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| Virginia
in the Civil War
Remarks
to the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the
American Civil War Commission (excerpted)
James I. Robertson, Jr.
September
12, 2006
Virginia
is the Mother State. America began with the Old
Dominion. Its sons - Patrick Henry, George Mason,
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Marshall
- led the new nation forward. No state did more,
or contributed more, toward the formation of the
United States. |
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Yet only seventy-five years into the national experiment,
Virginia found itself literally caught in the middle
of an approaching war between North and South. In January,
1861, with one Southern state after another leaving
the Union, Illinois Sen. Stephen A. Douglas reassured
his countrymen. "All depends on the action of Virginia,"
Douglas said. "Save Virginia, and we save the Union."
Virginia
could not be saved. Decades of attacks from abolitionists,
stronger economic ties with Southern states, verbal
assaults on state sovereignty in the face of Virginia's
deep-rooted belief in self-government, an 1859 terrorist
attack at Harper's Ferry, the triumph a year later of |
political
party seemingly pledged to overturn the Southern
way of life, followed by the bombardment of Fort
Sumter and Abraham Lincoln's call for troops to
coerce the Southern states back into an undesired
union - these factors underlay the entire secession
movement.
The
Old Dominion was the most reluctant state to leave
the Union simply because it had been the most
prominent state in creating that nation. Like
the other ten states that formed a confederacy,
Virginia had a |
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secession
convention. Unlike those other ten states, Virginia's
convention voted down secession, not once but twice.
However, Lincoln's mobilization of soldiers to march
across Virginia's land proved to be the final straw.
Without
Virginia, the Southern Confederacy could not have hoped
to win its independence. The Commonwealth had so much
prestige that its presence was considered absolutely
essential for Southern success. Start with geography.
Virginia was the largest of the seceded states. Its
square mileage was equal to that of New England; its
counties stretched northwestward to |
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the
Ohio River. The shape of the state was like a
spear pointing at the heart of the North. On the
other hand, Virginia's position made it the most
exposed member of the Confederacy.
Virginia
was the most populous state in the South, with
more white inhabitants, more slaves, and more |
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men
of military age than any other Confederate state.
Virginia was also the wealthiest Confederate region.
Its industrial capacity was greater than that of the
seven original Confederate states combined.
A
third of all Confederate goods came from Virginia.
Twenty percent of the South's railroads snaked through
the Old Dominion. During the Civil War, the state's
factories would turn out more cotton goods, more woolen
goods, more agricultural implements, more military
armament, than any Southern state. Its iron production
was three times larger than that of second-place Tennessee.
Virginia's lead mines were invaluable, its salt works
essential. The state's coal mines kept the Confederate
Navy afloat.
Norfolk
was the largest seaport in the South. Richmond was
the only industrial complex in the entire Confederacy.
It was also the capital of a vital state as well as
the heart of a nation. The Southern nation lived as
long as Richmond breathed. As a result, sixty percent
of the hundreds of Civil War battles occurred in this
one state.
No
other member of the Confederate State of America matched
the quality of the Commonwealth's military leadership.
One of every four Southern generals was from Virginia.
They include Robert E. Lee, Thomas "Stonewall"
Jackson,
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A.P.
Hill, Jeb Stuart, Jubal Early, Turner Ashby,
and the Garnett brothers. In number, Virginians
dominated the ranks of the South's premier army.
Many units in the Army of Northern Virginia-
Stonewall Brigade, Hill's Light Division, the
Richmond Howitzers, the Liberty Hall Volunteers
- became immortal through service and sacrifice.
Even the youthful Corps of Cadets at the Virginia
Military Institute had an unforgettable moment
in action.
Civil
War battlefields are sacred because their soil
has been consecrated by the blood of patriots.
Look at the number of hallowed fields that stand
as humbling monuments: First Manassas, Williamsburg,
and Seven
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Pines.
. .Winchester, Port Republic, and Cedar Mountain. .
.Second Manassas Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville
. . .the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor...the
Crater, Reams' Station, and Hatcher's Run. . .Opequon
Creek, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek.. . .Five Forks,
Sailor's Creek, and Appomattox.
. .
They
are all here, in our state. The sites annually attract
enormous sums of tourists' dollars; but more importantly,
those fields are silent reminders of what our ancestors
paid to get us where we are today. To ignore that, and
them, would be sacrilegious.
Virginia
during the Civil War had two other sad distinctions:
it had the highest number of prisoner-of-war compounds,
and it contained the largest concentration of military
hospitals. Three of every five Confederate soldiers
who fell injured or sick during the four years of war
passed through one of Richmond's twenty-eight hospitals.
The
approaching Sesquicentennial offers a splendid opportunity
to explore Virginia's home front during the war years.
Local history is the seed from which a nation's annals
blossom. Every city and county in the Commonwealth could
be asked to search anew for letters, diaries, and other
writings. A major boon to history and historians would
result if every community would transcribe and annotate
the 1860 census returns for its area. Col. Edwin Dooley,
now retired from the Virginia Military Institute, did
such a compilation for Rockbridge Country. It is an
historical goldmine for data on those living in the
upper end of the Shenandoah Valley at the time of Civil
War.
I
earnestly hope that we will be a hands-on commission
in encouraging local participation by Sesquicentennial
committees.
During
1861-1865, Virginia suffered more damage than any comparable
area of the Western Hemisphere has ever known. Over
800 businesses and homes in Richmond went up in flames
during a two-day period; Norfolk and Petersburg were
reduced to shells; every town of note from Danville
and Lexington to Winchester and Alexandria felt the
destructive hand of war.
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It
was here in Virginia that the real Civil War began.
It was here in Virginia that the real Civil War
ended. Manassas was the fire-bell; Appomattox,
the death-knoll. By Easter Sunday, April 15, 1865,
the proud Old Dominion lay in ruins: so many of
its sons dead or crippled, its society |
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shattered,
its economy non-existent, its hopes destroyed.
That
the Commonwealth rose slowly but proudly from the ashes
is its greatest triumph. Today, sprinkled across our
state, are statues, monuments, roadside markers, museums,
and several national cemeteries. They all stand as silent
sentries to those who loved their country more than
they loved life itself.
We
must remember, because we cannot forget. And we must
remember with a deep sense of reverence. The Sesquicentennial
should not be an occasion to re-fight battles, second-guess
generals, reopen wounds, or argue anew over principles
long resolved by time and events. Nor is the 150th anniversary
of the Civil War an occasion for celebration. Rather,
it is the opportunity for commemoration: a solemn reflection
of what two generations of Americans bequeathed to us
through their suffering.
On
the eve of the 20th Century, one of the most distinguished
British historians of that era commended: "Far
and wide between the mountains and the sea stretches
the fair land of Virginia, for which Lee and Jackson
and their soldiers, one equal temper of heroic hearts,
fought so well and unavailingly. Yet Virginia's brows
are bound with glory, the legacy of her lost children;
and her spotless name, uplifted by their victories and
manhood is high among the nations. Surely [Virginia]
must rest content, knowing that so long as men turn
to the records of history will their deeds live, giving
to all time one of the noblest examples of unyielding
courage and devotion the world has ever seen."
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Virginia Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the American Civil War
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2008 Commonwealth of Virginia
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