On this day in 1863,

West Virginia Secedes From Virginia and Becomes 35th State

On this day in 1863, West Virginia was admitted into the Union as the 35th state following its secession from secessionist Virginia.   

After Virginia seceded to join the seven southern states that had originally seceded to form the Confederacy, western Virginians, who were mostly non-slave-owning farmers and laborers, felt increasingly alienated from and controlled by the eastern oligarchical planter-slaveholders.  This sentiment had existed from the days of the American Revolution when area residents had unsuccessfully petitioned the Continental Congress to form the state of Westsylvania.   

On June 11, 1861, western Virginia delegates voted to secede and wanted to name the state “Kanawha”.   Western Virginia was immediately invaded by Confederate forces who took over the region claiming, ironically, that the westerners had no right to secede.  

Notwithstanding the presence of Confederate troops, western Virginians voted in a public referendum for secession from Virginia and drew up a state constitution. 

 Although it took two years from the initial delegate vote, President Abraham Lincoln, who had his own reservations about West Virginia’s legal right to secede from Virginia, admitted West Virginia into statehood on this date two years later.