Editing Appomattox, Virginia (section)

==History==
[[Image:Appomattox, VA, Visitor Center IMG_4184.JPG|left|thumb|upright|The Appomattox Visitor Center in July 2011]]
The town is named for the [[Appomattox River]], which was named after the [[Appomattoc]] Native American tribe, one of the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking [[Powhatan Confederacy]], historically based in the coastal area and encountered by the English before the tribes of the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]]. The Appamatuck historically lived somewhat to the east of the present town, around the area of present-day Petersburg. At the time of European encounter, the area of Appomattox County above the [[Atlantic Seaboard fall line|Fall Line]] was part of the territory of the [[Manahoac]] tribe, who spoke a [[Siouan]] language. 
 
At the time of the Civil War, the present community of Appomattox was the site of a railroad [[railroad station|depot]], called [[Appomattox Station]] on the line between [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]] and [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]], a stop on the [[Southside Railroad (Virginia)|Southside Railroad]].<ref Name=Bright2015>{{cite web |url=http://www.csa-railroads.com/South_Side.htm |title=Confederate Railroads - South Side|last=Bright |first=David L. |date=2015 |website=Confederate Railroads |access-date=January 25, 2018 }}</ref> The station is three miles west of the restored historic [[village]] of [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]], the site of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s surrender to Union General [[Ulysses S. Grant]] on April 9, 1865, which essentially [[Conclusion of the American Civil War|ended the American Civil War]]. The area is preserved as [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park]] and is administered by the [[National Park Service]].

The town was first named "Nebraska" in 1855. In 1895 it was renamed "West Appomattox". The first postmaster of "Nebraska, Virginia", was [[Samuel D. McDearmon]].<ref name="appomattox1">{{cite web|url=http://www.appomattoxhistory.org/clover-hill.htm |title=Appomattox town history |access-date=January 11, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503195436/http://www.appomattoxhistory.org/clover-hill.htm |archive-date=May 3, 2008 }}</ref>

Near the end of the Civil War, [[Robert E. Lee]] made a last attempt to reach the depot, hoping to transport the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] south by railroad to meet [[Joseph E. Johnston]]'s larger [[Confederate Army of Tennessee|Army of Tennessee]], then located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The arrival of Federal troops and their blocking Lee's army from the depot led to Lee's surrender in the home of [[Wilmer McLean]], on April 9. Johnston later surrendered 98,270 Confederate troops (the largest surrender of the war) on April 26, 1865.

Today, each April, the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park commemorates this event with a luminary ceremony, wherein a lantern is lit for each of the 4,600 slaves freed in Appomattox County alone.

The railroad became the [[Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad]] in 1870. The inconvenience of the railroad's location to the original Appomattox Court House in the village of Clover Hill led to the decline of the courthouse community. After [[fire]] destroyed the courthouse building in 1892, the county relocated the court to the depot area, which formally became the [[county seat]] in 1894. The railroad became a line in the [[Norfolk and Western Railway]] and then the [[Norfolk Southern Railway]].

In 1990, there were 11,971 residents reported for Appomattox County; the Town of Appomattox had 1,703 residents.

In addition to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, the [[Appomattox River Bridge]], [[Appomattox Historic District]], [[Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center]], and [[Holliday Lake State Park]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

The [[2010 Appomattox shootings]] occurred from January 17 to 20 and left eight people dead.