July 11, 1862
St. George, Tucker County, Va.
At a meeting of the citizens of said county in pursuance of public notice being given, at St. George, on Saturday 5th of July, 1862, for the purpose of restoring peace, friendship and mutual protection to each other.
On motion of A. D. Moore, the Sheriff of this county, Wm. R. Parsons, Esq., was made Chairman, and Enoch Minear, his Associate.
On motion of F. W. Purinton, Dept. Marshal, A. H. Bowman was appointed Secretary.
On motion, F. W. Purinton, Dr. S. Parsons and Abraham Parsons were appointed a committee to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the citizens of Tucker county in regard to our present state of affairs.
The committee retired, and during their absence Capt. Hall, of Rowlesburg, was invited to the stand to more fully explain the objects of the meeting, whereupon he took the stand and in a speech entertained the audience with eloquence and patriotism.
The committee returned and submitted the following preamble and resolutions:
Resolved, That in view of recent raids of guerrillas, horse thieves and desperadoes in the county and vicinity, and in view of prospective incursions from similar sources, we the undersigned citizens do in good faith hereby pledge to each other our mutual aid and protection; and we further promise to frown upon all persons engaged in this diabolical work; that we will refuse them any aid or comfort whatever, and that if necessary we will unite to resist their incursions for murder and plunder by force of arms. Further, it shall be the duty of each man to always be on the alert to gather information concerning guerrillas, and to promptly transmit such intelligence to his neighbors. In case any one of the undersigned is taken prisoner or his property stolen, we consider ourselves in honor bound to make use of every effort to procure the release of the one and the recovery of the other.
Resolved, That any citizen of this vicinity who has an opportunity and refused to unite in this endeavor to put down guerrillas shall be deemed a common enemy of the common cause and undeserving our confidence and protection.
Thereupon the foregoing preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted and subscribed as follows:
Wm. R. parsons, President.
E. Minear, Vice President.
A. H. Bowman, Secretary
A. Parsons, S. Parsons, F. W. Purinton, Committee.
D. K. Domire,
Joseph Nevill,
J. W. parsons,
M. G. Lambert,
James Lipscomb,
Jacob Fansler,
A.H. Long,
J. Lipscomb,
Jno. R. Goff,
G. J. Long,
Wm. W. Hansford,
E. Thornhill.
A.D. Moore,
Wm. E. Long,
J. E. Long,
H. Garlits,
S. R. Fansler,
H. S. Fansler,
Wm. Marsh,
D. Wheeler,
J. Pifer,
D. H. Gilmore,
A. J. Irons,
S. Marsh,
J. H. Long,
John Domire,
J. Kailor,
D. L. Minear,
N. C. Graham,
E. H. James,
D. Harsh,
W. Parsons,
S. E. Parsons,
A. C. Minear,
A. Pifer,
Wm. Bohon.
On motion of Wm. R. Parsons, president, it was ordered that a committee of seven be appointed to wait on the citizens of this county, and obtain the names of all persons desirous of signing these resolutions, and report those who refuse.
Messrs. Abraham Parsons, A. H. Bowman, Andrew Pifer, Jacob Domire, john R. Goff, Thomas Bright and Rufus Maxwell, were duly appointed said committee.
On motion of Capt. Hall, it was ordered that the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Wheeling Intelligencer.
On motion the meeting adjourned sine die.
Wm. R. Parsons, Pres't.
A.H. Bowman, Sec'y.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: July 1862