The name Turner Ashby High School was selected by the Rockingham County School Board because of the school’s location in the Ashby District of the county. The Ashby District was named for General Turner Ashby, a native of Fauquier County, who served as cavalry commander for Stonewall Jackson for the first year of the American Civil War. Ashby was killed in battle near Harrisonburg just prior to Jackson's victories at Cross Keys and Port Republic and the culmination of the 1862 Valley Campaign.