Scott A. MacKenzie, author of The Fifth Border State: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829–1872. Gerry's Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...Everyone listening to this show knows the basic story of the formation of the State of West Virginia. The hardy anti-slavery Mountaineers who wanted no part of the elite Virginia plantation owners rebellion. So in 1863 they formed their own state, secede from secession. Well, the first sentence of Dr. Scott Mckenzie's new book is Every account of West Virginia's creation is wrong. Presumably that excludes his own account, which is titled the 'The Fifth Border State: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829–1872.' We'll find out where West Virginia really came from when we talked with him tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.