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Virginia convention votes to secede from the Union.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad blocked by Confederate militia at Grafton, West Virginia
George B. McClellan sends troops from Ohio into West Virginia, to reopen the railroad.
Battle of Philippi: A Union army surprises the Confederate troops who had been blocking the railroad and force them into a rapid retreat.
Convention that leads to creation of state of West Virginia meets for the first time at Wheeling
McClellan arrives at Grafton and takes direct command of operations in West Virginia
A Union force under General Jacob Cox is ordered south into the Kanawha Valley to deal with a Confederate force commanded by Henry A. Wise, a former governor of Virginia
Kanawha Valley expedition gets under way.
Battle of Rich Mountain: The Confederate army at Beverly is outflanked and forced into another retreat.
Skirmish at Corrick's Ford: Action during the pursuit of the army defeated at Rich Mountain, in which the Confederate commander General Garnett becomes the first civil war general to be killed in action.
West Virginia's senators seated in the House.
General McClellan called east to command the Union armies around Washington in the aftermath of the defeat at First Bull Run. Replaced by his second in command, General Rosecrans.
Confederate forces retreat from Charleston, the most important town in the Kanawha Valley
Union forces occupy Charleston
The Convention at Wheeling adopts an 'ordinance of dismemberment' to create a new state, initially to be called Kanawha
Confederate attack on the Union position at Gauley Bridge repulsed with some ease
Battle of Cheat Mountain: Robert E. Lee's first battlefield command, and a Confederate defeat caused in part by the over-complexity of his plan (to 15 September)
Battle of Carnifex Ferry: Confederate forces in the south of West Virginia defeated by General Rosecrans
Battle of Cheat Mountain ends.
Referendum ratifies the create of the new state of West Virginia
The last Confederate force in West Virginia begin to retreat from the state
Official creation of the State of West Virginia
West Virginia accepted into the United States