On March 31, 1863, Waitman T. Willey, one of the Mountain State’s first U.S. senators, wrote in his journal, “West Virginia is a Fixed Fact.”
President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill admitting West Virginia to the Union on December 31, 1862. On March 26, 1863, West Virginia ratified the revised constitution to include the gradual emancipation of slaves. Lincoln proclaimed that West Virginia would officially be recognized as the 35th state on June 20, 1863. 
