Hermitage was the home of Joseph Watters (1792 - 1866), a pioneer settler in Floyd County who admired Andrew Jackson and gave it that name; a settlement of the same name lies 1 mile southeast. On May 17-18, 1864, Brigadier General K. Garrard's 2d division of Elliott's Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland (US), moved down this road from near Calhoun to strike the Rome Railroad west of Kingston. Operating on the right wing of McPherson's Army of the Tennessee (US), Garrard turned southeast here and reached Barnsley's about noon on May 18, in advance of McPherson's troops, which had turned east at McGuire's, 3 miles northeast.