Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The McCoull House wayside marker is at Stop 5 on the Auto Tour. (38°13’12.0″N 77°36’00.6″W; map) It stands next to the ‘Mayhem in the Muleshoe‘ marker and looks over the foundation of the McCoull house, which was destroyed by fire after the Civil War.
From the marker:
McCoull House
This was the home of farmer Neil McCoull and his unmarried sisters Mary, Eliza, and Milly. McCoull’s farm was typical of those that dotted Spotsylvania County: a few hundred acres that produced a modest income from corn and other grains. Like his neighbors the Harrisons, McCoull owned slaves, a circumstance common to more than half of Spotsylvania’s residents.
Around the house stood a kitchen and other outbuildings. Simple dirt roads connected the McCoulls to their neighbors the Harrisons (to the south) and Landrams (0.75 mile north). Neil McCoull was absent during the fighting here in May 1864, but his sisters survived the battle by taking shelter in the basement of the house. When they emerged, they found a landscape dominated by death.
From the caption to the background photo:
Like so many Spotsylvania County homes, the McCoull house survived the Civil War only to be destroyed by fire in later years. This photograph was probably taken in the late 1800s.
From the caption to the photo in the upper right:
Of nearly 900 farms in Spotsylvania County, none would witness more death than Neil McCoull’s. Union burials on the farm numbered 1,492. The number of Confederate burials – like those shown in the photo – is not known.
(go to the Tour Stop 5 page)
(go to the main Battle of Spotsylvania Auto Tour page)