Anniversary Schedule

As you probably know, this year marks 165 years since the events of 1861, and, as tradition demands, we’ll be posting an anniversary series that lets readers follow them “as they happened.” When we study history, it helps to keep the sequence clear and, as much as possible, step into the uncertainty people lived with at the time. Try imagining, for example, hearing about Richmond’s secession convention with no idea how it would turn out.

Drawing on newspaper articles, official reports, letters, and recollections, these posts aim to immerse you in the events. This year, we’ll be covering episodes we didn’t include in 2021. Here’s a working list:

• February 4 – Virginia-led Peace Conference convenes in Washington, DC
• February 13 – The Virginia Convention of 1861 opens in Richmond with 152 delegates to debate secession.
• April 4 – John B. Baldwin, delegate to the Virginia Convention representing Virginia unionists, meets in secret with President Abraham Lincoln at the White House.
• April 7 – Former congressman and Virginia unionist John Minor Botts meets with President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC to discuss how to keep Virginia in the Union.
• April 16 – Henry A. Wise and other fire-eaters organize a “Spontaneous People’s Convention” or “Spontaneous Southern Rights Convention” in Metropolitan Hall, Richmond.
• April 19 – Secession supporters in Richmond seize the U.S. Customs House.
• April 25 – Virginia Convention passes a resolution expressing a desire to enter into an alliance with the Confederate States.
• May 23 – Union General Benjamin Butler orders the 1st Vermont Regiment to occupy the town of Hampton in an effort to disrupt the secession vote.
• May 28 – A Union patrol surprises an irregular secessionist band at Glover’s Gap along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, killing 65-year-old Stephen Roberts.
• June 6 – Governor John Letcher signs General Orders, No. 25, transferring control of Virginia’s Provisional Army and Navy to the Confederate government.
• June 20 – The Second Wheeling Convention unanimously elects Francis H. Pierpont as Governor of the Restored Government of Virginia.
• June 30 – The 7th Ohio Infantry enters Weston, Virginia and seizes gold earmarked for construction of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
• July 5 – Lt. Col. Charles D. Dreux is killed in a failed ambush along Cedar Lane near Smith’s Farm in present-day Newport News, Virginia.
• July 12 – Confederate forces led by Maj. John Bell Hood skirmish with Union forces led by Lt. Oscar von Heringen at Cedar Lane in present-day Newport News, Virginia.
• July 17 – In western Virginia, Confederates led by Lt. Col. George S. Patton, Sr. inflict a painful defeat on Ohio troops invading the Kanawha Valley at Scary Creek.
• July 18 – Brig. Gen. James Longstreet’s brigade repels a Union reconnaissance in force across Bull Run Creek at Blackburn Ford.

Other events may be added as the date gets closer.