In April 1862, Major James M. Shanklin and 197 men of the 42nd Indiana Infantry camped on the west bank of Wartrace Creek near the end of Bridgeview Street to secure the supply line of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad by guarding two bridges north and south of Wartrace. Early on the morning of April 11, 1862, Colonel James W. Starnes of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion led 200 Confederates in an attack on the camp, and several men on both sides were killed and wounded.