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
Philadelphia in the American Civil War as one of Philadelphia's largest and most prestigious social clubs. The Civil War also helped create some of Philadelphia's upper class. Philadelphia banker Jay Cooke made a fortune selling Union war bonds worth roughly $1 billion. Future streetcar magnate Peter Widener amassed his initial wealth by supplying meat to the Union Army; John and James Dobson made their fortune manufacturing blankets. The Civil War Library and Museum, now the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia, was founded in 1888. The oldest chartered American Civil War institution, the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia, was founded by the Military Order