Happy WV Day!  Today the state is 145 years old!

WV became a state during the Civil War, seceding from Virginia after it became a Confederate state.  It took several years, but eventually what would become West Virginia applied to Congress to become a state.  Lincoln agreed to allow it (despite thinking it was unconstitutional) if WV would (eventually) agree to abolish slavery.  And so it did, and became a state on June 20, 1863.

Amusingly enough, when Supreme Court Justices come to speak at the WVU College of Law, students are warned not to ask about the formation of the state, and whether the Justice feels it was constitutional: The Justice will not discuss it, as it is an area in which he or she may one day have to rule. (Or at least this is what I was told when I attended!)