Virginia in the American Civil War Virginia in the American Civil War The Commonwealth of Virginia became a prominent part of the Confederate States of America when it joined the Confederacy during the American Civil War. As a Southern slave-holding state, Virginia held a state convention to deal with the secession crisis, and voted against secession on April 4, 1861. Opinion shifted after April 15, when U.S. President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union to put down the rebellion, following the capture of Fort Sumter, and the Virginia convention voted to declare secession from the Union. A Unionist government was
Campaigns of the American Civil War with blue and gray. Units that received campaign credit as a Confederate unit (only applicable to some current Army National Guard units from Southern states) use the same ribbon with the colors reversed. Blue refers to Federal service and gray to Confederate. Joined together they represent the unification of the country after the Civil War. The following inscriptions in yellow, shown in all capital letters, are authorized on the streamers: Campaigns of the American Civil War The campaigns of the American Civil War are categorized in various ways. The U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry has identified 25 campaigns that are