Double AHC: Make West Virginia bigger and/or give it a different name

As it says above find some good detailed PODs that cause more Virginian counties to join WV either during or after the Civil War.

Also see if you can find some PODs that cause a different name to be chosen for the state.

According to Wikipedia "On October 24, 1861, voters from 41 counties voted to form a new state, voter turnout was 34%. The name was subsequently changed from Kanawha to West Virginia." I understand that West Virginia was mainly chosen to make the transition easier for illiterate citizens but see if you can find a way to accommodate this and still change the name. I’m sure that the name Westsylvania could still be abbreviated WV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia#Separation_from_Virginia
 
Well, maybe they start taking inspiration from Westsylvania and they push for more of the southern counties and adopt Westsylvania as a name as well.

600px-Westsylvaniamap.png
 
Take some of Kentucky

If the rebels get a better hold on western Kentucky, perhaps the east would join with West Virginia--then you need a new name. Alternatively,, if it seems that the south is loosing the war before some areas are conquered,erhaps some counties will join Free Virginia earlier, (Free Virginia might not be a bad name, either...)
 
I like the name Vandalia sadly it was only considered during colonial times.

Now hear is something interesting that I found which I believe must be shared. While searching the history of West Virginia I actually found a site with a written record from the "Debates and Proceedings of the First Constitutional Convention" of West Virgiania in which the arguments given for and against the name are given! I'm still reading through it myself and I suggest others on this thread do to. Apparently Kanawha came in close second for the state's name.

Does anyone hear wonder what arguments might have arisen between the men present at the convention if the name Vandalia was also added as an option?
 
Kanawha was almost chosen in 1862/3. I call the region Allegheny in Course of Human Events and have given it much of what's pictured on Iserlohn's Westsyvania (I really dislike that name) map. I could easily see such a state emerging in the 1790-1810 period.
 
va extends west

West Virginia is no more accurate than northern ireland. As Donegal extends north of Northern ireland, Lee County Va extends well west of West Virginia
 
I'm not sure where the real cultural border would fall, but for a bit of local color, I'm a resident of Lunenburg county. A complete backwater (we have three stoplights in the entire county, so were not as backward as Charlotte Courthouse -which prides itself on having none :cool:). But we are known for one thing: Lunenburg county succeeded from Virginia, not because of anti-Richmond views, but because Virginia wasn't succeeding fast enough! LC rejoined Virginia when Virginia succeeded.

Culturally, Lunenburg is closer to North Carolina than the rest of Virginia: there's a line running sort of along Highway 360. The people in Farmville know where Richmond and Roanoke are, but are a bit vague on the locations of South Boston and South Hill. Conversely, the People in Victoria know exactly how to get to South Boston or Danville, but anything beyond Burkeville or Blackstone is pretty much South Yankeestan.*

My guess would be to draw the line somewhere along the Blue Ridge.

*BTW, here's a good clue for paging stereotypes. An army friend of mine from North Carolina, when were deployed to Mississippi, found out that according to the locals, he was a "Yankee." So, Yankeestan is fifty miles north of wherever you are in the Old Confederacy.:D

Also, when a friend from Norfolk moved out from there, we had to rent a truck from the local UHaul (black run) franchise. They found out where we were moving, and all but turned white (I'm not kidding, their eyes bugged, and the blood rushed from their faces). So, from Norfolk, people in Richmond are still refighting the Civil War (well, this isn't exactly untrue :rolleyes:), and people in Lynchburg live in...LYNCHBURG!. (Yes, and the town was named for *that* judge Lynch - who was a proponent of vigilantism, but wanted malefactors turned over to the authorities, not met with "street justice"). You can find "Deliverance County" about fifty miles west of wherever you are, at the moment.

BTW, Lunenburg County is mostly "Andy Griffith Show" with an occasional "Green Acres" thrown in, not very "Delirancey" at all. Even though we are right next door to Prince Edward: "Massive Resistance" "Moton High School/Museum" and the home of Deberah Kelley. :eek:
 
West Virginia is no more accurate than northern ireland. As Donegal extends north of Northern ireland, Lee County Va extends well west of West Virginia
Yeah, that's why I called it North Virginia on an alt-North America map I did once as WV does contain the northern-most part of antebellum Virginia.
 
What about the changes shown in this thread? In it the Union losses the ACW and the CSA remains independent but most of the Union occupied land in northern VA is added to West Virginia. Then the name of West Virginia is changed to just Virginia so that there is a US VA and a CS VA.
 
I'm surprised no one's brought up the Free State of Nickajack .

Seems to me the biggest possible West Virginia is a massive Appalachian Unionist/free soil state stretching from Northern Alabama to West Virginia.
 
I'm not sure where the real cultural border would fall, but for a bit of local color, I'm a resident of Lunenburg county. A complete backwater (we have three stoplights in the entire county, so were not as backward as Charlotte Courthouse -which prides itself on having none :cool:). But we are known for one thing: Lunenburg county succeeded from Virginia, not because of anti-Richmond views, but because Virginia wasn't succeeding fast enough! LC rejoined Virginia when Virginia succeeded.

Seceded.

Succeeded refers to a process of one thing replacing another, like how a Crown Prince succeeds the King.
 
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