In the late autumn of 1862 during the Civil War, the Union Army of the Cumberland encamped at Nashville faced the Confederate Army of Tennessee at Murfreesboro, and both armies used cavalry patrols to watch each other’s movements, often clashing while scouting key roads and junctions. In November and December 1862, two such skirmishes took place east of Rural Hill between Rural Hill and Gladeville along what is now called Stewarts Ferry Pike. On November 18, 1862, near the junction of Mires Road and Stewarts Ferry Pike, a Union brigade advancing east from Rural Hill was attacked in the early morning by Confederate cavalry under Colonel John Hunt Morgan, but the Union troops, armed with artillery and Colt revolving rifles, repulsed the assault. Four Confederate dead were left on the field, four Union soldiers from the 13th Ohio were taken prisoner, and the Confederate dead are believed to be buried in Suggs Creek Cemetery. On December 20, 1862, Union scouts again met Confederate resistance at the crossroads near Rural Hill. Both skirmishes came before the Union advance from Nashville to Murfreesboro that culminated in the Battle of Stones River.