Editing Barbour County, West Virginia (section)

===Civil War===
In April 1861, an [[Ordinance of Secession|Ordinance of Secession from the United States of America]] was approved throughout the state of [[Virginia]] in a [[referendum]]. Delegates from 25 western counties, however, assembled at [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]] on 13 May for the first of a two meetings (see [[Wheeling Convention]]) called to repeal the Ordinance. The delegates from Barbour County for the first convention were Spencer Dayton, John H. Shuttleworth, and E.H. Manafee. Barbour County had voted in favor of Virginia's secession, though, and a palmetto secession flag had been flying above the courthouse since January, 1861.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbarbour00maxw|title=The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time|last=Maxwell|first=Hu|date=1899|publisher=Morgantown, W. Va. : Acme Publishing Company|others=West Virginia University Libraries}}</ref>

On 3 June 1861, Philippi was the scene of one of the [[Battle of Philippi (West Virginia)|first battles]] of the [[American Civil War]]. The battle was later lampooned as the "Philippi Races" because of the hurried retreat by the Confederate troops encamped in the town. (The skirmish is [[American Civil War reenactment|reenacted]] every June during the town's "Blue and Gray Reunion".) At daylight on June 3, two columns of Union forces under the command of Col. [[Benjamin Franklin Kelley]] and Col. [[Ebenezer Dumont]], with perhaps 3,000 men, arrived from [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]] and attacked about 800 poorly armed [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] recruits under the command of Col. [[George A. Porterfield]]. The Union troops had marched all night through a heavy rain storm to arrive just before daylight. The surprise attack awakened the sleeping Confederates. After firing a few shots at the advancing Union troops, the Southerners broke lines and began running frantically to the south, some still in their bed clothes.

The Union victory in a relatively bloodless battle propelled the young [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[George B. McClellan]] into the national spotlight, and he would soon be given command of all Union armies. The battle also inspired more vocal protests in the Western part of Virginia against secession. On 11 June, the second [[Wheeling Convention]] met in that city and Barbour County was again represented by Dayton and Shuttleworth, who were this time joined by N.H. Taft. The Convention nullified the Virginia Ordinance of Secession and named [[Francis H. Pierpont]] governor. These events would eventually result in the separate statehood of West Virginia.