After the Aug. 10, 1861, Battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., four of Washington County's first Confederate war dead—Capt. S.R. Bell, Sgt. Wm. Brown, Pvt. Henry Fulbright, and Pvt. Samuel McCurdy—were buried in Mount Comfort Cemetery. The 34th Arkansas Infantry (C.S.) raised troops at Mount Comfort in 1862 and later fought at Prairie Grove and Jenkins' Ferry. During the war, the community held hospitals for Union and Confederate troops and late in the conflict hosted a Unionist colony, where local farmers banded together for mutual protection from bands of marauders infesting the area.