During the Civil War, White County and Sparta were marked by divided loyalties that set family members against one another. In 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s troops marched through Sparta’s town square on their way north to invade Kentucky. Later, about 600 Confederate guerrillas operated in the area, while Sparta periodically served as a Federal base under Union Col. William B. Stokes of the 5th Tennessee Cavalry. In February 1864, Stokes wrote that continued scouting would be needed to break up these bands. On February 22, 1864, 60 partisans including Champ Ferguson overwhelmed two of Stokes’s companies ten miles northeast of Sparta in the Battle of Dug Hill. After the war, Federal officials arrested Ferguson, tried and convicted him for wartime atrocities, and hanged him on October 20, 1865; he is buried north of Sparta in France Cemetery. Federals also used the high ground at Sparta’s historic City Cemetery to observe river, rail, and turnpike traffic. Confederate Gen. George Gibbs Dibrell, who is buried there, formed the 8th Tennessee Cavalry on September 4, 1862, with 921 men, mostly farmers from White and adjoining counties. During the war, Tom Burgess operated a gristmill at present-day Burgess Falls State Park north of Sparta, and the mill served the community for more than a century.