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 War battleflags are available for tour at the Capitol Preservation Committee's Civil War Flag facility in Harrisburg, along with an interpretive exhibit which highlights the development and use of flags in battle. The site of historic Camp Curtin is marked with wayside markers, as are surviving sections of the defensive earthworks south of Harrisburg in Lemoyne. In nearby Mechanicsburg, a statue of Confederate general Albert G. Jenkins commemorates the cavalry commander. The State Museum in downtown Harrisburg has a modest, but historically significant collection of artifacts, paintings, and war relics. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the American Civil War Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during