Shenandoah Valley Delegates Vote on Secession

This is a record of the votes made by the Shenandoah Valley’s delegates to the Virginia Secession Convention. Keep in mind that these votes were made on April 4 and April 17 respectively. The referendum was not to take place until the latter part of May. An asterisk (*) indicates that the vote of that particular delegate on April 17 was originally against secession, but, for whatever reason, the delegate opted to change the vote to “yes”. As a side feature, I’ve included the approximate age of the delegate at the time of the vote. Of the sixteen delegates with ages known, the average age appears to have been 45.

Name	Approx. age	Representing	4/4/61 Vote	4/17/61 Vote
Baldwin, John Brown	41	Augusta Co.	–	Yes*
Barbour, Alfred M.	32	Jefferson Co.	No	Yes
Baylor, George	57	Augusta Co.	No	Yes
Borst, Peter B.	35	Page Co.	Yes	Yes
Coffman, Samuel Augustus	37	Rockingham Co.	No	Yes
Conn, Raphel Morgan	55	Shenandoah Co.	Yes	Yes
Conrad, Robert Young	56	Frederick Co.	No	Yes*
Dorman, James Baldwin	36	Rockbridge Co.	No	Yes
Gray, Algernon Sidney	47	Rockingham Co.	No	Yes*
Hammond, Allen C.	?	Berkeley Co.	No	Yes*
Lewis, John Francis	43	Rockingham Co.	No	No
Moore, Samuel McDowell	65	Rockbridge Co.	No	Yes
Nelson, Hugh Mortimer	50	Clarke Co.	No	Yes*
Osburn, Logan	49	Jefferson Co.	No	Yes*
Pendleton, Edmund	45	Berkeley Co.	No	No
Stuart, Alexander Hugh Holmes	54	Augusta Co.	No	Yes*
Turner, Robert H.	28	Warren Co.	Yes	Yes
Williams, Samuel Croudson	49	Shenandoah Co.	Yes	Yes

Be sure to take a look at the map (courtesy of the Virginia Memory Project, at the Library of Virginia) of the secession vote in Virginia, paying close attention to the difference between the Shenandoah Valley and the rest of the Commonwealth.

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Tagged: secession, Shenandoah Valley

Posted in: American Civil War, Civil War Memory - General, Sesquicentennial