West Virginia is the only state to secede from a Confederate state and one of two to be formed during the Civil War. Originally part of the British Virginia Colony and then the western part of the state of Virginia, its population became very divided over the issue of secession from the Union and then separation from Virginia. West Virginia as admitted to the Union as a new state in 1863 and was one of the Civil War border states.
Unlike the population of eastern Virginia, population of what became West Virginia was not homogeneous. A considerable portion of its population came via Pennsylvania and included settlers from states farther north.

At the time of the Americam Revolution, a movement began to create a state beyond the Allegheny Mountains – part of the Appalachian Mountain chain – to establish the state of “Westsylvania.” A petition to that end was presented to Congress.  The concept of slavery was a major factor in West Virginia seceding from Virginia. In an earlier convention to develop a new constitution for Virgtinia, all but one of the counties in what is now West Virginia voted against slavery.

Other concerns included the distance from and difficulty traveling to the Virginia capital of Richmond, and what was considered a severe imbalance in state expenditure for state-funded internal improvements between the eastern and western parts of Virginia.