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400 Three Springs Drive, Weirton, WV
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Freedom Runaway slaves would rely upon coded stories or songs about places where they could hide for a couple days. People would hang quilts outside with coded messages as to whether it was safe or not to stop, Greathouse said. “They couldn’t stay for more than two days,” Mattox said. Homeowners put themselves in legal jeopardy for harboring a runaway slave. “It was a clandestine operation,” Mattox said. The runway slaves would avoid populated areas, Mattox said. They also would wear disguises
Power to hide themselves and sometimes hid in compartments on wagons to avoid detection, he said. Freedom for the slaves was available by crossing the Ohio River into Ohio. In those days, there was no locks and dams and the river would run shallow at times. Mattox said most of the runaway slaves would escape during the winter, usually around the holidays when they would have a jump on their attempt at freedom. The runaway slaves would hope to walk across the frozen Ohio River.
“Even though it was cold, they would no anything for freedom,” he said. The escaped slaves also would use the river to escape detection from bloodhound dogs that were used to track them down, Mattox said. Mattox said the slave would head north, cross the river and then zigzag north and south towards freedom. Wheeling at the time was the fourth largest city in Virginia and was a regional hub for selling slaves. Auctions were held weekly. Slave owners were a minority in the area that
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became West Virginia. Because of the slave auctions in Wheeling, many runaway slaves avoided direct travel through the city, opting for less populated areas in the Northern Panhandle. Some of the slaves did rely on help of the Wheeling A.M.E. Church. The owner of the Wheeling House Hotel also was believed to have provided sanctuary for the escaped slaves. “We are finding out now that there were stops everywhere,” Mattox said, although confirming those sites are hard to prove because of their secrecy.
arduous and responsible duties of his office. We regret that he is to leave us, but we have the satisfaction of knowing that he is going to a new and important field where his ability and patriotism are still to be devoted to the good of his country. If I shall only be able to discharge the duties of my office with as much satisfaction to the people and honor to myself as my predecessor, I shall expect the approbation of a generous public. I shall, no doubt, often do wrong, this is the lot of man; and while I shall always do that which honesty of purpose and my opinion of the good of the country dictates, I shall expect you to exercise that indulgence which is due to a public officer under the surrounding circumstances.
Vote Continued from Page 29 the amendement and the West Virginia statehood bill passed by a vote of 23-17. Debate in the House of Representatives was also contentious, but on Dec. 10, 1862, the House passed the statehood bill by a vote of 96-55. When President Abraham Lincoln received the statehood bill on Dec. 22, 1862, he asked the six members of his cabinet for written opinions on the constitutionality and expediency of admitting West Virginia to the Union, they divided evenly. Despite reservations, on Dec. 31, 1862, Lincoln signed the bill. In his opinion, he wrote: “Doubtless those in remaining Vir-
ginia would return to the Union, so to speak, less reluctantly without the division of the old state than with it; but I think we could not save as much in this quarter by rejecting the new state, as we should lose by it in West Virginia. We can scarcely dispense with the aid of West Virginia in this struggle; much less can we afford to have her against us, in Congress and in the field. Her brave and good men regard her admission into the Union as a matter of life and death. They have been true to the Union under very severe trials. We have so acted as to justify their hopes; and we can not fully retain their confi-
dence, and co-operation, if we seem to break faith with them.” West Virginia was required to submit the revised constitution containing the Willey Amendment to the Constitutional Convention for approval. The delegates reconvened on Feb. 12, 1863. On February 17, the delegates unanimously approved the amendment. The voters of the new state ratified the revised constitution on March 26 by a vote of 28,321 to 572. Upon receiving the results, President Lincoln issued a proclamation on April 20, 1863, declaring that in 60 days, West Virginia would become the 35th state in the Union.