The brilliant military tactics of General Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jonathan Jackson and "J.E.B." Stuart will always be worthy of military study. Virginia helped the Confederacy, economically as well as militarily, especially with the food products of the Saltville area and of the Shenandoah Valley and the manufactured arms equipment of the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. When West Virginia became an independent state without the consent of Virginia, it reduced the area and population of the Commonwealth considerably. The ending of the War between the States, like that of the American Revolutionary War, took place in Virginia. The magnificent courage and fervor of the Virginians as members of the Confederacy will always be cherished by posterity. When one is well-informed of the deeds, hardships and activities which occurred during the War between the States in Virginia and in other southern states, one can easily understand the ever-present pride which the Confederate Flag does, and always will, inspire. This era of American history, although one of the darkest periods in our national history when even brother sometimes fought brother on the battlefield, will forever remain one of the most dynamic and heroic periods in human civilization. After enduring a harsh Reconstruction Program enforced by a radical United States Congress and by "Carpetbagger" and "Scalawag" governments, Virginia officially returned to the Union on January 26, 1870. Then the Commonwealth began settling some of its local problems: the extremely high state debt, the educational program, the joint boundary line between Virginia and West Virginia and the "Readjuster" Movement. The newest county in Virginia--Dickenson County--was created in 1880. By 1900, Virginia ranked seventeenth in United States state population and seemed prepared to meet the challenging events of the Twentieth Century with renewed confidence. A new state constitution, still in effect today, was "proclaimed" in 1902. It provided for a poll tax and an "understanding clause" provision as a voting requirement; later, the latter was changed to an intelligence test requirement. The unusual political status of a city, completely independent of county jurisdiction, was originated at this time also. Racial segregation in the public schools of Virginia was provided for in the Constitution of 1902.