March 18, 1862
A Proclamation.
The President of the Confederate States has called for forty thousand additional troops from Virginia. This call affirms that "the exigencies of the public service require, in order to repel the invasion of Virginia, that her men be called out in her defence more speedily than can be done under the operation of the law recently enacted by her Legislation." No call like this has ever been made upon this State in vain. Every nerve must be strung. Every son of Virginia must respond with an ardent zeal to defend the Commonwealth. Those subject to military duty alone are required to perform this service, but gallant volunteers who come with the will to [sic] or die for this great cause will be given a place in our ranks. This war has attained a point which requires brave men and true patriots to leave their homes and grapple sternly with the foe.:We will not tamely submit to degradation or slavery. We will have Virginia independent and all our liberties maintained, or perish in the attempt to secure them.
Therefore, I, John Letcher, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, by virtue of authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws, do hereby require the militia and volunteers of the respective counties and cities named in the schedule hereunto annexed, to repair forthwith to the respective places assigned them without waiting for further orders. Move at once to the places designated.
Commandants of Regiments and Companies will immediately cause their commands to be summoned, employing expresses where necessary, and when assembled, order them with expedition to the nearest railroad line, and thence to the rendezvous and report to the General in command. Regiments will there be consolidated and formed into ten companies to a regiment, with one hundred men to each company.
Field and company officers sufficient for the force that may be assembled, will be assigned according to rank, and the junior officers who have no commands will be considered supernumerary, and be returned to the ranks. Officers in command of detachments en route to places of rendezvous will cause the necessary supplies and transportation for their commands to be furnished, giving to the persons furnishing them certificates of indebtedness, which will be paid by the Auditing Board at Richmond.
Every private having a serviceable firearm of any description in his possession, or who can procure one from a neighbor not liable to duty, will carry it with him. If lost the arms will be paid for by the State. Those who have no arms will be provided with them at the respective rendezvous.
The loyal citizens of the West and Northwest, in counties not herein names, are earnestly invoked to form guerrilla companies and strike, when least expected, once more for the State that gave them birth. With stern resolve and manly courage upholding the flag, and the untarnished fame of the Old Dominion. Scorn the misrule of traitors, who, with usurped authority, are desecrating our soil with a pollution worse than that of the direst enemy, and execute vengeance upon the foe who ack[n]owledges and sustains their treason.
Given under my hand as Governor, and under the seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, this tenth day of March, 1862, and in the eighty-sixth year of the Commonwealth.
John Letcher.
Teste, George W. Munford,
Secretary of the Commonwealth.
To report to Major-General T. J. Jackson, at Winchester.
The forces from the counties of Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, Frederick, Clark, Hampshire, Warren, Shenandoah, Hardy, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Bath, Rockbridge, Alleghany, Botetourt and Craig.
. . .
The Militia of the following counties will not report at present, but hold themselves in readiness to obey orders orders [sic] when issued by Gen. H. Heth or Gen. H. Marshall:
The counties of Giles, Monroe, Greenbrier, Mercer, Tazewell, McDowell, Smythe, Wythe, Wyoming, Washington, Russell, Wise, Buchanan, Scott and Lee.
To rendezvous at Monterey, in Highland county, and to report their presence there for orders, to Gen. Johnson, who is at Camp Alleghany, Highland county:
The forces of the counties of Highland, Pendleton and Pocahontas.
. . .
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: March 1862