Saved from Destruction

During the Civil War, this was the home of Mary Carroll, who narrowly managed to save it from destruction when much of Guyandotte was burned on November 11, 1861.

After capturing the town on November 10, 1861, and rounding up civilian Unionists and Federal recruits, Confederates forces under Col. John Clarkson and Col. Albert G. Jenkins left Guyandotte with their prisoners the next day. As they departed, the steamboat Boston arrived with the 5th (West) Virginia Infantry. When the Federals disembarked, they heard stories of an alleged "massacre" and that pro-secessionist residents had assisted the Confederate cavalrymen. The regiment's commander, Col. John L. Zeigler, is believed to have ordered Guyandotte burned in retaliation.

There are two accounts of how Mary Carroll saved her home. One is that she barricaded herself and her children in the brick kitchen and refused to come out. The other is that she went out into the street and pleaded with the soldiers not to burn her house because her husband was ill inside.

The frustrated soldiers burned the barn at the rear of the house, unaware that the 9th (West) Virginia Infantry had stored supplies in it. In 1892, Mary Carroll filed a claim with the Federal government to be reimbursed for the loss of the barn and a small dwelling located elsewhere.

(sidebar)
The house was floated down the Ohio River from Gallipolis, Ohio, on a flatboat in 1810. Thomas and Mary Carroll bought it in 1855. Later, it was used as the first Catholic church in Cabell County. The current barn is a replica of an antebellum barn.

(captions)
(lower left) Madie Carroll pleading for her house Courtesy the artist Debra Richardson
(upper right) Burning of Madie Carroll's barn Courtesy the artist Debra Richardson

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Show me all markers in:  Huntington, WV  |  Cabell County  |  25702  |  West Virginia  |  United States of America

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