Read Rogue State for Free Online

the Union!], “revolution,” and “reconstitution” [i.e., replacement] of the legally elected and functioning government in Richmond.
    On June 19, 1861, members of the convention voted unanimously in favor of the proposed ordinance for reorganizing the government of Virginia. This took place despite the fact that the duly constituted government of Virginia remained in office, in control of the apparatus of the state, physically unhampered, and legally uncontested in Richmond. 32
    On June 20, maintaining the fiction that the real government of the Commonwealth of Virginia had simply ceased to exist, when in reality everyone knew that it was alive and well in Richmond, delegates selected officials to fill the offices of the “Restored” Government of Virginia. Francis Pierpont of Marion County was elected governor. Daniel Polsley became lieutenant governor. James Wheat of Wheeling was elected Attorney General. 33
    In a speech to the delegates, Governor Pierpont defended the actions of the Convention. He argued that “we are but recurring to the great fundamental principle of our fathers, that to the loyal people of a State belongs the law-making power of that State.” 34 He said nothing about the other people of that state, those outside the western counties, or the elected officials and government still sitting in Richmond. On June 25, 1861, the convention adjourned until August 6 of that year. 35
    During that period in which the Second Wheeling Convention was out of session, Governor Pierpont called the legislature of the ‘Restored’ [Reorganized] Government of Virginia into an extra session. Actually, it was its first. The meeting was scheduled to convene in Wheeling on July 1, 1861. 36
    The two legislative bodies [Senate and General Assembly] elected to office on May 23 consisted of persons who remained loyal to the Union. Approximately eight senators and thirty-two delegates participated in the proceedings. The House of Delegates met in the federal courtroom in the Wheeling Custom House; the Senate gathered at a nearby school, The Linsly Institute. Attendance was so sparse on the first day that proceedings were adjourned for lack of a quorum 37
    On the following day, July 2, Daniel Frost of Jackson County was elected Speaker of the House. The newly elected Lieutenant Governor, Daniel Polsley, presided over the Senate. In an address read to legislators, Governor Pierpont revealed that President Lincoln had pledged “full protection” to the people of western Virginia. 38
    The governor called on the “Restored” legislature to establish “an efficient system to protect the loyal people of the Commonwealth against the intrigues, conspiracies and hostile acts of those who adhere to our enemies.” He also declared opposition to any tax increases and requested that the Board of Public Works be abolished, with its powers to be conferred on the governor. 39
    Moving forward, on July 9, legislators elected a number of state officials, including Lucian Hagans as Secretary of the Commonwealth, Samuel Crane as Auditor of Public Accounts, and Campbell Tarr as State Treasurer. The legislature then proceeded to select two United States Senators. John Carlile was unanimously elected to fill the slot of R. M. T. Hunter, who, like his other Confederate counterparts in the U.S. Congress, was deposed for leaving his seat. Three candidates were nominated to replace the deposed James M. Mason. They were Waitman T. Willey, Peter Van Winkle, and Daniel Lamb. 40 The Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper voiced editorial opposition to the selection of Willey, presumably reflecting some pool of opinion in that regard. But despite opposition to Willey due to his perceived conservatism, he was elected to fill the other U.S. Senate seat for Virginia.
    On July 13, there was a bitter debate in the U.S. Senate over this issue, since new Senators were not seated to represent other seceded states.