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Photostat negatives of correspondence to Francis H. Pierpont concerning statehood and secession. Also includes a petition of Harrison County, (West) Virginia citizens to Brigadier General Kelly protesting the return and admittance to the county of former members of the Confederate Army (undated); a petition of Gilmer County, (West) Virginia citizens denouncing secession and pledging action to suppress rebellion (1861); and the act by which the Restored Government of Virginia gave permission for the new state of West Virginia to be formed from Virginia (May 12, 1863). Also includes a photostat negative of a typescript checklist of Pierpont manuscript material held at the Virginia State Library (now Library of Virginia) (1916). Correspondents include: Arthur I. Boreman, John I. Brown, William G. Brown, A.W. Campbell, John S. Carlile, Spencer Dayton, James Evans, Thomas. M. Harris, J.H. Jordan, Daniel Lamb, J.A.J. Lightburn, A.F. Ritchie, Lewis Ruffner, Henry I. Samuels, J.C. Paxton, P.G. Van Winkle, and John O. Watson.

Approximately twenty letters sent to President Abraham Lincoln from Francis H. Pierpont, the governor of the Reorganized Government of Virginia, between 1861 and 1864. Topics include the need for muskets in western Virginia in 1861; restoring the government of Virginia according to the Wheeling Convention after the war; using slaves from Virginia to do manual labor for the Union army; difficulty recruiting soldiers in western Virginia in 1862; the creation of the state of West Virginia; and Benjamin Butler and citizens in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1863 and 1864. These letters are on microfilm and were copied by the Library of Congress.

Correspondence, appointment, and notice. Correspondence includes a letter from Gideon D. Camden to Pierpont (1841); a letter from Frances Pierpont Pryor (F.H. Pierpont's granddaughter) to Professor Charles Ambler regarding documents of her grandfathers' which she is sending him and documents she will keep (1952); and a letter from Charles MacCarthy to W.H. Siviter, regarding Pierpont papers used by MacCarthy in writing his Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction (1899). Also includes Francis H. Pierpont's appointment to the West Virginia University Board of Regents (1869) and a Society of the Army of West Virginia reunion notice (1884).

Papers of Francis Harrison Pierpont (1814-1899) of Monongalia and Marion Counties, West Virginia, who served as governor of the Restored Government of Virginia during the Civil War. Includes manuscripts, typescripts, printed materials, and photocopies consisting of genealogies, correspondence, college essays, speeches, official messages, articles prepared for newspapers, legal documents, pamphlets, scrapbooks, and ephemera. Topics include Pierpont's education; his career as governor of the Restored Government of Virginia at Wheeling, Alexandria, and Richmond; the West Virginia statehood movement; politics; and his later work in the Methodist Protestant Church. Notable series include Pierpont's personal and professional correspondence; his writings and speeches, which include several drafts of his reminiscences on Lincoln; correspondence and notes of Charles H. Ambler, biographer of Pierpont, in the Subject Files series; and a series of several hundred telegrams related to statehood and the Civil War. Pierpont's correspondents include Gordon Battelle, Arthur I. Boreman, John S. Carlile, Abraham Lincoln (copies), Waitman T. Willey, and others. For civil war telegrams related to this collection, go to wvhistory.org.

Photocopies of correspondence relating to Francis H. Pierpont's law license in Mississippi and Virginia, and an early (1784) Virginia deed to John Pierpont (likely grandfather of Francis).

Note supposedly written by Francis Harrison Pierpont (1814-1899) of Monongalia and Marion Counties, West Virginia, who served as governor of the Restored Government of Virginia during the Civil War. The note outlines the steps to be taken upon the adoption of the Ordinance of Secession, including the convening of a second convention on June 11 and rules about the number of representatives allowed for each county. It may be a draft of a resolution proposed by the Committee on State and Federal Relations during the second day of the First Wheeling Convention, May 14, 1861.

A letter from Peter G. Van Winkle (8 Nov. 1862) and another letter from Colonel T.M. Harris (4 Sept. 1862) to Francis H. Pierpont, Governor of Restored Virginia. Van Winkle's letter speaks of the poor prospects of the proposed new state's survival, particularly the guerrilla threat south of the Little Kanawha River. Colonel Harris conveys from a wounded Confederate officer a warning that General Loring is planning an offensive into western Virginia.