Unison, Virginia
| Unison, Virginia | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
 Unison, Virginia
Unison, Virginia
Unison, Virginia
|
|
| Coordinates: 39°2′6″N 77°47′26″W / 39.03500°N 77.79056°WCoordinates: 39°2′6″N 77°47′26″W / 39.03500°N 77.79056°W | |
| Country |  United States of America |
| State |
 Virginia
|
| County |
 Loudoun
|
| Elevation | 482 ft (147 m) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1477830 |
Unison is an unincorporated community village in Loudoun County, Virginia. It is located approximately five miles from Middleburg in the Loudoun Valley.
Founded in about 1740 by Quakers who had migrated down from Pennsylvania, via Maryland and across the Potomac to the fertile farmlands of Northern Virginia, the village and its surrounds - later to become known as Union, and then Unison - was referred to as "Greenland" or "Butterland" in early 1800's deeds. The name "Butterland" was said to have come about as a nod to the Royal taxes at the time being collected in pounds of butter, rather than coin.
In 1813 Virginia's General Assembly chartered the village as the Town of Union. That same year the federal government established the Union Post Office, discontinued twice in its early years, from 1820-1824, and in 1828. The post office was reestablished in 1829 under Union's new name of Unison which was forced on the town largely because Monroe Court House in Monroe County, VA had taken the name Union a few years prior, even though its own post office had been established 4 years after Loudoun's Union post office. Unfortunately for Loudoun's Union, Monroe County got preferred treatment because their courthouse was situated in their town of Union.
By the 1830s Unison was the 4th largest town in Loudoun County. Yardley Taylor, writing for Joseph Martin's Gazetteer of Virginia in 1835, used the old name "Union" to identify Unison and counted 25 dwellings, 3 houses of worship, a school, 2 general stores, a blacksmith, and a tavern. Among the 135 inhabitants there were a number of professionals including a lawyer and 3 physicians.
As the prospect of a civil war loomed on the horizon at the opening of the 1960s, the last vote of the Unison Precinct on May 23, 1961 - a count to affirm Virginia's secession from the Federal Union - was 150-0, the largest shutout vote for secession in the county. All the Quaker pacifists had remained home during the voting, so their voices against secession were never heard.
During the war the village was the scene of a pitched fight between forces under J.E.B. Stuart and Union cavalry, infantry and artillery in what is now known as the Battle of Unison. Because of the time gained by Stuart’s delaying tactics at Unison, a major portion of Lee’s force had crossed the Blue Ridge, reached Culpeper and now had time to regroup and prepare for the next major encounter between the two sides at Fredricksburg. Lee’s army and his capital were saved. On November 5, 1862, the New York Times correspondent aptly reported “Stuart . . . balked what might have been a splendid success”. On Sept. 22, 2011, due to the successful efforts of the Unison Preservation Society's research and documentation into the important historical significance of the battles and skirmishes that took place in and around the Unison area, Virginia’s State Review Board and Virginia’s Historic Resources Board both voted unanimously to place the 8,000-acre Unison Battlefield Historic District in the Virginia Landmarks Register. They simultaneously recommended to the National Park Service that the battlefield be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The United States National Park Service approved the recommendation from the State of Virginia, and the Unison Battlefield Historic District is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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