The Restored Government of Virginia was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) in opposition to the government that had approved Virginia's seceding from the United States and joining the new Confederate States. Each state government regarded the other as illegitimate. The Restored Government attempted to assume de facto control of the Commonwealth's northwest with the help of the Union Army but was only partly successful. It raised Union regiments from local volunteers but depended upon recruits from Pennsylvania and Ohio to fulfill its commitments. It administered this territory until, with its approval, the area became part of West Virginia in mid-1863.