Fort Sumter Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

On April 17, 1861, Virginia politicians voted to secede from the Union. The move came just days after the Civil War had erupted at Fort Sumter and after President Abraham Lincoln had called for 75,000 volunteers. For months, Virginia and other states in the Upper South had refused to join the new Confederate States of America. But, Lincoln’s call for volunteers tipped the balance.

After the secession vote, Virginia officials moved quickly to seize U.S. facilities within its borders. The next day, a small U.S. Army force set fire to the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry before it could be captured by pro-Southern militia. The Confederacy was able to salvage much of the machinery and ship it south, but the armory never operated again.

Virginia’s secession sparked the West Virginia statehood movement. More than two-thirds of the delegates from present-day West Virginia voted against secession. Afterward, John Carlile of Clarksburg and other pro-Union delegates, primarily from northwestern Virginia, returned home and mobilized citizens against secession. Weeks later, 37 counties sent representatives to the First Wheeling Convention—the first step in West Virginia’s two-year path to statehood.

On April 15, 1861, three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteer troops. At the time, the U.S. Army had only about 16,000 soldiers. While most historians point to Fort Sumter as the beginning of the war, some suggest the war didn’t really begin until Lincoln’s call for troops. His action spurred four of the “holdout” states—Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas—to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.

Union volunteers from what would become the new state of West Virginia often waited in long lines to enlist. This was particularly true in the northwestern region; although, many of these soldiers were actually from Pennsylvania and Ohio. Before the war’s end, some 32,000 Union troops would be enlisted in West Virginia.

But Western Virginia had split loyalties. Confederate recruiters were signing up their own troops in portions of the area more loyal to the South. Confederate soldiers from West Virginia counties have been estimated in the 18,000 range. However, some studies suggest this number may have been much higher.

Tag: Fort Sumter

April 17, 1861: Virginia Politicians Vote to Secede from the Union

April 15, 1861: President Lincoln Calls for Volunteer Troops