West Virginia Secession Map

This map was originally based on the vote reconstruction by Richard O. Curry in his book "A House Divided, Statehood Politics & the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia", Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1964. However, I have recently (6/12/10) amended the map regarding Harrison County, which is now with a blue center and green edge, because this county either narrowly approved secession, or narrowly rejected it. It was generally accepted that the vote in Harrison County had been 1,691 to 694 against secession. But I have recently learned that most of the original poll books of Harrison County for the May 23, 1861 vote on secession had been located in the archives of West Virginia University in 1985, and the vote on secession tabulated. The results were very surprising-1,022 votes in favor of secession and 1,031 against. The missing poll books would have added another 3-400 votes, so without them we cannot say which way Harrison County voted. I have provided a link to the original article by Dorothy Davis on the "Links" page of this website.