736 



VIRGINIA. 



The Confederate flag was displayed on the 

 same day from the custom-house, hotels, and 

 private residences, eight stars being generally 

 the number on the flag one having been added 

 for Virginia. The custom-house was also taken 

 out of the hands of the United States officials, 

 and placed under a guard of State troops. The 

 steamships Yorktown and Jamestown (belong- 

 ing to the Virginia and New York Steamship 

 Company) were both seized and put in charge 

 of Virginia State troops. Many other seizures 

 were also made. 



The Traders' Bank at Kichmond tendered the 

 State a loan of $50,000. 



A proclamation was issued by the Gov- 

 ernor, prohibiting the exportation of flour, 

 grain, and provisions from Virginia, and an- 

 other was issued ordering all private vessels 

 and property recently seized or detained, with 

 the exception of the steamers Jamestown and 

 Yorktown, to be released and delivered up to 

 their masters or owners. For this purpose 

 proper officers of the State were assigned to 

 each of the rivers Rappahannock, York, Po- 

 tomac, and James, with orders to release such 

 vessels and property, and give certificates for 

 damages incurred by their seizure or detention. 



The supply of troops, under the call of the 

 Governor authorized by the State Convention, 

 was so great that further orders were issued 

 directing no more troops to proceed to Rich- 

 mond until called for. About 6,000 had as- 

 sembled there, and 4,000 at Harper's Ferry. 



An intelligent citizen of Richmond thus de- 

 scribes the military spirit existing there on the 

 25th of April : " Our beautiful city presents the 

 appearance of an armed camp. Where all these 

 soldiers come from, in such a state of preparation, 

 I cannot imagine. Every train pours in its mul- 

 titude of volunteers, but I am not as much sur- 

 prised at the number as at the apparent disci- 

 pline of the country companies. Some of them 

 really march like regulars, and with their stal- 

 wart forms, dark, fierce countenances, and the 

 red-coated negro fifers and drummers in front, 

 present quite a picturesque as well as most 

 warlike aspect. 



" General R. E. Lee, late of the United States 

 Army, has been appointed by the Governor to 

 the chief command of the Virginia forces. 

 Colonel "Walter Gwynn, formerly of the United 

 States Army, received a commission of Major- 

 General. 



" Yesterday evening, in addition to the large 

 force pouring in from all parts of the country, 

 five hunded troops arrived from South Carolina, 

 under command of Brigadier-General M. D. 

 Bonham. About the same number from the 

 same State will arrive to-day. 



" The Cadets of the Virginia Military Insti- 

 tute, under the Superintendent and officers, are 

 here drilling and disciplining the various com- 

 panies of military who require such aid. But 

 I can give you no idea of the military spirit of 

 the State. Augusta County, a strong Whig 

 Union county in Western Virginia, and Rock- 



ingham, an equally strong Democratic Union 

 county, lying side by side with Augusta, each 

 contribute 1,500 men to the war. These are 

 like all our volunteer companies, farmers, me- 

 chanics, professional men, the bone and sinew 

 of the country. It was of Augusta that Wash- 

 ington said in the darkest hour of the Revolu- 

 tion that, if defeated everywhere else, he 

 would unfurl a banner on the mountains of 

 Augusta, and raise the prostrate form of Liberty 

 from the dust. Amherst County, with a voting 

 population of only 1,500, contributes 1,000 vol- 

 unteers. 



" But the war spirit is not confined to the men 

 nor to the white population. The ladies are 

 not only preparing comforts for the soldiers, 

 but arming and practising themselves. Com- 

 panies of boys, also, from ten to fourteen years 

 of age, fully armed and well drilled, are pre- 

 paring for the fray. In Petersburg 300 free 

 negroes offered their services, either to fight 

 under white officers, or to ditch and dig, or any 

 kind of labor. An equal number in this city 

 and across the river in Chesterfield have volun- 

 teered in like manner." 



The lights on the Virginia shore of Chesa- 

 peake Bay were removed or extinguished, by 

 order of the authorities of the State. 



The accession of Virginia to the Southern 

 Confederacy was announced by the Governor 

 in the following proclamation : 



Whereas the Convention of this Commonwealth 

 has, on this, the 25th day of April, 1861, adopted an 

 ordinance " for the adoption of the Constitution of the 

 Provisional Government of the Confederate States of 

 America ;" and has agreed to a " Convention between 

 the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Confederated 

 States of America, which it is proper should be made 

 known to the people of this Commonwealth and to the 

 world : 



Therefore, I, John Letcher, Governor of the Com- 

 monwealth of Virginia, do hereby publish and proclaim 

 that the following are authentic copies of the Ordinance 

 and Convention aforesaid. 



Given under my hand as Governor, and under 



the seal of the Commonwealth at Richmond, 



[L. s.] this twenty-fifth of April, one thousand eight 



hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty-fifth 



year of the Commonwealth. 



JOHN LETCHER. 

 By the Governor. 

 GEO. W. MUNFORD, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 



An Ordinance for ihe adoption of the Constitution of 

 the Provisional Government of the Confederate 

 States of America. 



We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, in Con- 

 vention assembled, solemnly impressed by the perils 

 which surround the Commo'nwealth, and appealing to 

 the Searcher of hearts for the rectitude of our inten- 

 tions in assuming the grave responsibility of this act, 

 do by this Ordinance adopt and ratify the Constitution 

 of the Provisional Government of the Confederate 

 States of America, ordained and established at Mont- 

 gomery, Alabama, on the eighth day of February, 

 eighteen hundred and sixty-one ; provided that this 

 Ordinance shall cease to have any legal operation or 

 effect if the people of this Commonwealth, upon the 

 vote directed to be taken on the Ordinance of Secession 

 passed by this Convention, on the seventeenth day of 

 April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, shall reject the 

 same. A true copy. 



JNO. L. EUBANK, Secretary. 



