Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1864

[1] Following the creation of West Virginia, the remnant of Restored Virginian government held a Convention of delegates from a few periphery counties occupied by Union forces.

The Convention sought direction from President Lincoln whether the General Government would sustain the civil authority, or "whether the civil is to become, as it is now, subordinate to the military", so that the convened delegates could support the Administration's war effort in the midst of Grant's Wilderness Campaign.

[2] The Convention met in Alexandria's U.S. District Court Room from February 13 - April 11, 1864, and elected LeRoy G. Edwards, a slaveholder with three sons in the Confederacy as its presiding officer.

It abolished the viva voce voting out loud and called for balloting for state officials.

(Seventeen members, from territory inside Union lines meeting February 13 during the Civil War's Wilderness Campaign in Virginia)[6]