With the crack of a rifle and the thundering resound of
a cannon, West Virginia cast its lot with the Union and became inextricably linked
with the bloodiest war in American history. Western Virginia was at the forefront
of the Civil War from the beginning. With John Brown’s raid on the federal
arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the southern states became paralyzed with
fear. John Brown, a fiery evangelical famous and infamous for his passion for emancipation,
attacked the arsenal with the goal of arming slaves in the southern states to start
their own rebellion. The
Harpers Ferry National Historic Park has managed to keep the armory’s
engine house, Brown’s headquarters during the fight, exactly as it appeared
over 140 years ago.
The Birth of West Virginia
 Following Brown’s trial and subsequent hanging, the
nation hoped and prayed for a diplomatic solution, but that fateful day when southern
forces fired on Fort Sumter marked the end of the debate over the role of slavery
in the United States. While the majority of Virginia’s state delegates voted
to secede, 32 of the 47 delegates who voted to stay in the Union were from western
Virginia. Western Virginians were evenly split between those favoring union and
emancipation and others favoring the rights of states and slavery. It was even rumored
that the vote for western Virginia to form a new and free state had to be rigged,
as allegiance to the South was so strong in many areas. In Wheeling, West Virginia
Independence Hall served as the home of the Restored Government of Virginia in what
became the original capitol city of West Virginia. Now a museum, visitors can see
Civil War artifacts as well as listen to costumed guides tell the story of the birth
of the Mountain State on June 20, 1863.
With the North and South realizing that allegiances in western Virginia
were mixed, they both struggled for dominance and moved in immediately to take over
strategic areas. Unknown to many, Parkersburg was once home to thousands of Union
troops and placed under martial law due to its Confederate sympathies and its new
status as a major river port for oil shipping. The Parkersburg Oil and Gas Museum looks at the role oil played
in early western Virginia and how many of the statesmen pushing for western Virginia's
independence were actually newly rich oilmen from the nearby oilfields at Burning
Springs. As thousands of troops poured in from both sides, western Virginia divided,
brother against brother at times, to join the Civil War.
Organ Cave is the second largest commercial cave on the east coast and a
National Historic Landmark. The walls of the cave glitter with salt petre, a primary
ingredient in black powder, used by Robert E. Lee' s troops during the Civil War.
Within the depths of Organ Cave is the Hopper Room, a well-preserved refinery and
one of the largest selections of Civil War Hoppers in the U.S. Visitors can walk
the trails used by the troops and enjoy the acoustics of the "Chapel Room,"
that once housed 1,100 confederate soldiers.
West Virginia Civil War Attractions
 With its national cemeteries containing the graves of unknown
Union and Confederate soldiers, its civil war battlefields, and annual civil war
reenactments, the Mountain State has plenty to offer history buffs and the curious
alike. Carnifex
Ferry Battlefield State Park marks the site of Union General William Rosecrans’
campaign to secure the fertile and salt-rich Kanawha Valley. His decisive victory
over Confederate Brigadier General John Floyd made the formation of a new state
possible by protecting western Virginia from Confederate advances. Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park offers a stunning
view and a chance to visit the site of the last serious effort made by the Confederacy
to control West Virginia. Confederate forces came to Droop Mountain a few months
after the failed Jones-Imboden Raid, where the South tried in vain to destroy the
B&O Railroad as well
as the new Restored Government of Virginia meeting in Wheeling. To commemorate the
battles in West Virginia, Carnifex Ferry, Harpers Ferry, Droop Mountain, Jackson’s Mill, Rich Mountain, and Chief Logan State Park all offer civil war historical
reenactments.
West Virginia boasts more than 20 Civil War sites
on the National Register of Historic Places and 15 Civil War Discovery Trail Stops. The hallowed ground of
cemeteries and the now peaceful battlefields give silent testimony to one of the
most trying times in our nation’s history. The war to free the slaves and
preserve the United States had a profound effect on the nation and West Virginia
– the only state born of the Civil War.
Civil War Activities in West Virginia
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West
Virginia Division of Tourism Calendar
of Events
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