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| Thursday May 23, 1861 |
The Union sustained a crushing blow on May 23, 1861, when
Virginia seceded to the Confederacy. Virginia held great
significance for the Union, as it had been the home of such
founding fathers as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
It was the scene of more than half of the bloodiest battles of the
Civil War, the state with the highest white population in the
Confederacy, the home of the Confederate capital (Richmond),
and the native state of General Robert E. Lee.
Before the war began, Virginia had originally favored
compromise. When the slavery issue began to seriously
threaten the Union, Virginia’s Governor John Letcher said, “it is
monstrous to see a government like ours destroyed merely
because men cannot agree about a domestic institution.”
Lee had also hoped for a peaceful solution to the conflict
between the states. A Lieutenant Colonel with an outstanding
reputation, Lee was offered the command of the entire Union
Army…but resigned to join the Confederacy as head of the
Virginia armed forces. Saddened that the nation was torn apart
by war, Lee made this decision strictly out of loyalty to his home
state. However, his loyalty was not shared by the state’s
western region, which moved to establish the separate state of
West Virginia.
Despite this division within its boundaries, Virginia was a
significant gain for the Confederacy - and a devastating loss to
the Union in its time of greatest need.