In 1864, where the main road once entered town, 17-year-old Confederate soldier Joe Fluker was killed by pursuing Yankee cavalry as he carried a secret dispatch. While attempting to gallop across broken bridge decking, his mount failed to clear a large gap, and both fell several feet into the creek. Joe died of severe head wounds. He was the seventh son of the Fluker family, of Asphodel Plantation, to die in the Civil War, as was the fate of their father.