West Virginia: The Road to Statehood
Announcer: A production of WV Public Broadcasting.
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Support for West Virginia: The Road to Statehood is provided by
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Narrator: It began at home.
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In 1861, irreconcilable differences, over slavery,
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states' rights and southern interests,
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drove the United States of America into what would be
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a long and bloody Civil War.
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As tensions flared, Albert Gallatin Jenkins
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resigned from the U.S. Congress.
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He returned home to Cabell County, Virginia,
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where as many as 80 slaves labored
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at his family's 4,000-acre plantation.
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Jenkins then led his two older brothers to form a cavalry
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unit of 100 men loyal to the Confederate States of America.
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Karen Nance: He was very charismatic and a very good
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speaker and probably could convince a lot of people of a
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lot of things without a whole lot of effort,
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because he was that talented.
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Narrator: Riding northward, Jenkins and his Border Rangers
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rounded up citizens disloyal to Virginia.
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He would wreak havoc in the Old Dominion,
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one of the nation's most conflicted states.
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Mark Snell: We know for a fact that about 20,000
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Union soldiers came from West Virginia.
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And we know for a fact that about 20,000
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Confederates came from what we now know as West Virginia.
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Earlier estimates said there was anywhere from 6-8,000,
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but recent scholarship has updated that number
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to about 20,000. So, if you look at it that way,
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it is got to be the most divided state in the nation.
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Narrator: Just as Virginia differed from states north and
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south of its borders, in its culture, economy,
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history and geography, there was much to divide the
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Commonwealth's own people, east and west
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of the Allegheny Mountains.
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As a state scarred by generations
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of sectional strife, the Commonwealth of Virginia
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would painfully give birth to the state of
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West Virginia, a child of rebellion.
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Francis Pierpont grew up on a farm, in what is now
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Marion County, worked his way through college
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and became a lawyer. In the spring of 1861,
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he was sitting in his study at his Fairmont home.
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While Albert Gallatin Jenkins was defending the Confederacy,
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Pierpont was carefully examining the U.S. Constitution,
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trying to think of a way the western counties of Virginia
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could remain loyal to the Union.
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That's when his wife Julia, an ardent abolitionist,
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suddenly heard her husband shout
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"Eureka! I have it! I have it!"
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What he had would change the face of Virginia.
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It would also change the lives of Julia and Francis Pierpont.
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Travis Henline: It's not somethin' that he wanted.
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He was not a politically ambitious person.
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He was a person put in a set
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of circumstances to which he reacted.
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Narrator: Like many others in northwestern Virginia,
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Pierpont ascribed to the Unionist philosophy that the
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United States offered, "the best government in the world,
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formed by our fathers and cemented with their blood".
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At dawn, he left his study with a carefully worked-out
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plan, which would unavoidably place him at the center of a
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drama that would unfold during the next two years and result
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in the creation of the 35th state.
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♪ (music ♪
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Jack Dickinson: West Virginia's road to statehood
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was definitely filled with potholes and bumps.
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It was not a smooth trip.
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And more than anything else, it caused a lot of emotional
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response all over the area, the area being Old Virginia
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and the new counties that formed West Virginia.
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Joe Geiger: Well, it is one of the most fascinating stories
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that there is, the creation of West Virginia.
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It takes a lot of twist and turns and I firmly believe that
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without the Civil War that West Virginia would not exist today.
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Narrator: One of the principle issues leading nation into the
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Civil War, in 1861, was slavery.
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While slaveholding was practiced throughout the
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Commonwealth of Virginia, the nature of slavery in the west
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differed from that of the east.
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In 1860, nearly 4,000 white slaveholders, in the region,
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held title to between 18 and 19,000 blacks.
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They were often put to work as farmers,
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craftsman and domestic servants.
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Many worked on large plantations in what is now the
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eastern panhandle of West Virginia.
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Unlike the 450,000 slaves, east of the Alleghenies,
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western slaves were not considered as vital to
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the region's economy.
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Because whites and their slaves frequently worked
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together, Western blacks sometimes enjoyed a more
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amicable relationship with their owners.
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As a result, slaves were sometimes rewarded,
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for their performance and loyalty,
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with a measure of autonomy.
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Cicero Fain: It shows that black people were able to exploit
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their opportunities, but it also shows just how encapsulating
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slavery was, that I can still entrust you to go off
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on your own, because I know that you'll be coming back!
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Narrator: Regardless of their situation,
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Western Virginia slaves were legal property.
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They could be bought, sold, leased and insured to protect
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owners' investments.
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This was true in the Kanawha Valley,
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where significant numbers of slaves mined coal and
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supported the salt works.1860 proved a crucial turning
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point, regarding slavery, with the most conflicted Presidential
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election in the Nation's relatively brief history.
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Southern leaders were convinced the likely election
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of the Republican Party's Abraham Lincoln, would no doubt,
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lead to unacceptable changethat would spark civil war.
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Geiger: Essentially, the way we had been able to avert
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civil war, up and to this point,
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is that we had arranged compromises.
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This state will come in as a free state.
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This state will come in as a slave state.
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And that was very important.
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Now you have a party that said, "We are not going to have
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any more slave states brought into the Union."
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And the South recognized that this would be the political
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death knell for slavery that, eventually, they could legislate
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it out of existence and I think this was the great fear.
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Narrator: On Election Day, November 6, 1860,
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most of the western Virginia men going to the polls
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intended to keep the status quo.
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They split their votes evenly between Constitutional Union
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candidate John Bell and Southern Democrat John Breckinridge.
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Bell remained neutral regarding slavery,
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while determined to keep the Union intact.
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Breckinridge also wanted to preserve the Union,
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but recognized states' rights to secede.
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Each received about 22,000 votes,
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in what is now West Virginia.
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John Williams: They had different positions about the
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nature of government, and particularly the central
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government, but neither of the parties they voted for,
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Bell and Breckenridge, would interfere with slavery.
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Narrator: Stephen Douglas believed in allowing the
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people of a territory to decide whether to permit
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slavery in their communities.
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The Northern Democrat claimed 5,000 votes.
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Ultimately, Republican Abraham Lincoln won the presidency,
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but claimed less than 2,000 votes, in all of Virginia,
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mostly in the northern panhandle.
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In response to Lincoln's election, South Carolina
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became the first of 11 southern states to secede from the Union
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and form the Confederate States of America.
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Virginia, however, was slow to sever ties to the Union,
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largely because of its historic location and
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prominent role in American history. The state that had done
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so much to found the country was reluctant to leave it.
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But then, on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces bombarded
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Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
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The Civil War had begun.
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3 days later, President Lincoln called for 75,000 Union troops,
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including men from Virginia, to quell the rebellion.
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Throughout Virginia, passions flared.
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To grant the President's request would mean
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going to war against a sister state.
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On April 17th, under these conditions,
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Virginia conventioneers, in Richmond, passed
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an Ordinance of Secession, 88 to 55.
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However, the Ordinance could not become official until
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ratified by Virginia voters 6 weeks later.
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From what is now West Virginia,
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9 delegates supported secession,
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while 29 voted to remain with the Union.
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Henline: There were delegates from northwestern Virginia,
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like John Jay Jackson, like John Carlile,
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and Waitman Willey, who voted against secession from the
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Union and because of those sentiments,
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they were pretty much run out of town.
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Some of them had to leave rather quickly.
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Narrator: After seeing a crowd outside his boardinghouse,
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brandishing a rope and threatening to hang him,
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Carlile headed home to Harrison County.
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There, he met with nearly 1,200 Union loyalists, issuing
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the so-called Clarksburg Resolutions from the courthouse.
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Carlile called for northwestern representatives
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to convene, 3 weeks later, for a convention in Wheeling,
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in the northern panhandle county of Ohio.
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There, they would plot a future political course for the region,
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in the event Virginia voters ratified
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the Ordinance of Secession.
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4 days later, April 26th, former Virginia Governor
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Joseph Johnston chaired a secessionist convention,
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at the very same courthouse in Clarksburg.
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Johnston called upon "the Southern Rights Men of
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Harrison County" to defend "those who know their rights
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and dare to maintain them". The next day,
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Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, a Clarksburg native,
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received orders from Virginia Governor John Letcher.
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Jackson was to take command at Harper's Ferry and organize
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what would become the renowned Stonewall Brigade.
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Then on May 13, 1861, western Virginians gathered for what
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became known as the First Wheeling Convention.
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More than 400 people packed into Wheeling's Washington Hall.
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Many claimed to represent 24 counties
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in northwestern Virginia.
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With no precedent to show the way,
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they acted largely on what they perceived their fellow
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western Virginians were thinking.
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Bob Bastress: They were not elected in representative
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fashion. Many of them were not elected in democratic fashion.
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Many of the counties included within the potential
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definition of the new state weren't represented at all.
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Narrator: After addressing the issue of representation,
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delegates focused on the likely split
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of Virginia from the Union.
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Williams: Well, their goal was to figure out what to do.
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They knew they didn't want to go along with secession,
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but what did that mean?
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Geiger: All the fireworks really start on the second
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day, on May 14th, when John Carlile stands up and calls
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for the creation of a new state, to be called New Virginia.
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Narrator: Presenting a flag reading "New Virginia,
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Now or Never", Carlile invoked the memory of American
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Revolutionary Patrick Henry.
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Actor: "It is useless to cry peace when there is no peace;
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and I for one will repeat what was said by one of
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Virginia's noblest sons and greatest statesmen,
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'Give me liberty or give me death!'"
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Geiger: The crowd, and you had a large crowd in attendance,
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stands up and calls for 3 cheers for New Virginia
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and 3 cheers for John Carlile.
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And you can tell what the sentiment of the people,
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who are in attendance, was at that time.
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Narrator: Carlile saw the mountains as an historic
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divider and a sufficient reason for a new state.
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Bastress: The Allegheny Mountains are such a formidable
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barrier that we don't have anything to do with those folks.
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We're different culturally, geographically,
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economically and politically and it makes sense.
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Narrator: Over the years, tension regarding taxation,
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representation, education, transportation and other
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internal improvements had driven a wedge between
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Virginians, east and west of the Alleghenies.
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And while changes to the Virginia Constitution,
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in 1851, addressed most grievances,
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many northwesterners still felt disenfranchised.
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Geiger: Relations between eastern and western Virginia
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in that, 10 years preceding the Civil War,
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were better than they had ever been.
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The Civil war comes and ruins that decade of reconciliation
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and it ruins those better relations between East and West.
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Narrator: While Francis Pierpont had joined John
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Carlile and others, urging western Virginians to remain
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loyal to the Union, the Fairmont attorney considered
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Carlyle's early call for a new state premature.
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Henline: Pierpont urged caution. He was a conservative,
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when it came to the new statehood movement.
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He wanted to wait and see how things were going to
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transpire with the referendum, whereas folks like Carlile
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wanted immediate statehood.
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Narrator: While Waitman T.
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Willey would eventually support separation,
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the Monongalia County attorney considered Carlyle's statehood
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proposal "altogether unwise".
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Dickinson: He coined a new term called "triple treason".
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He said, "This is a conflict against the State of Virginia,
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against the United States and against the Confederacy, all 3."
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Geiger: What they end up doing is pass resolutions that call
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for the delegates to go back to their homes and to urge
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people to Vote against the Ordinance of Secession.
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However, if it does pass, then they will
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gather back in Wheeling.
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They'll hold another convention, again,
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to determine what their next step will be.
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Narrator: Meanwhile, across the Ohio River from western
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Virginia, Union General George McClellan readied troops,
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should Virginia vote to secede.
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Returning from a fact-finding mission,
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Lieutenant Orlando Poe reported to McClellan "The
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western Virginians from the Kentucky line to Parkersburg
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are rotten, but loyal above the latter point."
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On May 23, 1861, amid claims that western Virginia ballots
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were lost on their way to Richmond,
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the Ordinance to secede officially won Voters' approval.
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An estimated 35,000 western Virginians voted against the
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measure to secede, while approximately 19,000 voted it.
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Geiger: Possibly half of the counties voted in favor of
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this Ordinance of Secession. It's just that the other half
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of the counties had a lot more population.
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Narrator: 3 days after the secession vote,
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McClellan led federal troops into western Virginia,
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with soldiers landing in Parkersburg and Wheeling.
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Meanwhile, Governor Letcher ordered officers loyal to
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Virginia to recruit Confederate soldiers in Taylor
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County, an important transportation hub.
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At the same time, Francis Pierpont received a letter
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from his wife, Julia, in Fairmont, urging him,
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Carlile and fellow conventioneer John Burdett,
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of Taylor County, to stay in Wheeling.
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Actor: "Dear Frank, I hoped you would bring Sammie a hat,
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but now I think you had better stay where you are.
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I don't want you to come home.
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There is a reward offered for Carlisle, Burdette, & yourself,
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of $500 for your heads, even in Wheeling.
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See to it you do not expose yourself.
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They say there are 900 men, secession soldiers, in Grafton.
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The Union men here are becoming very anxious."
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- Julia Pierpont
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Narrator: On June 3, 1861, within 2 weeks of the election,
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nearly 4,000 Union soldiers under Colonel Benjamin F. Kelley
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easily defeated a Confederate force of 775 men,
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under Colonel George A. Porterfield.
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Commonly known as "the Philippi Races", the battle in and
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around Philippi, southeast of Wheeling, in Barbour County,
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is considered the first land action of the Civil War.
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Such victories, while small in scope and with few casualties,
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helped secure northwestern Virginia for the Union.
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Snell: Most of your loyalists were in the northwest part,
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up in the northern panhandle, where Wheeling is today.
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And in order to preserve that part for the Union,
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it was important for Union troops to come in
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and secure victories there.
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Henline: There was definitely tension,
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apprehension and anxiety in Wheeling,
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even though we're here in the comfy confines of this strip
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of land between Ohio and Pennsylvania.
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Geiger: They are committing treason against
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the state of Virginia!
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And if it weren't for those military troops creating that
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buffer zone for these statehood makers, they might
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have been hanging from lampposts throughout Wheeling.
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Narrator: Emotions raged, for instance,
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when a supporter of the Confederacy's president
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disrupted an address by John Carlile.
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Henline: A gentleman rides by on a horse and he yells out
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his support for Jefferson Davis.
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Now some folks in the crowd chase him down.
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They take him off his horse and they bring him back to the
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Custom House and a chant begins to stir in the crowd of
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"Hang him, hang him" and were it not for
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the intervention of the local sheriff this guy may have been
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strung up there on the spot.
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Narrator: On June 11th, delegates gathered for the
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Second Wheeling Convention, which moved to the U.S.
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District courtroom in the more spacious Custom House.
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Attorney Arthur Boreman, of Wood County, presided over
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88 newly vetted delegates, representing 32 counties.
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Boreman declared, "We come here to carry out and execute,
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and it may be, to institute a government for ourselves".
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The remark set the stage for Francis Pierpont's plan to
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reorganize the government of Virginia.
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Taking the floor, John Carlile introduced the plan,
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a step-by-step, legal approach to dismemberment,
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a plan that could win the support of Washington.
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Geiger: According to the U.S. Constitution, in order for
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a new state to be created from an existing state,
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the existing state has to give its permission.
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Do we hop in a stagecoach and take a road trip to Richmond,
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through the Confederate lines and try to get John Letcher to
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sign off on this thing? No!
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Narrator: Instead, the body unveiled, on June 14th,
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the Declaration of the Rights of the People of Virginia,
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considered West Virginia's Declaration of Independence.
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Henline: And in that declaration,
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the delegates call for a reorganization of the
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government of the Commonwealth, which of course,
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gives us the restored government.
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Among other things, they declare that those
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officeholders in Virginia, who have joined the Confederacy,
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have vacated their positions.
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And these gentlemen have seen fit to restore that government
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and fill those positions.
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So, that's a very important document that came as part of
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that Second Wheeling Convention, in June 1861.
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Bastress: You could argue whether this fictionalized
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government could actually consent or whether the consent
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was a fiction in itself.
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The government was never voted on by the voters, even of the
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western counties; let alone the entire state of Virginia.
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Its only authority was what this rump group
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decided to give it in Wheeling.
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Narrator: Nevertheless, for the next 2 years,
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this group would act autonomously, without
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the consent of the Commonwealth government in Richmond.
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On June 19th, the Wheeling Conventioneers favored
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unanimously to establish what is known as the Restored,
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or Reorganized, Government of Virginia.
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Its legislative body included men chosen in Virginia's
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recent election, who remained loyal to the Union.
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On June 20th, conventioneers unanimously elected
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Francis Pierpont to serve as governor.
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For all intents and purposes, Virginians were now subject
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to one of 2 governments, depending on which Army
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controlled a given area.
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One government, the Old Dominion,
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had aligned itself with the Confederacy.
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The other, the Restored Government of Virginia,
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remained loyal to the Union.
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Divided loyalties among friends and families,
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fueled the bloody, vicious guerilla warfare immediately
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confronting Governor Francis Pierpont.
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Snell: We're talkin', not just pullin' people out of bed at
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nighttime and shootin' them in the back of the head;
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we're talkin' about hackin' people to bits
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with their swords, cuttin' off heads, terrorizing in the middle
21:58
of the night. It was horrible.
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Narrator: Pierpont himself was forced to periodically send
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his wife and children out of harm's way,
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amid threats of kidnapping and worse.
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President Lincoln pledged "full protection" in western
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Virginia, upon receiving an appeal from Governor Pierpont.
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In it, he wrote, "The policy of the rebels is to exert their
22:18
greatest force before frost, and it must be met by
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a corresponding vigor, and crushed out - Francis Pierpont.
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Henline: Folks look at that as Lincoln's implicit
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recognition of the restored Government of Virginia
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as the legitimate government of Virginia.
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And indeed, Lincoln does provide that aid.
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Narrator: Pierpont also requested a strong military
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leader to put a stop to attacks by Confederate Colonel
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Albert Gallatin Jenkins and his Border Rangers.
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On his 31st birthday, Jenkins attacked a Union recruitment
22:51
post in the Cabell County community of Guyandotte with a
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force of more than 700 cavalrymen. 98 recruits and
23:03
civilians were captured in the name of Old Virginia.
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Nance: Her tactic in this area, early on,
23:09
was to disrupt federal activities,
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tear up the railroad, raid these little recruitment camps
23:16
that are tryin' to recruit soldiers into the federal army.
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Narrator: Jenkins received a message in which the
23:21
commanding officer of Wayne County's Unionist home guards
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requested the return of seized property.
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Jenkins replied that he loathed such seizures. However....
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Actor: "We have been compelled to pursue a different course at
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times as the only means of securing us against the
23:39
aggressions upon private rights and private property, which has
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marked the conduct of many of your military commanders."
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- Albert Gallatin Jenkins
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Narrator: Brigadier General William Rosecrans now
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commanded Union forces in western Virginia.
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The arrival of federal troops and establishment of a
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training camp and military prison transformed Wheeling
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into a military town.
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A dozen soldiers stood guard at the Custom House,
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where Federal District Judge John Jay Jackson, Junior,
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and Governor Pierpont each dealt with treason, murder,
24:15
espionage and prisoners of war.
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Among the POWs were so-called "she rebels",
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teenage girls, who slashed telegraph lines
24:25
and passed weapons and Confederate messages.
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Henline: Daily, this man has stack of things on his desk to
24:32
deal with about raising troops, supplying troops,
24:35
about rebel movements in Western Virginia.
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He has to keep abreast of all these things.
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I don't know how the man slept, I really don't.
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Narrator: Meanwhile, Governor Pierpont's wife, Julia,
24:49
did her part for the war effort.
24:51
Connie Rice: As far as welcoming soldiers into West Virginia,
24:54
as far as trying to make shirts and food packages for soldiers,
24:59
she was very patriotic and out there on the trenches working.
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Narrator: Julia Pierpont faced the realities of life,
25:06
death and war, confronting women,
25:09
throughout western Virginia, regardless of their loyalties.
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Rice: She's one of those women, who experienced all
25:15
the aspects of war. Her husband was gone.
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She had to do things herself. She couldn't see him very much,
25:21
because it was dangerous for him to come back.
25:24
And then she had a child in 1860
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and during the war in 1864, that child died.
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Narrator: Meanwhile, delegates gathered for the Second
25:35
Wheeling Convention, on August 6, 1861,
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to debate the establishment of a new state.
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Calling for immediate action, John Carlile declared,
25:45
"Cut the knot now. Apply the knife."
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After 2 weeks of wrangling, delegates voted
25:50
for dismemberment from Virginia. The new state would be
25:54
called Kanawha and consist of 39 counties.
25:57
Among these were several southern counties,
25:59
considered economically advantageous for the new state.
26:03
Williams: They wanted a larger amount of southern West
26:08
Virginia territory than the Union then held,
26:11
but the Union did hold, at least formally,
26:15
most of the territory included in the dismemberment ordinance.
26:19
Narrator: 7 counties were to be added,
26:21
subject to voters' approval.
26:23
Henline: Our eastern panhandle counties, the reason we have
26:26
that thumb that sticks out toward Washington, DC, was to
26:30
protect the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad during the Civil War.
26:33
The B&O Railroad was the main artery east to west
26:37
and folks realized, very early, if they could not control and
26:40
protect the B&O Railroad, they were gonna have
26:42
a hard time of it in the war.
26:46
Narrator: With the additional counties,
26:47
the proposed state would extend well into Confederate
26:50
territory, beyond the safety of what John Carlile
26:53
originally envisioned.
26:55
Geiger: If we had stuck to that outline of New Virginia
26:58
as he proposed it, I don't think there'd be anybody
27:01
questioning West Virginia statehood,
27:02
because he stuck to just those very northwestern counties
27:06
that were most Union supporting of any in this area.
27:11
Narrator: In late October, only a third of eligible,
27:13
white male voters, representing the counties
27:16
forming the proposed state of Kanawha, went to the polls,
27:19
where they cast their voice votes.
27:22
Williams: This was the Virginia tradition.
27:24
It was considered unmanly to keep your Vote secret.
27:30
Geiger: You walked into a room. You'd have election officials
27:33
there, overseeing the election. They probably would have some
27:36
piece of paper to do all the accounting and you would go up
27:39
and you would verbally state your preference in front of
27:44
soldiers in the midst of a civil war.
27:47
Snell: The referendum vote was a fraud.
27:49
It wasn't truly a fair vote.
27:51
If it would have been, it would have been a lot closer.
27:54
It would've been right down the middle.
27:57
Narrator: Officially, more than 18,000
28:00
voted in favor of the new state,
28:02
while less than 800 opposed the ordinance.
28:05
This was due, in part, to the fact that many against the
28:07
measure were away fighting for the Confederacy.
28:12
Then, on November 26th, 61 western Virginians,
28:17
who remained loyal to the Union, gathered in Wheeling
28:20
to draft a constitution for the new state of Kanawha.
28:24
Despite the fact voters had approved the name Kanawha,
28:27
delegates spent several days debating the state's name.
28:31
They ultimately settled on "West Virginia".
28:36
They addressed education, taxation and the court system,
28:40
issues that had divided eastern and western Virginians.
28:43
Delegates also debated whether to add
28:46
as many as 32 counties to the original 39.
28:49
After 10 days of debate, delegates voted to include 44
28:53
counties and let 6 others decide their own fate.
28:59
Debate over slavery was heated.
29:02
According to the 1860 census, more than 18,000 blacks
29:06
remained in bondage in western Virginia.
29:09
Along the bottomlands of the Ohio River,
29:11
all but Jackson and Wirt Counties,
29:13
boasted significant numbers of slaves.
29:17
Slaves accounted for more than 5% of the population
29:19
of 10 counties and 10% in 6 counties.
29:24
In each of 27 counties there were more than 100 slaves.
29:29
Many slaves remained with their families and communities.
29:33
Some fought to defend the property of their masters
29:36
against raiders and bushwhackers.
29:39
Many other slaves managed to escape to freedom.
29:43
Fain: What we see during the Civil War Era is massive
29:45
out-migration. Kanawha County, Jefferson County,
29:48
Greenbrier County: All these counties that had possessed more
29:52
than 10% African-American population. They lose 22%, 18%.
29:59
Narrator: At the same time, many slaveholders,
30:01
loyal to the Union, as in Cabell County,
30:03
were reconsidering the role of slavery in society.
30:07
Nance: A lot of people here did believe in the Union and
30:11
strongly believed in the Union.
30:13
We would think, by the fact they
30:15
actually emancipated slaves, that maybe that they were
30:19
you know they weren't abolitionists
30:20
but maybe they had decided that
30:22
slavery was not the right thing to do.
30:25
Narrator: Many attending the constitutional convention,
30:27
including Waitman T. Willey, had owned slaves.
30:31
Delegates to the constitutional convention, considered the
30:34
potential impact of West Virginia becoming a free state.
30:39
They faced the same concerns that confronted the
30:41
framers of the U.S. Constitution.
30:44
Fain: Are we going to adhere to property rights or are we
30:47
going to adhere to human rights and free the slaves,
30:51
involve them in the body politic?
30:53
And then the question is property rights. If we do
30:55
free the slaves, isn't our obligation to pay the owners?
31:01
Geiger: What we end up with, in our constitutional
31:03
convention, rather than a clause about gradual
31:06
emancipation, is a clause that essentially says that no more
31:10
African Americans, whether free or slave,
31:12
will be permitted into West Virginia!
31:15
Narrator: Finally, on February 18, 1862,
31:18
delegates unanimously agreed upon the new constitution.
31:22
6 weeks later, the electorate ratified the measure.
31:26
Nearly 19,000 reportedly approved the constitution
31:30
with 500 opposing it.
31:33
In May, a bill to admit West Virginia to the Union,
31:35
based on the new state constitution,
31:38
went before the U.S. Senate. There, Senators John Carlile and
31:42
Waitman T. Willey represented the Restored Government
31:45
of Virginia, as well as the Unionist Party.
31:50
It soon became obvious that the Republican-controlled
31:53
Senate would not pass a West Virginia statehood bill
31:56
without language guaranteeing emancipation. As a result,
32:00
Willey offered an amendment to assure gradual emancipation.
32:05
Bastress: The original, proposed constitution included
32:08
the provision, which just would've barred slaves and
32:11
free blacks from coming into the state,
32:14
so they had to substitute the Willey Amendment for that
32:17
provision and they had to vote on that.
32:19
Narrator: The Willey amendment would free any person born of
32:21
slaves after July 4, 1863.
32:25
Bastress: And if you were under the age of 10,
32:27
at that time, you became free upon reaching 21 and if you
32:32
were between 10 and 21, you became free when you reached 25.
32:35
Geiger: And this will be enough to get the support of the
32:39
U.S. Senate and it will pass the U.S. Senate by a vote of 23-17.
32:44
Narrator: As for John Carlile, the man who raised the flag
32:47
that read "New Virginia, Now or Never, " he cut short his
32:51
political career, when he unexpectedly opposed admission
32:54
of West Virginia into the Union. He did so after the Senate
32:58
insisted on language to emancipate slaves.
33:02
Carlile argued that the federal government had no
33:05
authority to dictate the terms of a new state constitution,
33:08
once it was approved by the electorate.
33:11
5 months later, the U.S. House of Representatives,
33:13
following contentious debate, approved the statehood bill,
33:18
96 to 55. 5 days later, it arrived at the White House. In a
33:25
letter Governor Pierpont lobbied for presidential approval.
33:29
Actor: "President Lincoln: I am in great hope you will sign
33:34
the bill to make West Virginia a new State.
33:37
The loyal troops from Virginia have their hearts set on it; the
33:40
loyal people in the bounds of the new State have their hearts
33:44
set on it; and if the bill fails God only know the result."
33:50
Geiger: Abraham Lincoln was not pleased to have the statehood
33:54
bill on his desk. I think he was greatly distressed in fact.
33:58
Narrator: While the president supported the Restored
34:01
Government of Virginia, he feared conflicts over the
34:04
constitutionality of a West Virginia.
34:07
He also feared the combined political fallout that it and
34:10
his pending Emancipation Proclamation might bring.
34:15
Edward Bates, Lincoln's highly respected attorney general,
34:18
earnestly argued against West Virginia statehood.
34:23
Dickinson: There's no question whether the President
34:26
or Congress can admit a state already established
34:28
to the Union. That's not the question.
34:31
But what it has to be is that state already has to exist.
34:34
The Congress has no ability to create a state,
34:39
which is what you're trying to do.
34:41
You're trying to create the state and admit it to the Union
34:43
and that's not how it works and this is not constitutional.
34:48
Narrator: President Lincoln ultimately took the position
34:50
that Union loyalists behind the Restored Government of
34:53
Virginia represented the Commonwealth.
34:55
They therefore held the right to birth
34:58
the new state of West Virginia.
35:01
On New Year's Eve, 1862, Lincoln met with
35:04
representatives of the Restored Government.
35:07
Among them was U.S. Congressman Jacob Blair, of Wood County.
35:11
He assured the President that the Willey Amendment would be
35:14
incorporated into the West Virginia constitution.
35:18
This would ensure an eventual end to slavery in the new state.
35:23
Blair left the White House with the president's assurance
35:25
that he'd have a gift for the Congressman the next day.
35:29
Geiger: Well, apparently, Jacob Blair goes to the
35:32
White House before the doors are opened.
35:34
So, he goes in through a window. Can you imagine
35:36
doing that today, goin' into the White House through a window?
35:39
And then, Lincoln comes down to meet him and shows
35:41
him the statehood bill with it signed.
35:43
Narrator: The President said special wartime circumstances
35:45
motivated him to sign the bill,
35:48
an act that would never occur in peacetime.
35:51
Geiger: Let's remember the war could end at anytime.
35:53
What happens to these people from western Virginia if the
35:56
war ends tomorrow, Virginia comes back into the Union,
35:59
how do you think they're gonna be viewed by the soon to be
36:04
true government of Virginia?
36:06
Narrator: Brigadier General and former Virginia Governor
36:09
Henry A. Wise found the actions of the men behind
36:12
the statehood movement contemptible.
36:15
Dickinson: He said, "This new state is the bastard child
36:19
offspring of a political rape".
36:22
And that's how he and several other people felt about this.
36:25
Narrator: In the January 8, 1863 edition of the
36:28
Richmond Daily Dispatch, an editorialist declared that
36:32
western Virginia was well worth the fighting.
36:35
Dickinson: He says, "Virginia is to be in the future as
36:38
Virginia was in the past.
36:40
She is to be as she has been, the Old Dominion,
36:43
full and perfect in all respects.
36:46
It is better that this war should continue for an
36:48
indefinite period of time than that Virginia
36:52
shall be even partially dismembered."
36:55
Narrator: On April 20th, President Lincoln proclaimed
36:58
that, in 60 days, West Virginia would become
37:00
the Union's 35th state.
37:04
♪ (music) ♪
37:12
The next day, 5,000 Confederates, mostly from
37:14
western Virginia, launched a massive, two-pronged raid into
37:18
the region. Generals William Jones and John Imboden were
37:21
ordered to destroy B&O Railroad bridges
37:24
and collect much-needed cattle and horses.
37:28
Ambitious from the start, the generals also hoped to occupy
37:31
western Virginia long enough to cripple the statehood movement.
37:36
Imboden drove Union troops from the towns
37:39
of Beverly and Buchannon.
37:41
Jones attacked Rowlesburg and sent 400 cavalrymen
37:44
north to Kingwood and Morgantown.
37:47
At home at the time, Senator Waitman T. Willey
37:50
joined thousands of fleeing loyalists.
37:52
The news caused a frenzy in Wheeling.
37:56
Citizens formed a home guard, banks moved their gold to
38:00
safety and federal troops prepared to destroy supplies.
38:05
Instead of marching north to Wheeling,
38:07
the rebels went south to Fairmont.
38:09
They arrived just a few days after Francis and Julia
38:12
Pierpont hastily departed for Wheeling.
38:15
[cannon & gun fire] Soldier yells "God Almighty"
38:21
A large battle took place downtown as more than 1,000
38:24
rebels attacked from the east,
38:26
forcing 300 Union troops and home guards to surrender.
38:30
The Confederates also burned books from the Pierponts'
38:33
library outside their home, including the family Bible.
38:37
Jones' soldiers then blew up Fairmont's
38:39
600-foot-long B&O Bridge.
38:42
At this point, Jones and Imboden decided they didn't
38:45
have enough troops to attack the massing
38:47
Union forces in Clarksburg.
38:50
They bypassed that town and rested in Weston.
38:53
There, secessionist ladies mended soldiers' clothes,
38:56
presented them with a flag and a parade was held in their honor.
39:01
The raiders retreated east of the Alleghenies.
39:04
They had destroyed 26 B&O bridges,
39:07
but within 2 weeks the trains were running again.
39:11
Jones and Imboden also failed to stop progress along the
39:14
road to West Virginia statehood.
39:17
The next time any of these men returned home,
39:20
they would find a different state than the one they had
39:22
left - one officially, if not properly,
39:25
ratified by the electorate, May 26th, 1863.
39:32
One officer, stationed with Union troops in one of the
39:35
interior counties, reported efforts to ensure ratification.
39:39
Dickinson: And he wrote a letter that was published in
39:42
the National Intelligencer newspaper in late 1863 that he
39:47
had been ordered to prevent people from coming to the
39:50
polls and voting against the new state constitution.
39:53
Narrator: Intimidation played an important role in counties
39:56
that had supplied the Confederacy entire companies.
40:00
Dickinson: I can't see that every single family in that
40:04
county that sent, let's say, 200 boys off to the war 2
40:09
years earlier would all of a sudden vote against staying with
40:12
Old Virginia and forming what was gonna become a Union state.
40:18
Narrator: Regardless, the amended constitution was
40:21
reportedly approved overwhelmingly, 28,000 to 572.
40:27
Citizens returned to the polls, 2 days later,
40:29
and elected the Constitution Union Party's Arthur I.
40:33
Boreman to serve as the first governor of West Virginia.
40:37
The same day, citizens of Jefferson and Berkeley
40:40
Counties voted to become part of West Virginia,
40:43
which officially joined the Union as its 35th state
40:46
on June 20th.
40:49
Henline: Early on the day of June 20, 1863,
40:51
all the officers of the Restored Government and those
40:55
of the newly elected West Virginia government met at the
40:58
McClure Hotel for breakfast.
41:00
There is a 35-gun salute by the Union troops,
41:03
35 young girls sing "The Star-Spangled Banner",
41:06
the churches throughout Wheeling rang their bells
41:08
for about 10 minutes.
41:10
[sounds of many church bells]
41:16
It's important to note that when West Virginia
41:19
becomes a new state, in the union of free states, there were
41:24
still people in bondage in the state of West Virginia.
41:27
So, essentially, when West Virginia becomes a new state
41:30
in the Union, it is admitted as a slave state."
41:35
Narrator: Because President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation
41:37
Proclamation only applied to rebel states,
41:40
West Virginia slaves remained in bondage until February 1865.
41:46
West Virginia's joining the Union also failed to stop
41:49
Confederate forces from skirmishing and wreaking havoc
41:52
within the new state's borders.
41:55
In October 1863, for instance, rebels attacked a Union fort
42:00
at Bulltown, in Braxton County, in an unsuccessful attempt
42:04
to control strategic transportation routes.
42:07
In November, federal soldiers decisively defeated
42:10
Confederates at Droop Mountain,
42:12
in Pocahontas County, in one of the largest battles fought
42:15
on West Virginia soil, during the war.
42:19
After this and other Union victories,
42:21
federal forces regained control of the Greenbrier
42:24
Valley, known for its southern sympathy.
42:27
Never again would the Confederacy mount a major raid
42:30
into West Virginia.
42:33
Skirmishes and rebel attacks continued, however,
42:36
as Confederates forced federal troops to abandon
42:38
Harpers Ferry, on July 4, 1864.
42:42
After 3 days of fighting, however,
42:45
Union soldiers reclaimed Harpers Ferry and held on to
42:48
it for the remainder of the war.
42:51
As governor, Arthur Boreman came to consider
42:53
Confederate-sympathizing bushwhackers to be
42:55
West Virginia's most serious threat.
42:59
McNeill's Rangers, for instance,
43:00
seized Union supplies on the B&O Railroad and wreaked havoc
43:04
in the Eastern Panhandle and beyond,
43:06
even kidnapping high-ranking Union officers.
43:10
After Boreman assumed his role as Governor of West Virginia,
43:13
Francis Pierpont, in turn, as chief executive of the
43:17
Restored Government of Virginia,
43:19
relinquished authority over the counties comprising the
43:21
new state and relocated to Alexandria. There, he governed
43:26
Virginia counties controlled by the Union Army. When the war
43:31
ended in 1865, the Pierponts moved to Richmond, where Francis
43:35
served as Provisional Governor of Virginia.
43:39
The state legislature, meanwhile, endeavored to repeal
43:42
all laws previously passed under his administration.
43:46
A military governor replaced Pierpont in 1868.
43:51
Julia bravely maintained the graves of Union soldiers
43:55
in Richmond's Hollywood cemetery.
43:58
When she started putting flowers on the memorials,
44:00
former Confederate women started decorating southern graves.
44:04
These events are believed by some historians
44:08
to be the beginning of Memorial Day.
44:11
After returning home to Fairmont, Francis was elected
44:14
to the West Virginia House of Delegates.
44:17
Pierpont, today, is considered the Father of West Virginia.
44:21
He's the only Virginia governor whose portrait
44:24
is not found in the statehouse in Richmond.
44:27
He's also the only West Virginian represented in
44:30
Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
44:34
One of Francis Pierpont's opponents during the war,
44:36
Confederate Brigadier General Albert Jenkins was wounded
44:39
and captured in battle on May 9,1864.
44:43
The former U.S. Congressman died 12 days later.
44:49
After the war, his brother Thomas' widow struggled to
44:52
maintain the family's plantation.
44:55
Susan Holderby Jenkins faced multiple lawsuits demanding
44:58
payment for damage the Jenkins men had inflicted
45:01
upon Union homes and property.
45:05
The bitter and violent divisions between West
45:07
Virginians didn't end with the Civil War.
45:11
Former Confederate soldiers lost the right to vote.
45:14
State officials were attacked in southern counties
45:17
and Union troops were deployed.
45:20
Finally, in 1871, a new constitution was drafted and
45:25
voting rights were granted to African Americans and ex-rebels.
45:29
The process of healing had finally begun.
45:34
In the first Governor's Inaugural Address in the
45:37
history of West Virginia, Arthur Boreman commemorated
45:40
the birth of the 35th state, June 20, 1863.
45:45
His words reflected the tragic division that Virginians,
45:48
east and west of the Alleghenies,
45:50
had experienced all along the road to statehood.
45:54
Actor: "Now, after many long and weary years of insult and
45:59
injustice, culminating on the part of the East,
46:02
in an attempt to destroy the Government,
46:05
we have the profound satisfaction of proclaiming to
46:09
those around us that we are a separate state in the Union.
46:14
Our State is the child of the rebellion."
46:22
♪ (music) ♪
47:18
Support for West Virginia: The Road to Statehood is provided by
47:44
A production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.