Widow Tapp’s Field

In this field lived widow Catherine Tapp, who with other family members eked out an existence from poor soil. The Tapps occupied a lopsided log cabin about 300 yards away, with seven people living in a space perhaps 30 by 20 feet. A corncrib, log stable, and a few fruit trees surrounded the house, and four milk cows and seven pigs wandered the property. Catherine Tapp’s net worth barely exceeded 100 dollars. She owned no land and no slaves. A kitchen garden and small patch of corn, potatoes, and wheat likely provided much of the family’s food. The war that so devastated others in Spotsylvania County could do little to diminish the Tapps, who had little to lose.

Virginia · United States