In 1860, Scottsville was a bustling county seat town of 403 residents, with a two-story octagonal brick courthouse dominating the busy court square, a public spring, at least one church, a handful of commercial establishments, and several lawyers and doctors. By 1862, most of Scottsville’s men had gone to war, some joining the Union army and others the Confederate, reflecting Allen County’s divided loyalties like those of the rest of Kentucky. An Illinois corporal called Scottsville a little old town with few inhabitants and said most of the homes were deserted, while a Union officer from Ohio described it as a little poor concern with perhaps a dozen or 20 houses. When the Union army marched into town, Scottsville’s population grew tenfold, and its passage disrupted local life, with Bethlehem Church recording that there was no meeting on the second Sunday in November because the army was passing down the pike and the building had sick soldiers in it.