Atwood Gaines Hobson and his wife, Julia VanMeter Hobson, began building Riverview in 1857, but it was still unfinished when the Civil War began in 1861, and the Hobson and VanMeter families supported opposite sides in the conflict. The Hobson family staunchly upheld the Union cause, with Atwood and his brother, Edward Henry, serving as officers in the Union Army, as did Atwood and Julia's sons, William and Jonathan. Julia VanMeter Hobson and her family, however, were sympathetic to the Southern cause, and both of her brothers, William and Charles, are said to have assisted the Confederates in destroying the bridges and the L&N trestle over the Big Barren River in mid-February 1862. The Confederate army occupied Bowling Green in mid-September 1861 under General Simon Bolivar Buckner, who had been a good friend of Edward Henry Hobson before the war. Because of that friendship, the Hobsons asked Buckner not to disturb construction of the home, and he agreed not to destroy the unfinished house, although Confederate troops confiscated the property. They covered the partially finished basement level with planks and used it to store ammunition for the fortifications surrounding Bowling Green, and they also built an earthwork mounting four cannons on the hill near the house. After Confederate troops abandoned Bowling Green, Union troops used the earthwork, and after the war the Hobson family reclaimed their property and completed Riverview in 1872.