Overton/Hillsman House

Overton/Hillsman House. Horror and Hope. The building in front of you was a witness to war, a battlefield hospital, and the birthplace of one of the nation's foremost Black educators., Built in the 1780s by Moses Overton, the farmhouse was occupied by James Hillsman and his wife, Lucy, at the outbreak of the Civil War. James became a Confederate captain but was captured at Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864, and was a prisoner in Maryland when war came to his own doorstep., On April 6, 1865, as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia trudged towards Farmville in search of provisions, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's forces attacked along Sailor's Creek. Fighting raged around the Hillsman farm, and the home was turned into a field hospital; blood from the wounded can still be seen on the floors. Lucy, her two small children, and possibly all five enslaved workers took shelter in the basement from the horrors above. Afterwards, Lucy vowed never to live in the house again., The identities of four of the enslaved workers are known: Catherine Brown and her children Parham, Emily, and Lucy. Emily, the Hillsmans' formerly enslaved cook, married Booker Moton here on Christmas Day 1866, and gave birth to Robert Russa Moton on August 26, 1867. Robert learned to read and write from his mother and later graduated from the Hampton Institute. A friend of Booker T. Washington, Dr. Moton became the second president of the Tuskegee Institute, and the keynote speaker at the 1922 Lincoln Memorial dedication in Washington D.C., "The hope under God that all should share alike in the blessings and privileges of freedom." , Dr. Robert Russa Moton, from his keynote address at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, (captions) , Captain James Hillsman Courtesy Sailor's Creek Battlefield Historical State Park, Dr. Robert Russo Moton Courtesy Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.