The Harrison House

The Harrison House. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court 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.