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The1863 West Virginia gubernatorial election was the firstgubernatorial election, held on Thursday, May 28, 1863.UnionistArthur I. Boreman was elected virtually without opposition. This was the first of two gubernatorial elections held inWest Virginia during theAmerican Civil War; 17 counties were occupied byConfederate military forces on Election Day and did not participate in the balloting.
In a contested convention held atParkersburg, West Virginia, the Union Party nominated JudgeArthur I. Boreman over his nearest rival,Peter G. Van Winkle. Despite fissures within the statehood movement driven by the Willey Amendment, anabolitionist proposal backed byU.S. SenatorWaitman T. Willey, no challenge to the Union ticket emerged from either theradical orconservative ends of the party.Secessionists loyal to theConfederacy did not recognize the legitimacy of the new state and consequently did not participate in the campaign.
Boreman received over 99 percent of the vote in 33 participating counties against only three votes for other candidates. Voter turnout was anemic, and newspapers complained of the slowness of the returns; however, by June 13, sufficient returns had been received for officials to certify Boreman's election. He was inaugurated as thefirstgovernor of West Virginia on June 20, 1863, in a ceremony at theLinsly Institute inWheeling alongside other officers of the new state government.
Cultural,economic, and regional differences had long separatedWestern Virginia from the easternTidewater counties that dominated political and economic life inAntebellumVirginia. Slavery dominated the Tidewater, while it had a substantially weaker presence in the western counties, which remained economically underdeveloped.[2] By 1830, the disparity between the sections was such that Western Virginia would have elected a majority of members in theGeneral Assembly if representation were allocated in proportion to the free population, (the "white basis,") but theThree-fifths Compromise and the mass disenfranchisement of lower-class whites allowed eastern slaveholders to dominate the Assembly and state offices, although a minority of the overall population.[3][4] After 1830, the political orientation of theShenandoah Valley shifted eastward as the region became more closely linked to slavery, while Northwestern Virginia grew increasingly alienated from the Tidewater.[5]
Following theelection of Abraham Lincoln and thecommencement of hostilities between the United States and theConfederacy, theVirginia Secession Convention voted to secede from theUnion on April 17, 1861; 26 of the 31 northwestern delegates voted against the ordinance. Western unionists convened theFirst Wheeling Convention on May 13 to discuss options for resistance in the event of Virginia's secession; following approval of the secession ordinance by a popular referendum on May 23, the Second Wheeling Convention issued the "Declaration of the People of Virginia" condemning secession as unconstitutional andtreasonous, declared all state offices vacant, and installedFrancis H. Pierpont as head of theRestored Government of Virginia. The success of theWestern Virginia campaign establishedUnion military control over the region and enabled unionist leaders to adopt and ratify a dismemberment ordinance between August 20 and October 24, beginning the process of formally separating from Virginia.[6]
Although broadly popular in theTrans-Allegheny counties that had voted against secession, the new state movement divided Unionist leaders. Conservatives in the Union Party privately opposed dismemberment and attempted to undermine the statehood movement by annexing a number of secessionist southwestern counties to the proposedState of Kanawha. Ultimately, fifty counties would comprise the new State of West Virginia; counties that had voted against the secession ordinance contributed 60 percent of the population of the new state, while 40 percent lived in secessionist counties, several of which remained under Confederate military occupation.[7]
Unionists were further divided by the requirement, introduced by Congress, that West Virginia abolish slavery as a condition for statehood. Despite the opposition of such prominent Unionists asJohn S. Carlile, the Willey Amendment (so named for its author,U.S. SenatorWaitman T. Willey ofMorgantown, West Virginia) was ratified by voters in March 1863, and West Virginia duly entered the Union on June 20. Nevertheless, the battle over the Willey Amendment permanently divided West Virginian Unionists. Those who had supported the amendment became known asUnconditional Unionists and eventually provided the cornerstone of theRepublican Party in West Virginia, while Carlile and others who argued in defense of slavery in 1863 joined forces withCopperheads in theDemocratic Party to oppose Lincoln's reelection in1864.[8]
From May 6 to 7, 1863, theUnion Party's state convention was held to nominate candidates for multiple political offices. Each county delegation was awarded a number of votes equal to its total white population. For the party's gubernatorial nomination Samuel Crane was nominated by James G. West, Boreman was nominated by E. M. Norton, andPeter G. Van Winkle was nominated by Ben Smith.[9][10]
On the first ballot Van Winkle received a plurality of the vote, but did not receive the nomination due to a majority being required. West withdrew Crane's nomination before the second ballot in which Boreman defeated Van Winkle.[9]
| Candidate | First ballot | Second ballot | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County units | Votes | % | County units | Votes | % | |
| Arthur I. Boreman | 8.317 | 80,886 | 26.67 | 23.002 | 181,185 | 59.70 |
| Peter G. Van Winkle | 16.950 | 135,528 | 44.70 | 16.998 | 122,291 | 40.30 |
| Samuel Crane | 14.532 | 84,144 | 27.74 | |||
| James W. Paxton | 0.200 | 2,636 | 0.87 | |||
| TOTAL | 40 | 303,194 | 100.00 | 40 | 303,476 | 100.00 |
On May 28, 1863, Boreman won the gubernatorial election without opposition.[12]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Arthur I. Boreman | 25,797 | 99.99 | |
| Various | Others | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Total votes | 25,780 | 100.00% | ||
| County | Arthur I. Boreman Union | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Percent | ||
| Barbour | 770 | 100.00 | 770 |
| Berkley | Did not participate | — | |
| Boone | 102 | 100.00 | 102 |
| Braxton | 212 | 100.00 | 212 |
| Brooke | 678 | 100.00 | 678 |
| Cabell | Did not participate | — | |
| Calhoun | Did not participate | — | |
| Clay | Did not participate | — | |
| Doddridge | 742 | 100.00 | 742 |
| Fayette | Did not participate | — | |
| Gilmer | 289 | 100.00 | 289 |
| Greenbrier | Did not participate | — | |
| Hampshire | 135 | 100.00 | 135 |
| Hancock | 418 | 100.00 | 418 |
| Hardy | 91 | 100.00 | 91 |
| Harrison | 2,037 | 100.00 | 2,037 |
| Jackson | 534 | 100.00 | 534 |
| Jefferson | Did not participate | — | |
| Kanawha | 655 | 100.00 | 655 |
| Lewis | 1,184 | 100.00 | 1,184 |
| Logan | Did not participate | — | |
| Marion | 1,428 | 100.00 | 1,428 |
| Marshall | 2,067 | 100.00 | 2,067 |
| Mason | 747 | 100.00 | 747 |
| McDowell | Did not participate | — | |
| Mercer | Did not participate | — | |
| Monongalia | 1,585 | 100.00 | 1,585 |
| Monroe | Did not participate | — | |
| Morgan | 261 | 100.00 | 261 |
| Nicholas | Did not participate | — | |
| Ohio | 2,905 | 100.00 | 2,905 |
| Pendleton | 161 | 100.00 | 161 |
| Pleasants | 239 | 100.00 | 239 |
| Pocahontas | Did not participate | — | |
| Preston | 1,639 | 100.00 | 1,639 |
| Putnam | 232 | 100.00 | 232 |
| Raleigh | Did not participate | — | |
| Randolph | 239 | 100.00 | 239 |
| Ritchie | 667 | 100.00 | 667 |
| Roane | 177 | 100.00 | 177 |
| Taylor | 867 | 100.00 | 867 |
| Tucker | Did not participate | — | |
| Tyler | 720 | 100.00 | 720 |
| Upshur | 879 | 100.00 | 879 |
| Wayne | 289 | 100.00 | 289 |
| Webster | Did not participate | — | |
| Wetzel | 870 | 100.00 | 870 |
| Wirt | 375 | 100.00 | 375 |
| Wood | 1,603 | 100.00 | 1,603 |
| Wyoming | Did not participate | — | |
| TOTAL | 25,797 | 99.99 | 25,780 |
