 Upon learning of James Parsons ' arrest , Col. Parsons sought the assistance of Charles James Faulkner , a prominent Martinsburg lawyer and United States House Representative from Virginia 's 8th congressional district , and of James Murray Mason , a United States Senator from Virginia . Faulkner and Mason both offered their legal services for James Parsons ' defense . The Virginia General Assembly pledged its support to Parsons and to Virginia 's slaveowners in defending their constitutional rights and to protect them from prosecution . Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise appointed John Randolph Tucker to attend Parsons ' trial as a " special commissioner " of Virginia . The dispute between Virginia and Pennsylvania escalated , and on January 31 , 1856 , an article published in the New York Herald read " Threatened Civil War between Virginia and Pennsylvania . " 
