It certainly wasn't the Commonwealth of Virginia. Yet Virginia found themselves being invaded by a Northern Army less than 24 hours after a referendum to secede. Keep in mind that was a referendum to secede - not a referendum to join the Confederacy.
If you agree that Southern states had a right to secede - a right that Virginia had been assured back in 1788 - then as far as Virginia is concerned, the aggression came solely from the Union. Even after Fort Sumter, the Virginia legislature had voted to remain in the Union.
Thank you, sir. A correct relating of the salient facts. By constitutionally seceding, Virginia was invaded by federal troops. They did not join the Confederacy until a largely unfair referendum vote was held in May, 1861. Union troops moved into N. Virginia the day after the referendum to secede. It was then that VA officially joined the Confederacy on the decision of Gov. Letcher. The referendum was not fair and good, but such was the fever of the time.
Virginia’s Unionists met at the Wheeling Convention to set up the Restored Government of Virginia. Francis Pierpont was elected governor. The restored government raised troops to defend the Union, and in 1863 the State of W. Virginia was admitted to the Union. There are many to this day that say W.V. does not have a legal basis for statehood.
The battle lines will be different in the inevitable and soon to become hot CW2. This time the combatants will be those who would fight for the freedoms and values that our founders fought for against those who not only do not share our values and love of freedom but who would force their values upon us and actively work to take our freedom from us.
May those who love freedom have the same backbone and resolve that our founders had ... for without it ... our republic is doomed and we will as a society be reduced to slaves to the government.
Pick your side now for the war WILL be forced on us and it will come soon ... be prepared.
By the time the referendum was held the Virginia militia was already mobilized and had seized and looted the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry and the shipyards at Norfolk.
The governor had already expressed his intention to joint the Confederacy and agreements had already been reached between Virginia and the CSA well before the referendum.
There was even agreement to move the Confederate capital to Richmond by that time, so no one was in doubt about what a "yes" vote to secession in the referendum would mean.
Not to act after the referendum -- when it was clear how things were headed -- would have meant losing more ground to subversives elsewhere in the country.
More here.
Even after Fort Sumter, the Virginia legislature had voted to remain in the Union.
If you mean that the Virginia convention had voted to remain in the union before the surrender of Fort Sumter, that's true. I can't find what you said, though -- you'd have to prove it.