Culture

HINTON, W.Va. — In the darkness of Aug. 10, 1862, about 150 Union soldiers moved through the mountains of southern West Virginia toward an isolated industrial complex along the New River, carrying orders from an Ohio officer who would eventually become president of the United States. Their objective was the Mercer Saltworks, a salt-producing operation … Read more

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — By the final days of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln faced one of the most unusual decisions of his presidency. The Civil War had entered its second winter, Confederate armies still occupied much of the South, and the Union’s future remained uncertain. Yet waiting on Lincoln’s desk was legislation unlike anything any previous … Read more

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Most Americans know there is a Virginia and a West Virginia, but far fewer know why. The answer is not simply that the Civil War divided the nation. It also divided Virginia, producing the only permanent change to the map of the United States during the conflict. Before the war began in … Read more

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In one of the strangest episodes in American political history, half of the West Virginia state Senate fled the state Capitol, boarded a train to Ohio, and effectively shut down state government. They weren’t prompted by war, natural disaster, or criminal charges. It was political. For more than a week in 1911, … Read more