assurances to our commissioners that his policy towards the seceded states would be entirely pacific. I have no doubt the last card of the secessionists would have been played out and we could then have adjusted all difficulties and thoroughly restored the union of all the states. He cannot be so blind as not to see a strong revolutionary spirit manifesting itself among the people. Why did he not therefore endeavor to cooperate with the conservatism of the Convention & work out the solution of this difficulty? (April 17th). In view of all the surroundings, I think I will probably come home in a few days. I am well aware of the intense excitement necessarily existing in your midst. I presume I cannot remain but a few days. I desire an interview with the Governor (Letcher) this morning to ascertain the condition of H. Ferry. I rejoice you that you are at home. If you were here you would be deranged, almost. I am no company either man or beast. I have sought consolation in the solitude of my chamber and in the Gents parlour, in long walks when an opportunity is offered, but without avail. The Solemn, Sad, and desponding countenances that characterize the union men in the hall of the Convention clearly indicates their wounded pride and patriotic devotion to this country’s honour and the people’s liberty. Brave men with stout hearts and trembling voices, with tears rolling down their cheeks, have stood up nobly in defence of the rights of the people, and earnestly appealed to their brother members to save them & theirs from the dim calamities of civil war, but in vain.” – (Perks, pp. 81-83)}

{THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION

AN ORDINANCE to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution:

The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention, on the 25th day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eight-eight, having declared that the powers granted them under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States.

Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain that the Ordinance adopted by the people of this State in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and all acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution aforesaid, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong to a free and independent State. And they do further declare that the said Constitution of the United State of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State.

This Ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.

Done in Convention, in the city of Richmond, on the seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia

JNO. L. EUBANK,
Sec’y of Convention.

VOTES ON SECESSION

The names of those who voted in the affirmative are –

Messrs. William M. Ambler (Louisa)
Wm. B. Aston (Russell and Wise)
James Barbour (Culpeper)
Angus R. Blakey (Madison)
George Blow, Jr.
James Boisseau (Dinwiddie)
Peter B. Borst (Page)
Wood Bouldin (Charlotte)
William W. Boyd (Botetourt)
Thomas Branch (Petersburg)
James C. Bruce (Halifax)
Frederick M. Cabell (Nelson)
John A. Campbell (Washington)
Allen T. Caperton (Monroe)
William P. Cecil (Tazewell)
John R. Chambliss (Greenesville and Sussex)
Manilius Chapman (Giles)
Samuel A. Coffman (Rockingham)
Raphael M. Conn (Shenandoah)
James H. Cox (Chesterfield)
Richard H. Cox (Essex and King & Queen)
John Critcher (Richmond County & Westmoreland)
Harvey Deskins (Floyd)
James B. Dorman (Rockbridge)
John Echols (Monroe)
Miers W. Fisher (Northampton)
Thomas S. Flournoy (Halifax)
William W. Forbes (Buckingham)
Napoleon B. French (Mercer)
Samuel M. Garland (Amherst)
Henry L. Gillespie (Fayette and Raleigh)
Samuel L. Graham (Tazewell)
Fendall Gregory, Jr. (King William)
William L. Goggin (Bedford)
John Goode, Jr. (Bedford)
Thomas F. Goode (Mecklenburg)
F. L. Hale (Carroll)
Cyrus Hall (Pleasants and Ritchie)
Leonard S. Hall (Wetzel)
Lewis E. Harvie (Amelia and Nottoway)
James P. Holcombe (Albemarle)
John N. Hughes (Randolph and Tucker)
Eppa Hunton (Prince William)
Lewis D. Isbell (Appomattox)
Marmaduke Johnson (Richmond City)
Peter C. Johnston (Lee and Scott)
Robert C. Kent (Wythe)
John J. Kindred (Southampton)
James Lawson (Logan, Boone and Wyoming)
Walter D. Leake (Goochland)
William H. Macfarland (Richmond City)
Charles K. Mallory (Elizabeth City, Warwick, York and Williamsburg)
James B. Mallory (Brunswick)
John L. Marye, Sr. (Spotsylvania)
Fleming B. Miller
Horatio G. Moffett (Rappahannock)
Robert L. Montague (Matthews and Middlesex)
Edmund T. Morris (Caroline)
Jeremiah Morton (Greene and Orange)
William J. Neblett (Lunenburg)
Johnson Orrick (Morgan)
William C. Parks (Grayson)
Wm. Ballard Preston (Montgomery)
George W. Randolph (Richmond City)
George W. Richardson (Hanover)
Timothy Rives
Robert E. Scott (Fauquier)
William C. Scott (Cumberland and Powhatan)
John T. Seawell (Gloucester)
James W. Sheffey (Smyth)
Charles R. Slaughter (Campbell)
Valentine W. Southall (Albemarle)
John M. Speed (Campbell)
Samuel G. Staples (Patrick)
James M. Strange (Fluvanna)
William T. Sutherlin (Pittsylvania)
George P. Tayloe (Roanoke)
John T. Thornton (Prince Edward)
William M. Tredway (Pittsylvania)
Robert H. Turner (Warren)
Franklin P. Turner (Jackson and Roane)
John Tyler
Edward Waller (King George and Stafford)
Robert H. Whitfield (Isle of Wight)
Samuel C. Williams (Shenandoah)
Henry A. Wise
Samuel Woods (Barbour)
Benj’n F. Wysor (Pulaski) – 88.

The names of those who voted in the negative are –

NOTE: Jefferson County Delegate Alfred Barbour was not present, en route to Harpers Ferry in anticipation of an attack on the armory and arsenal. It was not fully clear whose “bidding” he was doing.-ED)

Messrs. John Janney (Pres’t) (Loudoun)
Edward M. Armstrong (Hampshire)
John B. Baldwin (Augusta)
George Baylor (Augusta)
George W. Berlin (Upshur)
Caleb Boggess (Lewis)
George W. Brent (Alexandria)
William G. Brown (Preston)
John S. Burdett (Taylor)
James Burley (Marshall)
Benj. W. Byrne
John S. Carlile (Harrison)
John A. Carter (Loudoun)
Sherrard Clemens (Ohio)
C. B. Conrad (Gilmer, Wirt and Calhoun)
Robert Y. Conrad (Frederick)
James H. Couch (Mason)
William H. B. Custis (Accomac)
Marshall M. Dent (Monongalia)
William H. Dulany (Fairfax)
Jubal A. Early (Franklin)
Colbert C. Fugate (Scott)
Peyton Gravely (Henry)
Algernon S. Gray (Rockingham)
Ephraim B. Hall (Marion)
Allen C. Hammond (Berkeley)
Alpheus F. Haymond (Marion)
James W. Hoge (Putnam)
J. G. Holladay (Norfolk County)
Chester D. Hubbard (Ohio)
George W. Hull (Highland)
John J. Jackson (Wood)
John F. Lewis (Rockingham)
William McComas (Cabell)
James C. McGrew (Preston)
James Marshall (Frederick)
Henry H. Masters (Pendleton)
Samuel McD. Moore (Rockbridge)
Hugh M. Nelson (Clarke)
Logan Osburn (Jefferson)
Spicer Patrick (Kanawha)
Edmund Pendleton (Berkeley)
George McC. Porter (Hancock)
Samuel Price (Greenbrier)
David Pugh (Hampshire)
John D. Sharp (Lee)
Thomas Sitlington (Alleghany and Bath)
Burwell Spurlock (Wayne)
Alex. H. H. Stuart (Augusta)
Chapman J. Stuart (Doddridge and Tyler)
George W. Summers (Kanawha)
Campbell Tarr (Brooke)
William White (Norfolk County)
Williams C. Wickham (Henrico)
Wait. T. Willey (Monongalia) – 55.}

“Voting Results on the Virginia Ordinance of Secession” – A State of Convenience The Creation of West Virginia. wvculture.org (West Virginia Archives & History). 2 March 2000 Web. 1 Oct. 2011.

“Chapter Three Richmond Convention February 13-April 17, 1861” – A State of Convenience The Creation of West Virginia. wvculture.org (West Virginia Archives & History). 2 March 2000 Web. 1 Oct. 2011.

{Taylor County Delegate John S. Burdett, who also spoke at the event, said:
Within an hour,” he continued, “after the ordinance had passed, a mob of seventeen hundred of just such chaps as these were in the capitol grounds. They went to the arsenal got out the cannon and paraded around the capitol We adjourned and went to our boarding-houses to get away from the mob. I felt for the first time, when I saw them breaking down the doors of the capitol and tear down the flag how deeply disgraced was the ensign of the Nation. (Hall, pp. 182-183).}

“Virginia Ordinance of Secession April 17, 1861” – A State of Convenience The Creation of West Virginia. wvculture.org (West Virginia Archives & History). 2 March 2000 Web. 1 Oct. 2011.

{The ordinance of secession was passed. The injunction of secresy is upon every member. I can only say that it passed — and one thing more, which you doubtless already know, that I did not vote for it. I would have suffered this right arm to be cut off before I would have signed that ordinance. (Hancock County Delegate George McC Porter in a speech in Wheeling May 5th; Hall, pp. 179-180)}

WILLIAM EDWARDS wrote:
On Monday (Wednesday-ED), April 17th, the convention passed the ordinance of secession, big with disaster to Virginia. It was to be submitted to the voters a month later, but the managers proceeded as if the State were already out, as in fact it was.

I left Richmond early, and heard afterwards that I had taken the last train that left for the North for many a day. When I reached Washington I found quite another city from that I had passed through a week before. Flags were out everywhere, soldiers were everywhere, and the lobby at Willard’s was thronged with people eager to hear the latest news. In the morning, on taking the train for Philadelphia, I found Augustus Schell, collector of the port of New York under Buchanan, and who was, or had been, Sachem of Tammany. From him I learned of the vast change which that shot at Sumter had brought about through the whole North. A fine-looking young officer sat in the seat next in front, and Mr. Schell spoke of him as Colonel Ellsworth, from Chicago, who had been much talked of. During the preceding year, in anticipation of the coming troubles, he had organized and drilled a band of young athletes. Ellsworth was the first man killed in McClellan’s advance at Alexandria.

After we had passed through Maryland the Stars and Stripes began to show. Philadelphia was gay with them. At that day it was necessary to cross the city in omnibuses, and this gave opportunity to see the display. So it was to Trenton, and through New Jersey. At Trenton the Governor of New Jersey got in, returning to his home in Newark. He, with his staff, had been engaged at the Capital on matters connected with the draft. A man came in and sat by me, and soon opened on the all-absorbing topic. He said he would not have believed a week ago that he would ever feel as he did today. That he was a Democrat, in Southern business, and had money due him from. all over the South; and that he considered the money gone. “Damn them,” said he; “I don’t care now if I never see a cent of it. We’ll fight it out.”

New York, which had outwardly been quiet, now threw out a flag on every house and place of business. The Herald at first refused to show its loyalty in that way, and was very soon visited by a gathering of citizens who meant business unless a flag was run up in short order. Bennett found a flag mighty quick. The war feeling became intensified as the days passed, and as soldiers from the interior and the upper States, began to arrive, on their way to Washington. There was trouble at Baltimore and Washington was in danger of finding itself isolated. Troops were hurried forward, and even the Seventh Regiment, the crack regiment of the State, and whose special duty it is to keep order in New York city, was sent on.

The larger part of the Democratic party, when it came to the cross-roads, went with the administration, and so upset many calculations both at the North and South. War Democrats, these allies were called, and they fought for and upheld the government to the end of the war.

Patriotic meetings were held in the city squares by day and by night. Buchanan had left the Treasury empty, and there was neither coin, nor credit to the Government. Citizens came to the rescue and contributed according to their means to help the Treasury tide over the difficulty, A. T. Stewart heading the list with fifty thousand dollars. In these days of multi-millionaires, who can draw their checks for millions, such a subscription from the greatest merchant of New York, seems trivial, but that was the day of small things in all but the love of country. The rivulets from all over the North made a sizeable stream, and helped at Washington amazingly. The banks had suspended payment, and silver had passed out of sight. To relieve the consequent pressure, diminutive bills called “shin-plasters” were issued by banks, corporations, firms and individuals, and passed every where without question. Even postage stamps for a while passed as currency. Congress was in session presently, and it was not long before ways and means were devised, and the country, that is, what was left of the country, went on as of old. Very few persons supposed that the war, if there should he a war, would last long; it might be six months – possibly a little longer; but the good sense of the people, north and south, might be trusted to make for peace and re-union. Little the north then knew of the bitterness of the South, and still less the South knew of the grim determination of the North.

ACT V – SCENE V – IMBODEN AND ASHBY BRING WAR TO HARPERS FERRY ACCORDING TO THE PLAN

{JOHN IMBODEN:
Ashby had sent men on the night of the 17th to cut the wires between Manassas Junction and Alexandria, and to keep them cut for several days. Our advent at the Junction astounded the quiet people of the village. General Harman at once “impressed” the Manassas Gap train to take the lead, and switched two or three other trains to that line in order to proceed to Strasburg. I was put in command of the foremost train.

We had not gone five miles when I discovered that the engineer could not be trusted. He let his fire go down, and came to a dead standstill on a slight ascending grade. A cocked pistol induced him to fire up and go ahead. From there to Strasburg I rode in the engine-cab, and we made full forty miles an hour with the aid of good dry wood and a navy revolver. At Strasburg we left the cars, and before 10 o’clock the infantry companies took up the line of march for Winchester. I now had to procure horses for my guns.

The farmers were in their corn-fields, and some of them agreed to hire us horses as far as Winchester, eighteen miles, while others refused. The situation being urgent, we took the horses by force, under threats of being indicted by the next grand jury of the county. By noon we had a sufficient number of teams. We followed the infantry down the Valley Turnpike, reaching Winchester just at nightfall.

The people generally received us very coldly. The war spirit that bore them up through four years of trial and privation had not yet been aroused. General Harper was at Winchester, and had sent forward his infantry by rail to Charlestown, eight miles from Harper’s Ferry. In a short time a train returned for my battery. The farmers got their horses and went home rejoicing, and we set out for our destination.

The infantry moved out of Charlestown about midnight. We kept to our train as far as Halltown, only four miles from the ferry. There we set down our guns to be run forward by hand to Bolivar Heights, west of the town, from which we could shell the place if necessary.

April 18 – Thursday – Harpers Ferry, Halltown, VA:

DAVID HUNTER STROTHER, a writer/illustrator for “Harper’s Weekly” who was born and grew up in the eastern Panhandle and later became an officer in the Federal Army, describes his witnessing of the invasion by Ashby and Imboden of Harper’s Ferry, what transpired, and his personal opinion of the extraordinary turn of events.-ED

As we passed the Armory shops I observed they were closed. And the United States soldiers there on duty (fifty or sixty men) stood in groups about the grounds apparently awaiting orders. As the train stopped opposite the hotel I missed the mob of idlers that usually crowded the platform, but remarked a collection of half a dozen gentlemen standing near the steps which led to the telegraph office. While engaged in getting my baggage I heard my name called by one of the group, and on approaching recognized several acquaintances, whose presence there at that time struck me as ominous.

STROTHER CONTINUED

J. A. Seddon

Among them were Captain H. Turner Ashby and a stranger whom I afterward ascertained was a Mr. J.A. Seddon of Richmond. I felt assured,

from the anxiety expressed in their faces and the restlessness of their manner, that some extraordinary occasion had assembled them here; but I was not allowed much time for speculation, for as Ashby advanced to shake hands with me he said, “We are here in the name of the State of Virginia to take possession of Harper’s Ferry. Three thousand Virginians are marching to support us, and I am expecting their arrival every moment. They should have been here ere this. An Ordinance of Secession has been passed by the Convention, and the Navy-yard at Norfolk is already in our hands.”

I was so stunned by these revelations that I had scarcely breath to utter the usual and appropriate ejaculation of astonishment – “The Devil!”

Ashby further stated that he had taken possession of the telegraph office, and then walking to and fro and looking at his watch at every turn, gave vent to reiterated expressions of impatience at the non-appearance of the expected forces.

As I rallied from the surprise into which I had been thrown by these sudden developments I began to wonder what the authorities at Washington were dreaming of, and why the Government troops were lying idle in their barracks. I saw but half a dozen men who seemed to be arranging their plans and awaiting reinforcements at their leisure. Why were they not immediately arrested or shot down?

I also began to feel annoyed at finding myself the recipient of these quasi-confidential communications from persons with whom I had formerly had agreeable social relations and some affinity in political sentiment, but whose present position was abhorrent to me. The frank and unreserved manner in which they detailed their plans seemed purposely designed to implicate me, at least by approval, and I was glad when a direct question afforded me the opportunity of undeceiving them.

R___ asked, “How many men can we bring from Martinsburg to sustain them?”

I answered, “None at all; we are all Union men in Martinsburg.” This reply appeared to startle them, and was followed by an interchange of significant glances among the party.

Ashby then said that he had always been a sincere Union man heretofore, but as the action of the General Government had already destroyed the Union he now felt bound to stand by his State.

R___ said that he too always have been a Union man, and was one now, but felt himself driven into the present movement as the only means of preserving the union. Although I could not perceive the adaptation of the means to the end, I wished him success.

The whistle of the Charlestown cars terminated a conversation which had become embarrassing, and I took leave of my acquaintances with the decidedly less of cordiality than had than had been exhibited at our meeting.

STROTHER CONTINUED

. . . I had intended to go no further than Halltown, but the entrancement of curiosity and interest was irresistible, and I continued to follow the march of the troops at a short distance. The stars twinkled clear and chill overhead, while the measured tread of the men and an occasional half-whispered word of command were the only sounds that broke the stillness of the night. It was an awful opportunity for reflection.

The column was suddenly brought to a halt by the peremptory and startling challenge of a sentinel in the road. It was too dark to see what was going on, but I presently heard the order given to load with ball-cartridge, followed by the ringing of ramrods and clicking of musket-locks. The leading company then fixed bayonets, and forming across the turnpike, swept forward at a double quick. The challenges had retired and the column resumed its march. At the toll-gate near Allstadt’s they were again challenged and halted, with the same result.

Here I overtook an acquaintance who was following the column in a buggy, and feeling fatigued from my walk accepted the vacant seat beside him. He professed himself greatly distressed at the proceedings and said he had done all in his power to stop them, but without avail. I told him I had “said my say,” and did not intend to meddle further with the business, yet, from present appearances, it was possible there would be a fight.

. . . It appeared that instead of three thousand men expected by Ashby only three hundred and forty had been assembled, including the cavalry and some artilleries with an old iron six-pounder from Charlestown. At Halltown the paucity of numbers was overlooked in the eagerness to seize the virgin honors of the enterprise. Now when within musket-shot, more prudent counsels were entertained. A little less glory and a few more men would answer the purpose quite as well. It was not a fight they were seeking, but the possession of Harper’s Ferry, with its supplies of arms and valuable machinery.

. . . Ashby alone seemed impatient with the order to wait. While the officers were thus discoursing, and looking toward the town there was a sudden flash that illuminated for miles around the romantic gorge where the rivers meet. Then followed a dull report, reverberating from mountain to mountain until it died away in a sullen roar.

The flashes and detonations were several times repeated; then a steadier flame was seen rising from two distinct points silently and rapidly increasing in volume until each rock and tree on the Loudon and Maryland Heights were distinctly visible and the now over-clouded sky was ruddy with the sinister glare. This occurred I think between nine and ten o’clock. Some thought they heard artillery. But the more skillful presently guessed the truth and concluded that the officer in command had set fire to the arsenals and abandoned the town.

Ashby immediately dashed down the hill at the head of his cavalry to reconnoitre and ascertain the facts. The idea that there was to be no fight seemed to afford very general relief. My sympathy with this feeling was mingled with a deep sense of humiliation, in knowing that my Government had yielded so rich a prize to the revolution upon so feeble a demonstration.

Quietly withdrawing from the circle of acquaintances with whom I was conversing, I walked down to the town alone, by the Bolivar Road.

The Old Arsenal buildings on Shenandoah Street and several of the shops in the Armory inclosure on Potomac Street were in full blaze. The road was alive with men, women and children hurrying to and fro, laden with spoils from the workshops and soldiers’ barracks. There were women with their arms full of muskets, little girls loaded with sheaves of bayonets, boys dragging cartridge boxes ad cross belts enough to equip a platoon, men with barrels of pork or flour, kegs or molasses and boxes of hard bread on their shoulders or trundling in their wheel barrows.

April 19 – Friday: Harpers Ferry, VA:

On going down into the town this morning I found that there had been considerable accessions to the State forces, seven or eight hundred having arrived during the night and morning, while as many more were reported on the way.

STROTHER CONTINUED

Confusion reigned supreme, ably seconded by whisky. The newly-arrived troops having nothing to eat, consoled themselves as usual by getting something to drink. Parties were detailed to search the houses for the arms and the public property which had been carried off the evening before. This search was stoutly resisted by the women, who skirmished after their fashion with the guard, with tongue and broomstick, holding them at bay, while their husbands endeavored to conceal the spoils they had acquired. A rough estimate of the night’s work showed that about sixteen thousand muskets had perished by the burning of the arsenals and that one building (the carpenter shop) of the Potomac Armory had also been destroyed. On the other hand, several thousand new rifles and muskets complete, with all the costly material and machinery of the National Armory, had passed into the power of the revolution without a blow. Such were the visible and material results, but the social and political consequences who could estimate?

I must confess that I felt this morning like a man wandering in a maze. * The future exhibited but a dim and changing vista. Was the experiment of popular government indeed a failure, as our conservatives had been predicting from the commencement? Was Macaulay right when he said that our system would crumble into anarchy upon the first trial? . . .*

While indulging in these speculations my attention was directed to the flag-staff which stood in the yard of the Old Arsenal. The national standard had been lowered, and in its place floated the Sate flag of Virginia. It would be difficult to describe the mingled emotions excited in my mind by this simple incident.

(So) it seemed that the sudden gust of emotion, excited by the lowering of our starry flag, had swept away the mists of speculation and revealed in it’s depth and breadth the abyss of degradation opened by secession.

Yesterday I was a citizen of the great American republic. My country spanned a continent. Her northern border neared the frigid zone while her southern limit touched the tropics. Her eastern and western shores were washed by the two great oceans of the globe. Her commerce covering the most remote seas, her flag honored in every land. The strongest nation acknowledged her power. The great experiment which the pure and wise of all nations are watching with trembling solicitude and imperishable hope. It was something to belong to such a nationality . . .

Today, what am I? A citizen of Virginia. Virginia, a petty commonwealth with scarcely a million white inhabitants. What could she ever hope to be but a worthless fragment of the broken vase? A fallen splintered column of the once glorious temple.

Harper’s Ferry Resident Joseph Barry’s Account of Harper’s Ferry April 18-19, 1861

BARRY:
. . . While in Richmond, however, attending the convention, Mr. Barbour is said to have been drawn into the vortex of rebellion through the powerful influences brought to bear by the secessionists on the members of that body. Mr. Barbour’s family is one of the oldest and most aristocratic in Virginia, and many of his relatives had seats in the convention and were ultra-southern in their views. These, no doubt, had great influence over him, and, anyway he was finally induced to vote for a separation of his native state from the union.

Indeed, many at Harper’s Ferry who voted for him at the election, did so with strong misgivings respecting his sincerity, but, as there was no better choice under the circumstances, they gave him their support. Some who enjoyed his confidence said that he afterward bitterly regretted his course, and the writer is convinced that Mr. Barbour acted from sheer compulsion. The author of these pages was then a young man — poor and without weight in the community, but Mr. Barbour appeared to have some confidence in his judgment, for he sought an interview with him and asked him his advice as to the proper course to pursue in the convention. The author told him that he had a fine chance to immortalize himself by holding out for the Union of the States; that he was of a prominent southern family and that, if he proved faithful, his loyalty under the circumstances would give him such a national reputation as he could not hope for from the opposite course. They parted to meet but once again, and that for only a minute. After the fatal vote of the convention, Mr. Barbour called on business at the place where the author was employed and said just three words to him — “You were right.”

These words told the tale of compulsion or, perhaps, of contrition. The ordinance of secession was passed by the Virginia convention on the 17th of April, 1861. and, on the following day Mr. Barbour made his appearance at Harper’s Ferry in company with Mr. Seddon, afterward prominent in the confederate government.

He made a speech to his old employees advising them to co-operate with their native state and give in their allegiance to the new order of things. He appeared to be laboring under great excitement caused, perhaps, by his consciousness of having done wrong and unwisely. This speech excited the anger of the unionists to a high pitch, as he had received their suffrages on the understanding that he was for the old government unconditionally.

BARRY CONTINUED

A partial riot took place and the appearance soon after of a southern soldier, a young man named John Burk, on guard over the telegraph office, aroused the loyalists to frenzy. Lieutenant Roger Jones, with forty-two regular United States soldiers, was then stationed at Harper’s Ferry, a company of military having been kept there by the government for the protection of the place since the Brown raid. Hearing that a large force was marching from the south to take possession of the armory, he made some preparations to defend the post and called on the citizens for volunteers.

Many responded, prominent among whom was a gigantic Irishman named Jeremiah Donovan, who immediately shouldered a musket and stood guard at the armory gate. This man was the first — at least in that region — who took up arms in defense of the government and, as will be seen shortly, he was very near paying a heavy penalty for his patriotism. As before mentioned, a southern soldier was on guard at the telegraph office and he and Donovan were not fifty yards apart at their posts. To use a homely phrase, Harper’s Ferry was “between hawk and buzzard,” a condition in which it remained ’till the war was ended four years afterward. All day the wildest excitement prevailed in the town. All business was suspended except in the barrooms, and many fist fights came off between the adherents of the adverse factions. Mr. William F. Wilson, an Englishman by birth, but long a resident of the place, attempted to address the people in favor of the Union, but he was hustled about so that his words could not be heard distinctly. Mr. Wilson continued all through the war to be an ardent supporter of the Federal government. Mr. George Koonce. a man of great activity and personal courage, and Mr. Wilson, above mentioned, who is also a man of great nerve, were very prompt in volunteering their aid to Lieutenant Jones, and the latter put great confidence in them.

Lt. Roger Jones

With a few young men they advanced a little before midnight to meet the Virginia militia, about two thousand in number, who were marching towards Harper’s Ferry from Charlestown. They encountered and, it is said, actually halted them on Smallwood’s Ridge, near Bolivar. At this moment, however, news reached them that Lieutenant Jones, acting on orders from Washington City or under directions from Captain Kingsbury, who had been sent from the capital the day before to take charge of the armory, had set fire to the government buildings and, with his men, retreated towards the north.

This left the volunteers in a very awkward position, but they succeeded in escaping in the darkness from the host of enemies that confronted them. Mr. Koonce was obliged to leave the place immediately and remain away until the town again fell into the hands of the United States troops. A loud explosion and a thick column of fire and smoke arising in the direction of Harper’s Ferry, gave to the confederate force information of the burning, and they proceeded at double quick to save the machinery in the shops and the arms in the arsenal for the use of the revolutionary government. Before they had time to reach Harper’s Ferry the citizens of that place had extinguished the fire in the shops and saved them and the machinery. The arsenal, however, was totally consumed with about fifteen thousand stand of arms there stored — a very serious loss to the confederates, who had made calculations to get possession of them. Lieutenant Jones had put powder in the latter building and hence the explosion which had given notice to the confederates and, hence, also, the impossibility of saving the arsenal or its contents.

April 24 – Wednesday – Richmond, VA:

. . . Seven days after the ordinance was passed, the Convention, still in secret session, entered into a league with the Confederate States whereby all the purpose and effect of the ordinance was accomplished at once. It was a coup de main. There was no waiting for popular ratification. The terms of the secret league provided that pending the adoption of the permanent Confederate constitution — that is, instantly — the entire military forces and operations of Virginia “in the impending conflict with the United States” should be put under control of the President of the Confederacy, upon the same footing as if Virginia had already become a member of that government. After this, with Confederate soldiery in absolute control, instituting a reign of terror in three-fourths of the State, the form of going through an election on the question of ratifying the ordinance was a mockery. (Hall, p. 187). (NOTE: Hall served as secretary to Governor Francis H. Pierpont when the “Reorganized Government of Virginia” was set up by a convention of Western Virginia residents in Wheeling in 1861-ED)

May 6 – Monday, Fairmont, VA:

Ephraim B. Hall, a member of the Convention from Marion, spoke to a mass-meeting at Fairmont May 6th. Among other things he said:

The genuine Union men did not constitute more than one-third of the Convention. A tremendous outside pressure was brought to bear to dragoon us into the measures of the Secessionists. We were subjected to all sorts of insults. We were hissed at and groaned at The galleries were brought to bear on US whenever any man dared utter a sentiment for the ‘Union. Some of us were spit upon. We were told we would be driven out at the point of the bayonet. I come before you to-day with the Commonwealth’s seal upon my mouth. And when it was found we were not to be driven by ordinary means, you know what followed. We were finally forced Into secret session. I remonstrated, but to no purpose. They told us that before the Convention adjourned the Injunction of secrecy would be removed and they would retain a reporter and keep an accurate record of the proceedings. They refused to remove it. (Hall, pp. 179-180)

ACT VI – THE MAY 23 REFERENDUM VOTE IS FOR SECESSION, BUT CLOUDED BY A COUP AND WAR. NEVERTHELESS VOTES FROM EAST VIRGINIA REPORT FOR SECESSION AND WEST VIRGINIA, AGAINST – WITH THE EASTERN PANHANDLE EXTREMELY MIXED AND DIVIDED

WHO HAS THE LEGAL RIGHT TO VOTE IN THE SECESSION REFERENDUM MAY 23rd?

May 16 – Thursday, Winchester, VA: Former U. S. Senator James M. Mason wrote that any person voting against secession should, instead, leave the state since Virginia had already been incorporated into the Confederacy in a body that continued the Convention’s secret session. The members of the Convention who consummated the “League” with the Confederacy were: John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, Samuel McDowell Moore, James P. Holcombe, James C. Bruce and Lewis E. Harvie. Vice-President Stephens was the commissioner for the Confederacy. (Hall, pp. 188-190)

To the Editor of the Winchester Virginian from the former U. S.Senator James M. Mason:

The question has been frequently put to me. What position will Virginia occupy should the ordinance of secession be rejected by the people at the approaching election? And the frequency of the question may be an excuse for giving publicity to the answer. The ordinance of secession withdrew the State of Virginia from the Union, will all the consequences resulting from the separation. It annulled the Constitution and laws of the United States within the limit of this State and absolved the citizens of Virginia from all obligations of obedience to them.

Hence it follows if this ordinance be rejected by the people, the State of Virginia will remain in the Union and the people of the State will remain bound by the Constitution of the United States, and obedience to the government and laws of the United States will be fully and rightfully enforced against them.

It follows, of course, that in the war now carried on by the government of the United States against the seceded States, Virginia must immediately change sides, and under the orders of that government turn her arms against her Southern sisters.

From this there can be no escape. As a member of the Union, all her resources of men and money will be at once at the command of the government of the Union.

Again: for mutual defence, immediately after the ordinance of secession passed, a treaty or “military league” was formed by the Convention in the name of the people of Virginia, with the “Confederate States” of the South, by which the latter were bound to march to the aid of our State against the invasion of the Federal government. And we have now in Virginia, at Harper’s Ferry and at Norfolk, in face of the common foe, several thousand of the gallant sons of South Carolina, of Alabama, of Louisiana. Georgia and Mississippi, who hastened to fulfill the covenent they made, and are ready and eager to lay down their lives, side by side with our sons, in defence of the soil of Virginia. If the ordinance of secession is rejected, not only will this “military league” be annulled, but it will have been made a trap to inveigle our generous defenders into the hands of their enemies.

Virginia remaining in the Union, duty and loyalty to her obligations to the Union will require that those Southern forces shall not be permitted to leave the State, but shall be delivered up to the government of the Union; and those who refuse to do so will be guilty of treason, and be Justly dealt with as traitors. Treason against the United States consists as well “in adhering to its enemies and giving them aid” as in levying war.

If it be asked – What are those to do who in their consciences cannot vote to separate Virginia from the United States? The answer is simple and plain. Honor and duty alike require that they should not vote on the question; and if they retain such opinions, they must leave the State.

None can doubt or question the truth of what I have written, and none can vote against the ordinance of secession who does not thereby (whether ignorantly or otherwise) vote to place himself and his State in the position I have indicated.
J. M. Mason

May 23 – Thursday, Jefferson County, VA.: REFERENDUM ON SECESSION IS HELD

Results of the votes at county polling places on the referendum on whether or not to secede in Jefferson County were 813 “For”, 365 “Against.” (Phillips, p.41, Richmond Enquirer, May 29, 1861)

Vote tallies across the state were profoundly unreliable because of ongoing hostilities throughout the state. The fact that votes had to be given out loud (viva voce) opening the voter to reprisals, the absence of voting age men who enlisted mostly in Confederate armies (from Jefferson County) and would have added greatly to the County’s votes “for” secession; lastly, the effect of abstaining opponents of secession who heeded the advice of Senator Mason in the mentioned letter to the Winchester newspaper.

Shepherdstown Episcopal Priest C. W. Andrews voted against secession and believed according to his private writings, that many Unionists in Shepherdstown did not vote. His marriage to the daughter of Mathew Page of Clarke County and ties in his congregation to the Lees and Robinsons insulated him from criticism. (Phillips, p.41, footnote 29, p.176)

P. Douglas Perks writes in the Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society:

Only a total of 1,178 votes were cast in Jefferson County on May 23rd.
Many of the men who had voted in November and again in February were
now on the drill field. Of that total 813 men supported the secession
resolution. There were only 365 “NO” votes. . .

PERKS CONTINUES:

What caused men who so fervently supported remaining in the Union
in February to change their mind in May? At the risk of oversimplifying I
will offer one opinion. On June 6th, 1861 Logan Osburn was at his home
Avon Bend. He wrote a letter to his good friend and fellow convention
delegate Robert Y. Conrad who lived in Winchester. At first Osburn talks
about his wheat crop. Then prophetically he explains his change of heart:

I have earnestly (and perhaps obstinately) opposed the secession of Virginia for I voted against its ratification. I have regarded it as mischievous in its tendency, and destructive in its consequences to our best interests. Socially, politically and commercially. My opposition was based upon what I honestly believed to be my conscientious conviction of duty. But my opinions have been overruled by a large majority of the freemen of my state. My opposition is ended. My lot has been cast. I am a son of Virginia. & Her destiny shall be mine.

NEXT: ACT VII – THE WILL IS FORGED FOR A “WEST” VIRGINIA
George Koonce of Harpers Ferry Assures Jefferson County, “WEST” Virginia

Useful Local Links:

The Comet Strikes – Pt. 2: The Virginia Secession Convention 35,298 words Click Here

A Near Coup d-Etat’ – John Imboden 3376 words Click Here

The Red Dawn of Sedition – David Hunter Strother 8386 words Click Here

The Recruit: “Half-Horse, Half-Alligator” 1771 words Click Here

County Men Enlist, May 11, 1861 5095 words Click Here

“Why Did Virginia Secede?” – Dennis Frye 799 words Click Here

More County men Enlist, May 11, 1861 5853 words Click Here

More County Men Enlist, May 12, 1861 4198 words Click Here

More County Men Enlist, May 13, 1861 5775 words Click Here

More County Men Enlist, May 17, 1861 3092 words Click Here

The Messy Birth of the “Stonewall Brigade” 7925 words Click Here

The Tragic Vote in Richmond – P. Douglas Perks 5082 words Click Here

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George Koonce – Courtesy Stafford and Mary Koonce

Camp Hill School on Harpers Ferry hillside – Courtesy the Koonce Family

Map of Harpers Ferry in 1860 confirming location of Camp Hill School House – Courtesy the Koonce Family

House of Delegates in Richmond image
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John Janney
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whipman.jpg
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Wm H.Seward
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Lincoln White House 1861 East Room
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Pending the Ordinance
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Where they Met
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