In 1870, while St. Clair County was still under Radical Republican Reconstruction, former Confederates planned the county’s first Democratic Convention after the War Between the States at the courthouse in Ashville. Former Sgt. E. Frank Harrison of Co. F, 10th Ala. Infantry Regiment was chosen as one of the delegates. As Harrison and a number of Confederate veterans approached the courthouse on August 20, 1870, they were ambushed by the “Springfield Gang,” led by H. J. Springfield, identified as a Confederate deserter and outlaw. Harrison was shot and killed by H. J. Springfield, and because of his death the meeting was postponed and then held at Bolton’s Crossroads.