Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
Harrison House is Stop 4 on the Battle of Spotsylvania Auto Tour. It is at the wye where Anderson Drive meets Gordon Drive.
There are two wayside markers at the Tour Stop:
The “Harrison House” (left) and “Lee to the Rear!” wayside markers at Tour Stop Four. 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.
Harrison House wayside marker
Text 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.
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.
Lee to the Rear! wayside marker
Text from the marker:
Lee to the Rear!
The General’s countenance showed that he had despaired and was ready to die rather than see the defeat of his army.
Isaac G. Bradwell
3rd Georgia Infantry
In these fields on the morning of May 12, 1864, Gen. Robert E. Lee faced a crisis so severe that he felt compelled to lead his troops personally into battle. It was the third such crisis in a week – a sure sign of the Confederate army’s dwindling power.
Soon after dawn a courier dashed up to Confederate Gen. John Gordon at the Harrison house with an urgent message: A Union attack had shattered the Confederate line at the Muleshoe Salient, about a half-mile to your left. As Gordon’s Georgians prepared to counterattack, Gen. Robert E. Lee took his place among them, intent on leading them into battle.
The solders would not permit it. “Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear!” they shouted. Two soldiers stepped forward, grabbed the bridle of Lee’s horse and led him to safety. Gordon’s men then plunged into battle. Within minutes they had recaptured the eastern face of the Salient – the prelude to a day of horrific fighting.
Location of Tour Stop Four
The Tour Stop is at the wye where Anderson Drive meets Gordon Drive, about 1.3 miles by road east of Stop One on the Spotsylvania Battlefield Auto Tour. (38°13’03.3″N 77°36’12.3″W)
Directions to the next stop on the Auto Tour:
Turn left onto Gordon Drive for 0.1 mile then turn left again onto McCoull Road. Continue 0.2 mile to the parking area. Visitors may first want to take a 0.35 mile side trip to the right on Anderson Drive, where there is an exhibit on Civil War Earthworks.
(return to the main Battle of Spotsylvania Auto Tour page)