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James L. Kemper

James L. Kemper

James Lawson Kemper (June 11, 1823 – April 7, 1895) was a lawyer, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and a governor of Virginia. He was the youngest of the brigade commanders, and the only non-professional military officer, in the division that led Pickett's Charge, in which he was wounded and captured. Kemper was born in Mountain Prospect, Madison County, Virginia, brother of F. T. Kemper (the founder of Kemper Military School). His grandfather had served on the staff of George Washington during the American Revolution, but he himself had virtually no military training. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington and Lee College) in 1842, becoming a lawyer. After the start of the Mexican-American War, he enlisted and became a captain and assistant quartermaster in the 1st Virginia Infantry, but he joined the service too late (1847) to see any combat action. By 1858 was a brigadier general in the Virginia Militia. He also served three terms as a Virginia legislator, rising to become the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, where he was a strong advocate of state military preparedness. After the start of the Civil War, Kemper served as a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of Virginia, and then a colonel in the Confederate States Army, commanding the 7th Virginia Infantry starting in May 1862. His regiment was assigned to A.P. Hill's brigade in James Longstreet's division of the Army of the Potomac from June 1861 to March 1862. He saw his first action at the First Battle of Bull Run. After a gallant performance at the Battle of Seven Pines during the Peninsula Campaign, Kemper was promoted to brigadier general on June 3, 1862, and briefly commanded a division in Longstreet's Corps. Upon the return to duty of wounded Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett, Kemper reverted to brigade command, the highest role in which he would serve in combat. At the Second Battle of Bull Run, Kemper's brigade took part in Longstreet's surprise attack against the Union left flank, almost destroying John Pope's Army of Virginia. At the Battle of Antietam he was south of the town of Sharpsburg, defending against Ambrose E. Burnside's assault in the afternoon of September 17, 1862. He withdrew his brigade in the face of the Union advance, exposing the Confederate right flank, and the line was saved only by the hasty arrival of A.P. Hill's division from Harpers Ferry. At the Battle of Fredericksburg, his brigade was held in reserve. In 1863 Kemper's brigade was assigned to Pickett's division in Longstreet's Corps, which means that he was absent from the Battle of Chancellorsville while the corps was assigned to Suffolk, Virginia. But the corps returned to the army in time for the Gettysburg Campaign. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Kemper arrived with Pickett's division late on the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. His brigade was one of the main assault units in Pickett's Charge, advancing on the right flank of Pickett's line (and, thus, on the right flank of the entire assault). After crossing the Emmitsburg Road, his brigade was hit by flanking fire from two Vermont regiments, driving it to the left and disrupting the cohesion of the assault. Kemper rose on his spurs to urge his men forward, shouting "There are the guns, boys, go for them!" This bravado made him a more visible target and he was wounded by a bullet in the abdomen and thigh and captured by Union forces. He was rescued by Confederate forces, but was too critically injured to be transported during the retreat from Gettysburg and was left behind to be treated and recaptured. Newspaper accounts at the time claimed he was killed in action and Robert E. Lee sent condolences to his family. He was exchanged on September 19, 1863. From then until the end of the war he was too ill for combat (the bullet that struck him could not be removed surgically and he suffered from groin pain for the remainder of his life) and commanded the Reserve Forces of Virginia. He was promoted to major general on September 19, 1864. After the war Kemper worked as a lawyer and served as the Governor of Virginia from January 1, 1874, to January 1, 1878. He died in Walnut Hills, Orange County, Virginia, where he is buried.

References


- Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J.: Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3
- Tagg, Larry: The Generals of Gettysburg, Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9 Kemper, James L. Kemper, James L. Kemper, James L. Kemper, James L. Kemper, James L. Kemper, James L. Kemper, James L.

1823

1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- February 3 - First representation of Gioacchino Rossini's Semiramide
- July 15 - Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome almost completely destroyed by fire
- September 10 - Simón Bolívar named President of Peru
- December 2 - Monroe Doctrine: USA separates the spheres of influence between Europe and the Americas.
- Ferdinand VII revokes the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and restores absolute monarchy (See also Mid-nineteenth century Spain)
- The Olbers' paradox is described by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.

Births


- January 1 - Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
- January 8 - Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
- January 27 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
- February 27 - Ernest Renan, French philosopher and writer (d. 1892)
- March 14 - Théodore de Banville, French writer (d. 1891)
- March 20 - Ned Buntline, American publisher, writer, and publicist (d. 1886)
- March 23 - Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
- April 3 - William Marcy Tweed, American political boss (d. 1878)
- April 23 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1861)
- June 21 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873)
- August 13 - Goldwin Smith, English historian (d. 1910)
- December 6 - Friedrich Max Müller, German Orientalist (d. 1900)
- James Black, American temperance movement leader (d 1893)

Deaths


- January 26 - Edward Jenner, English physician and medical researcher (b. 1749)
- February 7 - Ann Radcliffe, English writer (b. 1764)
- March 14 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739)
- June 1 - Louis Nicolas Davout, French marshal (b. 1770)
- August 20 - Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
- August 22 - Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (b. 1753)
- September 11 - David Ricardo, English economist (b. 1772)

See also


- 1823 in the United States Category:1823 ko:1823년 ms:1823 simple:1823

April 7

April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining.

Events


- 529 - first draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I
- 1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu
- 1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
- 1655 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII.
- 1795 - France adopts the metre as the unit of length.
- 1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain.
- 1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
- 1805 - First public performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica).
- 1827 - John Walker (inventor), an English chemist, invents the friction match.
- 1831 - Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favor of his son, Pedro II.
- 1856 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
- 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
- 1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
- 1908 - Herbert Henry Asquith takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
- 1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome petroleum reserves in Wyoming.
- 1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
- 1933 - The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, the first law meant to discriminate specifically against Jews is passed by the National Socialist regime in Germany.
- 1934 - The U.S. Congress passes the Jones-Connally Farm-Relief Act.
- 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
- 1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- 1943 - First synthesis of LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide, by Albert Hoffman
- 1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
- 1945 - Kantaro Suzuki becomes the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan
- 1946 - Syria's independence from Vichy France is officially recognised
- 1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
- 1952 - The manga Astro Boy debuts in the monthly magazine Shōnen.
- 1953 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.
- 1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
- 1955 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- 1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.
- 1964 - IBM announces the System/360
- 1967 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.
- 1968 - Formula One racer Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany.
- 1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
- 1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light
- 1977 - Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox
- 1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
- 1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
- 1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway after a fire. 42 sailors die.
- 1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.
- 1992 - Republika Srpska announces its independence.
- 1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
- 1998 - Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
- 1998 - Singer George Michael is arrested in a Beverly Hills public restroom for "engaging in a lewd act."
- 1999 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
- 2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
- 2001 - An M-17 helicopter crashes into mountain in south of Hanoi, Vietnam killing 16.
- 2003 - US troops capture Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later
- 2005 - The State of Connecticut allows same-sex civil unions.

Births


- 1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
- 1613 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
- 1644 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
- 1648 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)
- 1652 - Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
- 1718 - Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
- 1727 - Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
- 1763 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer
- 1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
- 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
- 1803 - James Curtiss, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
- 1848 - Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
- 1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1951)
- 1867 - Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
- 1870 - Gustav Landauer, German anarchist and revolutionary (d. 1919)
- 1873 - John McGraw, baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
- 1883 - Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
- 1889 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)
- 1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (d. 1958)
- 1893 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)
- 1897 - Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)
- 1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
- 1908 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)
- 1915 - Billie Holiday, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1915 - Henry Kuttner, American writer (d. 1958)
- 1917 - R.G. Armstrong, American actor
- 1918 - Bobby Doerr, baseball player
- 1919 - Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer
- 1920 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sithar player
- 1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban musician (d. 2003)
- 1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
- 1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (d. 2003)
- 1928 - James Garner, American actor
- 1928 - Alan J. Pakula, American producer and director (d. 1998)
- 1929 - Bob Denard, French soldier
- 1930 - Andrew Sachs, British actor
- 1931 - Donald Barthelme, American author
- 1933 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
- 1934 - Ian Richardson, British actor
- 1935 - Bobby Bare, American musician
- 1936 - Jean-Pierre Changuex, French neuroscientist
- 1938 - Jerry Brown, American politician
- 1938 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter
- 1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- 1939 - Sir David Frost, English broadcaster and television host
- 1944 - Julia Phillips, American film producer and writer (d. 2002)
- 1944 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
- 1945 - Joël Robuchon, French chef
- 1946 - Colette Besson, French runner
- 1949 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)
- 1951 - Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong actor
- 1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
- 1955 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- 1956 - Charles Carreon, American lawyer and author
- 1956 - Christopher Darden, American O.J. Simpson prosecuter
- 1961 - Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
- 1962 - Hugh O'Connor, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1962 - Alain Robert, French rock and urban climber
- 1964 - Russell Crowe, New Zealand actor
- 1965 - Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian
- 1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
- 1970 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist
- 1971 - Guillaume Depardieu, French actor, son of Gérard Depardieu
- 1973 - Carole Montillet, French skier
- 1975 - Tiki Barber, New York Giants Running Back (American Football)
- 1979 - Tony Malone, British designer and activist

Deaths


- 858 - Pope Benedict III
- 1307 - Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1271)
- 1498 - King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
- 1614 - El Greco, Greek-born artist (b. 1541)
- 1638 - Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese ruler of Satsuma (b. 1576)
- 1651 - Lennart Torstenson, Swedish soldier and engineer (b. 1603)
- 1658 - Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic (b. 1595)
- 1661 - William Brereton, English soldier and politician (b. 1604)
- 1663 - Francis Cooke, Mayflower pilgrim
- 1668 - William Davenant, English poet (b. 1606)
- 1719 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French saint (b. 1651)
- 1739 - Dick Turpin, English highwayman (hanged) (b. 1706)
- 1747 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshall (b. 1676)
- 1761 - Thomas Bayes English mathematician (b. 1702)
- 1766 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
- 1767 - Franz Sparry, composer (b. 1715)
- 1782 - Taksin, King of Thailand (b. 1734)
- 1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1725)
- 1789 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (b. 1722)
- 1801 - Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (b. 1724)
- 1823 - Jacques Charles, French chemist (b. 1746)
- 1833 - Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish politician (b. 1775)
- 1836 - William Godwin, English political writer (b. 1756)
- 1850 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
- 1858 - Anton Diabelli, Austrian music publisher, editor, and composer (b. 1781)
- 1871 - Alexander Lloyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- 1885 - Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
- 1891 - P. T. Barnum, American circus impresario (b. 1810)
- 1928 - Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher (b. 1873)
- 1939 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
- 1943 - Jovan Ducic, Serbian poet
- 1943 - Alexandre Millerand, President of France (b. 1859)
- 1947 - Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer and industrialist (b. 1863)
- 1950 - Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (b. 1884)
- 1955 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- 1968 - Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
- 1981 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
- 1984 - Frank Church, U.S. Senator from Idaho (b. 1924)
- 1986 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- 1990 - Ronald Evans, astronaut (b. 1933)
- 1994 - Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic professional football player and politician (b. 1923)
- 1994 - Golo Mann, German historian (b. 1909)
- 1994 - Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
- 1997 - Witto Aloma, baseball player (b. 1923)
- 1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- 1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
- 2001 - David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
- 2001 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
- 2002 - John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
- 2005 - Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances


- Araw ng Kagitingan was moved this year from April 9 to April 7 to give the residents a long weekend and help tourism in the Philippines.
- World Health Day - April 7th of every year is designated as World Health Day and celebrated by the 191 member countries of the World Health Organization to emphasize significant issues in public health of worldwide concern. Observed annually since 1948.
- Mozambique - Women's Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/7 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/7 Today in History: April 7] ---- April 6 - April 8 - March 7 - May 7 -- listing of all days ko:4월 7일 ms:7 April ja:4月7日 simple:April 7 th:7 เมษายน

Confederate

:For other meanings of confederate and confederacy, see confederacy (disambiguation) The Confederate States of America—also referred to as the Confederate States, CSA, the Confederacy and Dixie (colloquially)—was a splinter nation off the United States of America that existed between 1861 and 1865. It was located in North America, occupying the south-eastern portions of the current United States. As its existence was contested by the United States for the whole of its short-lived history, there was never a definitive delineation of Confederate States' northern boundary. Its southern land boundary was with Mexico. It was otherwise bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. For most of its life the Confederacy was engaged in the Civil War against the Union forces, mostly in defense. However, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee, also made limited incursions into Union territory.

History

The Confederate States were formed on February 4, 1861, by six Southern slave states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana) after confirmation of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. Jefferson Davis was selected as its first President the next day. Texas joined the Confederacy on March 2 and then replaced its governor, Sam Houston, when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. These seven states seceded1 from the United States and took control of military/naval installations, ports, and custom houses within their boundaries, triggering the American Civil War. A month after the Confederacy was formed, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States. In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, that it was a binding contract, and called the secession "legally void". He stated he had no intent to invade southern states, but would use force to maintain possession of federal property and collection of various federal taxes, duties and imposts. His speech closed with a plea for restoration of the bonds of union. On April 12 South Carolina troops fired upon the Federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina until the troops surrendered. Following the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for all remaining states in the Union to send troops to recapture Sumter and other forts, defend the capital, and preserve the Union. Most Northerners believed that a quick victory for the Union would crush the nascent rebellion, and so Lincoln only called for volunteers for 90 days. This resulted in four more states voting to secede: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy for a total of 11. Once Virginia seceded, the Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia The government of Kentucky remained in the Union after a short-lived attempt at neutrality, but a rival faction from that state was also accepted as members of the Confederacy. A more complex situation surrounds the Missouri Secession, but in any event Missouri was also considered a member of the Confederate States. The number of Confederate states is thus sometimes considered to be 13. The five tribal governments of the Indian Territory—which became Oklahoma in 1907—also mainly supported the Confederacy. The southern part of New Mexico Territory (including parts of the Gadsden Purchase) joined with the Confederacy as Arizona Territory. These first settlers petitioned the Confederate government for annexation of their lands, prompting an expedition in which territory south of the 34th parallel was governed by the Confederacy. Arizona troops were also officially recognized within the armies of the Confederacy. Preceding his New Mexico Campaign, General Sibley issued a proclamation to the people of New Mexico his intentions of taking possession of the territory in the name of the Confederate States. Confederate troops briefly occupied the territorial capital of Santa Fe between March 13 and April 8, 1862. Not all jurisdictions where slavery was still legal joined the Confederacy. In 1861 martial law was declared in Maryland (the state which borders the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., on three sides) to block attempts at secession. Delaware, also a slave state, never considered secession, nor did the capital of the U.S., Washington, D.C.. In 1861, during the war, a unionist rump legislature in Wheeling, Virginia seceded from Virginia, claiming 48 counties, and joined the United States in 1863 as the state of West Virginia, with a constitution that would have gradually abolished slavery[http://www.ls.net/~newriver/va/vasecesh.htm]. Similar attempts to secede from the Confederacy in parts of other states (notably in eastern Tennessee) were held in check by Confederacy declarations of martial law[http://www.aotc.net/Marxen.htm][http://web.utk.edu/~jharvey2/kville%20before%20siege.htm]. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by General Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 is generally taken as the end of the Confederate States. President Davis was captured at Irwinville, Georgia on May 10 and the remaining Confederate armies surrendered by June 1865. The last Confederate flag was hauled down on CSS Shenandoah on November 6, 1865.

Government and politics

Constitution

1865 The Confederate States Constitution provides much insight into the motivations for secession from the Union. Based to a certain extent on both the Articles of Confederation and on the United States Constitution, it reflected a stronger philosophy of states' rights, curtailing the power of the central authority, and also contained explicit protection of the institution of slavery, though international slave trading was prohibited. It differed from the US Constitution chiefly by addressing the grievances of the secessionist states against the federal government of the United States. For example, the Confederate government was prohibited from instituting protective tariffs, making southern ports more attractive to international traders. Prior to the declarations of secession, most southerners regarded protective tariffs as a measure that enriched the northern states at the expense of the south. The Confederate government was also prohibited from using revenues collected in one state for funding internal improvements in another state. At the same time, however, much of the Confederate constitution was a word-for-word duplicate of the US one. At the drafting of the Constitution of the Confederacy, a few radical proposals such as allowing only slave states to join and the reinstatement of the Atlantic slave trade were turned down. The Constitution specifically did not include a provision allowing states to secede, since the southerners considered this to be a right intrinsic to a sovereign state which the United States Constitution had not required them to renounce, and thus including it as such would have weakened their original argument for secession. The President of the Confederacy was to be elected to a six-year term and could not be reelected. The only president was Jefferson Davis; the Confederacy was defeated by the federal government before he completed his term. One unique power granted to the Confederate president was the ability to subject a bill to a line item veto, a power held by some state governors. The Confederate Congress could overturn either the general or the line item vetoes with the same two thirds majorities that are required in the US Congress. Printed currency in the forms of bills and stamps was authorized and put into circulation, although by the individual states in the Confederacy's name. The government considered issuing Confederate coinage. Plans, dies and 4 "proofs" were created, but a lack of bullion prevented any public coinage. Although the preamble refers to "each State acting in its sovereign and independent character", it also refers to the formation of a "permanent federal government". Also, although slavery was protected in the constitution, it also prohibited the importation of new slaves from outside the Confederacy (except from slaveholding states or territories of the United States).

Capital

US Congress The capital of the Confederacy was Montgomery, Alabama, from February 4, 1861, until May 29, 1861, when it was moved to Richmond, Virginia (named the new capital on May 6, 1861). Shortly before the end of the war, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond with plans to relocate further south to Atlanta, Georgia, or to Columbia, South Carolina, but little came of this before Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and Danville, Virginia, served from April 3 to April 10, 1865, as the last capital of the Confederacy.

International diplomacy and legal status

The legal status of the Confederate Government was a subject of extensive debate throughout its existence and for many years after the war. During its existence, the Confederate government conducted negotiations with several European powers (including France and the United Kingdom). The Confederacy received formal diplomatic recognition only from Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the ruler of a minor German principality. The UK came close to recognizing the Confederacy during the Trent Affair and began preparations to offer mediation along with France (due to Emperor Napoleon III's project, the Mexican Empire), but both nations backed away after the Battle of Antietam and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Throughout the war most European powers adopted a policy of neutrality, meeting informally with Confederate diplomats but withholding diplomatic recognition. In its place, they applied international law principles that recognized the Northern and Southern sides of the war as belligerents. Canada allowed both Confederate and Union agents to work openly within its borders and some state governments in northern Mexico negotiated regional agreements to cover trade on the Texas border. For the four years of its existence, the Confederacy asserted its independence and appointed dozens of diplomatic agents abroad. The Northern government, by contrast, asserted that the southern states were provinces in rebellion and refused any formal recognition of their status. Telling of this dispute, the Confederate Government responded to the hostilities by formally declaring war on the United States while the Union Government conducted its war efforts under a proclamation of blockade and rebellion by President Lincoln. Mid-war negotiations between the two sides occurred without formal political recognition, though the laws of war governed military relationships. Four years after the war the United States Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White that secession was unconstitutional and legally null. The court's opinion was rendered by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, the former Treasury Secretary under Lincoln. Chase's opinion was immediately attacked and remains controversial to this day. Critics such as Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens penned subsequent legal arguments in favor of secession's legality, most notably Davis' Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.

Confederate flags

Image:Starsnbars.png|1st National
"Stars and Bars" Image:Stainlessbanner.png|2nd National
"Stainless Banner" Image:navaljack.png|Naval Jack Image:battleflag.png|Battle Flag
"Southern Cross"
The official flag of the Confederacy, and the one actually called the "Stars and Bars", has seven stars, for the seven states that initially formed the Confederacy. This flag was sometimes hard to distinguish from the Union flag under battle conditions, so the Confederate battle flag, the "Southern Cross", became the one more commonly used in military operations. The Southern Cross has 13 stars, adding the four states that joined the Confederacy after Fort Sumter, and the two states of Kentucky and Missouri (See Missouri Secession) with competing unionist and secessionist governments that were admitted to the Confederacy. As a result of its depiction in 20th century popular media, the "Southern Cross" is a flag commonly associated with the Confederacy today. The actual "Southern Cross" is a square-shaped flag, but the more commonly seen rectangular flag is actually the flag of the First Tennessee Army, also known as the Naval Jack because it was first used by the Confederate Navy.

Political leaders of the Confederacy

Executive


Legislative


- Confederate Congress
  - Provisional Confederate Congress
  - First Confederate Congress
  - Second Confederate Congress

Judicial

A judicial branch of the government was outlined in the C.S. Constitution but the would-be Supreme Court of the Confederate States was never created or seated because of the ongoing war.[http://www.als.edu/lib/editor.cfm?ID=223] Some lower district courts were, however, established within some of the individual states of the Confederacy; namely, AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, TN, TX & VA (and possibly others). At the end of the war, U.S. district courts resumed jurisdiction.[http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/021.html] The state and local courts generally continued to operate as they had been, simply recognizing the CSA rather than the USA as the national government.[http://www.als.edu/lib/editor.cfm?ID=223]

Geography

Supreme Court of the Confederate States The Confederate States had a total of 2,919 miles (4,698 kilometers) of coastline. A large portion of its territory lay on the sea coast, and with level and sandy ground. The interior portions were hilly and mountainous and the far western territories were deserts. The lower reaches of the Mississippi River bisected the country, with the western half often referred to as the Trans-Mississippi. The highest point (excluding Arizona and New Mexico) was Guadalupe Peak in Texas at 8,750 feet (2,667 meters). Most of the area of the Confederate States had a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. The climate varied to semiarid steppe and arid desert west of longitude 96 degrees west. The Confederate States was less urbanized than the northern states, with only New Orleans showing up in the list of top 10 U.S. cities in the 1860 census. Only 15 cities (excluding those in Kentucky and Missouri) ranked among the top 100 US cities in 1860. The population of Richmond swelled after it became the national capital, reaching an estimated 128,000 in 1864.

Economy

The Confederate States had an agrarian-based economy that relied heavily on slavery plantations. The main products of the CSA were cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar cane, with some cattle and much grain. The states that formed the CSA (excluding Missouri and Kentucky) produced $155 million in manufactured goods in 1860; their main products were flour and meal, lumber, processed tobacco, cotton goods and turpentine. The CSA adopted a free trade policy, but this was undermined by the Union blockade. The lack of adequate financial resources led the Confederacy to finance the war through printing money, which in turn led to high inflation.

Armed Forces

The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised the following three branches:
- Confederate States Army
- Confederate States Navy
- Confederate States Marine Corps The Confederate military leadership was almost entirely composed of veterans from the United States Army and U.S. Navy who had resigned their federal commissions and had been appointed to senior positions in the Confederate armed forces. The Confederate officer corps was composed mostly of southern gentry, and the Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, many colleges of the south (such as the Virginia Military Institute) maintained cadet corps that were seen as a breeding ground for Confederate military leadership. A naval academy was established in 1863 onboard CSS Patrick Henry in the James River, but no midshipmen had graduated by the time the Confederacy collapsed. The rank and file of the Confederate armed forces consisted of white males with an average age between 16 and 28. Towards the end of the Civil War, boys as young as 12 were fighting in combat roles and the Confederate Armed Forces had even sponsored an all-black regiment with measures underway to offer freedom to slaves who voluntarily served in the Confederate military.

Military leaders of the Confederacy

James River
- Robert E. Lee (Virginia) - General and Military Commander-in-Chief
- Albert Sidney Johnston (Kentucky) - General
- Joseph E. Johnston (Virginia) - General
- Braxton Bragg (North Carolina) - General
- P.G.T. Beauregard (Louisiana) - General
- Samuel Cooper (New Jersey) - General (Adjutant General and highest ranking general in the Army)
- James Longstreet (South Carolina) - Lt. General
- Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (Virginia) - Lt. General
- A.P. Hill (Virginia) - Lt. General
- John Bell Hood (Texas) - Lt. General
- Wade Hampton (South Carolina) Lt. General
- Nathan Bedford Forrest (Tennessee) - Lt. General
- J.E.B. Stuart (Virginia) - Maj. General
- Edward Porter Alexander (Georgia) - Brig. General
- Franklin Buchanan (Maryland) - Admiral
- Raphael Semmes (Maryland) - Rear Admiral
- French Forrest (Maryland) - Acting Assistant Secretary of the Confederate Navy
- Josiah Tattnall (Georgia) - Commodore
- Stand Watie (Indian Territory, now Oklahoma) - Brigadier General (last to surrender)
- Leonidas Polk (Tennessee & Louisiana) - Bishop & General
- Jubal Anderson Early (Virginia)- Lt. General

Significant dates

NOTE: According to the New York Public Library Desk Reference, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina were all readmitted June 25, 1868, and Georgia was readmitted a second time on July 15, 1870.

See also


- Nullification Crisis of 1832
- Flags of the Confederate States of America
- Seal of the Confederate States of America
- Military history of the Confederate States
- Stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
- Origins of the American Civil War
- Border states
- Robert E. Lee
- Federalism

Further reading


-

External links


- Civil War Research & Discussion Group - [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FieldsOfConflict/ Fields Of Conflict] - Containing 1000+ Links And 350+ Articles.
- [http://www.americascaesar.com/ America's Caesar: The Decline and Fall of Republican Government in the United States of America], 2005, an online book detailing the events which led up to and followed the War Between the States
- [http://www.confederatereprint.com/ The Confederate Reprint Company], offers the largest internet selection of paperback reprints of rare and out-of-print Confederate literature
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/JK9708x1864/ An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Luxuries, or of Articles not Necessary or of Common Use], 1864, a Confederate Congress document
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/canu/ Confederate States of Am. Army and Navy Uniforms], 1861
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/AP2xC84/ The Countryman, 1862-1866], published weekly by Turnwold, Ga., edited by J.A. Turner
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/ccsus/ The Federal and the Confederate Constitution Compared]
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/F206xS727xv9/ The Making of the Confederate Constitution], by A. L. Hull, 1905.
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/JK4725x1861xA25/ Official Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana], November, 1861
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E468x7xM647/ Photographic History of the Civil War, 10 vols., 1912.]
- [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/cw/17609.htm Preventing Diplomatic Recognition of the Confederacy]
- [http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html DocSouth: Documenting the American South] - numerous online text, image, and audio collections.
- [http://www.archontology.org/nations/csa/ Confederate States of America: Heads of State: 1861-1865]
- [http://www.dixienet.org/ The League of the South] Category:American Civil War ja:アメリカ連合国

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is one of the original thirteen states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, and is part of the South. It is one of four states that use the name commonwealth. Virginia was the first part of the Americas to be colonized permanently by England. Virginia's U.S. postal abbreviation is VA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Va. Kentucky and West Virginia were part of Virginia at the time of the founding of the United States; but the former was admitted to the Union as a separate state in 1792, while the latter broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. Virginia is known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents, more than any other state. Five of them were re-elected to a second term: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and Woodrow Wilson. William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Zachary Taylor round out the list of American Presidents from the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Harrison and Taylor died while in office.)

History

Native Americans

At the time of the English colonization of Virginia, among Native American people living in what now is Virginia were the Cherokee, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottaway, Pamunkey, Pohick, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Saponi, and Tuscarora. The natives are often divided into three groups. The largest group are known as the Algonquian who numbered over 10,000. The other groups are the Iroquoian (numbering 2,500) and the Siouan. [http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/vahistory/tribes.html]

Virginia Colony: 1607–1776

At the end of the 16th century, when Great Britain began to colonize North America, Virginia was the name that Queen Elizabeth I of England (who was known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married) gave to the whole area explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along the coast of North America, eventually applying to the whole coast from South Carolina to Maine. The London Virginia Company became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. It swiftly financed the first permanent English settlement in the New World, which was at Jamestown, named in honor of King James I, in the Virginia Colony, in 1607, which settlement was founded by Captian Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith. Its Second Charter was officially ratified on May 23, 1609. Jamestown was the original capital of the Virginia Colony, and remained so until the State House burned (not the first time) in 1698. After the fire, the colonial capital was moved to nearby Middle Plantation, which was renamed Williamsburg in honor of William of Orange, King William III. Virginia was given its nickname, "The Old Dominion", by King Charles II of England at the time of the Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War.

A new state

In 1780, during the American Revolutionary War, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who was afraid that Williamsburg's location made it vulnerable to a British attack. In the autumn of 1781, American troops trapped the British on the Yorktown peninsula in the famous Battle of Yorktown. This prompted a British surrender on October 19, 1781, formally ending the war and securing the former colonies' independence, even though sporadic fighting continued for two years. Patrick Henry served as the first Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779, and again from 1784 to 1786. On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Convention adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that influenced the Bill of Rights added later to the United States Constitution. On June 29, 1776, the convention adopted a constitution that established Virginia as a commonwealth independent of the British Empire. In 1790 both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, but in an Act of the U.S. Congress dated July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac that had been ceded by Virginia was retroceded to Virginia effective 1847, and is now Arlington County and part of the City of Alexandria.

American Civil War

Virginia is one of the states that seceded from the Union to become the Confederacy during the Civil War. When it did, some counties were separated as Kanawha (later renamed West Virginia), an act which was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1870. More battles were fought on Virginia soil than anywhere else in America during the Civil War. Virginia formally rejoined the Union on January 26, 1870, after a period of post-war military rule.

20th century

When Douglas Wilder was elected Governor of Virginia on January 13, 1990, he became the first African-American to serve as Governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction.

Law and government

The capital is Richmond: the current Governor is Mark Warner, a Democrat. Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, is the governor-elect. Previous capitals included Jamestown (1609–1699) and Williamsburg (1699–1780). The Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond was designed by Thomas Jefferson and the cornerstone was laid by Governor Patrick Henry in 1785. In colonial Virginia, the lower house of the legislature was called the House of Burgesses. Together with the Governor's Council, the House of Burgesses made up the General Assembly. The Governor's Council was composed of 12 men appointed by the British Monarch to advise the Governor. The Council also served as the General Court of the colony, a colonial equivalent of a Supreme Court. Members of the House of Burgesses were chosen by all those who could vote in the colony. Each county chose two people or burgesses to represent it, while the College of William and Mary and the cities of Norfolk, Williamsburg, and Jamestown each chose one burgess. The Burgesses met to make laws for the colony and set the direction for its future growth; the Council would then review the laws and either approve or disapprove them. The approval of the Burgesses, the Council, and the Governor was needed to pass a law. The idea of electing burgesses was important and new. It gave Virginians a chance to control their own government for the first time. At first the burgesses were elected by all free men in the colony. Women, indentured servants, and Native Americans could not vote. Later the rules for voting changed, making it necessary for men to own at least fifty acres (200,000 m²) of land in order to vote. Founded in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. Today, the General Assembly is made up of the Senate and the House of Delegates. Like many other states, by the 1850s Virginia featured a state legislature, several executive officers, and an independent judiciary. By the time of the Constitution of 1901, which lasted longer than any other state constitution, the General Assembly continued as the legislature, the Supreme Court of Appeals acted as the judiciary, and the eight elected executive officers were the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, State Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration. The Constitution of 1901 was amended many times, notably in the 1930s and 1950s, before it was abandoned in favour of more modern government, with fewer elected officials, reformed local governments and a more streamlined judiciary. Virginia currently functions under the 1970 Constitution of Virginia. It is the state's ninth constitution. Under the Constitution, the State Government is composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch or state legislature is the Virginia General Assembly, a bicameral body whose 140 members make all state laws. Members of the Virginia House of Delegates serve two-year terms, while members of the Virginia Senate serve four-year terms. The General Assembly also selects the state's Auditor of Public Accounts. The statutory law enacted by the General Assembly is codified in the Code of Virginia. The executive branch comprises the Governor of Virginia, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and the Attorney General of Virginia. All three officers are separately elected to four-year terms in years following Presidential elections (1997, 2001, 2005, etc) and take office in January of the following year. The Governor serves as chief executive officer of the Commonwealth and as Commander-in-Chief of the State Militia. State law forbids any Governor from serving consecutive terms. The Lieutenant Governor serves as President of the Senate of Virginia and is first in the line of succession to the Governor. The Attorney General is chief legal advisor to the Governor and the General Assembly, chief lawyer of the state and the head of the Department of Law. The Attorney General is second in the line of succession to the Governor. Whenever there is a vacancy in all three executive offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, then the Speaker of the House of the Virginia House of Delegates becomes Governor. The Office of the Governor's Secretaries helps manage the Governor's Cabinet, comprised of the following individuals, all appointed by the Governor:
- Governor's Chief of Staff
- Secretary of Administration
- Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry
- Secretary of Commerce and Trade
- Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Finance
- Secretary of Health and Human Resources
- Secretary of Natural Resources
- Secretary of Public Safety
- Secretary of Technology
- Secretary of Transportation
- Assistant to the Governor for Commonwealth Preparedness The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia Court of Appeals, the General District Courts and the Circuit Courts. The Virginia Supreme Court, composed of the chief justice and six other judges is the highest court in the Commonwealth (although, as with all the states, the U.S. Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over decisions by the Virginia Supreme Court involving substantial questions of U.S. Constitution law or constitutional rights). The Chief Justice and the Virginia Supreme Court also serve as the administrative body for the entire Virginia court system. The 95 counties and the 39 independent cities all have their own governments, usually a county board of supervisors or city council which choose a city manager or county administrator to serve as a professional, non-political chief administrator under the council-manager form of government. There are exceptions, notably Richmond, Virginia, which has a popularly-elected Mayor who serves as chief executive separate from the city council.

Political control

After William Mahone and the Readjuster Party lost control of Virginia politics around 1883, the Democratic Party held a strong majority position of state and federal offices for over 85 years. In 1970, Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. became the first Republican governor in the 20th century. In the years thereafter, Republicans made substantial gains, and for a time, controlled both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as well as the Governorship from 1994 until 2002.
- Republicans hold both seats in the U.S. Senate, 8 of 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, hold a majority in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate, and a Republican is Virginia's Lieutenant Governor-Elect. A republican is also temporarily serving as attorney general having been appointed to fill the seat left by Jerry Kilgore. However, the recent election for attorney general to fill the open seat has not been decided and a recount will occur to determine the election.
- Democrats control the remaining 3 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Governor and Governor-Elect are both Democrats. The Democrats have steadily been gaining seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and may soon take control, however the State Senate will likely remain under Republican Leadership. Incumbent Virginia governors cannot run for re-election under the state constitution and In the November 2005 election, the race to succeed Democratic Governor Mark Warner, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine beat Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (Scott County), and State Senator Russ Potts (Winchester) (longtime Republican) running as an independent. Kaine will become governor of the state at his inauguration on January 14, 2006.

Geography

2006 2006 Virginia is bordered by West Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia (across the Potomac River) to the north, by Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, and by Kentucky and West Virginia to the west. The Chesapeake Bay divides the state, with the eastern portion (called 'the Eastern Shore of Virginia'), a part of the Delmarva Peninsula, completely separate (an exclave) from the rest of the state. Geographically, Virginia is divided into the following 5 regions:
- Tidewater - Stretching from the Atlantic coast to the fall line
- Piedmont - East of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Tidewater Region
- Blue Ridge Mountains - East of the Appalachian Mountains to the Blue Ridge Mountain Region
- Valley and Ridge - Appalachian Mountains and Shenandoah Valley Region
- Appalachian Plateau - West of the Appalachian Mountains Virginia's long east-west axis means that metropolitan northern Virginia lies much closer to New York and New England than to the rural western panhandle of its own state. Conversely, Lee County, at the tip of the panhandle, is closer to 8 state capitals than it is to Richmond.

Demographics

As of 2004, Virginia's population was estimated to be 7,459,827. The state had a foreign-born population of 679,500 (9.1% of the state population), of which an estimated 100,000 were illegal aliens (15% of the foreign-born). The state's population increased by 1.3 million between 1990 and 2004, a growth of 21% Race and Ancestry
The racial makeup of the state:
- 70.2% White non-Hispanic
- 19.6% Black
- 4.7% Hispanic
- 3.7% Asian
- 0.3% Native American
- 2% Mixed race The five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African American (19.6%), German (11.7%), American (11.2%), English (11.1%), Irish (9.8%). Historically, as the largest and wealthiest colony and state and the birthplace of Southern and American culture, a large proportion (about half) of Virginia's population was made up of black slaves who worked the state's tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. The twentieth century Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North reduced Virginia's black population to about 20 percent. Today Blacks are concentrated in the eastern and southern tidewater and piedmont regions where plantation agriculture was most dominant. The western mountains are populated primarily by people of British and American ancestry. People of German descent are present in sizable numbers in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley. And due to recent immigration, there is a rapidly growing population of Hispanics (particularly Central Americans) and Asians in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. 6.5% of Virginia's population were reported as under 5, 24.6% under 18, and 11.2% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Virginia are:
- Christian – 84%
  - Protestant – 69%
    - Baptist – 32%
    - Methodist – 8%
    - Episcopal – 3%
    - Presbyterian – 3%
    - Other Protestant or general Protestant – 23%
  - Roman Catholic – 14%
  - Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 2%
- Non-Religious – 12%

Economy

Virginia's economy has long been regarded as one of the better-balanced in the United States with diverse sources of income, including military installations concentrated in the Hampton Roads area, tobacco and peanut farming all through Southside Virginia, manufacturing and transportation, and the location of Northern Virginia as a bedroom community for the federal government and its vendors. Virginia, arguably the wealthiest southern state before the Civil War, recovered from the civil war and the Great Depression much faster than the rest of the south. Today it is still significantly wealthier than the rest of the south, although much of that is from the northern influence around Washington D.C.

Transportation

Northern Virginia Virginia is served by a network of Interstate Highways, arterial highways, several limited access tollways, bridges, tunnels, and three bridge-tunnel complexes. The [http://www.springfieldinterchange.com/ Springfield Interchange Project] (also known as "The Mixing Bowl") and the replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, two of the country's largest highway improvement projects, are taking place in the state ten miles apart. Major airports are located in these areas: Northern Virginia (Reagan-National and Dulles), Richmond-Petersburg (Richmond), Virginia Peninsula (Newport News), South Hampton Roads (Norfolk), and the Roanoke Valley (Roanoke). Virginia has extensive waterways. In addition to the lower portion of the Chesapeake Bay, navigable rivers include the Elizabeth River at Hampton Roads, the James River, the York River, the Rappahannock River, and the Potomac River. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway passes through eastern Virginia. Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. The Washington Metro serves Northern Virginia as far west as Fairfax County.

Sports

Virginia is by far the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the close proximity of Washington, D.C. which has franchises in all four major sports, and the lack of any dominant city or market within the state. An attempt to bring a National Hockey League expansion franchise to Hampton Roads in the 1990s was rejected by the NHL. A proposal to relocate the Montreal Expos to Northern Virginia was considered by Major League Baseball, but MLB eventually settled on the national capital as the Expos' new home. Virginia is home to many minor league clubs, especially in baseball and soccer.

Baseball


- Bluefield Orioles (Appalachian League)
- Bristol White Sox (Appalachian League)
- Danville Braves (Appalachian League)
- Lynchburg Hillcats (Carolina League)
- Norfolk Tides (International League)
- Potomac Nationals (Carolina League)
- Pulaski Blue Jays (Appalachian League)
- Richmond Braves (International League)
- Salem Avalanche (Carolina League)
- [http://www.winchesterroyals.com Winchester Royals] ([http://www.valleyleaguebaseball.com Valley League])

Basketball


- Roanoke Dazzle (NBDL)

Ice hockey


- Norfolk Admirals (AHL)
- Richmond RiverDogs (UHL)
- Roanoke Valley Vipers (UHL)

Indoor football


- Richmond Bandits (AIFL)

Soccer


- Chesapeke A