Virginia in the American Civil War The Commonwealth of Virginia was a prominent part of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . The convention called to act for the state during the secession crisis opened on February 13 , 1861 , after seven seceding states had formed the Confederacy on February 4 . Unionist delegates dominated the convention and defeated a motion to secede on April 4 . The convention deliberated for several months , but on April 15 President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union in response to the Confederate capture of Fort Sumter . On April 17 , the Virginia convention voted to secede , pending ratification of the decision by the voters . With the entry of Virginia into the Confederacy , a decision was made in May to move the Confederate capital from Montgomery , Alabama , to Richmond , in part because the defense of Virginia ' s capital was deemed strategically vital to the Confederacy ' s survival regardless of its political status . Virginians ratified the articles of secession on May 23 . The following day , the Union army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight . Most of the battles in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War took place in Virginia because the Confederacy had to defend its national capital at Richmond , and public opinion in the North demanded that the Union move " On to Richmond ! " The remarkable success of Robert E . Lee in defending Richmond is a central theme of the military history of the war . The White House of the Confederacy , located a few blocks north of the State Capital , was home to the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis . Prewar tensions . On October 16 , 1859 , the radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of 22 men in a raid on the Federal Arsenal in Harpers Ferry , Virginia . Federal troops , led by Robert E . Lee , responded and quelled the raid . Subsequently , John Brown was tried and executed by hanging in Charles Town on December 2 , 1859 . In 1860 the Democratic Party split into northern and southern factions over the issue of slavery in the territories and Stephen Douglas ’ support for popular sovereignty : after failing in both Charleston and Baltimore to nominate a single candidate acceptable to the South , Southern Democrats held their convention in Richmond , Virginia on June 26 , 1860 and nominated John C . Breckinridge as their party candidate for President . When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected as president , Virginians were concerned about the implications for their state . While a majority of the state would look for compromises to the sectional differences , most people also opposed any restrictions on slaveholders ’ rights . As the state watched to see what South Carolina would do , many Unionists felt that the greatest danger to the state came not from the North but from " rash secession " by the lower South . Secession timeline . Call for secession convention . On November 15 , 1860 Virginia Governor John Letcher called for a special session of the Virginia General Assembly to consider , among other issues , the creation of a secession convention . The legislature convened on January 7 and approved the convention on January 14 . On January 19 the General Assembly called for a national Peace Conference , led by Virginia ' s former President of the United States , John Tyler , to be held in Washington on February 4 , the same date that elections were scheduled for delegates to the secession convention . The election of convention delegates drew 145 , 700 voters who elected , by county , 152 representatives . Thirty of these delegates were secessionists , thirty were unionists , and ninety - two were moderates who were not clearly identified with either of the first two groups . Nevertheless , advocates of immediate secession were clearly outnumbered . Simultaneous to this election , six Southern states formed the Confederate States of America on February 4 . Secession convention . The convention met on February 13 at the Richmond Mechanics Institute located at Ninth and Main Street in Richmond . One of the convention ' s first actions was to create a 21 member Federal Relations Committee charged with reaching a compromise to the sectional differences as they affected Virginia . The committee was made up of 4 secessionists , 10 moderates and 7 unionists . At first there was no urgency to the convention ’ s deliberations as all sides felt that time only aided their cause . In addition , there were hopes that the Peace Conference of 1861 on January 19 , led by Virginia ' s former President of the United States , John Tyler , might resolve the crisis by , in historian Edward L . Ayers ’ s words , “ guaranteeing the safety of slavery forever and the right to expand slavery in the territories below the Missouri Compromise line . ” With the failure of the Peace Conference at the end of February , moderates in the convention began to waver in their support for unionism . Unionist support by many was further eroded for many Virginians by Lincoln ’ s March 4 First Inaugural address which they felt was “ argumentative , if not defiant . Throughout the state there was evidence that support for secession was growing . The Federal Relations Committee made its report to the convention on March 9 . The fourteen proposals defended both slavery and states ’ rights while calling for a meeting of the eight slave states still in the Union to present a united front for compromise . From March 15 through April 14 the convention debated these proposals one by one . During the debate on the resolutions , the sixth resolution calling for a peaceful solution and maintenance of the Union came up for discussion on April 4 . Lewis Edwin Harvie of Amelia County offered a substitute resolution calling for immediate secession . This was voted down by 88 to 45 and the next day the convention continued its debate . Approval of the last proposal came on April 12 . The goal of the unionist faction after this approval was to adjourn the convention until October , allowing time for both the convention of the slave states and Virginia ’ s congressional elections in May which , they hoped , would produce a stronger mandate for compromise . After the Virginia Convention rejected the session by a two - to - one margin on the 4th of April , the tensions increased and war enthusiasm continued to grow . A showdown mounted at Charleston , S . C . , between the Confederate forces and the Federal garrison inside Fort Sumter . The day of April 12 , 1861 ; with a Northern relief expedition coming close to the harbor , the Southern batteries began to open fire . Fort Sumter was forced to surrender after a thirty - six hour bombardment . At the same time , unionists were concerned about the continued presence of federal forces at Fort Sumter despite assurances communicated informally to them by Secretary of State William Seward that it would be abandoned . Lincoln and Seward were also concerned that the Virginia convention was still in session as of the first of April while secession sentiment was growing . At Lincoln ’ s invitation , unionist John B . Baldwin of Augusta County , met with Lincoln on April 4 . Baldwin explained that the unionists needed the evacuation of Fort Sumter , a national convention to debate the sectional differences , and a commitment by Lincoln to support constitutional protections for southern rights . Over Lincoln ’ s skepticism , Baldwin argued that Virginia would be out of the Union within forty - eight hours if either side fired a shot at the fort . By some accounts , Lincoln offered to evacuate Fort Sumter if the Virginia convention would adjourn . On April 6 , amid rumors that the North was preparing for war , the convention voted by a narrow 63 - 57 to send a three man delegation to Washington to determine from Lincoln what his intentions were . However due to bad weather the delegation did not arrive in Washington until April 12 . They learned of the attack on Fort Sumter from Lincoln , and the President advised them of his intent to hold the fort and respond to force with force . Reading from a prepared text to prevent any misinterpretations of his intent , Lincoln told them that he had made it clear in his inaugural address that the forts and arsenals in the South were government property and “ if . . . an unprovoked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter , I shall hold myself at liberty to re - possess , if I can , like places which have been seized before the Government was devolved upon me . ” The pro - Union sentiment in Virginia was further weakened after the April 12 Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter . Richmond reacted with large public demonstrations in support of the Confederacy on April 13 when it first received the news of the attack . A Richmond newspaper described the scene in Richmond on the 13th : The quota for Virginia attached called for three regiments of 2 , 340 men to rendezvous at Staunton , Wheeling and Gordonsville . Governor Letcher and the recently reconvened Virginia Secession Convention considered this request from Lincoln " for troops to invade and coerce " lacking in constitutional authority , and out of scope of the Act of 1795 . Governor Letcher ' s " reply to that call wrought an immediate change in the current of public opinion in Virginia " . , whereupon he issued the following reply : Thereafter , the secession convention voted on April 17 , provisionally , to secede , on the condition of ratification by a statewide referendum . Ayers , who felt that " even Fort Sumter might have passed , however , had Lincoln not called for the arming of volunteers " , wrote of the convention ' s final decision : The Governor of Virginia immediately began mobilizing the Virginia State Militia to strategic points around the state . Former Governor Henry Wise had arranged with militia officers on April 16 , before the final vote , to seize the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry and the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk . On April 17 in the debate over secession Wise announced to the convention that these events were already in motion . On April 18 the arsenal was captured and most of the machinery was moved to Richmond . At Gosport , the Union Navy , believing that several thousand militia were headed their way , evacuated and abandoned Norfolk , Virginia and the navy yard , burning and torching as many of the ships and facilities as possible . Colonel Robert E . Lee resigned his U . S . Army commission , turning down an offer of command for the U . S . Army . Secession . Virginia ' s ordinance of secession was ratified in a referendum held on May 23 , 1861 , by a vote of 132 , 201 to 37 , 451 . The referendum was a perfunctory endorsement of the Governor Letcher ' s decision to join the Confederacy and was not a free and fair election . The Confederate Congress proclaimed Richmond to be new capital of the Confederacy and Confederate troops moved into northern Virginia before the referendum was held . The actual number of votes for or against secession are unknown since votes in many counties in northwestern and eastern Virginia ( where most of Virginia ' s unionists lived ) were " discarded or lost . " Governor Letcher " estimated " the vote for these areas . The reaction to the referendum was swift on both sides . Confederate troops shut down the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , one of Washington , DC ' s two rail links to Ohio and points west . The next day , the Union army moved into northern Virginia . With both armies now in northern Virginia , the stage was set for war . In June , Virginia unionists met at the Wheeling Convention to set up the Restored Government of Virginia . Francis Pierpont was elected governor . The restored government raised troops to defend the Union . It resided in Wheeling until August 1863 when it moved to Alexandria with West Virginia ' s admittance to the Union . During the summer of 1861 , most of the northern , western and eastern Virginia , including the Baltimore and Ohio railroad , were returned to Union control . Norfolk returned to union control in May 1862 . These areas would be administered by the Restored Government of Virginia , with the northwestern counties later becoming the new state of West Virginia . In April 1865 , Francis Pierpont and the Restored Government of Virginia moved to Richmond . Virginia during the war . The first major battle of the Civil War occurred on July 21 , 1861 . Union forces attempted to take control of the railroad junction at Manassas for use as a supply line , but the Confederate Army had moved its forces by train to meet the Union . The Confederates won the First Battle of Bull Run ( known as " First Battle of Manassas " in southern naming convention ) and the year went on without a major fight . The first and last significant battles were held in Virginia , the first being the First Battle of Bull Run and the last being the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse . From May 1861 to April 1865 , Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy . The White House of the Confederacy , located a few blocks north of the State Capital , was home to the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis . Union general George B . McClellan was forced to retreat from Richmond by Robert E . Lee ' s army . Union general Pope was defeated at the Second Battle of Manassas . Following the one - sided Confederate victory Battle of Fredericksburg , Union general Hooker was defeated at Chancellorsville by Lee ' s army . Ulysses Grant ' s Overland Campaign was fought in Virginia . The campaign included battles of attrition at the Wilderness , Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor and ended with the Siege of Petersburg and Confederate defeat . In April 1865 , a fire set in Richmond by the retreating Confederate Army burned 25 percent of the city before being put out by the Union army . It was the Union Army that saved the city from widespread conflagration and ruin . As a result , Richmond emerged from the Civil War as an economic powerhouse , with most of its buildings and factories undamaged . Virginia was administered as the " First Military District " during the Reconstruction period ( 1865 – 1870 ) under General John Schofield . On January 26 , 1870 , when the U . S . Congress approved a new Virginia constitution , Virginia ' s representatives membership to the Congress was restored . Industry . Richmond , Virginia was the only large - scale industrial city controlled by the Confederacy during most of the Civil War . The city ' s Tredegar Iron Works , the 3rd largest foundry in the United States at the start of the war , produced most of the Confederate artillery , including a number of giant rail - mounted siege cannons . The company also manufactured railroad locomotives , boxcars and rails , as well as steam propulsion plants and iron plating for warships . Richmond had shipyards too , although they were smaller than the shipyards controlled by the Union in Norfolk , Virginia . Richmond ' s factories also produced guns , bullets , tents , uniforms , harnesses , leather goods , swords , bayonets , and other war materiel . A number of textile plants , floor mills , brick factories , newspapers and book publishers were located in Richmond too . The city ' s warehouses were the supply and logistical center for Confederate forces . The Confederate need for war material played a very significant role in its decision to move its capital from Montgomery , Alabama to Richmond in May 1861 , despite its dangerous northern location 100 miles south of the United States capital in Washington , DC . It was mainly for this industrial reason that the Confederates fought so hard to defend the city . The capital of the Confederacy could easily be moved again if necessary , but Richmond ' s industry and factories could not be moved . The city ' s loss to the Union army in April 1865 made a Union victory in the Civil War inevitable . With Virginia firmly under Union control , including the industrial centers of Richmond and Norfolk , the mostly rural and agricultural deep south lacked the industry needed to supply the Confederate war effort . Soldiers and Sailors . Roughly 120 , 000 Virginians from all economic and social levels , both slaveholders and non - slaveholders , as well as former Unionists , served in the Confederate military . These men included General Robert E . Lee , commander of the Army of Northern Virginia , General Stonewall Jackson and General J . E . B . Stuart . Roughly 40 , 000 Virginians served in the Union military , including West Virginians and roughly 6 , 000 Virginians of African ancestry . Areas of Virginia that supplied Union soldiers and sent few or no men to fight for the Confederacy had few slaves , a high percentage of poor families , and a history of opposition to secession . These areas were located near northern states and were often under Union control . 40 % of Virginian officers in the United States military when the war started stayed and fought for the Union . These men included Winfield Scott , General - in - Chief of the Union Army , David G . Farragut , First Admiral of the Union Navy , and General George Henry Thomas . West Virginia splits . The western counties could not tolerate the Confederacy ; they formed a pro Union state government of Virginia in 1861 ( recognized by Washington ) , then with its permission formed the new state of West Virginia in 1863 . At the Richmond secession convention on April 17 , 1861 , the delegates from western counties were 17 in favor and 30 against secession . From May to August 1861 , a series of Unionist conventions met in Wheeling ] ] ; the Second Wheeling Convention constituted itself as a legislative body called the Restored Government of Virginia . It declared Virginia was still in the Union but that the state offices were vacant and elected a new governor , Francis H . Pierpont , this body gained formal recognition by the Lincoln administration on July 4 , but Congress did not seat its elected representatives . On August 20 the Wheeling body passed an ordinance for the creation ; it was put to public vote on Oct . 24 . The vote was in favor of a new state — West Virginia — which was distinct from the Pierpont government , which persisted until the end of the war . [ [ File : WVStatehoodVote . png | thumb | Statehood referendum Oct . 24 , 1861 Congress and Lincoln approved , and , after providing for gradual emancipation of slaves in the new state constitution , West Virginia became the 35th state on June 20 , 1863 . During the War , West Virginia contributed about 32 , 000 soldiers to the Union Army and about 10 , 000 to the Confederate cause . Richmond of course did not recognize the new state , and Confederates did not vote there . Everyone realized the decision would be made on the battlefield , and Richmond sent in [ [ Robert E . Lee ] ] . But Lee found little local support and was defeated by Union forces from Ohio . Union victories in 1861 drove the Confederate forces out of the Monongahela and Kanawha valleys , and throughout the remainder of the war the Union held the region west of the Alleghenies and controlled the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the north . External links . [ [ Category : Virginia in the American Civil War | Virginia in the American Civil War ] ] [ [ Category : 1860s in the United States ] ]