![]() The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 met on February 13 at the Richmond Mechanics Institute, located at Ninth and Main Street in Richmond. Main article: Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 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. Nevertheless, advocates of immediate secession were clearly outnumbered. 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. The election of convention delegates drew 145,700 voters who elected, by county, 152 representatives. 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. On January 19 the General Assembly called for a national Peace Conference, led by Virginia native and former U.S. The legislature convened on January 7 and approved the convention on January 14. 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. See also: Origins of the American Civil War An 1861 Confederate recruiting poster from Virginia, urging men to join the Confederate cause and fight off the Union Army, which it referred to as "abolition foes" Call for secession convention 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. While a majority of the state would look for compromises to the sectional differences, most people also opposed any restrictions on slaveholders' rights. When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected as president, Virginians were concerned about the implications for their state. Breckinridge as their party candidate for U.S. 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. Subsequently, Brown was tried and executed by hanging in Charles Town on December 2, 1859. 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. 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.įurther information: History of slavery in Virginia Lee in defending Richmond are a central theme of the military history of the war. 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. Army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight. 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. 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. 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. For all practical purposes, Virginia joined the Confederacy on April 17, though secession was not officially ratified until May 23. ![]() ![]() President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union to put down the rebellion. Opinion shifted after the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, and April 15, when U.S. 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. The American state of Virginia became a prominent part of the Confederacy when it joined during the American Civil War. Map of "The Seat of War" in Virginia, published by Hart & Mapother in Louisville, Kentucky ![]()
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