The community of Captain received its unusual name in 1888, when a post office was established in the home of Guy Dingus Huffman, who had served as the captain of Company K, 46th Virginia Infantry Regiment, C.S.A., during the Civil War. Huffman had married Sarah Jane Hutchison, a daughter of Col. Robert Mason Hutchison, a War of 1812 veteran, on 9 Feb. 1853. The couple built their house south of John's Creek on Hutchison’s land. Huffman served as postmaster until his death in 1910. The post office closed in 1935.