An Inside View Of The Formation of the State of West Virginia With Character Sketches of Pioneers of that Movement By William P. Willey, 1901 290 Pages, indexed, searchable Requires Adobe Reader 5.0 or higher to View $9.99 + $1.99 shipping and handling (Free Shipping if purchased with “The Rending of Virginia” or “Semi- Centennial History of West Virginia”) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130372070597 “In 1861, as the United States itself became massively divided over regional issues, leading to the American Civil War (1861-1865), the western regions of Virginia split with the eastern portion politically, and the two were never reconciled as a single state again. In 1863, the western region was admitted to the Union as a new separate state, initially planned to be called the State of Kanawha, but ultimately named West Virginia.” “The severance of West Virginia from the mother State was a tragic event in the history of our Civil War. Virginia wasthe oldest and proudest State in the Union. Her soil was"sacred soil."' It had been the theater of many of the historic events in the childhood of our Republic, from the settlement at Jamestown to the surrender at Yorktown. It had furnished the explorers of our new country, the warriors to win its independence, the statesmen to build its government, it was "the Mother of Presidents." Its population were a peculiar people. They gloried in the prestige of their State. There was more State pride in Virginia than in any of the States. Every man was proud to call himself a Virginian and trace his ancestry to the "First Families." CHAPTER II. The Two Virginias Before Divorce 5 CHAPTER III. The Preliminary Steps to Take Virginia Out of THE Federal Union 16 CHAPTER IV. The Secession Convention 36 CHAPTER V. Done Behind Closed Doors -11 CHAPTER VI. Aftermath of the Secession Convention 51 CHAPTER VII. The "Mass Convention" at Wheeling 57 CHAPTER VIII. Reorganizing the Virginia State Government 69 CHAPTER IX. The Restored Government of Virginia in Opera- tion 76 CHAPTEE X. Laying the Foundation of a New State 80 Laying the Foundation of a Xew State - - 80 CHAPTER XI Making a Constitution for the Xew State - - 88 CHAPTER XII. The New State Issue in Congress _ - - 98 CHAPTER XIII The New State Bill in the Hands of President Lincoln -------- 136 CHAPTER XIV. The Constitutional Convention Reconvened on the "Willey Amendment."- - - . - 142 CHAPTER XV. The State of West Virginia an Independent Sovereignty -------- 170 SKETCHES OF PIONEERS.