The Commonwealth of Upper Virginia
Upper Virginia begins at the ridge of the Alleghenies and sprawls westward to the Mississippi River. It was settled by English-speaking Virginians, and their descendants make up the bulk of the population today.
English traders were active along the Ohio throughout the 18th century. By the 1760s, some groups of farmers were beginning to build the small fortified settlements called "stations" that came to characterize the English presence during these decades. The fortifications were necessary because the land was hotly disputed. Both the Iroquois and the French claimed the territory. Traders of many different loyalties regularly crossed it.
Even the English had conflicting interests; some of the newcomers wanted to extend the territory of Virginia, while others wanted to break away from it. One early project called itself the Transylvania Colony. The Transylvanians signed treaties with local Indians and set down the rudiments of government. Like the Watauga settlers to the south, the Transylvanians remained ambivalent about whether they wished to remain subjects of the Crown.
After revolution broke out in the 1760s and 70s, more Virginians spilled across the mountains, freed of the constraints that English authorities had put on them. These settlers were by far the most successful expansionists in all the English states. They birthed a distinct English Pioneer culture that went on to have a great influence on the surrounding regions, often described as fiercely individualist with a tendency toward enthusiastic expressions of religion. The expansionism of the Virginians was tempered by the need to form alliances, on which the survival of the community depended.
By far the most important allies were the Cherokee. Before the revolution, the Upper Virginia farmers could take advantage of the firm alliance between Cherokee and England. Most of the English settlements were built with a Cherokee village nearby. This brought about the "Virginia Cherokee", a people somewhat separate from the main Cherokee nation based further south. When the revolution broke out, some Virginia Cherokee chose to break with tribal leaders and support the republicans.
Virginia gained military control of the Ohio valley in a 1772 campaign. A large militia force built a line of blockhouses from the mountains all the way to the mouth of the river. These fortifications anchored a line of settlements that allowed Virginia to dominate the area south of the river, with help from allied Virginia Cherokee and a new wave of migration from the east. The government of the new Commonwealth of Virginia reached out to the Transylvania settlers. In exchange for dissolving their government and recognizing Virginia's control, their company was given land further west along the Ohio. This land is still known as the Transylvania Reserve today.
The Wars of Independence ended inconclusively, a final treaty derailed by land disputes between Virginia and loyalist Carolina. The New England republicans, rather than stand by their ally in the revolution, grew impatient and would eventually sign a separate peace. But where transatlantic diplomacy failed, continental diplomacy proved more fruitful. The Huntingdon Congress of 1782 marked the renewal of friendship among all the English states, Tory and Republican and Jacobite. At the congress, all the states recognized Virginia's right to the land south of the Ohio River, though Carolina still hoped to seize it later and Virginia still hoped to expand to the north. So while peace came to Upper Virginia, it was a precarious peace.
Canada emerged as the new key ally after the war. With France going through its own revolution, the colony was largely running itself, and its agents began to cooperate ever more closely with Virginian scouts and traders in the west. In 1802, at a meeting at Fort St. Joseph (near Lake Michigan), Canadian and Virginian leaders worked out a plan to divide much of the northwest between them. This outraged some of the other regional powers, leading to the War of the League of St. Joseph. A good deal of fighting took place in Upper Virginia. The war stretched out for nearly six bloody years, but the Upper Virginians held their own. In 1808 England finally acknowledged Virginia's independence and its possession of land west of the mountains.
But Virginia's expansion was not yet finished. Not long after the treaty, the Commonwealth government purchased a tract from Tishomingo, chief of the Chicasaw, that allowed for access to the Mississippi. To the north, Virginians built new villages near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio, a land the Virginians called "Egypt" because of the great rivers that define it. The largely French-speaking state of Illinois reluctantly agreed to cede this overwhelmingly Anglophone region to Virginia in 1818.
Upper Virginia became its own state only in 1850. This followed thirty years of disputes between east and west and several failed proposals to divide the state into federalized regions. By that time the ASB was a permanent alliance that linked all states east of the Mississippi, and there was no fear that an independent west would go against the interests of the east. Today Upper Virginia is most famous for its distinct varieties of horses and whiskey.
English traders were active along the Ohio throughout the 18th century. By the 1760s, some groups of farmers were beginning to build the small fortified settlements called "stations" that came to characterize the English presence during these decades. The fortifications were necessary because the land was hotly disputed. Both the Iroquois and the French claimed the territory. Traders of many different loyalties regularly crossed it.
Even the English had conflicting interests; some of the newcomers wanted to extend the territory of Virginia, while others wanted to break away from it. One early project called itself the Transylvania Colony. The Transylvanians signed treaties with local Indians and set down the rudiments of government. Like the Watauga settlers to the south, the Transylvanians remained ambivalent about whether they wished to remain subjects of the Crown.
After revolution broke out in the 1760s and 70s, more Virginians spilled across the mountains, freed of the constraints that English authorities had put on them. These settlers were by far the most successful expansionists in all the English states. They birthed a distinct English Pioneer culture that went on to have a great influence on the surrounding regions, often described as fiercely individualist with a tendency toward enthusiastic expressions of religion. The expansionism of the Virginians was tempered by the need to form alliances, on which the survival of the community depended.
By far the most important allies were the Cherokee. Before the revolution, the Upper Virginia farmers could take advantage of the firm alliance between Cherokee and England. Most of the English settlements were built with a Cherokee village nearby. This brought about the "Virginia Cherokee", a people somewhat separate from the main Cherokee nation based further south. When the revolution broke out, some Virginia Cherokee chose to break with tribal leaders and support the republicans.
Virginia gained military control of the Ohio valley in a 1772 campaign. A large militia force built a line of blockhouses from the mountains all the way to the mouth of the river. These fortifications anchored a line of settlements that allowed Virginia to dominate the area south of the river, with help from allied Virginia Cherokee and a new wave of migration from the east. The government of the new Commonwealth of Virginia reached out to the Transylvania settlers. In exchange for dissolving their government and recognizing Virginia's control, their company was given land further west along the Ohio. This land is still known as the Transylvania Reserve today.
The Wars of Independence ended inconclusively, a final treaty derailed by land disputes between Virginia and loyalist Carolina. The New England republicans, rather than stand by their ally in the revolution, grew impatient and would eventually sign a separate peace. But where transatlantic diplomacy failed, continental diplomacy proved more fruitful. The Huntingdon Congress of 1782 marked the renewal of friendship among all the English states, Tory and Republican and Jacobite. At the congress, all the states recognized Virginia's right to the land south of the Ohio River, though Carolina still hoped to seize it later and Virginia still hoped to expand to the north. So while peace came to Upper Virginia, it was a precarious peace.
Canada emerged as the new key ally after the war. With France going through its own revolution, the colony was largely running itself, and its agents began to cooperate ever more closely with Virginian scouts and traders in the west. In 1802, at a meeting at Fort St. Joseph (near Lake Michigan), Canadian and Virginian leaders worked out a plan to divide much of the northwest between them. This outraged some of the other regional powers, leading to the War of the League of St. Joseph. A good deal of fighting took place in Upper Virginia. The war stretched out for nearly six bloody years, but the Upper Virginians held their own. In 1808 England finally acknowledged Virginia's independence and its possession of land west of the mountains.
But Virginia's expansion was not yet finished. Not long after the treaty, the Commonwealth government purchased a tract from Tishomingo, chief of the Chicasaw, that allowed for access to the Mississippi. To the north, Virginians built new villages near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio, a land the Virginians called "Egypt" because of the great rivers that define it. The largely French-speaking state of Illinois reluctantly agreed to cede this overwhelmingly Anglophone region to Virginia in 1818.
Upper Virginia became its own state only in 1850. This followed thirty years of disputes between east and west and several failed proposals to divide the state into federalized regions. By that time the ASB was a permanent alliance that linked all states east of the Mississippi, and there was no fear that an independent west would go against the interests of the east. Today Upper Virginia is most famous for its distinct varieties of horses and whiskey.