Near this site are the remains of three forts built in 1863 by Confederate troops under the command of Major W.T. Walthall, commander of the military post at Talladega. The forts were built to protect the Alabama-Tennessee River Railroad trestles across the Coosa River and Yellow Leaf Creek, and during the last months of the war they were manned by reserve companies consisting of young boys and old men. Barbiere's Reserve Cavalry was stationed here in February 1865, and Union troops commanded by General James H. Wilson captured the forts in March 1865.