Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
Higgerson farm is Stop 4 on the Wilderness Battlefield Auto Tour. It is on the west sde of Hill-Ewell Drive 0.8 mile south of Route 20. 
Higgerson Farm wayside marker
A wayside marker is beside the pull-off next to the start of the trail that leads back to the Higgerson farm ruins.
Text from the marker:
The Higgerson Farm
Before you are the fields of the Higgerson Farm, one of only a few major clearings on the Wilderness Battlefield. On the afternoon of May 5, Union troops swept across this open space, bound for bewildering combat in the thickets to the north and west.
When the Federals trampled her fence and garden, Permelia Higgerson emerged from her house, berated the Yankees, and predicted their quick repulse. “We didn’t pay much attention to what she said,” admitted a Pennsylvanian, “but the result proved that she was right.”
After a succession of bloody clashes in the distant woods, the Federals retreated back across this field. Mrs. Higgerson taunted them as they passed.
“At Chickamauga there was at least a rear, but here there ain’t neither front nor rear. It’s all a ———– mess! And our two armies ain’t nothin but howlin’ mobs!”
– A Confederate prisoner to his captors
Captions on the right:
Permelia Higgerson
The Higgerson House as it appeared in the 1930s (below). The ruins of the chimney are still visible today. You may follow the lane to a point from which the ruins are visible.
Trail to the Higgerson Farm Site
Trail to the Higgerson Farm site
The trail follows the Higgerson farm lane that leads back from the pulloff about 270 yards to the site of the Higgerson farm. Little is left of the farmhouse except the ruins of the chimney.
Site of the Higgardson farmhouse. The ruins of the chimney are under the large tree at the end of the path.
Location of Tour Stop Four
The tour stop is on Hill-Ewell Drive 0.8 mile south of Virginia Route 20. (38°18’30.9″N 77°44’59.2″W)
Directions to the next stop on the Auto Tour:
Continue south on Hill-Ewell Drive. Stop 5 is about 1 mile on the the south side.
The Wilderness Campaign – May 5, Early Afternoon historical marker is about halfway to Stop 5 along the side of Hill-Ewell Drive.