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• Virginia Debt Question

  With West Virginia's creation in 1863, the question arose as to the new state's responsibility to help pay the existing Virginia state debt. The founders of West Virginia recognized that their state owed a share of Virginia’s pre-1863 public debt, in …

• Virginia v. West Virginia

  Following the Civil War, Virginia sued West Virginia in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case known as _Virginia v. West Virginia_, seeking to reclaim "Berkeley":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/455 and "Jefferson":http://www. …

• Camp Piatt

  Camp Piatt was one of many U.S. military camps situated in West Virginia during the Civil War. The camp was located in Belle, at Malones Landing about 15 miles south of Charleston. The camp was strategically situated on the "Kanawha River":http …

• Archibald W. Campbell

  Newspaperman Archibald W. Campbell (April 4, 1833-February 13, 1899) was a leader in the "West Virginia statehood":https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2034 movement, editor and part owner of the "Wheeling _Daily Intelligencer_": …

• Allen Taylor Caperton

  Senator Allen Taylor Caperton (November 21, 1810-July 26, 1876) was born at Elmwood, the family estate in "Monroe County":https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2024. He was the son of Hugh and Jane (Erskine) Caperton. After attending a school …

• John Jay Jackson Sr.

  General John Jay Jackson (February 13, 1800-January 1, 1877), was born near "Parkersburg":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1811. His grandfather, George Jackson, was a three-term congressman. "John G. Jackson":https://www. …

• Mudwall Jackson

  Confederate General William Lowther Jackson (February 3, 1825-March 24, 1890) was born in "Clarksburg":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1204. He was one of at least three Southern officers to bear the nickname, "Mudwall Jackson." …

• Stonewall Jackson

  West Virginia’s most famous soldier never quite overcame the lonely childhood of an orphan. Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born near midnight on January 20–21, 1824, in Clarksburg. The death of his father and the destitution of his mother led to the boy …

• John S. Carlile

  U.S. Senator John Snyder Carlile (December 16, 1817-October 24, 1878) played a controversial role in the "creation of West Virginia":https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2034. He was born in Winchester, Virginia, in modest circumstances. He …

• Battle of Carnifex Ferry

  In July 1861, Union forces pushed the Confederates out of the Kanawha Valley and occupied the strategic "Gauley Bridge":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2093 area. In August the Confederates launched a counterattack to regain control of …

• Carnifex Ferry Battlefield State Park

  Located opposite the mouth of "Meadow River":https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1747, 12 miles south of Summersville, this 156-acre park encompasses the Carnifex Ferry Civil War battlefield. Here, on September 10, 1861, Union forces led by …

• Anna Reeves Jarvis

  Social activist Anna Reeves (September 30, 1832-May 9, 1905) was born in Culpeper County, Virginia. Her family moved to Philippi, Barbour County, in 1845. In 1852, Anna Reeves married Granville E. Jarvis, and two years later they moved to "Taylor …

• Albert Gallatin Jenkins

  Congressman and Confederate General Albert Gallatin Jenkins (November 10, 1830-May 21, 1864) was born at Green Bottom, Cabell County. He was educated at Marshall Academy (now "Marshall University":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1529), …

• Jenkins Raid

  On August 11, 1862, the federal government directed that 5,000 soldiers stationed in and near Charleston be brought to Washington, to be used in the more active eastern theater of war. This reduction of federal strength in the Kanawha Valley did not pass …

• The Casto Hole

  The Casto Hole is a cave hidden by the woods, located near Limber’s Ridge on the waters of Straight Run, a branch of the Tug Fork of Mill Creek in "Jackson County":https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/931. It was a Unionist refuge during the …

• Ceredo

  Ceredo is located on U.S. 60 in "Wayne County":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/934, in the westernmost part of West Virginia. Reformer Eli Thayer established the town in 1857. Initially a ‘‘Free Soil’’ politician and later a Republican …

• Jones-Imboden Raid

  Between April 24 and May 22, 1863, Confederate cavalry under Generals William E. ‘‘Grumble’’ Jones and "John D. Imboden":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/833 carried the Civil War into north central West Virginia. Their goals were to …

• West Virginia Independence Hall

  The birthplace of West Virginia, West Virginia Independence Hall is now a museum dedicated to the history of statehood and the Civil War. Located in downtown "Wheeling":https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1168, the three-story structure was …

• Battle of Cheat Mountain

  The Battle of Cheat Mountain was a Civil War battle fought near the Randolph-Pocahontas County line on September 12, 1861. It was an important loss to the Confederacy, with Gen. "Robert E. Lee":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1340 coming …

• Kanawha Riflemen

  Lawyer George Smith Patton, a Richmond native and 1852 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, organized the Kanawha Riflemen, a Virginia militia company, after moving to Charleston in 1856. As the "Civil War":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/ …

• Weston State Hospital

  The Weston State Hospital housed West Virginians with mental health issues from 1864 to 1994. Built on 269 acres across the West Fork River from Weston, it was authorized by the Virginia legislature in the early 1850s as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum …

• Kellian V. Rensalear Whaley

  Congressman and Civil War officer Kellian Van Rensalear Whaley (May 6, 1821-May 20, 1876) was born in Utica, New York. His family moved to Ohio, where he attended public schools, and in 1842 moved to "Wayne County":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/ …

• Benjamin F. Kelley

  General Benjamin Franklin Kelley (April 10, 1807-July 16, 1891) was born in New Hampshire, and moved to Wheeling in 1836. For more than two decades, Kelley was a merchant, and in 1851 he became freight agent for the newly arrived "Baltimore & …

• Battle of Keslers Cross Lanes

  On the night of August 21, 1861, the Confederate army of Gen. John B. Floyd, some 2,100 strong, crossed the "Gauley River":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2096 at Carnifex Ferry, "Nicholas County":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/ …

• Civil War

  The causes of the American Civil War were varied and complex. Most of the issues at the heart of the sectional conflict, however, can be attributed to the institution of "slavery":http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/456, particularly matters …