west virginia followed the united states customhouse that was never his the capital of west virginia but for 2.5 years was the capital building of the commonwealth of virginia, and that means the whole state from charleston to the chesapeake, if you were loyal to the union then this was your government. this was your capital and this was your government. are not you recognize the government enrichment. the richmond government did not recognize this government. the important thing is the united states of america recognized the restored government of virginia in wheeling as a legitimate government of virginia. way, this is the only city in our nation that can say it was the capital of two different states. wheeling gave birth to a brand-new experiment in american history, and american politics. so it is incredibly important story. this is important for our nation's history. it is unprecedented. it has to do with the terrible tragedy of the american civil war. eight teaches -- eight teaches when you are presented with the opportunities, you have to take them. >> the c-span cities tour c

weitzel helped beauregard on finishing up the customhouse project. the other project that maybe is more important to our story is to know for about 40 miles down the mississippi river that guarded the approach to new orleans from the gulf of mexico. one was fort jackson on the west side. the other was fort saint philip on the east side. like west point, this is where the mississippi river takes an s-curve. any ship would have to slow down to slow down to take that turn, so they perched two forts on either side of that curve so of course there is concern in the south that what will happen to our southern can southern traditions? some think that is a bad idea when louisiana secedes from the union. the next day the secretary of war who is from virginia is indicted. he has been sending arms to the southern federal or, it is confirmed that they knew he would help supply the south before the war broke out. january 28, but regards appointment is revoked. he is still on the record today as the shortest tenure for superintendent. five days. [laughter] he is in

he used their services and had them cart tobacco to the customhouse, where the tobacco was open, the hogshead were wait, and tobacco was inspected. all of this information is in the spanish archives, but not in clark's journal. i thought, why? was this a business venture? my goodness. the tobacco in one treasury book having to do with export. i checked another treasury book having to do with sales make locally. my goodness, yes. exhaustivequally description of furs. clark had brought almost two tons of furs. skins, ottereer and beaver pelts down the river, too. he made no mention in his journal about those things. i have no idea why. he also carried bacon and ham to sell. all of these things were appraised by officers in the customs house and they figured out what they were worth. it was a lowball figure they came up with because spain was not trying to encourage -- was trying to encourage american commerce, so they did not want to tax americans too high. they set the duty at 6%. that came to $17. that was the duty that clark would owe. points notebook at that -- he began writing, an

. >> we are in the federal in thet court's room united states customhouse of wheeling, virginia in 1869 that is now known as west virginia independence hall. this is the birthplace of the great state of west virginia during the american civil war. it will be the place conventions will be held that will form a new government. a government loyal to the united states and union, and this new thernment will then create new state of west virginia. our nation was in the mid-of the terrible civil war. those in eastern virginia predominantly were supportive of the confederacy. went virginia -- when vendor -- virginia takes her last vote 1860 one, the majority of delegates will vote to secede from the united states and join the southern confederacy. those in northwestern virginia who were overwhelmingly against secession they will come to the side of the mountains. to decide what western virginia would do. they decided they needed a place or more formal convention and wheeling would be the best place to have that convention. it would be safe. it is stuck in the land between the great and powerful