Eliza Brown was enslaved on the Pierce farm several miles west of here until Union Gen. George Armstrong Custer, camped here in August 1863 after the Battle of Gettysburg, hired her as his servant and cook. Custer's wife Libbie later referred to Brown often in her accounts of events after the Civil War. Brown traveled in her own kitchen wagon and gained a reputation for bravery, sometimes preparing meals under fire. Custer's cavalrymen, who called her the Queen of Sheba, entrusted her with valuables while they were on patrol and brought her fine clothing confiscated from nearby plantations, allowing her to dress as a belle. She was captured several times, including during the 1864 Battle of Trevelian Station, but always escaped quickly. After the Civil War she went west with the Custers, made several memorable visits to New York City with Libbie Custer and met figures including Buffalo Bill Cody, and briefly returned to Rappahannock County to visit her former owner. Brown later married Andrew Jackson Davidson in Athens County, Ohio, and lived there until her death. The area around Amissville also saw Union encampments after the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, Federal cavalry harassment of the Confederate retreat through the Blue Ridge gaps toward Culpeper County, Alfred E. Pleasanton's cavalry camp here in November 1862 before an engagement at Corbin's Crossroads, and Custer's troopers resting around this intersection after his narrow escape at Newby's Crossroads on July 24, 1863. Brown recalled that in August 1863 excitement over freedom and liberty led her to leave home after emancipation.