Kanawha was a proposed name for the 39 counties which later became the main body of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, formed on October 24, 1861. It consisted of most of the far northwestern counties of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

, which voted to secede from the state after Virginia joined the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

at the beginning of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

on April 17, 1861.

Background

The Wheeling Conventions

The geopolitical separation from Virginia had been approved by the

Second Wheeling Convention The 1861 Wheeling Convention was an assembly of Virginia Southern Unionist delegates from the northwestern counties of Virginia, aimed at repealing the Ordinance of Secession, which had been approved by referendum, subject to a vote. The first ...

of August 20, 1861.What's In A Name?: The Naming of West Virginia
"A State of Convenience" website; accessed September 2014.''Formation of West Virginia''
West Virginia Encyclopedia online; accessed September 2014. The proposed name of "Kanawha" was based on the prominence of the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the st ...

running through the area (itself named after the local Canawagh, or Kanawha, Indian band, which had abandoned the area sometime after 1780) and was originally proposed by a committee of the founding convention as the name for the new state.

Name change

During the First Constitutional Convention held in Wheeling on December 3, 1861, Harmon Sinsel, of Taylor County, made a motion to strike the word Kanawha from the new state constitution. The discussion regarding the motion revealed concerns of possible confusion between the State of Kanawha and the County of Kanawha within the same state. Additionally, there was an expressed desire among the convention members to reflect their Virginian heritage. After much debate, the motion passed 30–14, and a new name was sought. During the subsequent discussion, names such as "Allegheny", "Augusta", "Columbia", "New Virginia", "Vandalia" (namesake of the failed Vandalia colony of the previous century), "

", and "Western Virginia" were suggested; it was decided that roll would be called and each member of the convention would answer their name with their preferred name for the new state. When one of the names reached a majority vote, it would be selected as the new name for the state. Upon the roll call, 30 of the 44 members had selected "West Virginia". Having reached a majority, the name for the new state officially became

Geography

During the constitutional convention the boundaries of the new state went through various changes. The original composition of the state consisted of 39 counties, 15 of which were secessionist and had voted in favor of Virginia's secession from the United States on May 23, 1861. Eventually nine more secessionist counties were added to the new state.

West Virginia statehood

West Virginia, by then comprising 50 counties carved out of the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridg ...

and northwestern and southwestern Virginia,Sheehan-Dean, Aaron, ''Why Confederates Fought, Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia'', University of North Carolina Press, 2007, pg. 26 was officially announced as a new state by President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

on April 20, 1863, effective sixty days thereafter. West Virginia was formally admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanawha, State of Proposed states and territories of the United States West Virginia in the American Civil War