Casting the die

One hundred and fifty years ago yesterday, Virginia voters ratified an ordinance for secession from the Union. South Carolina was the first state to leave the Union, in December of 1860, with several other states following.

Because of strong nationalist sentiment, Virginia was hesitant to join the seceding states. But with the attack on Ft. Sumter in South Carolina by federal forces, Virginia was forced to choose a side. A popular vote of 96,750 to 32,134 sealed the decision to secede. Most of the dissenting vote came from the western counties of the state, which soon formed a new state, West Virginia, that remained loyal to the Union throughout the war.

"Virginia has severed her connection with the Northern hive of abolitionists, and takes her stand as a sovereign and independent state," wrote John Tyler, former US president and Virginia native, on April 17, 1861. "The die is thus cast, and her future in the hands of the god of battle."

Because of its strategic location and role in early American history, Virginia's decision played a vital role in how the Civil War played out. President Lincoln would tell Congress in July of 1861 that of all the seceding states, "the course taken in Virginia was the most remarkable-- perhaps the most important."

In 1860, most Virginian politicians called for slow, deliberate action; they could see both advantages and disadvantages in seceding from the Union. Many Virginians were loyal to the Constitution and the Union, wanting to preserve the nation's foundation. These people wished to preserve the country their Founding Fathers, many who were Virginia natives, fought so hard to establish. Virginia also depended on trade with Northern states to bolster their economy.

As the first few southern states left the Union, prominent Virginians urged patience.

"Immediate secession... would be fatal," wrote Virginia judge Edward C. Burks in January of 1861. "If come it must, let us take time to meet its consequences. Let us nerve ourselves to meet the crisis with patience and firmness."

"No means should be left untried to secure our rights in the Union," wrote Burks to his friend Rowland Buford, a Bedford County court clerk. "When all are exhausted and we are ready to meet the consequences, then if it must come, let it come."

Within a few months, the time had come. Lincoln's inaugural address did little to calm the tensions between the North and South, and over the months following his inauguration, Virginian public opinion began to turn against the Union, which was seen as the aggressor. The secession debate finally ended when Lincoln used military force against Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Days after the first shots were fired, Virginia legislature voted to leave the Union. Popular vote ratified the decision a month later.

Not long after the vote, the first shots were fired in Virginia. On May 29th, a rebel battery fired shots at Union forces in Fort Monroe near Hampton, Va.

"It makes the heart beat and the eyes fill to witness such noble resolution and bravery on the part of all," wrote Julia Tyler to her mother in June 1861. "They are fired up with enthusiasm for what they consider such a sacred cause as the defense of their soil from the wicked and cruel invader."

While some Virginia Protestants opposed war on any terms, many supported the Southern defense of "Northern aggression." Like citizens from most Confederate states, many Virginians believed that God was allied with the South, even justifying slavery as upheld by Scriptures. Citing declined morality in Northern states, preachers in Virginia, and throughout the Confederacy, taught that God moved with the Southern armies.

On July 21, 1861, Rev. William C. Butler thanked God for the Southern victory at the First Manassas. Speaking to a crowd at St. John's Episcopal Church at Richmond, Va., Butler said, "God has given us of the South today a fresh and golden opportunity-and so a most solemn command-to realize that form of government in which the just, constitutional rights of each and all are guaranteed to each and all."

Four years later, after more than 620,000 Americans lay dead, the Confederate Army surrendered in Appomattox, Va. The nation began to rebuild.

Wherever Honor's sword is drawn

And justice rears her head--

Where heroes fall and martyrs bleed,

There sleep Virginia's dead.

-Cornelia J.M. Jordan, "Virginia's Dead"

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