Editing Town Line, New York (section)

== History ==
According to Town Line oral lore, in 1861, 125 men gathered in an informal meeting at a local schoolhouse and passed (85 to 40) a resolution to secede from the United States.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/civil-war-secession-new-york-town|title=This New York Town Seceded from the Union...for 85 Years|first=Christopher|last=Klein|website=HISTORY}}</ref> Because Town Line was never an [[Administrative divisions of New York|incorporated municipal entity]] in the first place and had no well-defined boundaries, the resolution had no legal effect; neither the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] nor the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] ever formally recognized the action.<ref>Federal Writers' Project, ''New York: A Guide to the Empire State'' (1940) p 436</ref> Alden Historical Society archivist Karen Muchow has stated that there are no written records of the action.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/northern-town-celebrates-status-as-last-confederate-holdout--131527733/163655.html|title = Northern Town Celebrates Status as Last Confederate Holdout}}</ref> According to Muchow, several members of the [[German American|German-American community]] fled to Canada and twenty residents fought for the [[Union Army]].<ref name=bn9711>{{cite news
 |last        = Kwiatkowski
 |first       = Jane
 |date        = September 7, 2011
 |newspaper   = [[The Buffalo News]]
 |url         = http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article547531.ece
 |title       = Secessionist hamlet takes stroll down memory lane; Hamlet of Town Line marks its unique role in the Confederacy
 |access-date = September 7, 2012
 |url-status     = bot: unknown
 |archive-url  = https://archive.today/20120730041300/http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article547531.ece
 |archive-date = July 30, 2012
}}</ref> While the reason behind the vote is unknown, author Daren Wang and others have opined that Town Line residents—some of whom had emigrated from Germany to avoid conscription—were motivated by opposition to a potential military draft being necessitated by the Civil War.<ref name=bn9711 /><ref name="auto"/>

Town Line held a ceremony on January 24, 1946 to "rejoin" the Union. Hollywood celebrity [[Cesar Romero]] participated in the festivities. On that day, residents voted, 90 to 23, to rescind the 19th-century secession vote.<ref name=bn9711/>