Amissville, Virginia
| Amissville | |
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| Unincorporated community | |
View of Amissville, along Route 211 (facing west)
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 Amissville
Amissville
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| Coordinates: 38°40′17″N 77°59′44″W / 38.67139°N 77.99556°WCoordinates: 38°40′17″N 77°59′44″W / 38.67139°N 77.99556°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Virginia |
| County | Rappahannock |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
Amissville is an unincorporated community in Rappahannock County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located on U.S. Route 211 about halfway between Warrenton and the small town of Washington, Virginia.
The Locust Grove/R.E. Luttrell Farmstead and Meadow Grove Farm are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Amissville was first settled by French Huguenots and the English. In about 1763, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron granted tracts of land to Joseph Bayse and Joseph Amiss. Joseph Amiss distributed his land among his four sons, William, Gabriel, Philip, and Thomas. The Amissville post office was established on October 2, 1810, with Thomas Amiss acting as its first postmaster. The area was still largely inhabited by the Amiss and Bayse families, and both families wanted the town to be named in their own honor. An election was held, and by a one vote margin it became Amissville and not Bayseville.
In an 1855 gazetteer, it was described as "a small post-village" with "about 75 inhabitants, including surnames such as Amiss, Bayse, Poe, Corbin, Laing, Luttrell, Bywaters, Riley, Pickett, Hackley, Corder, and Smith."
Amissville is near the site of a minor action on July 24, 1863, involving George A. Custer's Michigan Brigade of cavalry following the Confederate loss at Gettysburg. Longstreet's corps and Gen. A. P. Hill's corps were retreating from Pennsylvania through the Chester Gap and south on the Richmond Road towards Culpeper. Custer and his troops traveled from their headquarters and camp near Amissville and attacked with cavalry and artillery from the southern slope of Battle Mountain (about 5 miles southwest of the village), but his forces were vastly outnumbered and after a brisk and severe fight, forced to retreat north and east over Battle Mountain back to Amissville. Two of Custer's men were awarded the Medal of Honor in 1893 for their part in capturing Confederate artillery at Battle Mountain. Battle Mountain and Little Battle Mountain were named not for the military engagement but for the Bataille family which lived near the two elevations in the 1700s. Bataille was later corrupted to Battle Mountain and Little Battle Mountain, the names they bear today.
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