page_title: Fauquier County, Virginia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Fauquier County, Virginia / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Virginia Colonial Governor Francis Fauquier
context_page_description: Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 65,203. The county seat is Warrenton.
  Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. The county is one of the fastest-growing and highest-income counties in the United States.
context_section_description: In 1608, the first European to explore in the vicinity, Captain John Smith, reported that the Whonkentia (a subgroup of the Siouan-speaking Manahoac tribe) inhabited the area. The Manahoac were forced out around 1670 by the Iroquois (Seneca), who did not resettle the area. The Conoy camped briefly near The Plains, from 1697 to 1699. The Six Nations ceded the entire region including modern Fauquier to Virginia Colony at the Treaty of Albany, in 1722.
  Fauquier County was established on May 1, 1759, from Prince William County. It is named for Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time, who won the land in a poker game, according to legend.
  American Civil War battles in Fauquier County included (in order) the First Battle of Rappahannock Station, the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, the Battle of Kelly's Ford, the Battle of Aldie, the Battle of Middleburg, the Battle of Upperville, the First and Second Battle of Auburn, the Battle of Buckland Mills, and the Second Battle of Rappahannock Station.
caption: Portrait of Francis Fauquier, for whom Fauquier County was named
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