The state of Virginia remains divided between Union and Confederate supporters, and today the northwest section of the state strikes out apart from the rest of Virginia. Dissenting Union delegates gather at Washington Hall in Wheeling “to determine a course of action for northwestern Virginia.” Thirty-two counties are represented among the 88 delegates. Athur I. Boreman, selected as president of the convention, voices the purpose of the meeting: “in this Convention we have no ordinary political gathering. We have no ordinary task before us. We come here to carry out and execute, and it may be, to institute a government for ourselves. We are determined to live under a State Government in the United States of America and under the Constitution of the United States. It requires stout hearts to execute this purpose; it requires men of courage – of unfaltering determination; and I believe, in the gentlemen who compose this Convention, we have the stout hearts and the men who are determined in this purpose.”
The convention continues through June 20, by which time delegates, realizing that reconciliation with southeastern Virginia is not possible, vote to reorganize the state of Virginia. Thus begins the birthing of West Virginia, a new state loyal to the Union.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s Baptist governor Joseph Brown establishes a training camp for Georgia volunteers in the town of Big Shanty. Camp McDonald is comprised of 60 acres and commanded by Georgia Militia Brigadier General (Confederate Army Colonel) William Phillips.
Among the soldiers arriving today to join Phillip’s Legion are the Dalton Guards. The day before they had been “assembled in the upper story of the First Baptist Church of Dalton” where Judge Edward R. Harden, former Supreme Court Judge of Nebraska Territory, spoke of the importance of their service to the cause of the Confederacy.
Following two months of training, soldiers of Phillip’s Legion begin marching northward in August. During the war they fight in many battles, including Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor.
Sources: West Virginia Archives and History (link); Phillips Legion (link) and (link); Dalton Guards (link)
