Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided Read Online Free PDF Page B

Richmond Whig called it “the greatest evil that has ever befallen this country.” Lincoln, the “Black Republican” candidate, had pledged to halt the further spread of slavery. His stance was deemed a threat to the Southern way of life.
    Thus Virginia's General Assembly gathered in extra session on January 7, 1861. “Great excitement prevails in the public mind,” said Governor John Letcher, “and prudence requires that the representatives of the people of this Commonwealth should…determine calmly and wisely what action is necessary in this emergency.” Would Virginia join the Confederate states? “Times are wild and revolutionary here beyond description,” warned one legislator. “I fear the Union is irretrievably gone.” 41
     
    A convention of 152 delegates gathered at Richmond on February 13 to decide Virginia's fate. Weeks of debate ensued. Firebrands from the Confederate states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi stirred passions with eloquent speeches.“The very air here is charged with the electric thunders of war,” observed a Richmond correspondent. “On the street, at the Capitol, in the bar-room, at the dinner-table, nothing is heard but resistance to the general government.” 42
     
    The tone of Lincoln's inaugural speech and unfolding drama at Fort Sumter pushed delegates to act. But loyal Unionists from Western Virginia fought back. The most outspoken of them was Clarksburg attorney John S. Carlile. A native Virginian, former state senator, and member of Congress, Carlile was angular and clean-cut, with a sallow face that belied great resolve. He was passionate, dashing, and magnetic. He was a brilliant orator—dazzling in eloquence and power. A rich, deep voice and “imperturbable coolness” made Carlile the most dangerous Unionist in Richmond. Fearlessly he denounced secession, maddening foes and inducing crowds on the street to burn him in effigy. 43
     
    Westerners cheered him on. “We have no interest,” said one, “in a Convention whose object, and sole object…is to make us rebels and traitors to our country…and place us under the unprotected folds of the slimy serpent of South Carolina.” “We have been the ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ for Eastern Virginia long enough,” thundered the editor of the Western Virginia Star , “and it is time that section understood it.” If Virginia chose to unite with the Confederacy, westerners called for a new state “independent from the South, and firm to the Union.” 44
     
    President Lincoln's call for troops on April 15 outraged Virginia secessionists. The mood in Richmond grew ominous. Bonfires blazed in the public square. Thugs spilled into the streets, ripped down National flags, and hoisted secession banners in their place. Angry mobs packed the convention galleries to boo and hiss as Unionists tried to speak. 45
     
    The Richmond convention abruptly went into secret session. On the morning of April 17, former governor Henry A. Wise sealed Virginia's fate.
     
    Wise drew a large Virginia horse-pistol from his bosom, laid it on the desk before him, and proceeded to harangue the delegatesin a “most violent and denunciatory manner.” His flowing locks danced wildly. His glaring eyeballs bulged from their sockets. The theatrics were shocking, and hypnotic. Wise cried out that events were transpiring that “caused a hush to come over his soul.” Flourishing a pocket watch, he gazed at the hands and declared that the hour had come for Virginia to assert her rights. With bated breath, Wise intoned that state forces—under direction of the ex-governor himself—were marching on the Federal armory at Harpers Ferry and the United States naval yard at Norfolk. Virginia was at war! 46
     
    By day's end, the Richmond convention voted eighty-eight to fifty-five to approve an Ordinance of Secession. “I cannot describe to you the terrible solemnity of the closing scenes of the convention,” recalled delegate