John S. Carlile
| John Snyder Carlile | |
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United States Senator from Virginia |
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In office July 9, 1861 – March 4, 1865 |
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| Preceded by | Robert M. T. Hunter |
| Succeeded by | John W. Johnston |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 11th district |
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In office March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857 |
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| Preceded by | Charles S. Lewis |
| Succeeded by | Albert G. Jenkins |
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In office March 6, 1861 – July 9, 1861 |
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| Preceded by | Albert G. Jenkins |
| Succeeded by | Jacob B. Blair |
| Member of the Virginia Senate | |
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In office 1847–1851 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 16, 1817 Winchester, Virginia |
| Died | October 24, 1878 (aged 60) Clarksburg, West Virginia |
| Political party | Unionist |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ellen Gittings |
| Profession | Lawyer, politician |
John Snyder Carlile (December 16, 1817 – October 24, 1878) was an American merchant, lawyer, and politician, including a United States Senator. A strong supporter of the Union cause during the American Civil War, he represented the loyalist faction of Virginia, which was eventually separated into two distinct states over his protests.
Carlile was born in Winchester, Virginia. He was educated by his mother until he was fourteen years old, when he became salesman in a store, and at the age of seventeen went into business on his own account. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, and began practice in Beverly. Entering politics, he joined the Democratic Party. He was selected as a delegate to the Virginia state constitutional convention in 1850. Carlile served in the Virginia State Senate from 1847 to 1851. He joined the new Know Nothing political movement in 1854 and represented Virginia's 11th District in the United States House for one term.
Carlile was a delegate from Harrison County to the Virginia secession convention in 1861, voting no on the controversial resolution. He was a leader in the anti-secession movement, and was prominent in the Wheeling Convention of June 1861. On June 13, 1861, at the first session of the Second Wheeling Convention, Carlile authored "A Declaration of the People of Virginia." The document pronounced Virginia's Ordinance of Secession illegal because the convention at which it had been drafted had been convened by the General Assembly, not by a referendum. It also called for the reorganization of the government of Virginia, arguing that due to Virginia's decision to secede from the United States, all state government offices had been vacated. The pro-Union Restored Government of Virginia was quickly recognized by President Abraham Lincoln and Congress as the legitimate government of the entire Commonwealth of Virginia, with Wheeling as its provisional capital. He was averse, however, to the formation of a new state out of the bulk of the pro-Union territory of Virginia—what became West Virginia.
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