Battle of Spotsylvania Court House Driving Tour- Stops 4 and 5

**The small copse of trees across the road is where the Harrison House was located**

The next three images shot from the Lee to the Rear sign are of the field and line of trees behind the Harrison House. On the 18th the Federals would charge the tree line, which was the location of Lee’s new line, although it was in the open then. The ground dips on the other side of the park road and then rises to the Harrison House located on a ridge. From there it rises slightly to the tree line.

The Harrison House Ruins- The ruins here are all that is left of the Edgar Harrison house. He lived here with his wife Ann, and their three young children in a story-and-a-half farmhouse on this knoll. On his 190-acre farm he and his 11 slaves churned butter, raised hogs, and harvested corn, oats, and tobacco. After the Federal breakthrough Gordon organized the Confederate counterattack here. Lee’s headquarters was in a tent in a nearby yard. Major General Richard Ewell used the house as his headquarters on the evening of May 11th.

History Trailhead Parking Lot- 38.2143815, -77.6077447

**Recreated earthworks that have fallen into disrepair.**

A trailhead just as I entered the parking lot on the left leads to the Harrison House but it also took me past the earthworks of Lee’s Last Line. They were more impressive than the pictures show, and I’ll try and get back there and photograph them in the winter.

The McCoull house remains- Neil McCoull and his three unmarried sisters Mary, Eliza, and Milly lived here at the time of the war. Around the house stood a kitchen and other outbuildings. Neil McCoull was absent during the fighting here in May 1864, but his sisters survived the battle by taking shelter in the basement of the house. Ewell used the house as a headquarters during the May12th battle. The outbuildings were used as field hospitals. The home burned down in 1920.

**Heavy, rectangular stones were placed over the outline of the house foundation to give an indication of its size.**

**The McCoull house circa 1885. From the LOC**

The McCoull spring was an important source of water for the house and for the thousands of Confederates fighting near here. Colonel Charles S. Venable, an aide-de-camp to Lee, remembered seeing General Robert Rodes “near the famous spring” ordering fresh troops into the struggle at the salient.