Confederate Capt. Drury Clare Spurlock was struck down by a Union musket ball at the Battle of Stones River (aka Battle of Murfreesboro) Dec. 31 1862. His McMinnville neighbor Lucy Virginia Smith French — the famed poet, novelist, editor and chronicler of the Civil War in Warren County — was deeply devoted to "Cap Spurlock" as was familiarly known and was emotionally devastated at the news of his death. When his body was dressed for burial and laid in state in McMinnville, French fashioned a garland of geraniums and evergreens laid this on his chest.