Item No. 2703285

This blank oath of allegiance was produced in the printing office of the Hardy Whig newspaper in Mooresville, Virginia (today West Virginia). Private Charles Housum of the 110th Ohio, who had been detailed to the printing office to produce documents for the army, sent the oath home to his wife as a souvenir. In a letter written on December 24, 1862, from Mooresville, Housum references two copies of the oath sent home: “The first form of oath [of allegiance] that we printed and I sent you a copy of did not suit Gen. Milroy altogether, and as we had to set up another, I send you a copy of it in this letter.”

Thousands of copies like this were printed as Union forces occupied Western Virginia. The document was necessary for civilians to have their rights restored under the Constitution. In swearing allegiance to uphold the Constitution, a signer was also agreeing to abide by the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, which sought to repeal Virginia’s ordninance of secession in her western counties.