Map detail of Spotsylvania County, 1863
In the early 1840s, Robert McCracken Harris moved his family from Warren County, New Jersey to Spotsylvania, where he had bought a 250-acre farm near Shady Grove Methodist Church. His first four children were born in New Jersey; the next five would be native Virginians. The Harrises attended Shady Grove and enjoyed the respect of their neighbors. They did not own slaves. Instead, Mr. Harris employed two free women of color, Bettie and Mary Curtis, who lived on their farm for years.
As the social and political structure of the nation began to fracture with the coming Civil War, it would have been interesting to hear conversations within the walls of the Harris home regarding their allegiances. All four of their sons of military age fought during the war. Only three wore the Confederate uniform.
Charles Montreville Harris (1845-1918) enlisted in the Fredericksburg Light Artillery. Although I could find no information about him from the compiled service records of Confederate soldiers, his service was mentioned in his obituary. He returned to Spotsylvania after the war and married Margaret Victoria Faulconer in 1868. They settled in Orange County, where he successfully farmed until he died of a stroke on November 19, 1918.
The Daily Star 20 November 1918
Two Harris brothers, John A. (1840-1908) and Thomas Addison (1844-1912), enlisted in Company D of the 30th Virginia Infantry. They served with Benjamin Cason Rawlings (1845-1908), the Spotsylvania lad who ran away from home in December 1860 in order to join the Confederate army in Charleston, South Carolina. Several months later, he transferred to Company D of the 30th, where he was promoted to lieutenant at age17 and became captain of the company at age 18 in 1863. In the early 1900s, Ben wrote a memoir of his experiences during the war, which was the subject of Byrd Barnette Tribble's book Benjamin Cason Rawlings: First Virginia Volunteer For the South.
Lieutenant Benjamin Cason Rawlings (Courtesy of Byrd Tribble)
In his memoir, Ben related an incident involving John Harris. The 30th had been deployed to City Point, Virginia in late May 1862 to keep an eye on Federal gunboats in the James River:
"One night around one or two o'clock I was roused by one of the guards, calling me to come down right quick. I found big excitement in camp. Everything was dark; all fires and lanterns were out. Brumley, one of the pickets, had brought in a prisoner. He reported that he had started from his post with Harris, another picket, and another prisoner. The other prisoner had stabbed Harris, whom Brumley had been obliged to leave along the edge of the railroad tracks while he brought his prisoner in. I was ordered to send out a detail of a corporal and four men to bring in the wounded man to camp. We found Harris with six or seven wounds in his breast and arms, near death from loss of blood. We carried him on a stretcher to our regimental surgeon and sent for whiskey.
"...I got a first hand account of the trouble from Sergeant Johnson. Near the crossroad, a sentinel saw two men come blundering in from the bushes and arrested them. One seemed to be a sailor. The sergeant foolishly neglected to search them but put each one in the charge of a picket and started them to camp. Brumley, who was not more than 15 years old, kept his in front of him at the muzzle of his gun, but Harris let his prisoner walk by his side and talk to him. After a short distance, this sailor, a big, strong fellow, all at once threw his left arm around Harris, grabbed his gun, stabbed him seven or eight times in the breast and shoulder, and ran back into the bushes. Brumley was just a few feet ahead of Harris, but it was too dark for him to help, so he kept marching and left Harris by the railroad. I went on to City Point, notified the pickets, and then came on back, reaching camp just before daylight, very tired.
"The next day some of the cavalry ran across the escaped prisoner in the woods and arrested him, putting him on a horse behind a cavalryman to send him to camp. As soon as the two were out of sight of the other men, the Yankee jerked the cavalryman's pistol out of the holster, knocked him on the head, and took off for the bushes again. He was never seen afterwards. The two were supposed to be spies sent from the boats and no doubt they got back that night. Harris was sent to the hospital and finally after a long time recovered and served the rest of the war. He is now a successful merchant in Fredericksburg but still carries the scars on the breast and arms."
Thomas Addison Harris (Courtesy of Rich Morrison)
Thomas Harris was discharged from the 30th Virginia on July 23, 1862. A month later, he joined Company E of the 9th Virginia Cavalry at Hanover Court House. He served as a scout for General J.E.B. Stuart. On June 21, 1863 Thomas's horse was killed in action during a fight with Alfred Pleasanton's cavalry at Upperville in Loudoun County. The wartime exploit for which he is best remembered took place during the Battle of Five Forks on April 2, 1865. Much of the fighting took place at "Burnt Quarter" in Dinwiddie County. Widow Mary Gilliam, who was then nursing a sick servant, and three of her daughters were trapped in their house as the fighting raged around them. Confederate General W.H.F. Lee, realizing that their lives were in peril, asked for five volunteers to escort them to safety. Corporal Thomas A. Harris was one of those five. Mary Gilliam refused to leave her ailing slave, but her daughters were safely brought out of harm's way. During this action Thomas was severely wounded, and his career as a cavalryman came to a close.
Thomas returned to Spotsylvania after the war, married and raised a large family. Over the years he held a number of positions of public trust, including twenty years as Spotsylvania sheriff and nine as clerk of the Spotsylvania court. Several years ago, I wrote a biography of Thomas Harris, which can be read at https://spotsylvaniamemory.blogspot.com/2013/10/thomas-addison-harris.html.
William Harris (1836-1911), the oldest of the fighting Harrises, evidently identified more closely with the cause of the United States than his brothers, and he cast his lot with the Union army. He chose not to enlist in a New Jersey regiment, probably to avoid the possibility of shooting at his own brothers. Instead, he "was in active service on the western frontier as a scout," as reported in his obituary. I found a pension card which indicates that he served in the 25th Wisconsin Infantry and in the Veteran Reserve Corps. The V.R.C. allowed soldiers who were too sick or too badly injured for service in the field to perform light duties, such as those of a guard or hospital orderly. Like his three brothers, William returned to Spotsylvania after the war.
Pension card of William Harris
John Harris married Annie McCracken, who was also from New Jersey, in 1873. By that time John owned a grocery at 615 Commerce (now William) Street near the city cemetery of Fredericksburg. John and Annie had three sons and a daughter, all of whom survived to adulthood.
On October 14, 1870, William Harris married his neighbor, Mary Ann "Annie" Buchanan, at the Spotsylvania home of her brother, William Shelton Buchanan. Annie had grown up at "Shady Grove Corner," the Buchanan farm across Catharpin Road from Shady Grove Church. Before she married John, she taught school for a time at Hazel Hill. At the time they were married, William was working as a caretaker at Oakley farm which had been bought from Leroy Dobyns by Joseph Lichtenstern in 1868. William worked there until 1872, when Lichtenstern sold Oakley after running up large debts. William and Annie then moved to Fredericksburg and settled at 724 Commerce Street. John took William into the grocery business, which was thereafter called Harris & Brother. They remained in partnership until 1896, when William retired from the business.
The Free Lance 17 February 1885
In 1894, Harris & Brother was burglarized by professional safe crackers, as reported in the June 12, 1894 edition of The Daily Star:
John Harris played an active role in the civic life of Fredericksburg. He was involved in local Democratic politics and served as town magistrate. He was a devoted member of the Baptist Church and of organizations like the Sons of Liberty. He died at home on May 3, 1908
William outlived his brother by three years. He passed away at his home on January 10, 1911. He and Annie are buried at Shady Grove Methodist Church.
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