1866 Johnson Map of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware

Emancipation Comes to West Virginia

The Emancipation Proclamation exempted border states from the demand to free enslaved people. But what about West Virginia, which wasn’t yet a state?
New River Gorge Bridge

Why There’s A West Virginia

West Virginia declared its independence from the secessionist state of Virginia in the middle of the Civil War and became the 35th state.