“The Union did not declare war because it considered the Confederacy a rebellion.”
Doesn’t matter what the Union ‘believes’. Lincoln invaded. Virginia defended their own sovereignty.
On April 17, the Virginia convention voted to secede, pending ratification of the decision by the voters. With the entry of Virginia into the Confederacy, a decision was made in May to move the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, in part because the defense of Virginia's capital was deemed strategically vital to the Confederacy's survival regardless of its political status. Virginians ratified the articles of secession on May 23. The following day, the Union army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight.
Virginia's ordinance of secession was ratified in a referendum held on May 23, 1861, by a vote of 132,201 to 37,451.[32] The referendum was a perfunctory endorsement of the state government's decision to join the Confederacy and was not a free and fair election. The Confederate Congress proclaimed Richmond to be new capital of the Confederacy and Confederate troops moved in to northern Virginia before the referendum was held.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_in_the_American_Civil_War
Looks to me like Virginia declared war on the United States before and Union troops set foot on Virginia soil.
JCBreckenridge: "Doesn’t matter what the Union ‘believes’.
Lincoln invaded.
Virginia defended their own sovereignty."
You can call it "war" and "sovereignty" if you wish, or call it "rebellion" and "insurrection" as I contend, but neither changes the fact that:
That's like saying "Roosevelt invaded. Germany defended their own sovereignty." That may be factually true but it ignores the fact that if Germany hadn't been the aggressor then nobody would have had a reason to invade.
The day after the Virginia legislature voted for secession, but before the popular referendum, the governor called up the militia and sent them to take the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The U.S. forces there tried to destroy the equipment but most of it was saved, seized, and sent down to Richmond for use by the Confederacy. That was a month or more before Lincoln sent troops into Alexandria.