Hampshire County, from the Hampshire Review, Romney, WV Article 13 -- April 11th 2012 An insightful reader asked about the West Virginia Statehood movement and those who represented Hampshire County at the 2nd Wheeling Convention. Since early April is the 150th Anniversary of the vote on the West Virginia Constitution as drafted by the 2nd Wheeling Convention, this is an excellent time to discuss the subject. The heady days of Virginia’s secession from the United States gave the western third of Virginia the opportunity to move on the issue of secession from Virginia. While the issues that prompted West Virginia’s statehood are many, the central issue was that of inequity; eastern Virginia enjoyed the lion’s share of representation in the legislature and thereby a disproportionate amount of tax sponsored infrastructure projects. More simply, western Virginians did not see the fruits of their tax moneys that were being sent to Richmond. With the secession of Virginia from the United States, a convention of western Virginian’s met for a second time in the relative safety of Wheeling, VA to move forward with the creation of a new state: West Virginia. This action was done with the anxious blessing of President Lincoln whose own views on the creation of West Virginia were apprehensive at best. Representing Hampshire County at the 2nd Wheeling Convention were five men whose loyalties to the United States were resolute and perhaps conflicted. The first was the formidable James S. Carskadon of New Creek, VA. A slaveholder, Carskadon had been in Richmond representing Hampshire County during the debate of Virginia’s Secession in early 1861 and was threatened because of his unwavering opinion that secession was lunacy. Possessed of a keen mind for business and public service, Carskadon was known for his quiet and reserved manner. Speaking after others had spent their emotions, Carskadon’s words were often the more intelligible and won him admirers as the most respected member of the Hampshire County delegation. Truth and candor was his trademark. According to The Disruption of Virginia by historian James McGregor, Carskadon confirmed that despite there being 2000 eligible voters in Hampshire County only 195 votes for the West Virginia Constitution had been cast in April 1862. Carskadon further noted that 156 votes had been cast by Union soldiers stationed in Hampshire County. To be clear, only 39 registered Hampshire County voters had voted. This deficit is more troubling when compared to the 1,810 voters that had turned out for the vote on Virginia’s Ordinance of Secession in May the year before. It is also noteworthy that in August of 1861, Carskadon had voted against the West Virginia Ordinance of Secession from Virginia. In fact, only one member of the Hampshire County delegation, Owen D. Downey of Piedmont, VA, had voted for the secession of West Virginia from Virginia. The other members of the Hampshire County delegation were George W. Broski of Piedmont, James J. Trout of Ridgeville and James H. Barricks of New Creek Station (now Keyser). All members of the Hampshire County Delegation were from the territory destined to become Mineral County, WV. A reading of the exchanges from the 2nd Wheeling Convention is akin to watching a team of elite flight engineers build an airplane in mid-flight: scary, fascinating, and (despite the skill set available) prone to disaster. Somehow these people in Wheeling 150 years ago made it happen and West Virginia remained aloft. In anticipation of the question, “was Hampshire County dragged into the state of West Virginia against its will?” The answer is “sort of.” Given that only white males over the age of 21 were eligible to vote in the 1860s, it is a fact that most of these voters were absent in the service to either the Confederacy or the Union. More correct is that Hampshire County was stolen while too few were home minding the store.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 23:59:51 +0000
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