On February 19, 1863, a train carrying Confederate soldiers and civilians left Meridian heading west. Near Hickory, the locomotive ran off the trestle and submerged the train in the Chunky River. A rescue effort was led by the First Battalion of Choctaw Indians, organized just days earlier at a nearby Confederate training camp. Many passengers were rescued by the Choctaw troops, under the command of Major S.G. Spann.