TC travels, 2014 TR, Pg 904, 2015 TR pg 964

sleepy wrote:


Ticki2

You write that Columbia Falls was seperated from the town of Columbia and incorporated in 1863...

Thats interesting...

1863... A lot of things were going on at that time...

The Civil War between the states....families were split, brother at war againest brother, or even parent taking sides againest their own children... neighbors were in battle againest neighbors. Slaves were still escaping to Canada...

West Virginia seperated from Virgina on June 20, 1863... I have been told it was taxes... but most of the West Virginians that I knew as a kid growing up in WV believed it was the issue of slavery. (A few of the old folks that I knew when I was a kid were alive during the Civil War and remembered it)

The Civil War was (in part) to keep the Southern States from leaving the Union... at the same time West Virginia was allowed to seperate from Virginia.

Now my question of you... With all of the turmoil, do you have any idea why Columbia Falls split from Columbia in that particular year... 1863?

Thanks

Sleepy

That is an interesting question and one that I had myself . I did ask a few of the local folk but didn't get a clear answer . Near as I can tell it was political and indirectly influenced by the war . As you know politics was a very hot subject before ,during and after the Civil War . Evidently one part of the then combined towns was predominantly Democratic and the other Republican . The war probably brought the differences to a higher pitch and prompted the separation . They were originally two towns , #12 and #13 so there was enough territory to do it .

There was a very interesting speaker at the event , a retired history professor from Bowdoin College . He gave the names of every member of all the Maine regiments with all their battles , movements and casualties . Whenever I read or hear of the Civil War I am reminded of the shear brutality that was endured by both sides , it's a small wonder that anyone survived .