<P> The Commonwealth of Virginia was a prominent part of the Confederate States during the American Civil War . As a slave - holding state , it held a state convention to deal with the secession crisis , and voted against secession on 4 April 1861 . Opinion shifted after 15 April , when U.S. President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union to put down the rebellion , following the capture of Fort Sumter , and the Virginia convention voted to declare secession from the Union . ( In the Western counties , where there was little slavery , pro-Union sentiment remained strong , and they presently seceded from Virginia as a separate Union state , West Virginia . ) </P>
the state of virginia secedes from the united states on this day in april of 1862
4 April 1861