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
Greenwich in the American Civil War Greenwich in the American Civil War The town of Greenwich, Connecticut, contributed 437 men to twenty-six Connecticut regiments during the American Civil War. Greenwich soldiers fought in almost every major Union campaign, including Bull Run, Gettysburg and the siege of Petersburg. Approximately half of the Greenwich soldiers served in two infantry regiments, the 10th Connecticut Infantry and 17th Connecticut Infantry. On the eve of the Civil War, Greenwich was a small agricultural community with a population just over 6,500. Most Greenwich residents, like those of Connecticut, supported the Union cause. However, there was an undercurrent of anti-war sentiment due to