Eyewitness 1861: Pennsylvanians deal with Rebel supporter
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Constructed as a federal post office, custom house, and courthouse in 1858-59, the building served the city of Wheeling until 1912. The courtroom was the scene of the constitutional conventions which brought about the establishment of the Restored Government of Virginia.
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When the Civil War opened, the "South" began just 35 miles west of Pittsburgh.
In June 1861, what is now the northern panhandle of West Virginia still was part of Virginia, a state that had recently joined the Confederacy. Many residents of the state's northern and western counties, however, were pro-Union.
In Grafton, an important railroad town on the Baltimore & Ohio line, western Virginia men had formed a militia unit, called the Grafton Guards, to protect their town and oppose the Rebels. One of their number, Thornsbury Bailey Brown, died of a gunshot wound on May 22, killed by a Confederate sentry. Brown is often described as the first Union soldier to die in battle.
Facing a much larger Confederate force commanded by Col. George Porterfield, the Grafton Guards soon fled by rail to Wheeling, a stronghold of anti-secessionists. Porterfield was able to hold the town for about a week. He withdrew further south to Philippi as Union forces advanced. Those troops were mostly from Ohio and Indiana, but they also included a regiment of western Virginians.
The Pittsburgh Gazette and Commercial Journal reported on June 8 that Pennsylvania cavalry from Fayette and Greene counties also had helped clear the "ruffians and marauders" out of Grafton.
The source for what the newspaper called a "most interesting narration of the expedition" was Col. Daniel R. Davidson, a businessman from Connellsville. "Everywhere along the road, from the Pennsylvania line to Grafton, the Pennsylvanians were received with the most cordial and enthusiastic welcome," the Gazette said.
"[T]hey were met by a band of little girls, dressed in red, white and blue, preceded by a band of music," Davidson told the newspaper. "No secessionists were to be seen."
First Published June 26, 2011 12:00 am
