Constructed late in the 1830s, the Rock House served as a rest stop and tollhouse for travelers and wagoners on the Wilderness Trail Road. During the Civil War, roads through the rugged Cumberland Plateau became the focus of clashes between Union forces and Confederate partisans. In July 1864, Confederate partisan leader Champ Ferguson and his men took more than 500 horses and mules from a Federal camp and drove them past here to England Cove, about 15 miles northeast. Union Maj. Thomas H. Reeves of the 4th Tennessee Infantry led the pursuit with a mixed force of infantry and cavalry. At England Cove, Reeves's men fired about fifty rounds, after which the captors fled to the mountains after dividing and concealing the stock. Federal troops demanded that local residents reveal the hiding places, but they refused. In retaliation, Reeves reported that for fifteen miles down the valley, every house where good stock, arms, or contraband goods could be found was plundered. In Sparta, Union troops imposed martial law, arrested every white man, and made women fear that the town would be burned and all the citizens killed. After retaking some Federal stock and confiscating more from citizens who were out guerilla-ing, Reeves withdrew down this road to Kingston. Guerilla fighting continued to the war's end despite other Union counterattacks near the Rock House that included burning a hotel.