The Cynical Historian

Why West Virginia left Virginia | State Rivalries (2019x11)

Air date: Mar 23, 2019

West Virginia began as part of Virginia. It left in one of the most tumultuous breakups in American history, leaving a rivalry in its wake. Independence was hard won for West Virginia. Check out Mr. Beat's video on OH vs MI: https://youtu.be/si_IUBEVRFY ------------------------------------------------------------ references: David R. Zimring, “‘Secession in Favor of the Constitution’: How West Virginia Justified Separate Statehood during the Civil War,” West Virginia History, New Series 3, No. 2 (Fall 2009), 23-51. Scott A. MacKenzie, “Voting with Their Arms: Civil War Military Enlistments and the Formation of West Virginia, 1861–1865,” Ohio Valley History 17, No. 2 (Summer 2017), 25-45. Lon Savage, Thunder in the Mountains: The West Virginia Mine War, 1920-21 (Pittsburgh, Penn.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986). https://amzn.to/2M95Cpi ------------------------------------------------------------ SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=CynicalCypher88 Support the channel through PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/CynicalHistorian Or buy some merch: https://teespring.com/stores/the-cynical-historian Special thanks for Teh Geek Life in making that new design: https://www.facebook.com/TehGeekLife/ LET'S CONNECT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cynicalcypher88 Discord: https://discord.gg/Ukthk4U Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cynical_History ------------------------------------------------------------ Wiki: The U.S. state of West Virginia was formed out of western Virginia and added to the Union as a direct result of the American Civil War (see History of West Virginia), in which it became the only state to declare its independence from the Confederacy. In the summer of 1861, Union troops, which included a number of newly-formed Western Virginia regiments, under General George McClellan, drove off Confederate troops under General Robert E. Lee. This essentially freed Unionists in the