Blountsville, AL news and local guide

As a major crossroads, Blountsville became a Confederate cavalry depot. On May 1, 1863, Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederates and Abel Streight's Union raiders skirmished briefly in town. That day, by a state marker, two young sisters, Celia and Winnie Mae Murphree, took the rifles of three sleeping Union soldiers who had raided their sister-in-law's home and marched them to Forrest's camp at Royal Crossing. Union cavalry under Major General Lovell H. Rousseau occupied the town in July 1864. The Blountsville United Methodist Church, founded in 1818, is the town's oldest building and still in use, and Hendricks Tavern, later the Barclift House, dates to 1834. Blount College opened in the old courthouse in 1890. Sources Wikipedia: Blountsville, Alabama The Historical Marker Database: Blount County; Exploit of Murphree Sisters (Alabama Historical Association)