“West Virginia was the child of the storm,” concluded early Mountaineer historian and Civil War veteran, Maj. Theodore F. Lang. The northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union’s 35th state. In Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia, authors Eric J. Wittenberg, Edmund A. Sargus, and Penny L. Barrick chronicle those events in an unprecedented study of the social, legal, military, and political factors that converged to bring about the birth of the West Virginia.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad : catalyst to statehood --Western Virginia and the response to the secession of Virginia -- The first and second Wheeling Conventions -- Creating the "Restored Government of Virginia" -- Congress debates statehood -- Lincoln and the cabinet debate the constitutionality and expediency of admitting the new state -- Establishing the new state -- Post-Civil War Virginia -- Virginia files suit -- The Supreme Court settles the issue.