During the Civil War, Central College (later Central Methodist University) was officially closed, but a provisional college was still being taught by some faculty members who remained in Fayette.
There were also Union blockhouses-- fortified wooden structures-- north of where Central's campus (which at the time consisted solely of Brannock Hall) and Howard Female College (now Howard-Payne Hall) and located where the Phillips-Robb Recreation Center is today.
On September 24, 1864, 200 pro-Confederate guerillas, or "bushwackers," attempted an assault on the Union blockhouses.