right|290px|thumb|Map of the District of West Augusta and the three counties formed from it in 1776.
The District of West Augusta was a short-lived (1774–76) historical region of Colonial Virginia that encompassed much of what is now northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania.
History
Before the Colony of Virginia and the Province of Pennsylvania agreed to extend the Mason-Dixon line westward from the western boundary line of the Province of Maryland, both claimed a large area of what is now southwestern Pennsylvania.
The area was sparsely populated in the years following the French and Indian War (1754–63), and neither colony made any serious attempts at forming a local government until the early 1770s. Virginia administered the region as a part of Augusta County, Virginia. Pennsylvania later established Westmoreland County with its seat at Hanna's Town, overlapping Virginia's claims.
Virginia's governor, Lord Dunmore, traveled to Pittsburgh, which Virginia claimed as part of its territory, to appoint government officials under the Virginia charter. In 1774, the Virginia assembly separated the western portion of Augusta County's territory and formed the District of West Augusta.
The following several years were contentious. Local officials from Virginia arrested their counterparts from Pennsylvania and vice versa. Each state made movements to stem the flow of settlers from the other state.
