The first major attack on Guntersville during the Civil War occurred on the morning of Monday, July 28, 1862, when Federals who had marched by night reached a hill on the north side of the Tennessee River and used that vantage point to aim their cannons at the small town. Led by Major J.W. Paramore of the Third Ohio Cavalry, the force included a regiment of Union infantry and a section of artillery with two 6 pounder Parrott guns. At 6 a.m. the Federals began shelling the town, and many citizens fled to a deep ravine that extended from the main street to present Blount Avenue. More than one hundred women and children huddled there against the slopes of the ravine for twelve hours until the shelling ended at 6 p.m. Although the bombardment caused considerable damage, only two people were killed, including Mrs. Evergreen Findley Rayburn, wife of Samuel King Rayburn, the Confederate general in charge of militia for North Alabama and a later mayor of Guntersville. The incident was reported in John Allan Wyeth's book, With Sabre and Scalpel, and the Chattanooga Daily Rebel newspaper.