West Virginia in the American Civil War West Virginia in the American Civil War 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 Unionist "Virginia" regiments under General George McClellan, drove off Confederate troops under General Robert E. Lee. This essentially freed Unionists in the northwestern counties of Virginia to form a functioning government of their own as
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the American Civil War Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the American Civil War Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War was the capital of the second largest state in the Union. Located at the intersection of important railroads, Harrisburg was an important supply and logistics center for the dissemination and transportation of materiel for Northern armies. Tens of thousands of new recruits were mustered into service and/or drilled at a series of Harrisburg-area United States Army training camps, including the sprawling Camp Curtin. Confederate forces under Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell threatened Harrisburg during the June 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, but did not launch any serious efforts