April 27, 1863
County Convention. - A Convention of the Union and New State men was held at the Court House yesterday. Samuel Irwin was called to the chair and Robert S. Irwin was appointed Secretary.
The Secretary then called the delegates by Districts and all were ascertained to be represented except West Liberty.
Dr. Logan moved that a committee of one from each election precinct be appointed to nominate delegates to the Parkersburgh Convention, the delegates to be selected from the county at large.
Mr. Norton said he would suggest that each district be allowed to select their own delegates to the Parkersburgh Convention. Mr. Caldwell suggested that each delegation indicate to the chair the number which they desire shall act upon the committee proposed by Dr. Logan.
On motion of Mr. Thomas O'Brien, Prof. Ross was admitted as a delegate to the Convention from West Liberty.
The motion of Dr. Logan, as amended by the suggestion of Mr. Caldwell was adopted and the following gentlemen were appointed upon the committee: D. Frazier, Prof. Ross, James M'Culloch, E. M. Norton, A. B. Caldwell, A. H. Britt, A. G. Robinson, H. W. Fisher.
On motion of Mr. Caldwell, a committee of five, consisting of Prof. Ross, A. B. Caldwell, A. G. Robinson, E. M. Norton and Wm. North, was appointed to draft resolutions, and attend to other business in connection with future conventions.
The convention then took a recess till 2 o'clock.
Mr. Caldwell, from the committee on resolutions, read the following:
Resolved, By the Delegates of this Convention, that they regard the proclamation of our patriotic President consummating the admission of West Virginia into the Union, as the well-merited reward of the late noble efforts of her loyal citizens to sever their past connection with thei tyrannical oppressors of Eastern Virginia, and justly entitling them to assume their position as a free and independent State, side by side with those loyal sister States that are so ardently struggling to suppress this most wicked and infamous rebellion.
Resolved, That the successful and prosperous career of the New State vitally depends upon the preservation and perpetuation of the Federal Union, which is emphatically the palladium of our glorious free institutions, yea of liberty itself.
Resolved, That loyalty in this unprecedented crisis consists in strengthening the hands of the Government, by rendering it a cordial and unwavering support in its present vigorous and gigantic efforts to crush out treason and compel disloyalists, everywhere, to resume their supreme allegiance to the Constitution and Union of the United States.
Resolved, That John E. Sisson, T. B. Stewart, Dr. S. Buchanan, Perry Whillam, John D. Maxwell, A. F. Ross, William North, M. L. Hill, Dr. J. C. Campbell, James Snodgrass, Wm. Atkinson, J. K. Dickey, E. M. Norton, Lewis Lunsford, Perry Pearson, William Nicholls, Samuel Irwin, John E. Wilson, Henry K. List, J. L. Stifel, T. H. Logan, Lewis Bayha, J. A. Metcalf, I. H. Williams, George R. Wheat, A. B. Caldwell, J. F. Hopkins, James Bodley, A. W. Campbell, Edward Reid, Jacob Hull, Thos. O'Brien, O. J. Crawford, C. D. Hubbard, George W. Norton, Philip Shelle, L. T. Dean, R. W. McClellan, Benjamin Fisher, S. H. Woodward, Augustus Handlin, Dr. R. W. Hazlett, H. W. Fisher, John L. Hoobs, Daniel Lamb, Jacob Hornbrook, E. W. Stephens, E. A. Webber, Dr. J. C. Huff, Gen. Jas. S. Wheat, J. W. Paxton, G. L. Cranmer, C. Arthur, Maj. I. M. Pumphrey, Wm. Tallant, James Dalzell, J. C. Harbour, Richard Crawford, John Turpin, Jacob Berger, Elijah Day, W. W. Holliday, Henry C. Flesher, John Claytor, Daniel Peck, and Wm. Teagarden, be and are hereby appointed Delegates to represent the county of Ohio in the State Convention tobe held at Parkersburg on the 6th of May to nominate candidates for State officers.
Resolved, That our said Delegates to the Parkersburg Convention be, and are hereby instructed, to vote for only such nominees for the different State officers as are unconditional Union men, and ardent supporters of the New State of West Virginia.
Resolved, That a County Convention, to nominate county officers, be held at the Court House in the city of Wheeling on the third Saturday of May next, and that each Magisterial District be, and are hereby requested to send Delegates to said County Convention.
Resolved, that a District Convention be held in the Court House in the city of Wheeling on Thursday, the 14th of May next, for the nomination of a Judge for this Circuit and State Senators for this District, and that the counties interested be, and are hereby requested to send Delegates to said District Convention.
The resolutions, as well as the names submitted by the nominating committee, were adopted by the convention.
On motion of Mr. Norton, the chair was authorized to appoint a Central Committee of five. The chair appointed the following gentlemen:
Messrs. A. B. Caldwell, E. M. Norton, A. G. Robinson, George K. Wheat and Jacob Berger.
On motion, the convention adjourned.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: April 1863