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Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood
March 1863


March 1

March 2
A meeting of the new state county and district committee was held in Fairmont.

Approximately fifty Confederate prisoners captured near Winchester arrived in Wheeling and were confined at the Atheneum.

March 3
The New State Committee in Preston County met at the office of the county clerk in Kingwood.

A new state meeting was held at Pleasant Hill, Marshall County.

March 4
Jackson County citizens met in Ravenswood and listened to a speech by State Auditor Samuel Crane.

March 5
A new state meeting was held at Slippery Ford, Marshall County.

March 6
A new state meeting was held at the Mouth of Fish Creek in Marshall County.

March 7
An anti-state meeting was held in Triadelphia.

A meeting of new state supporters was held in the Fourth Ward Public School House in Wheeling.

March 8
Members of the Provost Guard got into an altercation with the owner of the Kramer House in Wheeling.

March 9
A Union mass meeting was held at the Lewis County Courthouse in Weston.

A new state meeting was held at the Jackson County Courthouse in Ripley.

At a meeting in Clarksburg, citizens were treated to speeches by Peter G. Van Winkle and Daniel D. T. Farnsworth.

March 10
Speeches were made by Sherrard Clemens and Samuel Crane at Middlebourne, Tyler County.

Supporters of the new state of West Virginia met at Coffee Town in Ohio County.

March 11

March 12
The votes of Union soldiers on the new West Virginia state constitution were taken from March 12-26.

An anti-statehood meeting at Parkersburg was cancelled.

Confederate David Linn, arrested near Romney, was brought to Wheeling and jailed.

The 2nd West Virginia Cavalry began a scout from Camp Piatt through Boone, Wyoming, and Logan counties.

An order was issued requiring persons in Martinsburg to register family members with officials and business operators to obtain authority from officials to continue.

March 13
Adjutant General H. J. Samuels addressed a new state meeting held at Carson District Schoolhouse in Ohio County.

A new state meeting was held at the Forks of Fishing Creek in Wetzel County.

A new state meeting was held at Franklin Schoolhouse in Brooke County.

The Randolph County Central Committee met in the county clerk's office.

March 14
A New State meeting was held at the Pleasants County Courthouse in St. Marys.

A New State meeting was held at the Atheneum in Wheeling.

A New State meeting was held at Cameron in Marshall County.

John Boggs, of Pendleton, wrote to Delegate James Carskadon about recent encounters with rebels.

An order was issued regulating movement of persons and goods between Virginia (Eastern Panhandle) and Maryland.

March 15
Two Union regiments, the 116th Ohio Infantry and 123rd Ohio Infantry, left Romney for Winchester.

March 16
John Hunt Oley of the 8th Virginia Infantry was commissioned colonel of the regiment.

The officers of the 2nd (West) Virginia met at the quartermaster's office at their camp in Beverly.

Union soldiers repulsed an attack on Birch Station.

March 17
The Wheeling Intelligencer published an extensive article defending West Virginia statehood.

An order was issued by the Headquarters Defences of the Upper Potomac requiring persons residing within the Harpers Ferry area to take the oath of allegiance or pass into Confederate lines.

March 18
New state supporters in Brooke County met in Wellsburg.

March 19
Major General Jacob D. Cox stopped at the McLure House in Wheeling.

A new state meeting was held at Grafton.

A new state meeting was held at Bethany in Brooke County.

March 20
A new state meeting was held at the Presbyterian Church in Hollidays Cove.

March 21
A new state meeting was held at West Liberty in Ohio County.

A workingman's meeting in Wheeling passed resolutions in support of the Union.

March 22

March 23
The citizens of Fowler District, Brooke County, held a new state meeting at the Stone School House.

Governor Pierpont issued a proclamation calling on soldiers stationed where elections on the constitution were to be held to do nothing to keep anyone from voting.

March 24
Thirty-two rebels captured in Cabell, Wayne and Logan counties arrived in Wheeling aboard the steamer St. Patrick.

March 25
Congressman Kellian V. Whaley arrived in Wheeling with a number of freed political prisoners.

March 26
The voters of West Virginia approved the revised state constitution by a vote of 28,321 to 572.

March 27
A public meeting was held at the Cabell County Courthouse in Barboursville.

A meeting of unconditional Union men was held at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot in Moundsville.

Confederate troops under General Albert G. Jenkins attacked a Union force stationed at Hurricane Bridge, Putnam County.

March 28
Rebel troops fired on two steamboats on the Kanawha River below Charleston.

March 29
Local militia clashed with Confederate troops in Wyoming County.

March 30
Rebel troops attacked a Union force at Point Pleasant.

March 31

Undated Events, March 1863


Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood

West Virginia Archives and History