Civil War

An active supporter of Abraham Lincoln, Pierpont became more involved in politics as an outspoken opponent of Virginia's secession from the Union. When Virginia seceded and entered the war, delegates from the northwestern counties of Virginia, which refused to join the Confederacy, met at the Wheeling Convention.^[8] Declaring that their elected officials had abandoned their posts, a rump government was established in Wheeling, with Pierpont as the provisional Governor. Claiming to be the legitimate government of the entire Commonwealth of Virginia, the "Restored Government" drafted a new Virginia Constitution and sent representatives to the Union Congress.^[2] The Second Wheeling Convention met on June 11, 1861. On June 20, 1861, it unanimously elected Pierpont governor of the Restored Government of Virginia, with the recognition of President Lincoln.^[9] In 1862, Pierpont attended the Loyal War Governors' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, organized by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, which ultimately backed Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the Union war effort. Pierpont was again elected governor for a four-year term by the legislature on May 28, 1863.^[9]

Under Pierpont's leadership, the Wheeling government called for a popular vote on creating a new separate state. Despite a lack of overwhelming support and widespread fraud in the voting process, the Restored Government pressed the U.S. Congress for statehood, which also approved the issue.^[10] The new state took the name West Virginia and was admitted into the Union in 1863. A lifelong West Virginian, Pierpont had hoped to become the new state's first governor. However, the Lincoln administration was keen to ensure the continuity of the Restored Government was not disrupted and made clear it would not countenance Pierpont leaving his post unless a suitable successor could be found, who, for political reasons, would have had to been a man with roots in the Commonwealth's post-1863 borders who was loyal to the United States, willing to recognize West Virginia, qualified to serve as a state governor and yet also willing to accept an office that it appeared would be little more than a figurehead position for an indeterminate period.

As no viable candidate willing to succeed Pierpont could be found, Arthur I. Boreman was elected governor of West Virginia. At the same time, Pierpont reluctantly remained Governor of the "restored" state of Virginia. From 1863 until 1865, the Pierpont administration's de facto control was limited to those parts of the Commonwealth not claimed by West Virginia that were held by Federal arms - specifically, several Northern Virginia, Norfolk area, and Eastern Shore counties.^[2] While Pierpont claimed Richmond as the official state capital (as his administration had done since 1861), the de facto seat of government was established in Alexandria for the remainder of the Civil War. The pro-Confederate state government in Richmond maintained its claim to the Commonwealth's antebellum borders and administered the regions of the Commonwealth still held under Confederate arms - at the time of West Virginia's statehood, this included at least some measure of control about thirteen counties claimed by the newly admitted state. In 1864 Pierpont called a Constitutional Convention in Alexandria that recognized West Virginia, abolished slavery, and promulgated the civil Constitution in force in Virginia until 1869.^[11]

On May 9, 1865, one month after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, President Andrew Johnson recognized Pierpont as the Governor of Virginia.^[12] Pierpont immediately re-located the seat of government to Richmond.^[13]

Reconstruction

Grave

Pierpont followed a policy of forgiveness to those politicians who had served in the Confederate military and government. The Virginia government started to pass laws restoring ex-Confederates to their lost privileges, to the displeasure of most former Union Republicans. As the South became increasingly resistant to Reconstruction after the war, the United States Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. Through this Act, Virginia was designated the "First Military District" in 1868, and military commander John Schofield replaced Pierpont with Henry H. Wells until state delegates could write and enact a new constitution. According to the Civil War historian Richard Lowe, Hiram Bond, a former Vanderbilt family functionary and friend of Grant, planned the removal of Pierpont and installation of Welles. Pierpont became one of the key figures in the Virginia constitutional convention of 1867–1868, which resulted in the Underwood Constitution of 1869. After this, Pierpont left Virginia politics and returned to his law practice in West Virginia.^[13]

Pierpont subsequently was elected to one term in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1870 but lost his seat when the Democrats took control of the state.^[8] His last public office was as a collector of Internal Revenue under President James Garfield.^[2] After his retirement, he helped create the West Virginia Historical Society, as well as served as President of the Methodist Protestant Church.