The First Battle on Land

As we have observed, the people in Eastern Virginia, under the pressure of the bayonet, ratified the Ordinance of Secession. The Provisional Convention assembled at Wheeling on the appointed day, when about forty counties were represented. The meeting was held in the Custom-House, with Arthur Boreman president, and G. L. Cranmer secretary, A Bill of Rights, reported by J. S. Carlile, was adopted; all allegiance to the Southern Confederacy was denied; a resolution was passed declaring the determination of the inhabitants of Virginia never to submit to the Ordinance of Secession, but to maintain the rights of the Commonwealth in the Union; and all citizens who had taken up arms against the National Government were exhorted to lay them down and return to their allegiance. An Ordinance was reported and adopted vacating all the offices in the State held by State officers acting in hostility to the General Government, and also providing for a Provisional government and the election of officers for a period of six months; also requiring all officers of the State, counties and towns, to take an oath of allegiance to the National Government. This movement, which formally deposed Governor Letcher and all State officers in rebellion against the National Government, but not a secession from the State, was purely revolutionary. The Convention adopted a declaration of independence of the old government of Virginia, which was signed by fifty-six members; and on the 19th a Provisional government was organized by the choice of Francis H. Pierrepont, Provisional governor of the State; Daniel Polsley, lieutenant-governor, and an Executive Council of five members. On the following day (June 20, 1861) the necessity of ultimate separation from Eastern Virginia was favored by resolution adopted by unanimous vote.

Mr. Pierrepont was a bold and energetic man. He at once notified the President of the United States that an insurrection in Virginia was too formidable to be suppressed by local power, and called for aid from the National Government to suppress it. He organized the militia, and borrowed money for the public service on the pledge of his own private fortune. He upheld the "restored government" against the extraordinary efforts of the conspirators at Richmond to crush the new organization and enslave the loyal people. A Legislature was chosen, and at its session, begun at Wheeling on the 1st of July, John S. Carlile and Waitman G. Willie were chosen to represent the restored Commonwealth in the National Congress. Finally a convention of delegates, held in November, 1861, adopted a new State constitution, in which Slavery was prohibited; and on 3d of May following, the people who voted upon it, ratified it.

The Legislature, at a called session, approved of a division of the State, and the establishment of a new Commonwealth. All the legal requirements having been complied with, the western counties, by Act of Congress, organized under a constitution, were admitted into the Union under the title of the State of West Virginia, on the 20th of June, 1863; and Arthur J. Boreman was chosen governor of the new Commonwealth. At mid-summer, Old Virginia presented the curious political spectacle, of Letcher, at Richmond, claiming authority over the whole State; Pierrepont, at Alexandria, claiming authority over the whole old State excepting West Virginia, and Boreman, at Wheeling, the chief executive of the new Commonwealth, as legal governor.

The Unionists of Western Virginia needed help from the beginning; for the regiment that gathered around Colonel Kelley at Wheeling, though full eleven hundred strong, were too few to withstand the Confederate forces sent against them. Already General George B. McClellan, who had been called to the command of the Ohio troops, was assigned to the head of the Department of the Ohio, which included Western Virginia. With Ohio and Indiana troops he crossed the Ohio River. These, with Kelly's Virginians, moved on Grafton and drove Porterfield and his Confederates to Philippi, closely pursued by his foes. After a sharp engagement at the latter place, on the 2d of June, the Confederates were dispersed, and, for awhile, matters were quiet in that region. Kelley was severely wounded in the battle at Philippi. That was the first conflict on land after the President's call for troops.