About seven o'clock on the morning of January 19, 1862, Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer rode across the road nearby and, in dim light and fog, encountered Union Colonel Speed Fry. Each mistakenly believed the other was a fellow officer, and Fry later recalled riding so close that their knees touched as Zollicoffer said, "We must not shoot our own men," and pointed out troops he believed were his own. As Fry moved away, Confederate Major Henry Fogg appeared and shouted that they were the enemy, then fired at Fry and missed. Fry fired at Zollicoffer, several nearby Union soldiers also fired, and Zollicoffer and Fogg were killed in the exchange. Zollicoffer's men later placed his body under a large white oak that stood between the site and the stone wall, and after the battle Union General George Thomas ordered the body returned to Nashville. In 1910, the United Confederate Veterans erected a monument there in Zollicoffer's honor.