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
Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War Jesse James, "Tinker Dave" Beaty, Archie Clement, Silas M. Gordon, Champ Ferguson, Charles R. Jennison, James Montgomery, Joseph C. Porter, and George M. Todd. Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War followed the same general patterns of irregular warfare conducted in 19th century Europe. Structurally, they can be divided into three different types of operations—the so-called 'People's War', 'partisan warfare', and 'raiding warfare'. Each has distinct characteristics that were common practice during the Civil War years (1861–1865). The concept of a 'People's war,' first described by von Clausewitz in his classic treatise "On