It says something good about this country that brothers could fight on opposite sides in a war and remember that they were brothers.
The Brothers’ War
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
At the time, they both would have been Virginians.
Until 1863.
I assumed their polical disagreement began before the war and the western portion of Virginia succeeding. One a Son of the Union and one a son of Virginia. I wondered how their parents dealt with it since it became very personal.
Western Virginia voted against secession and was quickly occupied by Union troops. 1863 recognized a fait accompli. West Virginia raised numerous regiments for the Union, and numerous Confederate regiments were raised in counties that would become part of West Virginia.
Western Virginia, then West Virginia, is unique in a bunch of ways. Ohio was supposed to get the Northern Panhandle, but kept it…for a while. The Eastern Panhandle exists so the Union would control the B&O Railroad. Jefferson County is a part of Metro Washington, DC despite being 50-60 miles away. The Northern Panhandle is, at its closest point, 30 miles from Pittsburgh.
Weirton, West Virginia is the only American city to border two states (Ohio and Pennsylvania only 5 miles apart). Weirton also borders Jefferson County, Ohio to the West and Washington County, Pennsylvania to the East. I have no official figures, but it’s likely most WV Catholics live in the Northern Panhandle, which is pretty much the same as Western PA in demographics.
This is rather touching.