Virginia in the American Civil War: Difference between revisions

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Confederate States in the American Civil War

Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia
Dual governments
Kentucky Missouri Virginia West Virginia
Territory
Arizona Territory
Allied tribes in Indian Territory
Cherokee Chickasaw Choctaw Creek Seminole
v t e

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Prewar tensions

On October 16, 1859, the radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of 22 men in a raid on the Federal Arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Federal troops, led by Robert E. Lee, responded and quelled the raid. Subsequently, John Brown was tried and executed by hanging in Charles Town on December 2, 1859. On June 26, 1860 Southern Democrats held their convention in Richmond, Virginia and nominated John C. Breckinridge as their party candidate for President.

Secession timeline

Call for secession convention

On January 7, 1861 the Virginia General Assembly called a special session to consider the creation of a secession convention. This convention was approved on January 14, and was almost immediately followed by a movement called the Peace Conference of 1861 on January 19, led by Virginia's former President of the United States, John Tyler. Elections were then held on February 4, effectively creating a pro-Union convention body. Simultaneous to this election, six Southern states seceded to form the Confederate States of America on February 4.

Secession convention

Virginia held a popular election for delegates to the secession convention on February 4, 1861, electing a pro-Union majority. The Virginia Secession Convention first convened on February 13, 1861, led by former President John Tyler and former Virginia governor Henry Wise. The convention deliberated for several months and on April 4, the convention met and voted against secession. But events took a sudden turn when on 15 April, the President Abraham Lincoln called for a 75,000-man army to invade the "rebelling" states. Sentiment in Virginia immediatley shifted and the Virginia Secession Convention reconvened and voted on 17 April, provisionally, to secede, on the condition of ratification by a statewide referendum. Intially the vote was 88 to 55 in favor of secession, but after a second roll call, the final vote tally was 103 to 46 in favor of secession. Among those in favor of secession was former U.S. President John Tyler, and among those against secession was Jubal Early. However, after the formal vote delegates were allowed to change their votes, the final tally became 103 to 46 in favor of secession. Immediately following this proposal to secede, and predicting the likely outcome of the popular vote for ratification, the Union Navy, in a controversial action, evacuated and abandoned Norfolk, Virginia and the Gosport Navy Yard there on April 20, burning and torching as many of the ships and facilities as possible, while Colonel Robert E. Lee resigned his U.S. Army commission, turning down an offer of command for the U.S. Army.

Secession ratification

By popular vote, Virginians ratified the articles of secession on May 23, 1861 with a vote of 132,201 to 37,451 in favor of, and ratifying the seccesion proposal. The results were initially held in secret for a couple of days, giving Virginia military forces time to officially respond in the defenses of Virginia, by making final preparation for the defense of Virginia.

After notification of the election results by telegram, Colonel Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson moved to shut down the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the Great Train Raid of 1861. The following day, the Union army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight.

Pending the outcome of the ratification election, on May 6 provisional plans were made to move the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond. Once the ratification was made official, the move of the capital to Virginia was enacted on May 29.

Secession ratification

Virginia during the war

The ensuing conflict was generally referred to by notable Virginias as "The War Between the States", as in the title of the 1904 book The Confederate Cause and Conduct in the War Between the States, published by Dr. Hunter McGuire and George L. Christian. The first major battle of the Civil War occurred on July 21, 1861. Union forces attempted to take control of the railroad junction at Manassas for use as a supply line, but the Confederate Army had moved its forces by train to meet the Union. The Confederates won the First Battle of Manassas (known as "Bull Run"in Northern naming convention) and the year went on without a major fight.

The first and last significant battles were held in Virginia. The first being the Battle of Manassas and the last being Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. During the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederate States of America. The White House of the Confederacy, located a few blocks north of the State Capital, was home to the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

In April 1865, Richmond was burned by a retreating Confederate Army and was returned to Northern control. Virginia was administered as the "First Military District" during the Reconstruction period (1865-1870) under General John Schofield. Local rule was reestablished on October 5, 1869. On January 26, 1870, when the U.S. Congress approved a new Virginia constitution, Virginia's representatives membership to the Congress was restored. This has been traditionally known as the "readmittance" of the Commonwealth of Virginia to the United States.

Industrialization

File:VrgaGvrnMnsn.jpg

The Virginia Governor's mansion in 1865.

Various textile production was present prior to 1861 but nothing of great significance. A center of iron production during the civil war was located in Richmond at Tredegar Iron Works. Tredegar was run partially by slave labor, and it produced most of the artillery for the war, making Richmond an important point to defend.

West Virginia split

The 47 delegates from what eventually became West Virginia voted 32 to 15 against secession. Some of those delegates and other Unionists in western Virginia formed an alternative government, the Restored Government of Virginia, in the city of Wheeling. On August 20 1861 this government granted itself permission to form a new state, eventually named West Virginia, and presented an application for statehood to the U.S. Congress which consisted of 48 counties of Virginia, nearly half of which had voted for secession. On June 20, 1863, West Virginia was formally admitted to the Union. Two more counties were added in 1863, Jefferson and Berkeley. These had not been part of the original Statehood bill, and Virginia attempted reclamation in a suit before the United States Supreme Court. In December, 1870, the court ruled in favor of West Virginia.

With the formation of West Virginia, Virginia no longer shared a border with Pennsylvania. Even in the 20th century, there were still some disputes about the precise location of the border in some of the northern mountain reaches of Virginia between Loudoun County and Jefferson County, West Virginia. In 1991, both state legislatures appropriated money for a boundary commission to look into 15 miles of the border area .

Notable Civil War leaders (Confederate) from Virginia

Gen.
Robert E. Lee
Lt. Gen.
Thomas J. Jackson
Maj. Gen.
J.E.B. Stuart
Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston
Lt. Gen.
A. P. Hill
Lt. Gen.
Richard S. Ewell
Maj. Gen.
Jubal A. Early
Maj. Gen.
George Pickett
Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson Maj. Gen.
Edward Johnson
Maj. Gen.
Fitzhugh Lee
Brig. Gen.
Lewis A. Armistead
Gov. John Letcher Gov.
John Letcher

Notes

"Virginia's Decision", Virginia Civil War Commission, Richmond, 1964, pg. 11
ibid., pgs. 14-15
Randall, p.?
Ambler, p. 309
Curry, pgs. 141-149
Lewis, pgs. 190-192

References

Ambler, Charles, A History of West Virginia, Prentice-Hall, 1933.
Ayers, Edward L. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America 1859-1863. (2003) ISBN 0-393-32601-2.
Curry, Richard Orr, A House Divided, University of Pittsburgh, 1964.
Hodges, Vivienne, PhD, Virginia SOL Coach: Virginia Studies, Educational Design, 1999. ISBN 087694764X
Lewis, Virgil A. and Comstock, Jim, History and Government of West Virginia, 1973.
McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom. (1988) ISBN 0-345-35942-9.
Randall, J. G., Civil War and Reconstruction, D.C. Heath and Company, 1966.

External links

American Civil War

Origins

Origins	Timeline leading to the War Bleeding Kansas Border states Compromise of 1850 John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Kansas-Nebraska Act Lincoln–Douglas debates Missouri Compromise Nullification crisis Origins of the American Civil War Panic of 1857 Popular sovereignty Secession South Carolina Declaration of Secession States' rights President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers
Slavery	African Americans Cornerstone Speech Crittenden Compromise Dred Scott v. Sandford Emancipation Proclamation Fire-Eaters Fugitive slave laws Plantations in the American South Positive good Slave Power Slavery in the United States Treatment of slaves in the United States Uncle Tom's Cabin
Abolitionism	Abolitionism in the United States Susan B. Anthony James G. Birney John Brown Frederick Douglass William Lloyd Garrison Lane Debates on Slavery Elijah Parish Lovejoy J. Sella Martin Lysander Spooner George Luther Stearns Thaddeus Stevens Charles Sumner Caning Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad

Combatants
Theaters
Campaigns
Battles
States

Combatants

Union	Army Navy Marine Corps Revenue Cutter Service
Confederacy	Army Navy Marine Corps

Theaters

Major campaigns

Major battles

Involvement

States and
territories

Cities

Leaders

Confederate

Military	R. H. Anderson Beauregard Bragg Buchanan Cooper Early Ewell Forrest Gorgas Hill Hood Jackson A. S. Johnston J. E. Johnston Lee Longstreet Morgan Mosby Polk Price Semmes E. K. Smith Stuart Taylor Wheeler
Civilian	Benjamin Bocock Breckinridge Davis Hunter Mallory Memminger Seddon Stephens

Union

Military	Anderson Buell Burnside Butler Du Pont Farragut Foote Frémont Grant Halleck Hooker Hunt McClellan McDowell Meade Meigs Ord Pope D. D. Porter Rosecrans Scott Sheridan Sherman Thomas
Civilian	Adams Chase Ericsson Hamlin Lincoln Pinkerton Seward Stanton Stevens Wade Welles

Aftermath

Constitution

Reconstruction Amendments

Reconstruction

Post-
Reconstruction

Monuments
and memorials

Union	List Grand Army of the Republic memorials to Lincoln
Confederate	List artworks in Capitol memorials to Davis memorials to Lee Removal

Cemeteries

Veterans

Related topics

Military	Arms Campaign Medal Cavalry Confederate Home Guard Confederate railroads Confederate revolving cannon Field artillery Medal of Honor recipients Medicine Naval battles Official Records Partisan rangers POW camps Rations Signal Corps Turning point Union corps badges U.S. Balloon Corps U.S. Home Guard U.S. Military Railroad
Political	Committee on the Conduct of the War Confederate States presidential election of 1861 Confiscation Act of 1861 Confiscation Act of 1862 Copperheads Diplomacy Emancipation Proclamation Habeas Corpus Act of 1863 Hampton Roads Conference National Union Party Politicians killed Radical Republicans Trent Affair Union Leagues U.S. Presidential Election of 1864 War Democrats
Music	Battle Hymn of the Republic Dixie John Brown's Body A Lincoln Portrait Marching Through Georgia Maryland, My Maryland When Johnny Comes Marching Home Daar kom die Alibama
By ethnicity	African Americans German Americans Irish Americans Italian Americans Native Americans Catawba Cherokee Choctaw Seminole
Other topics	Baltimore riot of 1861 Battlefield preservation Bibliography Confederate war finance Confederate States dollar Espionage Confederate Secret Service Great Hanging at Gainesville Great Revival of 1863 Gender issues Juneteenth Naming the war New York City Gold Hoax of 1864 New York City riots of 1863 Photographers Richmond riots of 1863 Salt Supreme Court cases Tokens U.S. Sanitary Commission Women soldiers
Related	List of films and television shows about the American Civil War

v t e Frederick County, Virginia, in the American Civil War
Battles	First Battle of Kernstown First Battle of Winchester Second Battle of Winchester Battle of Snicker's Ferry Battle of Rutherford's Farm Second Battle of Kernstown Battle of Berryville Third Battle of Winchester Battle of Cedar Creek (or Belle Grove)
Raids and expeditions	Great Train Raid of 1861 John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry Virginia v. John Brown Romney Expedition
Units	33rd Virginia Infantry
People	Turner Ashby Nathaniel Banks Watson Brown John A. Copeland Shields Green Frederick W. M. Holliday Stonewall Jackson Mary Greenhow Lee James M. Mason Cornelia Peake McDonald Hunter McGuire Richard Parker
Places and tourism	Belle Grove Plantation Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park Fort Collier Museum of the Shenandoah Valley Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum Stonewall Confederate Cemetery Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum Third Winchester Battlefield Park Winchester Medical College Winchester National Cemetery

v t e Loudoun County in the American Civil War
Battles	Battle of Ball's Bluff Battle of Dranesville Battle of Harpers Ferry Battle of Aldie Battle of Middleburg Battle of Upperville
Skirmishes	Fight at Waterford Battle of Mile Hill Affair at Glenmore Farm Battle of Unison Fight at Aldie Skirmish at Miskel Farm Blackleys Grove 2nd Dranesville Action at Mount Zion Church Battle of Loudoun Heights Heaton's Crossroads Harmony Skirmish
Raids	Burning Raid George's Schoolhouse Raid
Units	Confederate 35th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry 7th Virginia Cavalry 8th Virginia Infantry Union Loudoun Rangers
People	Confederate Robert H. Chilton John Janney John Mobberly Elijah V. White Union Samuel C. Means
Sites	Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Fort Johnston Fort Evans Fort Beauregard

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