 It was the first regiment mustered into service on southern soil after Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops.It was formed three days before the Wheeling Convention, which was assembled to decide western Virginia's response if Virginia seceded from the Union.The first incarnation of the 1st West Virginia Infantry Regiment (known as the 1st Virginia at the time) was organized at Wheeling, Virginia, in May, 1861 from volunteer companies from Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, and Marshall counties (the Northern Panhandle of the state).