William Ballard Preston - Blacksburg, Virginia - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

Marker Text:
This is Smithfield, the birthplace of William Ballard Preston (1805-1862). On April 16, 1861, in the Virginia Convention, he reluctantly introduced the formal resolution to secede from the Union.

Preston served in the Virginia House of Delegates (1830-1832; 1844-1845). In 1832, after Nat Turner’s Insurrection, he supported an unsuccessful effort for gradual slave emancipation. He served in the Virginia Senate (1840-1844) and then in the U.S. Congress (1847-1849) with a fellow Whig who became a friend—Abraham Lincoln. Preston was Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore (1849-1850).

As a delegate to the Virginia Convention, in April 1861, Preston proposed that a committee call on President Lincoln to ascertain his policy toward the Confederate States (seven had seceded by then). The Convention appointed a member from each of its factions, including Preston (a conditional unionist), to the committee. It met with Lincoln in Washington on April 12, the day the bombardment of Fort Sumter began, to present the Convention’s official communication. The next day, the committee and Lincoln debated
the constitutional limits of his authority to repossess Federal forts and repel force with force.

The committee reported to the Convention that Lincoln’s approach was hostile. After Fort Sumter fell and Lincoln called on April 15 for 75,000 troops from the states, delegates regarded his proclamation as an excessive response to the situation. The next day, Preston introduced the Ordinance of Secession, which passed on the 17th, 88-55. Preston served in the Provisional Confederate Congress and then in the Confederate Senate until his death.

Type of site: Other Address: 1000 Smithfield Plantation Road Blacksburg, Virginia United States of America 24060 Phone Number: 540-231-3947 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Driving Directions: Not listed

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