The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-07-17
WEST VIRGINIA,
sketch of its Erection and
Formation from the
Territory of Virginia.
BY J. MARSHALL RAaANs, ESQ.
Conclusion,

Conclusion.
During the progress of the lombard
| ment of Fort Sumter, the excitement
in Richmond and in the convention
was intense. Bonfires and illumina-
tions blaZed high in the streets and
public squares; the national flag was
the capitol and trampled under the feet
| of an fnfuriated mob. Stores and pub
| lie places were closed and the populace
sought the streets to give vent to their
| feelings. Strangers rushed to the city
from all parts OF the State and helped
to swell the throngs. Many who had
come in advance of the call before
mentioned, to meet on the 10th of April.
assembled together in a large hall and
sat with closed doors. No ingress could
| be obtained to the sessions OF this mVs-
| terious body. To add to the alarm of
the times, the convention went into
secret session, and all further knowl-
as to its operations, to the Union people
at least, was at an end. But the scenes
witnessed within the walls ofthat room,
as detailed by members, have no paral-
| lei in the annals of ancient or modern
times. The Union men began to ap-
| preciate their position only, when they
saw those who had been their active
co-laborerers bowling before the storm
and yielding to the pressure of events.
In vain did they appeal, exhort, entreat
them to remain firm in the adhesion to
the national bond. On the morning of
the 18th, Mr.. Wise, the member from
Princess Anne, rose in his seat and
drawing a large Virginia horse pistol
from his bosom, laid 1t before him, pro-
ceeded to harangue the body in the
most violent and denunciatory man
ner; he concluded by taking his watch
from his pocket and with glaring eyes
and bated breath declared that events
were now transpiring which caused a
hush to come over his soul; at such an
hour, he said, Harper'S Ferry and its
armory were in the possession of Vir-
gtnla soldiers, at another period the
Federal navy yard and property at
Norfolk were seized by the troops of the
State. It was then that the Union mem-
bers saw the object of the other assem-
blage which had sat with closed doors
from its beginning, and whose con-
cealed hand seized the reins of govern
ment, had left them the form without
the power to resist.
1t was true, as he had spoken; the
volunteer companies which had been
organized after the raid by John Brown,
In the Shenandoah Valley had, under
orders from some mysterious power
assembled to the number of two thou.
sand or more, and moved on Harper's
Ferry with the design of seizing the
armory and arsenals at that point be-
longing to the Federal Government;
the small garrison of marines, after de-
stroying the most valuable property,
fired the buildings and fled in precipi-
On the 18th of April, after much con-
fusion and excited discussion, the con-
veutiOn came to vote on an ordinance
of secession from the Federal Union.
The vote stood eighty-one for and fifty
one against it. IL was entitled an or
dinance to repeal the ratification of the
Constitution of the United States of
America, by the State of Virginia, and
to resume all the rights and powers
granted under said Constitution"
A slight review of the geographical
position of that part of the State which
has since been erected into separate
organization, together with a sketch of
the chaFacte habits and history of the
people, may be necessary to enable a
just estimate to be formed of the causes
that impelled them TO take bold and
defiant attitude which resulted in that
organization. By glance at the map
Of what was then known as Northwest
ern Virginia, it will be seen that the
ranges of the Alleghanies which run
entirely through its center, from the
remainder of the State. This range of
mountains, Is not single upheaVal
rising from out the bosom of a vast
plain according to the popular concep-
ton of mountains, but is a succession
of parallel ridges, varying from twelve
separated from each other at their base,
by small valleys from the fourth of a
mile to two miles in width. From the
most westerly range to the eastern
slope bordering on the Shenandoah
Valley, is about fifty miles. The west
IL
country of singularly wild and beauti-
full appearance. 1t is drained to the
north by the Monongahela and Cheat
rivers, which rise far In the mountain
Businesses Of the interior, and pursuing
their course of crooked and tortuOus
channels over rocky beds and between
shelving preciptces, join their waters q
line. To the west the country is
drained by the Little Kanawha river
emptying into the Ohio river at Par
kersburg. The southwestern part Of
the State is watered by the Great Kan
awha and its tributaries. The head
waters of this latter river rise in the
mountainB of North Carolina, and run.
ming nearly north for hundred miles
it bears gradually to the west an equal
distance and pours its waters into the
Ohio river about fifty miles above the
| Kentucky line Its principal tributa-
ries are the Elk and Ganley rivers
which take their heads from the oppo.
site watershed to the Monongahela and
Cheat rivers, and running parallel with
each other In southwesterly direction
empty into it, the former at Charleston
! and the latter about thirty miles above
These rivers have their various creeks
and tributaries which divide the coIin-
try into continuous broken and irregu-
lar sections of hills and undulations
The Monongahela, Cheat, Elk, Gauley
and Little Kanawha, all take their rise
miles square, the two former forcing
their way through the mountains to the
north, and joining their waters with the
Allegheny at Pittsburgh, form the Ia
\ BeHe Rivere of the early French settle
ments; the latter amer draining sec.
| ton of country for $50 miles in an op.
posite direction; fiud their way to the
same stream the Little Kanawha two
hundred and the other three hundred
miles lower down.
The climate in the valleys, Is of that
/ peculiarly mild and agreeable charac.
ter which is. found in the heart of the
temperate zone. Where the soil is cul-
tivated yield Is 1nfolded which rivals
/ the 'increase of western prairies, The
hill sides spontaneo eously produce q
/ growth OF heritage and Wild grass un.
excelledi for grazing purposes, while faI
/ upon the mountain heights amid RianI
oaks, lofty poplRrs and wide Spreaifnr
naples, a luxuftane vegetation coverS
/ the face of nature with mossY intafnix-
1 ture of wild flowers, exhaling 4 thou.
sand sweets. In the more populated
sections, along the Ohio and PeunsyI.
vania borders, the country presents q
tdelightf full view to the traveller Large
farms stretch along the little valleys