The war divided Sequatchie County families, with local men serving on both sides as Union and Confederate armies marched through the county, civilian law broke down, and marauders robbed, killed, and settled old scores. The William Rankin house, the first dwelling built in Dunlap, was pillaged, and Rankin fled. Thousands of soldiers used the county’s roads and turnpikes. In August 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army passed through on its way north to invade Kentucky. Late in the summer and fall of 1863, after the Battle of Chickamauga, the county served at different times as a base for both Union and Confederate armies during the battles for Chattanooga. Union Col. John T. Wilder reported that his arrival there in August 1863 proved timely for surprising and capturing 14 rebels and releasing 5 Union prisoners they were about to hang. The fighting directly touched the southern part of the county on October 2, 1863, when Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry attacked a Union wagon train headed for Chattanooga on the Campbell and Anderson Turnpike. The train carried more than 1,000 wagons of supplies pulled by an estimated 4,500 mules, and Wheeler’s successful raid destroyed a vast quantity of Union property. Federal forces occupied Sequatchie County for the remainder of the war, but marauders continued to roam the mountains and valley, harassing residents and stealing from them. The war and its aftermath created enduring resentments and profound changes in Sequatchie County, as in the nation.