Peter Couse

The Couse house (National Park Service)

     The house at Laurel Hill was built in the late 1700's and was the home of Edward Herndon (1761-1837). The house was a two-story frame building with two brick chimneys, two shed rooms and a stone cellar. In the sketch made by Edwin Forbes [1] in May 1864 shown above, the house can be faintly seen behind what appears to be a former slave cabin or some other farm building. Laurel Hill consisted of 1,420 acres and extended from Gordon Road west to Piney Branch Road and south towards Brock Road. The house was located about a half mile west of Gordon Road. In the map detail below, the Couse property can be seen in the middle of the image.

Map detail of Spotsylvania County, 1863

     Edward Herndon and Joseph Brock built what would become Piney Branch Baptist Church on the Laurel Hill property. Edward's son, Reverend Jacob W. Herndon, was one of the ministers who served there. During Edward's lifetime his niece, Ann Herndon, married Matthew Fontaine Maury (the "Pathfinder of the Seas") at Laurel Hill in 1834.
     After Edward's death in 1837, ownership of Laurel was assumed by two of his children, Elizabeth Hull and Reverend Jacob Herndon. In 1839, Elizabeth and Jacob sold Laurel Hill to New Jersey native Thomas Teasdale. In 1840, Teasdale sold Laurel Hill to William Couse.
     William Couse and his family came to Spotsylvania from Sussex County, New Jersey. He and his wife, Elizabeth, arrived with their five children--sons Elezar and Peter, and daughters Ann M., Sarah Jane, Cornelia ("Nellie"), Catherine Halsey ("Kate"), and Mary C. Elezar returned to New Jersey not long after the family moved to Virginia. In addition to his farming operations, William Couse also owned a 2,500 horsepower steam saw mill and a bark mill (a bark mill ground up the roots, bark and limbs of trees, making tanbark, which was then sold to tanners). Partnering with William in his mill business was his son-in-law, Pennsylvania native George R. Supplee, who had married Mary Couse. Up until the Civil War, the Supplees lived next door to the Couses.

Alexandria Gazette 21 November 1855

     William Couse died on November 6, 1855. He had made no will, so Peter--now 34 years old--administered his father's estate with the consent of his mother, brother and sisters. Peter assumed management of the family farm, and he operated the saw mill and bark mill until March 1862. The mills did a good business until the start of the Civil War. One of Peter's customers was Peleg Clarke Jr., a former Rhode Island resident who was a carpenter, manufacturer and lumberman in Fredericksburg during the 1850's and 1860's. Peter provided ship timber to Clarke, who had a government contract.
     Although I have found no evidence of the Couses owning any slaves, in 1860 Peter rented a 22-year-old man from Mary Spindle. His brother-in-law, George R. Supplee also rented a slave from Mary Spindle--a 28-year-old man.
     The stresses in American society, relating primarily to the issues surrounding slavery, states' rights and secession, grew in intensity in the years following William Couse's death. The election of Abraham Lincoln pushed radical southern leaders over the edge. Starting with South Carolina in December 1860, eleven southern states left the Union.
     Southern secessionists were intensely focused on what they perceived to be their rights under the U.S. constitution. And while they constantly spoke out on the defense of their personal liberties, the secessionists at the same time demonstrated a hostile intolerance to any person who remained loyal to the United States. The freedom of speech that was cherished by secessionists was disallowed to Union loyalists. Aggressive and threatening tactics were utilized to stifle dissent in southern society.
     Peter Couse and his family remained profoundly loyal to the government of the United States. Peter made no secret of his political sympathies, and he thereby incurred the wrath of his neighbors. When a vote was taken in Virginia in 1861 to select representatives to the secession convention, Peter voted for the Union candidate. Once the convention voted for secession, Virginia voters were asked to ratify the decision to leave the Union. In Spotsylvania, intense pressure was put on loyalists to vote for secession so that a unanimous mandate could be seen as a symbol of solidarity. For Peter Couse and other Unionists, the physical danger posed by a 'no' vote made their opposition too perilous to risk. Instead, Peter abstained from voting.
     Peter's mother died in 1861. As the year progressed, Peter and his unmarried sisters became increasingly isolated from the community. In April 1861 the Supplees moved back to Pennsylvania, and Nellie went north as well. Peter made an attempt to move himself and his three sisters to safety. Shortly before his arrest, Peter was in negotiations with a Dr. Grinnan to exchange Laurel Hill for property out west. But time ran out before this opportunity could be realized.

Reverend Henry Clay Cheatham (Tabernacle United Methodist Church)

     The Couse family were devout Methodists, and were members of Zion Methodist Church near Spotsylvania Courthouse. In 1861, the Methodist Conference appointed Reverend Henry Clay Cheatham to assume responsibility for the Spotsylvania circuit. As Peter later testified: "I was threatened with being arrested and dealt with by the pastor of the church we attended. It was the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at Spotsylvania. It was for talking Union."

General Theophilus Hunter Holmes (Wikipedia)

     The right to freedom of speech enjoyed as a citizen of the United States did not exist in the newly-minted Confederacy. Peter and the other Unionists in Spotsylvania were regarded as a genuine threat to the secessionist regime, and one by one they were rounded up and imprisoned. General Theophilus Hunter Holmes, who commanded the Department of Fredericksburg and the Aquia District early in the war, ordered the arrest of Peter Couse. On the night of March 6, 1862 Captain Corbin Crutchfield [2] of Company E of the 9th Virginia Cavalry oversaw the arrest of Peter, who was hustled down to Richmond and confined in Castle Thunder.

Castle Thunder (Wikipedia)

     Peter was offered his freedom in exchange for taking an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. This he refused to do, and on May 13, 1862 General John H. Winder, who had responsibility for the Confederacy's prisons during the war, ordered that Peter remain imprisoned. Unwilling to renounce his patriotism, even under the harsh conditions he was kept in, he continued to languish in confinement all summer.

Prisoners and hostages, 1862 (Fold3.com)

     Fortunately, Peter's misfortune, and that of the other political prisoners sent to Richmond prisons from Spotsylvania, did not go unnoticed. In August 1862, Union intelligence agent Lafayette Curry Baker [3] drew up a list of Fredericksburg secessionists that he recommended be arrested as hostages in order to guarantee the safety of Peter and his fellow prisoners.  He thought that three secessionists should be seized for each loyal American in prison. Baker's list of potential hostages were in addition to six other prominent men of Fredericksburg who had been arrested earlier that year. Those men sent a petition to George Wythe Randolph, Confederate Secretary of War, pleading that Peter and the others be released so that they could get out of Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. In addition, Peter's sisters and friends in Fredericksburg interceded on his behalf. The wheels of Confederate justice turned slowly. Finally, on September 25, 1862 Peter Couse was released from Castle Thunder after signing a pledge to not take up arms against the Confederacy.

The National Republican 25 September 1862

     After his release, Peter was taken to Washington to Washington, D.C. where he was interviewed by General James Wadsworth, commander of the Military District of Washington. Peter did not return home. It would be three years before he saw Laurel Hill and Sarah, Kate and Ann again.
     Once he was set at liberty, Peter went north. He joined his brother Elezar, who at this time was a merchant in New Jersey. Peter kept abreast of the movements of the Union army in Virginia, hoping that an opportunity to return home would present itself. This did not happen. After several months, he moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania where his brother-in-law George R. Supplee had taken his family the previous year.

Peter Couse's enlistment in the Pennsylvania Militia Cavalry

     When lead elements of the Confederate army arrived in Gettysburg on June 26, 1863, 42-year-old Peter Couse enlisted for 90 days in Company B of the 3rd Pennsylvania Militia Cavalry. He furnished his own horse and "horse equipments." He then proceeded to Gettysburg, and then his company was stationed on the Potomac River at Williamsport and remained on picket duty for the remainder of their enlistment. After his discharge, Peter caught up once again with brother-in-law George R. Supplee, this time in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where George was working as a merchant. Peter remained there until the end of the war.
     Meanwhile, Ann, Kate and Sarah Couse did their best to survive at Laurel Hill. This would have been difficult under the best of circumstances, but the suspicion and hostility of their neighbors they had known for more than 20 years complicated their lives in many unforeseen ways. The saw mill had remained idle since Peter's arrest two years previously. The huge stockpile of sawn lumber and slabs were left unsold, since the Couses refused to accept Confederate money as payment. Pilfering of their food stocks by straggling Confederate soldiers and by opportunistic neighbors made their lives stressful in ways difficult for us to imagine today.
     Up to this time, Laurel Hill had managed to avoid some of the worst effects of the war. The fighting during the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville did not reach their house. That would change in May 1864 when Union General Ulysses Grant led a large and well-provisioned army into Spotsylvania. This was the beginning of the Overland Campaign, the ultimately successful effort to capture Richmond and destroy General Lee's army. In Spotsylvania, the violence would be widespread and catastrophic. The Couse sisters would find themselves near the epicenter of some of the worst fighting during the Civil War.
     On May 4, 1864 the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River into Spotsylvania County. The following day, Federal troops collided with lead elements of General Lee's forces. Grant's army pushed forward through the Wilderness, attempting to interpose themselves between the Confederates and Richmond. Thus began a race toward Spotsylvania Courthouse, with the Confederates just barely getting ahead of the Union Army and setting up a blocking force on Brock Road. The fighting along this new front began in earnest on May 8, and General Grant temporarily set up his headquarters at Beechwood, the home of Ann Armstrong and her family across Gordon Road from Laurel Hill.
     Kate, Ann and Sarah fearfully watched as thousands of troops poured into the neighborhood. Kate began to write a letter describing her experiences and added to it almost every day, providing a real-time account of the violence and chaos that occurred literally on the front step of Laurel Hill. Kate's original letter is part of the collection of the Library of the University of Virginia. National Park Service historian Donald Pfanz did an outstanding job of transcribing Kate's writing, and I have relied heavily on his work in the condensed and lightly edited version that appears below. Kate addressed her letter to someone identified by an initial--Mr. and Mrs. [?]. The initial is illegible, but based on the context of the letter, it is my opinion that it is 'M' for Morrison. I think the letter was written to either James M. Morrison and his wife Abigail, or to his brother Thomas Love Morrison and his wife Amanda. Like the Couses, the Morrisons were patriots devoted to the Union cause. During the battles near Spotsylvania Courthouse, the Union army's 2nd, 5th and 6th Corps set up their hospitals at Laurel Hill.

Page 1 of Kate Couse's letter (Library of the University of Virginia)

 "Very Dear Friends Mr and Mrs M--

   "Dilapidation and decay mark the course of everything at old Laurel Hill, both people and place are gradually falling into ruins...An air of suffocating loneliness reigns as the shades of evening come on--the wind has a peculiar howling, as if ghosts and witches were mourning over the sad remains...There is no peace in living in this God forsaken country. It is fearful to see with what impunity all kinds of robbery and roguishness are carried on...Last spring and summer nearly all our fowls were stolen at different times...We raised sweet potatoes and watermelons--but enjoyed none of the benefits. They disappeared as soon as fit for use. Mrs. Tom Chartters [4] continues to live at your place...I could tell you things that would make you laugh or cry. I do not know which.

     "Today, Saturday, the Confederates have been picketing all day in the lane in front of the house. Horses, clanking of sabers and rattling of spurs...Suddenly this afternoon between 3 and 4 o'clock a Confed soldier came dashing up. They all instantly ran for their horses and set off in a hurry--a large Yankee scouting party came in sight from the old mill road...Just then a most terrific cavalry fight commenced on the Court House Road...Old Laurel Hill resounded with the report of firearms...There has been terrible fighting going on on the Court House Road since 3 o'clock. It sounds almost at the house, it is soul sickening to listen to the continual crack of small arms, the the loud resounding cannon, shell whizzing, balls whistling, soldiers yelling and hollowing as they rush on. Oh! God human beings killing each other, this wicked war, will it never come to an end.

     "Wednesday May 4. Went to Mrs A [5] house...Pickets here musketry and see clouds of smoke going up from the artillery..there is skirmishing going on this afternoon...sharp skirmishing on the Court House Road, we heard yells--and the pop and crack of musketry made me feel faint...

     "Friday May 6 1864. Heard the cannon the first thing they jar the house continually...the whole outdoors alive with voices of soldiers, hear waggons and cannon moving, rumbling. Oh! So anxious...We are surrounded--Yankees on one side southern soldiers on the other pickets and vedettes on all sides...

     "Sat 7th. Calmer this morning, we are choked with smoke--from camp fires--and woods fire. Confed scouts and soldiers riding through thick going down in the direction of Piney Branch toward the Yankees...the soldiers told me Gen Longstreet was wounded slightly in the top shoulder yesterday...the place is alive with waggons moving, the field in front of the house is full of waggons moving to and fro.

     "Thursday 12th. The fighting opens early this morning. The Rowe family came down just now, refugees. Old Mrs Long [6] and Mrs Frazer have just come through the rain--coming for protection. I feel sorry for them. Oh! God there is now the most murderous battle raging. The continuous roar of cannons the still more terrific musketry sounds awful indeed. My feelings are intensely awful beyond description. The drums are beating, the bands at intervals--the poor wounded heroes are now coming in ambulances, they stand with stretchers ready to remove them to the tents, on the amputation tables. I can see them lying stretched out ready to be operated on. Mr Forbes the artist sketcher from Frank Leslie called in out of the rain, his right arm is helpless he sketches with left hand, has not the use of all his fingers on that hand. The house is perfectly muddy and hoggish, all tracked up with refugees, children, dogs and soldiers...The refugee children black and white are such nuisances. We are run over with them.

     "Sat 14. There were three hospitals on this place the one below towards Piney Branch moved up this morning...Here lay the poor wounded soldiers one mortally dying away from home and family. This war, this war. We took them some tea and bread and butter...True soldiers have died here today, they are nailing up a rough coffin for the poor Lieutenant...

     "Sunday 15th May. See the Rebs in sight again this morning, they are prowling all through took one soldier's hat and purse. Mr. Alrich [7] rode up and asked us where we are staying--he did not recognize the place--everything so changed. Requested me to write to Louisa Frazer to tell her of his wife's death. ..The Reb cavalry are pouring over the hills opposite the house all going up towards the old Piney Branch Church, getting in the rear...Rosser's [8] brigade went up to the old Piney Branch Church. Had a fight and came back. They are rummaging the camps taking everything they can lay their hands on. The whole brigade passed through the field by the spring out up through the corn and on...The old stable is full of wounded...poor suffering mortals. We prepared some coffee, tea and fruit for them it is soul sickening to look at the horrid suffering...Dr. Chambers eats with us and stays in the house nights. He brought in some old whiskey and we all took some.

     "Monday May 16th. I have heard no musketry or cannon today. The first still day in a long time...This afternoon waggons with provisions for the federal wounded came on--there were no rebs around they commenced unloading--but concluded to move the hospital. They brought up a long line of skirmishers and placed them on the hills all around, to keep off the Rebs in case of attack...They left us some sugar, coffee and fresh meat. The commissary promised to send for us each a calico dress. They left us weeping, sad and lonely every thing in an awful situation...They all got off about dusk, then the stillness of death settled around us...It seems as if some great funeral procession had passed through. The funeral of departed hopes...There are graves all around us. How many of the poor soldiers who started out in fine high hope and spirits now sleep the last sleep at old Laurel Hill....

     "Tuesday May 17th. Calmer still this morning. The birds are singing as sweetly as nothing had happened...The Reb soldiers are running through all the time searching through all the buildings. They pulled the lock off the cellar and stole our butter and eggs, some fruit and a lot of ginger cakes we had just baked...They are in everything, so annoying. I hate the sight of them. Cavalry pickets stayed in the yard. There was sharp skirmishing very near after dark.

     "Wednesday May 18. The fighting commences this morn. The cannon jarred me awake--up in the direction of the Brown [9] house it seems to be. It is very close. Little gangs of Rebel soldiers keep coming up inquiring for government stores. They say, they hear we are good Union people and they want all that was left. A couple came up to search looked at the sugar, they are cutting up the devil generally. They said they had orders from General Rosser. We told them we did not believe it, and talked mean to them. They were glad to get out. Soon as they were out of sight 4 more of our Cavaliers came up on the same purpose...told them General Rosser had better come down and settle the marauding parties...Sarah and I walked out over the fields...there were three hospitals at this place one up towards the old orchard--one down towards Piney Branch...We have lately seen some of the horrors of war, the fields are dotted over with graves. Clothing scattered in every direction, dead horses lying around and a general destruction of everything...a soldier told me Rosser's men robbed their own men--wounded--of their possessions...

     "Thursday 19th. Calm this morning. A- and Milly and myself walked to Mrs. Armstrong's, did not know whether we could get through or not when we started. The country looks awful, all cut up, new roads all through the fields. No vestige of a fence...We had a hard time to get there. Yankees left the house last night. Gen. Grant, Meade, Patrick and Burnside were there. Rosser's men came around Mrs. A's. A large body of Reb cavalry just now passed through the cabin lot, going on towards Mrs. Armstrong's--they came down through the old orchard had artillery Rosser's brigade six o'clock--I hear musketry fighting out in that direction soldiers straggling around nearly all the time. There is heavy musketry fighting going on towards Mrs. K's...There is still a heavy battle raging out in the direction of A. The cannon shakes the earth and reverberates through the air. We are afraid it is near Mrs. A. Yesterday a couple of soldiers taunted us with being good Union people. We told them--it did not make any difference to them what we were--and that as long as we treated them well they were bound to treat us in the same manner they said of course and backed off. The shells whiz through the air. The echo sounds as if there was fighting on the opposite side. Gen. Ewell's corps attacked the Feds fighting to capture some of their waggon trains. Infantry and cavalry coming up all the time.

     "Friday May 20th 1864. Soldiers were riding and walking up all night long, rapping at the doors to inquire the the way to their breastworks. I judge they must have been driven back, though they always say they are the driving party...It has been remarkably calm this morning. I have not heard a single gun or cannon. After being in Fed lines I can scarcely tolerate the sight of the grey backs. I hate their rusty uniforms. I am disgusted with the sight of them. Every hour some of them ride or walk up--rummage the whole place. We do not ask them in, have as little to do with them as possible. A surgeon rode up this morn--inquired if there any medical stores left here. We feel harassed and annoyed to death. Mrs. Rowe and Laura came over and took tea with us. It looks strange to see neighbors come in. Miss Apphia [10] still here.

     "Sat. 21st. Very calm--see only an occasional Reb--Late this eve we hear cannon. It sounds more distant. Had a slight shower here this eve. We are tired. We walked out and looked at the graves..."

     Not long after the battles at Spotsylvania Court House, Sarah left Virginia and went north to live with her relatives. It would be years before Laurel Hill was rehabilitated to the point when it would be a working farm again.

Matthew Brady photo of Wenonah on the Pamunkey River, 1860's (Fold3.com)

      Peter continued to work in Pennsylvania with his brother-in-law George Supplee until the spring of 1865. Not long after the surrender of General Lee's army at Appomattox on April 9, Peter made his way to Baltimore. On May 26, he was one of 90 passengers who boarded the paddle steamer Wenonah, commanded by Captain Daws. Once she slipped her moorings at the dock in Baltimore, Wenonah sailed south down the Patapsco River. Once the steamer reached the Chesapeake Bay, its progress was slowed by heavy weather. It finally reached the Fredericksburg wharf on May 28. Gone from Virginia for three years, Peter Couse was home at last.

Fredericksburg Ledger 30 May 1865

     Peter's sister Nellie also returned to Virginia after the war. She, Peter, Kate and Ann settled in Fredericksburg. They lived in a boarding house bought by Peter and managed by Ann. Peter also ran a grocery on Commerce (William) Street. In 1871, one of the local newspapers approvingly noted that Peter had made some improvements there:

Fredericksburg Ledger 17 March 1871

     But the primary focus of Peter Couse in the post-war years would be politics. He became very active in the affairs of the Republican Party, specifically in the Radical wing of that party. In May 1867 he was appointed as one of the registrars of election for Spotsylvania County:

Alexandria Gazette 8 May 1867

     On September 30 of that same year, Peter was among the Radicals calling for candidates to run for seats at the convention for the writing of a new state constitution. As it turned out, Peter was selected as one of the candidates nominated by the Republicans:

Alexandria Gazette 7 October 1867

     Peter lost his bid to serve on the Virginia constitutional convention. The winner was Conservative candidate John L. Marye, Jr., former mayor of Fredericksburg and member of Congress (his name also appeared on the list of possible hostages to guarantee the safety of Peter Couse and others, written by Lafayette Curry Baker in 1862). Peter contested Marye's election, saying that he was not qualified because of his Confederate sympathies during the war. Peter's objections were not successful, however, and Marye was ultimately seated as one of the representatives at the convention.

Alexandria Gazette 17 December 1867

     This action against Marye made Peter a very unpopular figure in Fredericksburg. He was hanged in effigy in October 1867. In April 1868, Peter was appointed to serve on the city council. Two months later, Peter involved himself in the controversial case of a man named Tibbets, which likely did little to increase his popularity:

Fredericksburg Ledger 9 June 1868

     Not long after that, Peter was accused of knowingly buying a stolen pistol. Whether this was a trumped-up charge or if he ever stood trial, I have not been able to determine:

Fredericksburg Ledger 18 August 1868

                 
     Another position held by Peter for several years was that of Deputy Collector of Revenue for the 3rd District.

Fredericksburg Ledger 25 May 1869

Peter Couse, Internal Revenue Gauger, 1875

     In May 1871, Peter's sister Nellie was named to the decoration committee as part of the upcoming celebration of Memorial Day to honor the Union soldiers buried in the National Cemetery.

Fredericksburg Ledger, 12 May 1871

     On November 15, 1871 Peter married New Jersey native Emily Cox in a ceremony held in Deckertown, New Jersey. They made their home in Fredericksburg and had three children together: William James, Mary and Lucille.

Couse-Cox marriage, 1871

     In 1873, Peter Couse--on his own behalf as well as for his brother and sisters--applied to the Commission of Claims for compensation of the losses the family incurred during the occupation of Laurel Hill in May 1864. His loyalty, and that of his family, was investigated and found to be valid. Peter claimed $2,753 in damages to the property at Laurel Hill. The Commission ultimately approved $2,223. Depositions were given by Peter, Kate and Ann Couse, as well as former Union surgeon Enos G. Chase and Spotsylvania Unionists Absalom McGee and Isaac Silver. The depositions of all but Dr. Chase (he submitted his in writing) were taken in Fredericksburg on March 19, 1873 by Isaac P. Baldwin representing the Commission.

Page from Peter Couse's claim for damages

     Peter lost the 1872 election for city council, but he remained a potent force in Republican politics. In October 1873 he was appointed to the committee to nominate candidates to fill Spotsylvania County offices:

Fredericksburg Ledger 14 October 1873

     The following year, Peter's name was put forward as a possible candidate for a seat in the 44th U.S. Congress:

Alexandria Gazette 27 October 1874

     At some point during the mid-1870's, Peter and Emily decided to move to New Jersey. They settled in Farmingdale in Monmouth County. Peter opened another grocery store there. The Couse family became devoted members of Farmingdale Methodist Church.
     Not long after moving to New Jersey, Peter and Emily made one more contribution to their legacy in Spotsylvania. On February 5, 1878 they sold two acres on Piney Branch Road to X.X. Chartters, R.W. Ferneyhough and Nathan Talley, trustees for the Chancellor School District. Two months later, the trustees sold one of these acres for $10 to the trustees of the Piney Branch Colored Church: Claiborne Lewis, John Lewis and William Parker. A school for black children was built on that spot, and remains standing to this day.

Piney Branch School

     Peter Couse died on June 24, 1887. He is buried in the Deckertown Union Cemetery in Wantage, New Jersey. The year of his death carved in his headstone is incorrect.

Couse monument at Deckertown Union Cemetery (Findagrave)

     After his death, Emily continued to run the Couse grocery in Farmingdale. For a time, her son William also worked at the store. Here are two artifacts attesting to Emily's years as a successful merchant:

    
    
     Peter and Emily's son became a successful banker in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In the 1920's he was elected President of the New Jersey Bankers Association.

     Nellie and Kate Couse returned to New Jersey. Sarah and Ann continued to live at Laurel Hill until Ann's death in 1892. She is buried in the Fredericksburg Cemetery.

Headstone of Ann M. Couse (Findagrave)

     Sarah left Virginia and joined Nellie and Kate in Sussex County, New Jersey, where they lived for the rest of their lives. They never married. They died within a few years of each other in the early 1900's and are buried in the Newton Cemetery in Sussex County.
     After Sarah's departure from Virginia, ownership of Laurel Hill passed to Wilfred Smith Embrey. On September 21, 1899 Wilfred and his wife deeded Piney Branch Church to its members for $1.00.
     Wilfred died in 1908. Three years later, Laurel Hill was bought by Ohio farmer William Mergler:

The Free Lance, 18 April 1911

     Laurel Hill was later owned by J.W. McCalley. Some time before 1936, Mr. McCalley tore down the historic old house at Laurel Hill.

     

Footnotes:

[1] Edwin Forbes (1839-1895) was a sketch artist employed during the Civil War by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.

Edwin Forbes (Wikipedia)

[2] Corbin Crutchfield was born in 1839 at "Snow Hill" in Spotsylvania. He attended the Virginia Military Institute for one year, then was dismissed in 1856 for hazing cadets.

[3] Lafayette Curry Baker (1826-1868) was a Union spy in Virginia early in the war. He went on to serve as provost marshal of Washington, D.C., head of the National Detective Bureau and colonel of the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry.

Lafayette Curry Baker (Wikipedia)

[4] Julia Decastro Chancellor Chartters (1825-1904) was the widow of Thomas Rogers Chartters (1821-1862). Julia was a daughter of Sanford Chancellor and Frances Longwill Pound.

Julia Decastro Chancellor Chartters (Ancestry)

[5] Beechwood, the home of Ann Armstrong and her family. The Armstrongs were also Union loyalists, and I have told their story here.

[6] Gabriel and Elizabeth Long. Gabriel died the day after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

[7] John Roberts Alrich (1830-1907) was born in New Castle County, Delaware. He and his wife, Jane Frazier, moved to Spotsylvania in the 1850's. They lived on a farm that was then called New Store, located at the intersection of Old Plank and Catharpin roads. John cast his lot with the Confederates and served with Company E of the 9th Virginia Cavalry. Jane Alrich died on April 24, 1864.

[8] Confederate General Thomas Lafayette Rosser (1836-1910) commanded the 7th, 11th, and 12th Virginia Cavalry Regiments and the 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion during the battles near Spotsylvania Courthouse.

Thomas Lafayette Rosser (Wikipedia)

[9] Captain John C. Brown (1783-1867), a veteran of the War of 1812, lived across Gordon Road from Laurel Hill.

[10] Probably Apphia Farmer Sanford, the mother of Joseph Farmer Sanford, owner of the Sanford Inn near Spotsylvania Courthouse. Apphia came to live with her son after the death of her husband in Stafford in 1858. Apphia died a few weeks after Kate Couse wrote her letter.

Sources:

File of Peter Couse's claim for damages with the Commissioners of Claims: https://www.fold3.com/image/34/222378478

Letter of Kate Couse, transcribed by Donald Pfanz February 2004 (the original letter is part of the collection of the Library of the University of Virginia, Accession No. 10441).

John Hennessy: "Echoes from the Bloody Angle: A Real-Time Description from Katherine Couse's Laurel Hill." This article includes the link to Donald Pfanz's transcription: https://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/echoes-from-the-bloody-angle-a-real-time-description-from-katherine-couses-laurel-hill/

"Confederate Memoranda on Peter Couse:" http://www.confederatevets.com/documents/couse_va_1.shtml

John Hennessy: "Democracy's Dark Day--The May 1861 Secession Vote in Fredericksburg, Part 2":
https://fredericksburghistory.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/democracys-darkest-day-the-may-1861-secession-vote-in-fredericksburg-part-2/

"Piney Branch School:" http://visitspotsy.com/african-american-heritage-trail/piney-branch-school/

Mildred Barnum: "Laurel Hill." Works Progress Administration of Virginia Historical Inventory, November 9, 1936.