The same day Governor Letcher made public the following call for volunteers:

Executive Department, Richmond, April 20, 1861.

In obedience to a resolution of the convention, the injunction of secrecy having been removed, the following section of an ordinance passed by the convention is published for the information of the public:

"Be it ordained, That the governor of this commonwealth be and is hereby authorized and required to call into the service of the State as many volunteers as may be necessary to repel invasion and protect the citizens of the State in the present emergency, which volunteers we will receive in companies and organize into regiments, brigades and divisions, according to the force required; the governor shall appoint and commission the general, field and staff officers of said volunteers, and proceed to have them organized and instructed. And that he shall immediately invite all efficient and worthy Virginians and residents of Virginia in the army and navy of the United States to retire therefrom, and to enter the service of Virginia, assigning to them such rank as will not reverse the relative rank held by them in the United States service, and will at least be equivalent thereto."

By order of the Governor.

GEORGE W. MUNFORD, Secretary of the Commonwealth. Immediately after the passage of the ordinance of secession, most of the members of the convention and of the general assembly of Virginia from the Trans-Alleghany section left Richmond, and they presently called a meeting of the citizens of that region who were opposed to secession to assemble at Clarksburg. That meeting issued a call to the Trans-Alleghany counties to send delegates to a convention to meet at Wheeling on the 13th of May, which convened with so-called representatives from 26 of the 140 counties of Virginia, and issued a call for an election, on June 4th, of delegates to a convention "of the State of Virginia, to meet in Wheeling on June 11th. It also advised its supporters to vote at the coming May election against the ordinance of secession, and at the same time to elect members to the United States Congress from the three Trans-Alleghany districts of Virginia.

On April 21st the governor of Virginia, in pursuance of his call of the 20th, issued the following proclamation:

By virtue of authority vested in the executive by the convention, I, John Letcher, governor of the commonwealth of Virginia, do hereby order that each volunteer company, equipped and armed, whether infantry, artillery or riflemen, in the counties lying west of the city of Richmond, between Richmond and the Blue ridge, and in the valley of Virginia from the county of Rockbridge to the Tennessee line, establish forthwith on the lines of speedy communica

tion a rendezvous, and hold themselves in readiness for immediate orders; telegraph or send by express to the executive the names of captains, number of men, and description of force. It is further ordered that officers of all grades on the line of the Potomac render obedience to the orders of Gen. Philip St. George Cocke, who has been assigned to the command of that section of the military operations of the State bounded by said river.

Given under my hand as governor, and under the seal of the commonwealth at Richmond, 21st April, 1861, and in the eightyfifth year of the commonwealth.

By the Governor:

JOHN LETCHER. GEORGE W. MUNFORD, Secretary of the Commonwealth. On April 24th the convention appointed commissioners to meet Vice-President A. H. Stephens, the commissioner of the Confederate States, to formulate an agreement for provisional co-operation in the pending conflict between the Confederate States and the United States, and on the 25th it ratified the agreement of these commissioners and conditionally adopted the provisional Constitution of the Confederate States. On the 1st of May the convention adopted an ordinance releasing all officials and citizens of the State from any obligation to support the Constitution of the United States, and absolving them from all obligations arising from oaths to support that Constitution. On the same day Governor Letcher called out the volunteer forces of the State to resist invasion, and on the 3d issued a call for volunteers. On the 4th Col. George A. Porterfield was assigned to the command of the Virginia troops in northwestern Virginia and directed to establish his headquarters at Grafton, where the two branches of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad diverge, the one to Wheeling and the other to Parkersburg. On the 10th Maj.-Gen. R. E. Lee was assigned to the command of all the Confederate forces serving in Virginia.

On the 23d of May the Virginia ordinance of secession was ratified, by a popular vote, by a majority of about 130,000. On the 24th the Federal army at Washington advanced into Virginia and occupied Arlington heights and Alexandria, and on the 26th the Federal forces under General McClellan advanced into northwestern Virginia and occupied Grafton.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PLAN OF INVASION-NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIAGRAFTON, PHILIPPI AND RICH MOUNTAIN — MAY TO JULY, 1861.

Τ

HE concentration of troops in the States adjacent to Virginia, under President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men, indicated very clearly an intention to invade Virginia from several directions: (1) From Washington along the Orange & Alexandria railroad toward the Virginia Central, at Gordonsville, threatening the line of communication between Richmond and the western portion of the State; (2) from Fort Monroe up the peninsula toward Richmond, and to the same objective by the James; (3) by way of the Cumberland valley, from Harrisburg through Chambersburg into the Shenandoah valley and the adjacent Potomac valleys to the west; (4) from Ohio into western Virginia, by the line of the Great Kanawha valley toward Staunton, in the center of the State, and simultaneously from Wheeling and Parkersburg along the Baltimore & Ohio eastward to Grafton, and thence southeastward, also to Staunton. To meet these threatened movements, Gen. R. E. Lee, when Governor Letcher's call for troops was issued, began to organize opposing columns of defense in the vicinity of Norfolk, in front of Alexandria and Washington, at Harper's Ferry in the Shenandoah valley, at Grafton on the Baltimore & Ohio, and below Charleston in the Kanawha valley, with intermediate forces in observation between these points, thus establishing a cordon around the great length of the exposed boundaries of the State.

The concentration of Federal troops at points convenient for invasion of western Virginia, all under the command of Maj.-Gen. George B. McClellan, with headquarters at Cincinnati, and the organization of two Union regiments at Wheeling and Parkersburg, led to urgent appeals from the loyal people of Trans-Alleghany, in response to which General Lee sent trusted officers to

But the

call out and organize militia and volunteers. reports soon received from Col. George D. Porterfield and Maj. T. M. Boykin from Grafton indicated prevalent apathy and disloyalty, though General Lee continued for some time, apparently, to cling to the belief that no citizen of Virginia would betray her interests. For the small body of men that Porterfield was able to collect at Grafton, Lee ordered 1,000 muskets and rifles to Beverly, and some from Harper's Ferry to Grafton.

Soon after the election upon the ordinance of secession, Porterfield, being advised of a contemplated Federal movement against Grafton, ordered the burning of two important bridges on the branches of the Baltimore & Ohio, northwest and west of Grafton. Considering this an overt act of rebellion, for which he had been waiting, McClellan, on the 26th, ordered Col. B. F. Kelley, of the Wheeling Union regiment, with his so-called First and Second Virginia regiments, which contained but few native Virginians, to move toward Grafton, to be followed by an Ohio regiment, while other regiments were ordered to occupy Parkersburg and thence advance on Grafton.

Porterfield, asking for reinforcements, but receiving none, held his position until May 28th, with about 550 badly-armed and undisciplined cavalry and infantry, and then learning of the near approach of Kelley and the force from Parkersburg, he fell back to Philippi, 15 miles southward. Receiving some slight reinforcements he went in camp, hoping to return to Grafton and expel the enemy.

Kelley reached Grafton on the 30th and was soon followed by General Morris, with an Indiana brigade. The combined force prepared to make a night march, in two columns, against Philippi, and attack at daybreak of Monday, June 3d. Each Federal column consisted of about 1,500 men; one, Dumont's, had also two smooth-bore 6-pounders. Porterfield's force was about 600 infantry and 173 cavalry. On the 1st of June, two heroic and loyal Virginia ladies rode on horseback 34 miles, from Fairmont to Philippi, and warned Porterfield of the Federal movement. The night of the 2d was dark and stormy, and Porterfield's raw troops discharged picket duty so badly and were drawn in so near to his camp that Dumont's artillery got into position

unobserved, and just after daybreak of the 3d, gave the first notice of the Federal approach by firing on the little camp of Virginia troops. Kelley had expected to surround and capture the whole force, but this premature alarm enabled Porterfield, by the aid of the courageous companies from Pendleton and Highland, and by cool and deliberate management, to get off his men in fairly good order, with only the loss of a few arms and some camp equipage and supplies, having but one of his men and a boy who was visiting his camp, wounded. Kelley himself was seriously wounded, but there were no other casualties. For lack of cavalry the Federals did not pursue Porterfield.

The advantage gained by the Federals was an advance of 20 miles southward, giving better protection to the Baltimore & Ohio, and forcing Porterfield to retreat to Beverly, some 30 miles farther, where the turnpike from Grafton joins the great stage road and highway from Parkersburg to Staunton. The telegrams to the Northern papers claimed that the Virginia force was 2,000 men and lost 15 killed; and on the assumption that there were many wounded and prisoners, the affair was exploited as a very considerable victory, on the strength of which McClellan mounted the first round of his ladder of fame. "The Philippi Races," as this campaign was called, encouraged the Union and depressed the loyal citizens of northwestern Virginia.

Porterfield continued his retreat across Laurel hill through Beverly and on to Huttonsville, with about 1,000 men, including 180 cavalry, all undisciplined. The Federal cavalry advance occupied Beverly. The news of the Philippi disaster reached Staunton June 6th, just as reinforcements with a supply of arms and ammunition, in charge of Lieut.-Col. J. M. Heck, were about to march toward him, and Lee promptly urged the war department to reinforce this expedition with 2,000 additional troops, artillery, etc. Brig.-Gen. Robert S. Garnett, C. S. A., an old army officer, was sent to take command in the northwest, in the hope that he would inaugurate a more agreeable state of things and put down the "revolution" that Porterfield reported.

General Garnett, reaching Huttonsville on the 14th, organized two regiments from the companies collected; one, afterward the Thirty-first Virginia, under command