The injustice of slavery was also Virginia Unionist Moncure Daniel Conway‘s chief concern. Elizabeth Van Lew, for example, learned to detest slavery while studying at a Quaker school in Philadelphia, and during the war she ran an underground spy network in Richmond with Botts and others. Most white Virginians considered secession and slavery to be separate concerns, and indeed Virginia’s Protestant churches opposed secession and supported slavery with the same moral certainty, at least until the war’s first shots were fired.Īntislavery principles did drive some white Unionists, however. Carlile, who became a founding father of West Virginia, described secession as “self murder” and “an insult to all reasonable living humanity, and a crime against God.” At the same time, Carlile never wavered in his support for slavery, just as John Minor Botts, a Richmond Unionist, could at once own slaves and be considered for a post in Lincoln’s cabinet. At its core, Unionism represented support for the United States against the efforts of Virginia and several other Southern states to secede and form a rival federal government. What it meant to be a Unionist shifted over time, by region, and across demographic lines. All of these efforts contributed to the eventual Confederate defeat. In Richmond, Unionists formed a spy network, and across the state slaves deprived the Confederacy of critical labor by running away. Ethnicity and religion played an important role in formulating Unionist or anti-Confederate actions, with pacifist Germans sometimes refusing to serve in the Confederate armed forces. Unionists flourished in Union-occupied areas of Northern Virginia and fought guerrilla actions in Southwest Virginia. Most Unionists lived in the state’s western counties, although their antipathy to secession had less to do with slavery than with the undemocratic political advantages enjoyed by slave owners. Just prior to the war, Unionism had been particularly strong in Virginia, but by the time the question of secession was put to a referendum, Unionist influence had declined sharply. Many Virginians feared the economic consequences of secession, while African Americans saw Unionism as an opportunity for personal liberty. Some explicitly supported the ideals of the Union others defined their Unionism as a rejection of slavery. #Richmond union spy network free#Representing a minority of white Virginians and an overwhelming majority of both free and enslaved African Americans, Unionists articulated their beliefs through a range of actions. Unionists in Virginia supported the United States government during the secession crisis, the American Civil War (1861–1865), or both.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |