Frederick County, Virginia: History
The area that would become Frederick County, Virginia, was inhabited and transited by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European colonization.
Colonization efforts began with the Virginia Company of London, but European settlement did not flourish until after the company lost its charter and Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. In order to stimulate migration to the colony, the headright system was used. Under this system, those who funded an emigrant's transportation costs (not the actual colonizers) were compensated with land. In 1649 the exiled King Charles II granted several acres of colonial Virginia lands to "seven loyal supporters", including Lord Fairfax. The Fairfax lands passed to Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1657-1710), who married the daughter of Thomas Colepeper, who also owned several acres of land. After their son, Lord Thomas Fairfax, inherited the combined grants, he controlled over 5,000,000 acres of land in Virginia, including much of the land that became Frederick County.
Frederick County was created from Orange County in 1738, and was officially organized in 1743. The Virginia Assembly named the new county for Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707–1751), the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain. At that time, "Old Frederick County" encompassed all or part of four counties in present-day Virginia and five in present-day West Virginia:
Hampshire (West Virginia), created 1754
Dunmore, created 1772 and renamed Shenandoah in 1778
Berkeley (West Virginia), created 1772
Hardy (West Virginia), created 1786
Jefferson (West Virginia), created 1801
Morgan (West Virginia), created 1820
Page, created 1831
Clarke, created 1836
Warren, created 1836
As commanding officer of the new Colonial Virginia regiment in 1754, Colonel George Washington located his headquarters in Winchester before and during the French and Indian War. He resigned from military service in 1758. He represented Frederick County in his first elective office, having been elected to the House of Burgesses in 1758 and 1761.
Seventeen years later, on June 15, 1775, the Continental Congress "elected" George Washington as commander-in-chief of the yet-to-be-created Continental Army. He accepted the appointment the next day. This preceded the Congress's declaration of independence and the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.
=== American Civil War ===
Winchester was a site of volatile conditions during the Civil War of 1861–1865, with control shifting between the Confederate and Union armies on average once every three weeks during the war. Many battles were fought in Frederick County. Some of those battles included:
First Battle of Kernstown, March 1862
First Battle of Winchester, May 1862
Second Battle of Winchester, June 1863
Second Battle of Kernstown, July 1864
Third Battle of Winchester (Battle of Opequon), September 1864
Battle of Cedar Creek, October 1864
The first constitution of West Virginia provided for Frederick County to be added to the new state if approved by a local election.
Unlike neighboring Berkeley and Jefferson counties, Frederick County remained in Virginia; as it was occupied by the Confederate army, no vote was permitted to ascertain the residents' wishes.