Pierpont, Francis Harrison (1814-1899), was governor of the “Restored Government of Virginia” during the American Civil War. Restored Government of Virginia was the name given to some northern counties of Confederate Virginia that Union forces had occupied.
Pierpont was born on Jan. 25, 1814, near Morgantown, Virginia (now in West Virginia). His family name has also been spelled Pierpoint. Pierpont became a lawyer, joined the Whig Party, and strongly opposed slavery. In 1861, Virginia seceded (withdrew) from the Union. Pierpont then led a movement in western Virginia to establish a state government loyal to the Union. A convention of western Virginians declared all state offices vacant and chose Pierpont as provisional governor. Pierpont set up a loyal legislature of members from western Virginia. The convention wrote a new state constitution and, in 1863, Congress approved West Virginia’s admission to the Union. The new state chose Arthur I. Boreman as its first governor, and Pierpont became head of the Restored Government of Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln considered Pierpont to be governor of Virginia for the rest of the war. After the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, Pierpont moved to Richmond and continued as governor under federal military authority until 1868. He died on March 24, 1899. A statue of Pierpont represents West Virginia in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
