The American state of Virginia became a prominent part of the Confederacy when it joined during the American Civil War. As a Southern slave-holding state, Virginia held the state convention to deal with the secession crisis and voted against secession on April 4, 1861. Opinion shifted after the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, and April 15, when U.S. President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union to put down the rebellion. For all practical purposes, Virginia joined the Confederacy on April 17, though secession was not officially ratified until May 23. A Unionist government was established in Wheeling and the new state of West Virginia was created by an act of Congress from 50 counties of western Virginia, making it the only state to lose territory as a consequence of the war. Unionism was indeed strong also in other parts of the State, and during the war the Restored Government of Virginia was created as rival to the Confederate Government of Virginia, making it one of the states to have 2 governments during the Civil War.
In May, it was decided to move the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, in large part because, regardless of the Virginian capital's political status, its defense was deemed vital to the Confederacy's survival. On May 24, 1861, the U.S. Army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight. Most of the battles in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War took place in Virginia because the Confederacy had to defend its national capital at Richmond, and public opinion in the North demanded that the Union move "On to Richmond!" The successes of Robert E. Lee in defending Richmond are a central theme of the military history of the war. The White House of the Confederacy, located a few blocks north of the State Capitol, became home to the family of Confederate leader, former Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis.
Origins
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. U.S. troops, led by Robert E. Lee, responded and quelled the raid. Subsequently, Brown was tried and executed by hanging in Charles Town on December 2, 1859.
In 1860, the Democratic Party split into northern and southern factions over the issue of slavery in the territories and Stephen Douglas' support for popular sovereignty: after failing in both Charleston and Baltimore to nominate a single candidate acceptable to the South, Southern Democrats held their convention in Richmond, Virginia, on June 26, 1860, and nominated John C. Breckinridge as their party candidate for U.S. president.McPherson pp. 213–216
When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected as president, Virginians were concerned about the implications for their state. While a majority of the state would look for compromises to the sectional differences, most people also opposed any restrictions on slaveholders' rights.Link p. 217. Link wrote, "Although a majority probably favored compromise, most opposed any weakening of slaveholders' protections. Even so-called moderates – mostly Whigs and Douglas Democrats – opposed the sacrifice of these rights and they rejected any acquiescence or 'submission' to federal coercion. ... To a growing body of Virginians, Lincoln's election meant the onset of an active war against southern institutions. These men shared a common fear of northern Republicans and a common suspicion of a northern conspiracy against the South." As the state watched to see what South Carolina would do, many Unionists felt that the greatest danger to the state came not from the North but from "rash secession" by the lower South.Ayers p. 86
Secession
Call for secession convention On November 15, 1860, Virginia Governor John Letcher called for a special session of the General Assembly to consider, among other issues, the creation of a secession convention. The legislature convened on January 7 and approved the convention on January 14. On January 19 the General Assembly called for a national Peace Conference, led by Virginia native and former U.S. President John Tyler, to be held in Washington, D.C., on February 4, the same date that elections were scheduled for delegates to the secession convention.Link p. 224
The election of convention delegates drew 145,700 voters who elected, by county, 152 representatives. Thirty of these delegates were secessionists, thirty were unionists, and ninety-two were moderates who were not clearly identified with either of the first two groups. Nevertheless, advocates of immediate secession were clearly outnumbered.Robertson pp. 3–4. Robertson, clarifying the position of the moderates, wrote, "However, the term 'unionist' had an altogether different meaning in Virginia at the time. Richmond delegates Marmaduke Johnson and William McFarland were both outspoken conservatives. Yet in their respective campaigns, each declared that he was in favor of separation from the Union if the federal government did not guarantee protection of slavery everywhere. Moreover, the threat of the federal government's using coercion became an overriding factor in the debates that followed." Simultaneous to the February 4 election delegates from the first six states to secede (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana) met in Montgomery and four days later founded the Confederate States of America.
Secession convention
The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 met on February 13 at the Richmond Mechanics Institute, located at Ninth and Main Street in Richmond. One of the convention's first actions was to create a 21-member Federal Relations Committee, charged with reaching a compromise to the sectional differences as they affected Virginia.Link p. 227 The committee was made up of 4 secessionists, 10 moderates, and 7 unionists.Robertson p. 5 At first there was no urgency to the convention's deliberations, as all sides felt that time only aided their cause. In addition, there were hopes that the Peace Conference on January 19, led by former President John Tyler, might resolve the crisis by guaranteeing the permanence of slavery and the right to expand it into the new southwest territories.Ayers pp. 120–123 With the failure of the Peace Conference at the end of February,Potter, pp. 545–546. Nevins, pp. 411–412. The conference's recommendations, which differed little from the Crittenden Compromise, were defeated in the Senate by a 28 to 7 vote and were never voted on by the House. moderates in the convention began to waver in their support for unionism.Robertson, p. 8. Robert E. Scott of Fauquier County noted that this failure and the North's apparent indifference to southern concerns "extinguished all hope of a settlement by the direct action of those States, and I at once accepted the dissolution of the existing Union ... as a necessity."
At the Richmond Convention in February 1861, Georgian Henry Lewis Benning, who would later be a Confederate army officer, delivered a speech in which he gave his reasoning for the urging of secession from the Union, appealing to ethnic prejudices and pro-slavery sentiments to present his case, saying that were the slave states to remain in the Union, their slaves would ultimately end up being freed by the anti-slavery Republican Party. He stated that he would rather be stricken with illness and starvation than to see black slaves liberated and given equality as citizens:
Unionist support was further eroded for many Virginians by Lincoln's first inaugural address, which they felt was "argumentative, if not defiant."Robertson, p. 8. Robertson quotes an observer of the speech saying, "Mr. Lincoln raised his voice and distinctly emphasized the declaration that he must take, hold, possess, and occupy the property (e.g. slaves) and places [in the South] belonging to the United States. This was unmistakable, and he paused for a moment after closing the sentence as if to allow it to be fully taken in and comprehended by his audience." Throughout the state there was evidence that support for secession was growing.Robertson, p. 9. Robertson writes, "Although some leaders such as Governor Letcher still believed that 'patience and prudence' would 'work out the results,' a growing, uncontrollable attitude for war was sweeping through the state. Militia units were organizing from the mountains to the Tidewater. Newspapers in Richmond and elsewhere maintained a steady heat, noisy partisans filled the convention galleries, and at night large crowds surged through the capital streets 'with bands of music and called out their favorite orators at the different hotels.'" The Federal Relations Committee made its report to the convention on March 9. The fourteen proposals defended both slavery and states' rights while calling for a meeting of the eight slave states still in the Union to present a united front for compromise. From March 15 through April 14 the convention debated these proposals one by one.Robertson p. 13. The committee report represented the moderate/unionist position; the vote in committee was 12 in favor, 2 against, with 7 abstaining. During the debates, the sixth resolution calling for a peaceful solution and maintenance of the Union came up for discussion on April 4. Lewis Edwin Harvie of Amelia County offered a substitute resolution calling for immediate secession. This was voted down by 88 to 45 and the next day the convention continued its debate.Riggs p. 268 Approval of the last proposal came on April 12.Robertson p. 15 The goal of the unionist faction after this approval was to adjourn the convention until October, allowing time for both the convention of the slave states and Virginia's congressional elections in May which, they hoped, would produce a stronger mandate for compromise.Link p. 235
One delegate reiterated the state's cause of secession and the purpose of the convention:
Mississippian Fulton Anderson told the convention that the Republicans were hostile to the slave states, accusing the Republican Party of having an "unrelenting and eternal hostility to the institution of slavery." Ultimately, the convention declared that slavery should continue, and that it should be extended into U.S. territories:
Battle of Fort Sumter