March 1, 1865
A DIRECT BLOW AT THE REBELS:A Bill is now before the House of Delegates which proposes to prohibit Rebels and disloyal citizens from holding any office, either civil or military in this State. It provides that no person who has heretofore voluntarily borne arms, or who may hereafter voluntarily bear arms or engage in armed hostility against the Government of the United States, or of the State of West Virginia, or give aid or assistance to the so-called Southern Confederacy, shall be eligible for any office, either civil or military, within this State. No person who voted for the Ordinance of Secession in the year 1861, and then went into the service of the United States and has been or may be honorably discharged, shall be embraced in this act, if he has volunteered prior to the passage of this act. Any person who may hold or attempt to hold any office within this State, contrary to this act, on being duly convicted thereof, shall be fined, in the circuit court of his county, not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, at the discretion of the jury. When any such fines shall be impose, the cost shall first be paid out of the same and the remainder go into the free school fund of the county in which such fine is imposed. Any person now holding office who may have been guilty of any crime named in this act, shall be dismissed from the same by the Governor's order, and his place supplied by a new election, at the earliest time possible, according to law.
House Bill No. 77.
Wheeling: John F. M'Dermot, Public Printer. 1865.
A bill to prohibit Rebels and disloyal citizens from holding any office, either civil or military, in this State.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
1. That no person who has heretofore voluntarily borne arms, or who may hereafter voluntarily bear arms or engage in armed hostility against the Government of the United States, or of the State of West Virginia, or give aid or assistance to the so-called Southern Confederacy, shall be eligable to any office, either civil or military, within this State.
2. No person who voted for the Ordinance of Secession in the year 1861, and then went into the service of the United States and has been or may be honorably discharged, shall be embraced in this act if he has volunteered prior to the passage of this act.
3. Any person who may hold or attempt to hold any office within this State contrary to this act, on being duly convicted thereof shall be fined, in the circuit court of his county,
4. When any such fines shall be imposed, the cost shall first be paid out of the same and the remainder go into the free school fund of the county in which such fine is imposed.
5. Any person now holding office who may have been guilty of any crime named in this act, shall be dismissed from the same by the governor's order, and his office supplied by a new election, at the earliest time possible, according to law.
. . . House Bill No. 77, was read the second time, and on motion of Mr. Ferguson, the House resolved itself into Committee of the Whole, for the consideration of the bill (Mr. Scott in the chair), and after some time spent therein the committee rose, reported progress and asked leave to sit again. [The House of Delegates adjourned completed its legislative session and adjourned sine die later on the same day.]
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: February 1865