Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

In 1841, William Henry Harrison became the ninth President of the United States and John Tyler became the Vice-President of the United States. Both were born in Charles City County, approximately twenty-four miles from Richmond. William Henry Harrison had successfully defeated the Indian chief, Tecumseh, and his brother, "The Prophet," at Tippecanoe River in Indiana. From this experience he earned the title, "Old Tippecanoe" which became a part of the 1840 presidential campaign slogan: "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." William Henry Harrison has a most unique distinction in the history of the United States in that he served the shortest term of any President—March 4, 1841 to April 4, 1841. Upon his death from pneumonia, believed contracted during the inauguration ceremonies, the other Virginian, John Tyler, succeeded to the Presidency. Tyler had been a Congressman, a state legislator, a Governor of Virginia and a United States Senator before becoming President. During his term of office, the United States and Canada agreed upon a final boundary in the Treaty of Washington. Tyler approved the annexation of Texas to the Union near the end of his Presidential administration.

The annexation of Texas to the United States caused bitter feeling between Mexico and the United States. In the Mexican War which followed, two Virginians, General Zachary Taylor of Orange County and General Winfield Scott of Dinwiddie County, participated in an outstanding manner: the former, in charge of the campaign at Monterey and at Buena Vista and the latter, in charge of the campaign at Vera Cruz and Mexico City. Other Virginians who received first-hand military experience during the Mexican War were Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. Jackson and Joseph E. Johnston.

On September 7, 1846, the land including the town of Alexandria (originally Belhaven) which Virginia had ceded to Congress in 1789 was retroceded to Fairfax County. In the following year, Alexandria County was formed from that part of the District of Columbia which had formerly been a part of Fairfax County and the town of Alexandria became the county seat. Five years later, the town of Alexandria became the city of Alexandria through a charter regulation of the General Assembly, and its status as an independent city (not subject to county jurisdiction) was granted.

While Alexandria was changing from a town to a city, another Virginian was elected President of the United States. Zachary Taylor, a native of Orange County, became the twelfth President of the United States. He had achieved national fame during the Mexican War and had earned the title "Old Rough and Ready." He defeated his military colleague, General Winfield Scott, at the Whig convention by winning the presidential candidacy and proceeded to defeat Martin Van Buren for the Presidency. After serving only sixteen months of his term, he died of typhus on July 9, 1850. The most important issue during his administration was the slavery controversy.

As in the slavery issue in 1820, Henry Clay once more proposed a compromise measure in an attempt to prevent, or at least postpone, a secession movement. The Compromise of 1850 was eventually passed and is often referred to as the "Omnibus Bill" because it included many miscellaneous provisions, namely: (1) California was to be admitted as a free state, (2) slavery limitation in the Mexican cession land was to be decided upon by the residents of the particular area involved, (3) Texas was to pay ten million dollars for giving up its claim to territory west and north of its present boundary, (4) slave trade but not slavery was to be prohibited in the District of Columbia, and (5) a more effective fugitive slave law was to be passed and to be enforced.

While the United States government had numerous national problems with which to cope during this period, Virginia had several governmental problems. In 1850-1851, a second state constitutional convention was held. The age-old feud concerning representation, voting qualifications and election of the Governor continued until, finally, a compromise was reached. Main provisions of the compromise were: (1) every white male citizen, except the insane, minors, paupers and criminals, was to be allowed to vote from that time forward, (2) the Governor was to be elected directly by the voters themselves rather than by the General Assembly and his term was to be extended from three to four years, (3) the Council of State was to be abolished, (4) membership in the House of Delegates was to be selected upon the basis of population, thereby giving the western counties a majority number; membership in the Senate was to be based upon population and property, thereby giving the eastern counties a majority, and (5) the voters were to be allowed to vote for judges, county officials and members of the Board of Public Works. In addition, the General Assembly was to meet every other year instead of annually. The 1851 State Constitution was ratified by the voters by an overwhelming majority at the next election. The western counties of Virginia had finally been recognized as an important area whose ideas and opinions were to be considered seriously. Although the economic and social life of the inhabitants of the western part of Virginia were different from those of the inhabitants of the eastern part of Virginia, this Constitution which granted the western counties most of their desired reforms fostered better unity within the state.

In 1855, a dreadful epidemic of yellow fever spread throughout Norfolk and approximately one tenth of its total population succumbed. A Negro gravedigger, nicknamed "Yellow Fever Jack," was considered the hero of this situation because he painstakingly kept burying the dead until he too died from the fever. A monument has been erected in his honor in the Norfolk Cemetery.

In 1857 James Ethan Allen Gibbs, a native of Rockbridge County, secured a patent to make a "twisted loop rotary hook sewing machine," an invention which he had created as a result of watching his mother sew by hand. He was unaware at the time of Elias Howe's sewing machine invention of 1846. After a few years, James A. Willcox added some improvements to Gibbs' sewing machine, and their combined efforts resulted in the Willcox and Gibbs Sewing Machine.

On October 16, 1859, John Brown, a freesoiler and an ardent white abolitionist of Kansas and Ohio, led his five sons, eight northern white men and a group of five Negroes on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now located in West Virginia). Rifles were made and stored here. John Brown had decided to show these slaves how to revolt against their masters. Therefore, he equipped them with arms, ammunition and with steel-tipped pikes which he had brought with him from Kansas. After they had seized the arsenal, he urged them to start an insurrection. They captured many of the gentlemen slaveholders of this area, and then John Brown suggested that they use their pikes to "strike for freedom!" The Negroes of this area and those of the south in general did not respond to his encouragement. His band killed five people including the mayor of Harper's Ferry and a free Negro porter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. On October 18, Colonel Robert E. Lee of the United States Army, who was a native Virginian, was placed in charge of the situation. James Ewell Brown Stuart (later, commonly known as "J. E. B." Stuart) was appointed aide-de-camp to Lee. Stuart was assigned the task of presenting the summons to John Brown to surrender after one hundred United States Marines had surrounded the arsenal and had captured the raiders. Stuart successfully performed his task and was admired by many Americans for his staunch courage in this action because John Brown was such an unpredictable individual. Lee then sent John Brown to Charlestown, Virginia (now located in West Virginia) where he was tried by a Virginia Circuit Court for treason and for murder because of the capture of guns and supplies belonging to the government, was found guilty and was hanged on December 2, 1859. Ten of his followers were also killed. This incident caused hostile feelings between the sections to increase and made the Virginians very angry upon finding out the extent to which some individuals would conspire to incite Negro hatred for their masters.

By 1860, the population of Virginia had reached over one and a half million including 490,865 slaves and 58,042 free Negroes. From 1851 to 1861, four counties were added: Craig (formed from Botetourt, Giles, Monroe and Roanoke Counties and named for Robert Craig, a Virginia Congressman), Wise (formed from Lee, Scott and Russell Counties and named for Henry Alexander Wise, Governor of Virginia, 1856-1860), Buchanan (formed from Tazewell and Russell Counties and named in honor of President James Buchanan) and Bland (formed from Giles, Wythe and Tazewell Counties and named for Richard Bland, a Virginia statesman during the Revolutionary War Period).