Josh breaks down West Virginia a lot better than I could ever hope to. I think the key point is here:
The anti-slavery, anti-slaveholding upcountry seceded from Virginia to remain in the Union after Virginia seceded from the Union. Each of these regions was fiercely anti-Slavery. And most ended up raising regiments that fought in the Union Army. But they were as anti-slave as they were anti-slavery, both of which they viewed as the lynchpins of the aristocratic and inegalitarian society they loathed.
Which might explain the videos I posted about earlier. It seems that Appalachia has a history of xenophobia.
