State Flag of Virginia (1861)

     The seal on this flag was adopted during the American Revolution (1775-1783) in 1776. The current state government claims
its use on a flag dating from the 1830's, but the first official adoption appears to have occurred following the Secession Convention,
30 April 1861. It remains the state banner today, albeit with minor modifications (most notably partial nudity in the modern version).
The "Amazon" woman, known as "Virtus", symbolizes the state. The uncrowned and conquered man underfoot, "Tyranny",
holds a whip and chain. The motto "Sic Semper Tyrannis" is Latin for "Thus Always to Tyrants."

Ordinance of Secession of Virginia
(Passed (subject to voter ratification) in the State Capitol at Richmond on 17 April 1861, by a vote of 88-55.
The referendum held 23 May 1861 confirmed it by a vote of 132,201-37,451.)

AN ORDINANCE
to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution.

The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States:

Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain, That the ordinance adopted by the people of this State in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and all acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution aforesaid, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.

And they do further declare, That said Constitution of the United States of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State.

This ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.

Done in Convention, in the City of Richmond, on the seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Ratified, 23 May 1861, by a referendum vote of 132,201 for and 37,451 against.

Virginia Secession Convention Officers
(County of representation is in parentheses.
A ↓ denotes a Delegate who voted in
opposition to the Ordinance of Secession.
To assist in completing full names contact the Historian.)

PRESIDENT

John Janney↓ (LOUDOUN)

SECRETARY

John L. Eubank

Virginia Secession Convention Delegates
(A ↓ denotes a Delegate who voted in opposition to the Ordinance of Secession.
To assist in completing full names contact the Historian.
Counties labeled in light blue were later formed into West Virginia.)

ACCOMAC

KING WILLIAM

William Henry Bagwell Custis↓

Fendall Gregory, Jr.

ALBEMARLE

LEE

James Philemon Holcombe
Valentine Wood Southall

John D. Sharp↓

ALEXANDRIA CITY

LEWIS

George William Brent↓

Caleb Boggess↓

ALLEGHANY & BATH

LOGAN, BOONE &
WYOMING

Thomas Sitlington↓

James Lawson

AMELIA & NOTTOWAY

LOUDOUN

Lewis Edwin Harvie

John Armistead Carter↓

AMHERST

LOUISA

Samuel Meredith Garland

William Marshall Ambler

APPOMATTOX

LUNENBURG

Lewis Daniel Isbell

William James Neblett

AUGUSTA

MADISON

John Brown Baldwin↓
George Baylor↓
Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart↓

Angus Rucker Blakey

BARBOUR

MARION

Samuel Woods

Ephraim Benoni Hall↓
Alpheus F. Haymond↓

BEDFORD

MARSHALL

William Leftwich Goggin
John Goode, Jr.

James Burley↓

BERKELEY

MASON

Allen C. Hammond↓
Edmund Pendleton↓

James Henry Couch↓

BOTETOURT & CRAIG

MATHEWS & MIDDLESEX

William Watson Boyd
Fleming Bowyer Miller

Robert Latane Montague

BRAXTON, CLAY,
NICHOLAS & WEBSTER

MECKLENBURG

Benjamin Wilson Byrne↓

Thomas Francis Goode

BROOKE

MERCER

Campbell Tarr↓

Napoleon B. French

BRUNSWICK

MONONGALIA

James Baugh Mallory

Marshall Mortimer Dent↓
Waitman Thomas Willey↓

BUCKINGHAM

MONROE

William W. Forbes

Allen Taylor Caperton
John Echols

CABELL

MONTGOMERY

William McComas↓

William Ballard Preston

CAMPBELL

MORGAN

Charles Rice Slaughter
John M. Speed

Johnson Orrick

CAROLINE

NELSON

Edmund Taylor Morris

Frederick Mortimer Cabell

CARROLL

NORFOLK

Fielden Lewis Hale

James Gustavus Holladay↓
William White↓

CHARLES CITY, JAMES CITY &
NEW KENT

NORFOLK CITY

John Tyler

George Blow, Jr.

CHARLOTTE

NORTHAMPTON

Wood Bouldin, Sr.

Miers W. Fisher

CHESTERFIELD

OHIO

James Henry Cox

Sherrard Clemens↓
Chester Dorman Hubbard↓

CLARKE

PAGE

Hugh Mortimer Nelson↓

Peter Bock Borst

CULPEPER

PATRICK

James Barbour

Samuel Granville Staples

CUMBERLAND & POWHATAN

PENDLETON

William Campbell Scott

Henry H. Masters↓

DINWIDDIE

PETERSBURG CITY

James Boisseau, Jr.

Thomas Branch

DODDRIDGE & TYLER

PITTSYLVANIA

Chapman Johnson Stuart↓

William T. Sutherlin
William Marshall Tredway

ELIZABETH CITY, WARWICK,
YORK & WILLIAMSBURG

PLEASANTS & RICHIE

Charles King Mallory

Cyrus Hall

ESSEX & KING AND QUEEN

PRESTON

Richard H. Cox

William Guy Brown↓
James Clark McGrew↓

FAIRFAX

PRINCE EDWARD

William H. Dulany↓

John Thruston Thornton

FAUQUIER

PRINCE GEORGE & SURRY

Robert Eden Scott

Timothy Rives

FAYETTE & RALEIGH

PRINCE WILLIAM

Henry L. Gillespie

Eppa Hunton

FLOYD

PRINCESS ANNE

Harvey Deskins

Henry Alexander Wise

FLUVANNA

PULASKI

James Magruder Strange

Benjamin Franklin Wysor

FRANKLIN

PUTNAM

Jubal Anderson Early↓

James William Hoge, Sr.↓

FREDERICK

RANDOLPH & TUCKER

Robert Young Conrad↓
James Marshall↓

John N. Hughes

GILES

RAPPAHANNOCK

Manilius Chapman

Horatio Gates Moffett

GILMER, WIRT &
CALHOUN

RICHMOND & WESTMORELAND

Currence Benjamin Conrad↓

John Critcher

GLOUCESTER

RICHMOND CITY

John Tyler Seawell

Marmaduke Johnson
William Hamilton MacFarland
George Wythe Randolph

GOOCHLAND

ROANOKE

Walter Daniel Leake

George Plater Tayloe

GRAYSON

ROCKBRIDGE

William C. Parks

James Baldwin Dorman
Samuel McDowell Moore↓

GREENBRIER

ROCKINGHAM

Samuel Price↓

Samuel Agustus Coffman
Algernon Sidney Gray↓
John Francis Lewis↓

GREENE & ORANGE

RUSSELL & WISE

Jeremiah Morton

William Ballard Aston

GREENSVILLE & SUSSEX

SCOTT

John Randolph Chambliss, Sr.

Colbert C. Fugate↓
Peter Carr Johnston

HALIFAX

SHENANDOAH

James Coles Bruce
Thomas Stanhope Flournoy

Raphael Morgan Conn
Samuel Croudson Williams

HAMPSHIRE

SMYTH

Edward McCarty Armstrong↓
David Pugh↓

James White Sheffey

HANCOCK

SOUTHAMPTON

George McCandless Porter↓

John Julius Kindred

HANOVER

SPOTSYLVANIA

George William Richardson

John Lawrence Marye, Sr.

HARRISON

TAYLOR

John Snyder Carlile↓

John Sinsell Burdett↓

HENRICO

TAZEWELL, BUCHANAN &
McDOWELL

Williams Carter Wickham↓

William P. Cecil
Samuel Livingston Graham

HENRY

UPSHUR

Peyton Gravely↓

George W. Berlin↓

HIGHLAND

WARREN

George Washington Hull↓

Robert H. Turner

ISLE OF WIGHT

WASHINGTON

Robert Henry Whitfield

John Arthur Campbell

JACKSON & ROANE

WAYNE

Franklin P. Turner

Burwell Spurlock↓

JEFFERSON

WETZEL

Logan Osburn, Sr.↓

Leonard Stout Hall

KANAWHA

WOOD

Spicer Patrick↓
George William Summers↓

John Jay Jackson, Sr.↓

KING GEORGE & STAFFORD

WYTHE

Edward Waller

Robert Craig Kent

Delegates listed below were not part of the 17 April 1861 secession vote proceedings,
but were selected to serve previous to, or after, the Ordinance passage.

FAUQUIER

JEFFERSON

John Quincy Marr

Alfred Madison Barbour

FRANKLIN

LANCASTER &
NORTHUMBERLAND

Peter Saunders, Sr.

Addison Hall

HARDY

NANSEMOND

Thomas Maslin

John Richardson Kilby

HARRISON

POCAHONTAS

Benjamin Wilson

Paul McNeel

WASHINGTON

Robert E. Grant