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West Virginia is the only state to become a state because of the Civil War.
For many years, people in Western Virginia had disagreed with Eastern Virginia leaders, primarily over lack of public spending in the west and the west's underrepresentation in the legislature. While other states had similar regional arguments, especially during the war, only Virginia actually split into two separate states. Both the politics and the military events of the Civil War shaped the way West Virginia became the 35th state.
After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860, southern states started leaving, or seceding from, the U.S. Virginia had to decide which side to take.In a special meeting in Virginia, delegates initially wanted to stay with the Union...
When Virginia's leaders voted to secede, it caused fear and confusion in the western counties. Some local governments stopped working, and armed groups gathered to support either the Union or the Confederacy. Many people in the western counties fe...
A meeting known as the First Wheeling Convention was held May 13-15, 1861, to figure out what western Virginia should do about the secession crisis. Some delegates, such as John Carlile, wanted to create a new state right away. Others thought they...
At the Second Wheeling Convention in June 1861, delegates discussed what Western Virginia should do now that Virginia had left the Union. There were different ideas.Some wanted to create a brand new state immediately. Others thought creating a new...
This new "loyal" government of Virginia, led by Governor Francis Pierpont of Fairmont, immediately started working to fix the governmental chaos caused by Virginia leaving the Union. First, Governor Pierpont asked President Lincoln for military he...
At first, many western Virginians tried to stop Virginia from leaving the Union by voting against secession on May 23. When that vote confirmed Virginia's secession, Union soldiers pushed Confederate troops out of both the Kanawha Valley and north...
West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling is known as the birthplace of West Virginia. Originally built before the Civil War as a U.S. government custom house, it became the location for key meetings where leaders decided to split from Virginia ...
In August 1861, delegates at the Second Wheeling Convention officially voted to break away from Virginia. They planned to create a new state named "Kanawha" using 39 counties, extending from the Kanawha Valley north and east to Randolph, Tucker. a...
On October 24, 1861, voters in western Virginia agreed to form a new state and chose delegates to write its constitution. In the midst of war and divided loyalties, relatively few people actually voted, but the plan moved forward.A constitutional ...
Congress would not allow West Virginia to become a state until it had a plan for ending slavery within its borders. Western Virginians had very different opinions: some wanted to keep slavery as it was, some wanted to end it slowly, and some wante...
During the Civil War, "Copperheads" were Northern Democrats who supported the Union but opposed some of President Lincoln’s actions, like ending slavery and limiting states’ rights. In West Virginia, some leaders, including John S. Carlile, shared...
President Lincoln's top advisors were split evenly on whether it was legal to make West Virginia a state. Some of his cabinet members also pointed to the fact that relatively few citizens had actually voted during the process. On December 31, 1862...
In April 1863, President Lincoln officially announced West Virginia would join the Union on June 20, 1863. Berkeley and Jefferson counties were added later when they were under Union military control.West Virginia's borders were mostly based on ex...
On June 20, 1863, Arthur I. Boreman became the first governor of West Virginia.Before that, he had helped lead the Second Wheeling Convention and the loyal "Reorganized Government of Virginia." He was elected governor in 1863 without anyone runnin...
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