During the Civil War, Mary Carroll's home in Guyandotte narrowly escaped destruction when much of the town was burned on November 11, 1861. After capturing the town on November 10, 1861, and rounding up civilian Unionists and Federal recruits, Confederate 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. Two accounts tell how Mary Carroll saved her home: either she barricaded herself and her children in the brick kitchen and refused to come out, or she went into the street and pleaded with the soldiers not to burn the house because her husband was ill inside. The soldiers instead burned the barn behind 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 seeking reimbursement for the loss of the barn and a small dwelling located elsewhere. The house had been floated down the Ohio River from Gallipolis, Ohio, on a flatboat in 1810, was bought by Thomas and Mary Carroll in 1855, and was later used as the first Catholic church in Cabell County.