West Virginia State Seal
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/
Introductory
Western Virginia was part of the Confederate state of Virginia up until right about around the Civil War. The Civil War was more than about slavery and who owned who and what and who could do what to whom and so on and so forth. It was about livelihoods and commerce and economics, land and living on that land. It was about industry and wealth of the major players and it was about independence too. The independence that I will be talking about in this article is the way and when and how West Virginia became its own independent state in the Union.
There were many brothers who fought brothers and fathers who fought their sons and sons who fought their fathers in the bloody Civil War, but non such as when West Virginia became a state in the union. Some of this is confusing to me to write about and I will try to not confuse you as I try to explain this to you.
West Virginia: The Road to Statehood
How It All Began
It was in the state of Virginia that the subject and ownership of slave became a huge issue and it began to tear the people apart. This division lasted for several years and when things began to calm down that is when the state of West Virginia started forming.
With the battle of Fort Sumter and President Lincoln calling for volunteers did the talk of secession from the union come about. All delegates were in accordance before then. All hell broke loose and the federal government was the coercion that President Lincoln planned to use. Though it was not possible to do such against a state. Virginia came to vote on this and become a state in the new Confederate States of America for the South.. The nation as it stood before the civil was was more like two than one. There was the North called the Union and then there was the split that the South wanted and that was how the Confederate States came to be, only it did not last. Virginia wanted to secede from the northern states. The trouble started when those who lived in the western part of Virginia had 2/3rds of the vote to not secede from the Union.
It was then that the union and the confederates wanted to keep hold of the proposed state. You will be surprised to find out that it was not coal as it is today. It was the farmland and the salt as the products of West Virginia had at the time. The biggest push or resource was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Virginia did not want to give this up as it was valuable in bring resources into the most powerful southern state of Virginia also known as the Old Dominion. Retaining this part of the state was a strategical part of the Confederacy because they thought that it would preserve the high standards and morale’s that the South prided themselves on before the Civil War began.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Harpers Ferry, WV
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/
John Brown
John Brown
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
When John Brown, a passionate abolitionist, seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry it threw the South into a panic. John Brown planned on using the guns and ammo to give to the slaves of Northern Virginia. The Underground Railroad was being use at that time and maybe a little bit before that. There were many places slaves were helped along the way to their freedom. Many did not make it but many also did. This is that backbone to our nation’s real beginning and the spark to our very own freedom.
Watch the History Channels video on Slavery and Black History in America:
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery
The first colony to acquire slaves
Start Of Slavery In America
Slavery started in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. They were brought from Africa. They were brought to increase the production of such crops as Tobacco and cotton that was mainly grown in the South. They did not just pick up the Africans as in regular people. They picked and chose those who were in high status and the strongest which had an effect on Africa jeopardizing the strength of the African Nation. The Dutch sent over a ship and brought the first 20 slaves to America just after 1619. It is estimated that by the 1800’s there were more than 6 million slaves in the South alone. Most were farmers, household workers and the like. There has been movies that depicted how it was in the north and in the south. Two most noteworthy ones are: Gone With The Wind and North and South. Though they be more romantic they do have lots of historical facts to them.
West Virginia Culture
The push to abolish slavery really came about because the north were having pains of remembering how the British treated them and how they suppressed them as well. This is the real crux of the situation. That is why many from Western Virginia did not want to be included in the slave trade of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It had come a very tumultuous time in the states and the president had to do something. The very livelihood of both north and south were tearing apart and tearing the nation apart as well. Frances and Julia Pierpont, who resided in the Western Counties of Virginia, thought up a plan to keep those who lived in the Western part of Virginia to stay loyal to the Union of the North. That stirred up lots of emotions and loyalties and fights and it changed the whole nation at the time. Western Virginia did not depend on slavery for their economic growth and presence. It was a different way of life altogether.
West Virginia and the Civil War
Many people who lived in the Eastern Panhandle were split in the decision to be North or to be part of the South. The deciding factor was where the Baltimore and Ohio Railway lay. That was what decided where the boundaries of the new state of West Virginia would be. This is when the president sent in the troops for the Civil War. Virginia was one of the states that did not want to lose its way of life and they wanted to stay as they were which the first colony in the Americas was. They had the power and prestige and the political intuitiveness. In 1851 was when the first Wheeling Convention was held. It was there that the Western Virginians, representing 24 counties in the Western part of Virginia decided they wanted to become their own state..
West Virginia Counties
Map Of The current West Virginia County
Source: http://geology.com/
The Split of Counties
Virginia was part of all the counties except that of what is now known as the Northern Panhandle which included the city of Wheeling. They were not part of Virginia but of Ohio.
The B&O Railroad traversed the top of the state starting at Baltimore, Maryland crossing the western panhandle of Maryland and going across to the Ohio River which was about 300 miles of tracks. They went through mountains, over mountains and over rivers to get there. It took many men to build those tracks. Some $43,000 was being paid to the railroad company to send mail back and forth over the lines. You can learn lots more here: http://www.borail.org/
When the western part of Virginia split off from the commonwealth, the Eastern Panhandle was formed. The new counties were now known as Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson counties in the new state of West Virginia. The Northern Panhandle, that was in the state of Ohio, also split off and became the counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Marshal Counties in West Virginia. West Virginia became a brand new state on June 20, 1863. The first Governor of the new state was Arthur I. Boreman.
Without the Civil War and the changes in the thinking and livelihood of the people during the war, we would not have a Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. I am glad that we do. It is a wonderful state with many things to do and see.
© Debra K. Allen a.k.a Lady Guinevere
I researched and wrote this article. Please do not copy and paste any part of this article, picture included for your own use. I will find you and report you for stealing. It is my right to change any information therein at any time and/or change the location of my article.
