Most important events were just on the eve of happening. The election
for the national Presidency was booming in the near future, and
politics were attracting the attention of the whole country. The two
main parties which were confronting each other were the Democratic on
the one side and on the other the Free Soil or Abolition party of the
North, which had united and formed the Republican, the strength of
which latter party was growing stronger every day. Its platform of
principles was antagonistic to the Democratic party and to the
Southern States on the slavery question. In November, 1859, old John
Brown, who had figured conspicuously in the fights, organized a
hostile gang of Abolitionists and came down to Virginia, presumably to
incite the negroes against their masters and urge them to
insurrection. Their field of operation was in the county of Jefferson
and adjoining one. The government of the United States dispatched
Colonel Robert E. Lee, in command of a small body of marines, to
capture Brown and his party and to defeat his diabolical scheme. The
fanatical wretches took refuge in the engine house at Harper's Ferry.
They were then taken to Charlestown and placed in the jail, being
turned over to the State authorities by Colonel Lee. Governor Henry A.
Wise at that period of time was filling the gubernatorial chair, and
he immediately dispatched the military companies of Richmond to the
scene of action, in order to protect the citizens in this critical
emergency. Indeed it was the real beginning of the great war.
Old John Brown, the leader and arch-conspirator against the peace and
dignity of Virginia, was duly tried and summarily executed. Next, one
Cook was tried, who was a very young man and nephew of the Governor of
Indiana, who employed Senator Daniel Voorhies to defend him. The case
was pathetic in the extreme; many persons in court were moved to
tears, but the law was inexorable and he was judged guilty and shared
the fate of his leader. After the executions the military returned
home. The 1st Company of Howitzers had just been formed and organized,
and on this occasion acted as infantrymen. The whole country was then
in a great state of excitement and unrest. In a short time the
nominations for the Presidency would be made. James Buchanan, of
Pennsylvania, was the President then, and the feeling between the
North and the South was becoming more and more intense, and what would
be the outcome few could predict. A political storm they all feared
was to culminate in a dreadful, cruel war between the States.
In the year 1860 the Democratic party held its convention in the city
of Charleston, S. C. It divided into two section, one wing nominated
John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, as their standard bearer, and the
other put forward as their nominee Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois.
The Whig party chose John Bell, of Tennessee, to lead it. The newly
formed Republican party had nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois.
The canvass was conducted with force and vigor. The Republicans had
grown in numbers and strength and presented a formidable menace to the
South. The most strenuous efforts were made by each section to elect
its candidate; the issue was great and clearly defined. In the South
the ablest speakers were brought out to present the danger which
threatened the institution of slavery in the success of the Lincoln
party; yet it seemed a forlorn hope to expect to elect Southern
Democrats like Breckinridge and Lane, as there were two other
Democratic tickets in the field, which, of course, split the
conservative or Southern vote, while the North or Abolition party had
only one ticket in the field.
The Whigs of Richmond had built, on Fourteenth and Franklin Streets, a
large wooden structure capable of seating a crowd--that party had a
large majority in the city--and held frequent meetings therein. It was
called the "Wigwam." I well remember that the night before the
election Mr. William L. Yancy spoke in advocacy of Breckinridge at the
Metropolitan Hall, on Franklin Street near the Exchange Hotel. Others
spoke at the "Wigwam" for the Douglass ticket. The last speaker there
was A. Judson Crane. The evening was advancing and the audience had
been listening for hours to burning words from the lips of gifted
orators, and well do I recall his closing remark, to-wit: "It makes no
difference for whom you vote, as before the sun of tomorrow goes down
Abraham Lincoln will have been elected the President of these United
States." This prediction proved only too true, since on the following
fourth day of March he was inaugurated, and in his address said that
he would use all the men at his command to bring back into the Union,
by force of arms if necessary, the seceding Southern States. This was
truly cold comfort for the Southern people. John Letcher was the
Governor of Virginia, and the General Assembly was in session, which
drew up and passed a bill for the calling of a State convention that
the people indorsed by a large majority. Then came the most important
part, the election of delegates to it. As a matter of fact the State
was largely Democratic, and in an ordinary election for State offices
a Whig stood no chance of election, but such was not the case in this
one, for no party lines were brought into play and therefore the
ablest and most intellectual men were selected, irrespective of party
affiliations. This important meeting of Virginians, called the
"Secession Convention," assembled in Richmond--the building used for
its sessions was the Mechanic's Institute, located on Ninth Street
between Main and Franklin Streets and then occupied the present site
of the building of Ebel and Sons, merchant tailors. It organized, by
election, Mr. Janney, of Loudon county, as president, an old line
Whig, and was opposed to secession at the very start. Mr. Eubank was
made clerk.
I doubt if an abler, more intellectual and patriotic set of men were
ever before gathered together in this State for the discussion of a
subject so delicate and so portentous. They seemed to fully realize
the gravity of the situation that confronted the old Commonwealth. The
convention was divided into two parts; the one the original
secessionists, who were in favor of going out of the Union at once, as
many of the other States had already done, the other was mainly
composed of old line Whigs, who were in favor of preserving the Union
as long as a chance remained. The debates in the convention were of
the most absorbing interest to the whole population, and even the
heads of the commercial houses would leave them in charge of clerks.
The female heads of families, just as soon as their morning duties
were arranged, would repair to the Mechanic's Institute to listen to
the speeches, so supreme was the general interest taken in the outcome
of it. And it was not at all surprising that such was the case, for it
was a most momentous era in our history. Nobody could foretell the
future at that early day. The members did all they could to avert
civil war. Several delegates were sent to the seat of government at
Washington to endeavor to secure a peaceable solution of the vexed
questions. It was a time of suspense and almost anguish; the Union
hung as by a thread as it were, and then at this critical juncture the
President, Abraham Lincoln, issued his celebrated proclamation,
calling upon Virginia, the "Mother of States," and "of the Union," for
seventy-five thousand men as her quota with which to assist him in
coercing, by military force of arms, her sister States. The convention
did not hesitate an instant, it promptly passed the Ordinance of
Secession almost unanimously, there being but one dissenting voice.
With the secession of this State the last gleam of hope for peace
vanished as the snow flakes before the rays of the sun. The Federal
government had sent reinforcements and provisions for a siege to Port
Sumter, which was then commanded by Major Anderson. The people of
South Carolina considered this a declaration of war, and at once,
under the direction of General Beauregard, attacked the fort and
caused its surrender. This was the beginning of the great war between
the States of the Union, which was to call to the front every true
Southerner to do or die for the South land; it was the first clash of
arms in that bloody drama which was to last for four long years of
terror to the people of Virginia, and the sacrifice of the life's
blood of thousands of her noblest and most gallant sons. Richmond,
with her open gates of welcome to the splendid troops from the South
and Southwest, was the rendezvous of all the soldiers to be organized
hurrying to the front. Everything then seemed bright and all believed
the war would soon be over.