# West Virginia - why didn't they rejoin rest Virginia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883 "2016-10-17T22:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/21 "2016-10-19T01:21:53Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Interesting. So why didn’t they invade? Just take back what was rightfully theirs? Probably myriad reasons… Quite. There were military operations in what is now West Virginia throughout the Civil War. But taking it back, and then making the ongoing effort of holding it, was not a priority for the Confederacy, beset on so many other fronts. > **[West Virginia in the American Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 modern state to have declared its independence from the Confederacy. In the summer of 1861, Union troops, which included a number of newly formed Western Virginia regiments, under General George McClellan drove off Confederate troops under General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Philippi in Barbour Co... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/22 "2016-10-19T01:38:53Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Interesting. So why didn’t they invade? Just take back what was rightfully theirs? Probably myriad reasons. I could go check wikipedia. But is there a quick, simple answer for not taking their territory back by force. Didn’t the whole shooting war start over taking of a fort? The short answer is they had their hands full just holding on to the rest of the state, and in particular protecting Richmond. They did control parts of West Virginia at times, but it was mountainous, hostile, and surrounded on three sides by Union territory. Their resources were better spent on holding areas that actually wanted to be part of the Confederacy. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/23 "2016-10-19T04:54:43Z")
There’s also the detail that West Virginia is pretty mountainous, and invading mountains is not easy - see Switzerland and Afghanistan. Maybe if Virgina wasn’t helping to fight the Civil War they could have invaded West Virginia but doing both at once just wasn’t doable. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/24 "2016-10-19T12:45:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The short answer is they had their hands full just holding on to the rest of the state, and in particular protecting Richmond. They did control parts of West Virginia at times, but it was mountainous, hostile, and surrounded on three sides by Union territory. Their resources were better spent on holding areas that actually wanted to be part of the Confederacy. The beautifully situated town of [Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry,_West_Virginia#Civil_War), changed hands eight times during the Civil War. (It’s really worth a visit.) Mostly, the Army of Northern Virginia had other things to do. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/25 "2016-10-20T23:15:53Z")
Robert E Lee’s first battle in the Civil War was at the Battle of Cheat Mountain in September 1861 in what is now West Virginia. He lost because as mentioned attacking in mountainous territory is difficult. The Confederacy was divided on whether it should defend all its territory or form defensible borders. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/26 "2016-10-21T15:20:39Z")
There were actually some significant efforts during the war to obtain control of West Virginia. The area has a goodly concentration of salt mines, and salt is like really important to have. But the rebel forces lost their only truly concerted effort at invading and controlling the trans-Allegheny region in 1861. On the main question: The creation of West Virginia was authorized on behalf of Virginia by the “Restored Government of Virginia”, which met in Wheeling, VA (now WV) until 1863, at which point it moved to Alexandria, by then firmly in the hands of the Union forces. As **Colibri** points out, they were primarily from the part of Virginia that became West Virginia (though not all were), and they existed in large measure for the purpose of fulfilling the requirement of Article VI of the Constitution. After the formal creation of West Virginia (6/20/63), the Restored Government claimed control over those parts of Virginia in Union control. It moved to Richmond in 1865, though by that time, the Governor selected by the Restored Government (Gov. Pierpont) had been appointed Provisional Governor of Virginia by President Johnson. When Virginia was re-admitted to the Union, one of the conditions of re-admission was that its new constitution explicitly ratify the creation of West Virginia. This was at the insistence of the radical Republicans who controlled Congress. The 1869 constitution did exactly that, ending any chance of a legal challenge to the creation of West Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/27 "2016-10-21T16:08:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > But that part of the state almost by necessity has to be a minority of voters, or else they would have elected enough state legislators to correct the imbalance before it got to the point of secession. That’s truer now than it was in the past. States used to be able to follow the example of the United States Senate and create unequally populated voting districts. Let’s use New York as an example. Suppose the state constitution said that each county was entitled to send two representatives to the State Senate. The eight counties in the NYC region (NYC plus Long Island and Westchester) make up 61% of the state’s population. But the sixteen Senators from those counties would be vastly outnumbered by the one hundred and eight Senators representing the rest of the state. This sounds extreme but this kind of unequal representation was actually pretty routine until the _Reynolds v Sims_ decision in 1964. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/28 "2016-10-21T17:03:00Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Interesting. So why didn’t they invade? Just take back what was rightfully theirs? I believe that the Confederate Constitution allowed for states to secede from the CSA. That, after all, is what they were fighting about. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/29 "2016-10-21T17:10:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I believe that the Confederate Constitution allowed for states to secede from the CSA. That, after all, is what they were fighting about. I dont think so. > **[Constitution of the Confederate States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_Constitution)** > > The Constitution of the Confederate States was the supreme law of the Confederate States of America. It superseded the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States, the Confederate State's first constitution, in 1862. It remained in effect until the end of the American Civil War in 1865. > The original Provisional Constitution is located at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia, and differs slightly from the version later adopted. The final, handwritten Constitution is locat... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/30 "2016-10-21T17:26:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I dont think so. > > [Constitution of the Confederate States - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_Constitution) Indeed,[I was mistaken.](http://civilwartalk.com/threads/csa-constitution-did-not-permit-secession.8924/) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/31 "2016-10-21T22:34:26Z")
The Confederates believed that the US Constitution itself implicitly gave states the right to secede. Explicitly spelling that out in the CSA Constitution would’ve undermined that argument. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/32 "2016-10-21T23:07:10Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > The Confederates believed that the US Constitution itself implicitly gave states the right to secede. Explicitly spelling that out in the CSA Constitution would’ve undermined that argument. > > Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk Well, the Confederates also believed that the U.S. Constitution implicitly guaranteed their right to travel with their slaves throughout the federal union without having their slaves suddenly become free when they crossed the state line (see the [_Dred Scott_ decision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford)), but they made sure to spell that out in their new constitution: > [@](#): > > The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States; and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property; and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired. _[Constitution of the Confederate States](http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp), Article IV, Sec. 2. (1)_ They also believed that the correct interpretation of the U.S. Constitution would be that Congress had no power to bar slavery from the territories (again, see _Dred Scott_), but they also made that explicit, regardless of whether or not that might have undermined their pre-war arguments: > [@](#): > > The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the Confederate States, lying without the limits of the several Sates; and may permit them, at such times, and in such manner as it may by law provide, to form States to be admitted into the Confederacy. In all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected be Congress and by the Territorial government; and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have the right to take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of the States or Territories of the Confederate States. _Constitution of the Confederate States, Article IV, Sec. 3. (3)_ ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883/33 "2016-10-22T04:19:00Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Thanks for the replies guys, most of what I know about West Virginia comes from a John Denver song. Which is a really poor source. AIUI, it was written by someone(s) who’d never been in WV and the geographic features it mentions (Shenandoah River, Blue Ridge Mountains) are almost entirely in other states. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/west-virginia-why-didnt-they-rejoin-rest-virginia/768883.md?page=1)