In April 1864, Confederate Colonel Ezekiel F. Clay led his regiment of mounted infantry on a raid to Kentucky.

On April 14, Clay and his exhausted troops and horses were trying to rest near the mouths of Puncheon and Little Half Mountain Creeks.

Some believe that Gallup was led by a young lade from Puncheon named Liza Whitaker through Ivyton and down Gun Creek to Brushy Fork.

E. J. Roberts, acting assistant adjutant-general, Col. Orlando Brown, and Capt John C Collins, who claims to have shot Clay.

Col. Clay was eventually captured and taken to an Ohio Prison by Elijah Patrick where he was finally pardoned by President Lincoln near the end of the war.