An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
As 1861 dawned, the secession crisis was boiling over. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had adopted resolutions declaring themselves free and independent states, and they met in Montgomery, Alabama to form a provisional government. Fire-eaters in Virginia agitated for the Old Dominion to join them. Virginia Governor John Letcher called the…
Continue reading ➞ 165 Years Ago: Virginia’s Secession Convention Convenes in Richmond
Kevin Donovan has posted an excellent and meticulously researched article over at the Emerging Civil War blog on Virginia's secession crisis and the "Spontaneous People’s Convention." In those heated days in April 1861 before voting to secede, fire-eaters plotted and nearly executed a violent coup to force Virginia out of the Union. Click the link…
During the American Civil War, Virginians found themselves divided not only by ideology and geography, but by government itself. From 1861 to 1864, two men, John Letcher and Francis Pierpont, each claimed to be the legitimate governor of Virginia. One led the Confederate state government from Richmond, while the other presided over the Unionist Reorganized…
As Richmond erupted in celebration following Virginia’s vote to secede, one woman watched in silence--troubled, not triumphant. Elizabeth Van Lew's eyewitness account offers a rare, critical perspective on the fevered early days of the Confederacy. On Wednesday, April 17, 1861, at 10:00 a.m., 143 delegates from across the Commonwealth of Virginia gathered in the neoclassical…
Determining precisely when Virginia joined the Confederacy is a complex issue. President Abraham Lincoln’s administration maintained that the Union was "indivisible" and that secession was illegal. According to this view, a state could not leave the Union under any circumstances. Therefore, those taking up arms against the federal government were considered rebels or insurrectionists, while…
Spirit of '61 