Appomattox is a town in Appomattox County, Virginia and the county seat. Named for the Appomattox River (in turn named for the Appomattoc Indian tribe), Appomattox was the site of a depot on the Petersburg-Lynchburg "South Side Railroad", and it was named "Nebraska" in 1855 before being renamed "West Appomattox" in 1895. The construction of the railroad through Appomattox Depot resulted in the closure of the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road and the decline of the Appomattox Court House community, causing Appomattox to become the seat of county government in 1892. On 9 April 1865, Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House near the courthouse, causing "Appomattox" to become synonymous with the end of the American Civil War. By 2019, Appomattox had a population of 1,794 people, of whom two-thirds were white and a third Black. Appomattox County tended to vote Republican by a 70%-30% margin starting in 2016, as Democratic voting sharply declined from 40.88% in 1996 to 34.61% in 2008 and 26.09% in 2020.
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