On June 30, 1864, two Pioneer Line coaches were stopped at gunpoint on the Pony Express Trail at a sharp bend in Pollock Pines that became known as Bullion Bend. A band of Confederate irregulars, all members of a secret society called the Knights of the Golden Circle, robbed both coaches. The proceeds were intended to help recruit soldiers in California for the Confederate Army. Hours after the holdup, El Dorado County Deputy Sheriff Joseph Staples became the first officer in the county’s history to die in the line of duty when he was killed in a gunfight at the Somerset House while trying to arrest the men responsible.