Not to discourage further responses, but u/Bodark43, u/freedmenspatrol, and a now-deleted user elaborated on the political status of West Virginia during and after the Civil War here and here. You may also find this answer by u/MrGrumpyBear interesting. A Unionist government in northwest Virginia (based in Wheeling and Alexandria from 1861 to 1863 and from 1863 to 1865, respectively) was recognized by Washington in June 1861 as the legitimate government of the entire state of Virginia, sent Senators and Representatives to the U.S. capital to sit in Congress, and gave permission for West Virginia to be created from Virginia as a U.S. state; to the Union, the Confederate government of Virginia in Richmond was illegal, and an illegitimate assembly with no say in the matter.