Tag: Vienna VA

Wikipedia says: Vienna is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.

Non-native settlement in the region dates to ca. 1740. In 1754, prominent soldier and land owner Colonel Charles Broadwater settled within the town boundaries. Broadwater’s son-in-law, John Hunter built the first recorded house there in 1767, naming it Ayr Hill to recall his birthplace, Ayr, Scotland. That name was then applied to the tiny developing community. The name of the town was changed in the 1850s, when a doctor, William Hendrick, settled there if the town renamed itself after his hometown, Phelps, New York, which was then known as Vienna.

On June 17, 1861, a relatively-minor but widely noted military engagement occurred there, the Battle of Vienna, one of the earliest armed clashes of the American Civil War. A would-be Union occupation unit under Brigadier General Robert C. Schenck approached Vienna from the east by train but was ambushed and forced to retreat by a superior Confederate force led by Colonel Maxcy Gregg. Today, several historical markers in Vienna detail its Civil War history. In addition, in the center of town lies the well preserved Freeman House; which, in 1861, was the polling place for the secession vote and was used during the war by both sides as a hospital.