Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The Harrison House wayside marker is at Stop 4 on the Auto Tour. It is next to the Lee to the Rear! marker. (38°13’03.3″N 77°36’12.3″W; map)
The Harrison House stood near the small stand of trees on the knoll. Today all that remains of the house are parts of its stone foundation and the ruins of its chimney.
From the marker:
The Harrison House
Like most Spotsylvania County residents, Edgar W. Harrison little imagined the impact the Civil War would have on his community and his life. Harrison, his wife Ann, and their three young children lived in a story-and-a-half farmhouse set on the knoll across the road, where they made a living churning butter, slaughtering hogs, and harvesting corn, oats, and tobacco. Although he tiled less than half of his 190-acre farm, Harrison owned 11 slaves.
One slave, Joseph E. Walker, remembered the panic that gripped the household as the armies approached. “…My mistress, Miss Harrison, and my mother began gathering up her silver to leave. Just then [Confederate troops] formed a line of battle in our front yard…. We were ordered to get out as the firing was going to begin, which it did like a thunderstorm.” The Harrisons and their slaves took refuge at a neighbor’s house, returning only after the battle ended. For Spotsylvania residents, it was a story repeated countless times.
From the caption to the background photo:
The Harrison home survived the war only to be destroyed by fire years later. Today only remnants of its chimneys are visible.
(go to the main Tour Stop 4 page)
(go to the main Battle of Spotsylvania Auto Tour page)