Fort Hamby stood about half a mile south of here as a two-story log house rather than a military fortification. It took its name after 20 to 30 Union and Confederate deserters occupied it at the end of the war. Their leader, who called himself Wade and claimed to have been a major in Union Gen. George Stoneman's cavalry, organized raids on residents of Wilkes, Alexander, Caldwell, and Watauga Counties. Although little is known about the gang members, they were said to have been cruel, allegedly shooting and killing a child and a woman at long range to test their rifles, threatening and attacking unarmed men and women, and imposing a reign of terror until the spring of 1865. On a night in early May, a posse led by former Confederate Maj. Harvey Bingham of the Watauga County Home Guard assaulted the house, but the gang killed two men and drove off the rest. A week later, Wade and his men attacked the home of former Confederate officer W.C. Green in Alexander County, but Green, his children, and his servants fired on them, wounded at least one, and chased the others away. The next day, former Confederate Col. Washington Sharpe led another posse against Fort Hamby and besieged it. After a standoff, Sharpe had an outbuilding set on fire before dawn, and when the flames spread to the house, the gang surrendered. Wade escaped in the confusion and was never seen again, but others were executed on the spot, and the posse then burned Fort Hamby to the ground.