I posed a question yesterday, via Facebook, asking if it was only historians who wondered what Berkeley and Jefferson counties would be like if they were returned to Virginia in the years immediately after the Civil War. Of course, I have my doubts that it is only historians that wonder about such things, but I suspect, for the most, thoughts of this have diminished significantly over the last 100 or so years. If you’re unfamiliar with the “battle” for Jefferson and Berkeley counties, I recommend a basic overview of Va. vs. WV, provided in Wikipedia.
So, why even bring this up?
For one, we’re smack in the middle of the Sesquicentennial of that “event”. Additionally, while in Berkeley County yesterday, the question came to me. It’s not that I don’t like Jefferson and Berkeley counties. Far from it. I visit various historic sites in both counties regularly… not to mention, I have ties to ancestors who lived there in both counties, in the 19th and early 20th centuries… and who are buried there. Yet, when one has a chance to consider the entire Shenandoah Valley, it’s difficult, I believe, not to take note of the differences between the Virginia counties and the West Virginia counties. I’m not talking about the difference in paved roads, the strip clubs encountered once entering Berkeley County, or the casino in Charles Town. The question begs consideration in a broader sense. I’m just curious if there would have been a difference in economic growth/development, if Jefferson and Berkeley would have been returned to Virginia. In the end, it’s not a wasted effort considering such a thing because it forces us to look back at the very peculiar manner in which West Virginia obtained the two counties to begin with (which was a very irregular vote, which I argue, is central to the reason why I think Jefferson and Berkeley were not “legally” drawn from Virginia), and the long, strange legal battle that followed after the war (which seems full of ambiguities).
For those who are so inclined, the long story of the fight is well-documented in the Charles Town newspaper, Spirit of Jefferson, from the time it resumed printing (November 07, 1865).
In the end, is this not one of the long-term ripples we can still see (yet, may not be conscious of) from the Civil War?
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mib8
February 29, 2016
It’s difficult to say. My ancestors (but not cousins) had left before the late unpleasantness. Cousins were on both sides. One 5ggf had been a preacher around both Martinsburg and Winchester, but died in the 18th century. Still, the reasons that led to the break were already at work.
The people of Berkeley thought they were getting a not so great deal from the Tidewater people. They felt under-represented, over-taxed, over-regulated, and getting little in return.
Tidewater people were mostly from SW England, according to David Fischer, while the Valley (back-country) people were mostly a mix of poorer people from what is now called Germany, and Scotland, and Ireland, with a sprinkling of Quakers and Huguenots. The Tidewater were more status-conscious, while the others were more “rugged individualist”. But they were quite aware that they could use some help in the French & Indian wars. Sure, the wealthier local people built their own small block-houses and invited the neighbors to flee to them at need, but they were too few and far apart.
OTOH, e.g. Cousin John Murray lord Dunmore, from a family with whom my ancestors had been feuding for a couple centuries. That branch were uppity sorts. Lookmhow he seized the arms stores, and only engaged when it suited his political purposes rather than when practicality demanded it. Even Jefferson had some, uh, provincialism, not taking measures to improve the roads he did not regularly use or try to build up the militia until far to late…and far too little, then.
I see much of the post-1860s developments as merely following those trends, pushed a bit this way and that by talent, knowledge, expectations, and resources (technology, etc.). People do what they see as legitimate (in their own eyes) chances to survive and thrive. Many people do not accomplish all they could because they are not aware that other options are available…they don’t see how to get there from here. So, for instance, even with judges, lawyers, and the occasional senator, late-adopter railroad tycoon, sea merchants, pop authors, magazine publishing magnates connected to the lower Valley, most did not fully leverage those seemingly peculiar, out-of-reach resources. They did, for instance make improvements to the National road, the local canals, the B&O, etc., but… There were few synergistic economic effects that accrued to Berkeley county’s benefit.
Brian L.
February 29, 2016
Reminds me of talk you occasionally hear about Northern Virginia seceding from Virginia and becoming it’s own state, due to the differences between NoVa and the rest of the state. Of course, all the talk is just that (talk). I don’t know of anyone with a brain who thinks it’s ever really going to happen, but it IS interesting to note the similarity.
Herb Slusher
February 29, 2016
I grew up in Jefferson Co. W.Va. and was always told that the polling booths were gaurded by northern soldiers to intimidate confederate voters. It seems to me that Millard Bushong wrote about this when I was a kid.
Robert Moore
February 29, 2016
If I remember correctly from readings, at the time of the vote, the county was under Federal occupation. So, at the time of the vote, whoever, locally, was a Confederate soldier, wasn’t in the county. Additionally, not all the normal polls were open. Clearly, the vote was not representative of county interests (though, there were most certainly Southern Unionists in the county), but more a moving through the motions for show” (in my opinion).
Herb Slusher
February 29, 2016
That makes more sense to me or, it’s more believable. Seems like local folklore after handed down through generations is usually tainted by personal feelings.
Thanks Herb
Mike Musick
March 24, 2016
My understanding has long been that the majority of the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court were determined not to allow a portion of the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (that is, the portion in the Eastern Panhandle) to fall under the jurisdiction of a former rebel state, and voted accordingly.