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==History== The Virginia General Assembly formed Putnam County on March 11, 1848, from parts of [[Cabell County, West Virginia|Cabell]], [[Kanawha County, West Virginia|Kanawha]], and [[Mason County, West Virginia|Mason Counties]]. It was named for [[Israel Putnam]], who was a hero in the [[French and Indian War]] and a general in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. George Washington surveyed the area in 1770. Winfield, the county seat, had been founded in 1818, but was incorporated on February 21, 1868, and named to honor General [[Winfield Scott]], a general during the [[Mexican American War]] and the early stage of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Putnam County, WV |url=http://www.wvgenweb.org/putnam/putnam_history.htm |access-date=October 27, 2020 |website=www.wvgenweb.org}}</ref> Slavery was a divisive issue in Putnam County before and during the Civil War. In the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, Putnam County voters elected [[James W. Hoge]] to represent them, and he voted against secession on April 17, 1861, when the convention passed the secession ordinance. He returned to Richmond for the second session in June, though, and signed the ordinance.<ref>[http://www.virginiamemory.com/docs/votes_on_secession.pdf How Virginia Convention Delegates Voted on Secession, April 4 and April 17, 1861, and Whether They Signed a Copy of the Ordinance of Secession]</ref> No one from Putnam County attended the [[Wheeling Convention]], which ultimately led to the creation of the state of West Virginia in 1863. Two minor battles were fought in Putnam County during the Civil War. On July 17, 1861, [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] soldiers defeated a Union force at the [[Battle of Scary Creek]], before withdrawing to Charleston. The Confederates included a cavalry troop raised by Colonel [[Albert G. Jenkins|Albert Gallatin Jenkins]], who until Virginia's secession from the Union, had represented the area in [[United States House of Representatives|Congress]]. Jenkins was commissioned a [[brigadier general]] in 1862, but died of wounds received at the [[Battle of Cloyd's Mountain]] in May 1864. The second skirmish occurred on October 24, 1864, after West Virginia became a Union state. Confederate troops seized and sank a Union steamboat on the Kanawha River near Winfield, then attacked the courthouse, but the "Battle of Winfield" ended as a Union victory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steelhammer |first=Rick |title=Confederate troops fought, died to take Winfield 150 years ago today |url=https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/putnam_county/confederate-troops-fought-died-to-take-winfield-150-years-ago-today/article_e9174676-25ff-5fee-89c4-c2ee34c47b64.html |access-date=October 27, 2020 |website=Charleston Gazette-Mail |language=en}}</ref> Putnam County's Civil War soldiers were about evenly split between Union and Confederate, with about four hundred on each side.<ref>Sullivan, Ken (ed.), ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia'', The West Virginia Humanities Council, 2006, pg. 592, {{ISBN|0-9778498-0-5}}</ref> Putnam County was one of 50 Virginia counties admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. Later that year, its counties were divided into [[civil township]]s, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872, the townships were converted into [[minor civil division|magisterial districts]].<ref>Otis K. Rice & Stephen W. Brown, ''West Virginia: A History'', 2nd ed., University Press of Kentucky, Lexington (1993), p. 240.</ref> Putnam County was initially divided into six townships: Buffalo, Curry, Grant, Hutton, Scott, and Union. These became magisterial districts in 1872, and the following year, two were renamed, with Grant becoming Teays Valley, while Hutton became Pocatalico. Except for minor adjustments, these districts were largely unchanged until the 1980s, when Buffalo and Union Districts were consolidated into Buffalo-Union District, and Teays Valley's name abbreviated to "Teays".<ref>[[United States Census Bureau]], [[United States Census|U.S. Decennial Census]], Tables of Minor Civil Divisions in West Virginia, 1870β2010.</ref> A railroad was rebuilt through Putnam County in 1875.
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