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
Cleveland in the American Civil War Cleveland in the American Civil War Cleveland, Ohio, was an important Northern city during the American Civil War. It provided thousands of troops to the Union Army, as well as millions of dollars in supplies, equipment, food, and support to the soldiers. Prior to the Civil War, residents of Cleveland viewed the slaveholding South based on political affiliation. While a majority of Clevelanders tended to side with the abolitionist North, not all of them loathed slavery, nor were all convinced that a civil war would resolve ideological differences between North and South. As the 1860 election year approached and impending