The debate began shortly after Appomattox and continues to this very day. In the spring of 1861, however, there was one group of Americans who felt war was unnecessary and could be avoided – that group was the Unionists of Virginia. The Unionists were led by John Brown Baldwin, George Summers, John Janney, Alexander H.H. ‘Sandy’ Stuart and included none other than Jubal Early.
They immediately began negotiations with the Lincoln Administration on compromise proposals. . Their key contact was William Henry Seward, Secretary of State in the new Lincoln Cabinet. Based largely on Seward’s assurances, the Unionist coalition voted against an Ordinance of Secession on April 4, 1861 by the widest of margins, 90-45.
Larry Denton, an authority on the secession crisis, tells the story of these heroic men who devised a way to save the nation without a war – and why their plan failed in his new book, UNIONISTS IN VIRGINIA: POLITICS, SECESSION AND THEIR PLAN TO PREVENT CIVIL WAR.
Denton holds a master’s degree, with honors, from Johns Hopkins University where he began his career as Assistant to the Dean. In 1978, he accepted an appointment to serve as Special Assistant to the Associate Administrator of NOAA, a Presidential appointee. Larry Denton is uniquely qualified to lead us to a better understanding of efforts to prevent what for Kent County was a local war in so many ways. Join us for History Happy Hour, 4PM Friday, June 5 at the Bordley History Center, 301 High Street in Chestertown and learn more about our early history.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.