Overton/Hillsman House

Built in the 1780s by Moses Overton, this farmhouse was later 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 reached his home. On April 6, 1865, as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved toward 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 house became a field hospital, with blood from the wounded still visible on the floors. Lucy, her two small children, and possibly all five enslaved workers sheltered in the basement. Afterward, Lucy vowed never to live in the house again. Four of the enslaved workers are identified as Catherine Brown and her children Parham, Emily, and Lucy. Emily, the Hillsmans' formerly enslaved cook, married Booker Moton there on Christmas Day 1866 and gave birth to Robert Russa Moton on August 26, 1867. Taught to read and write by his mother, Robert later graduated from the Hampton Institute, became a friend of Booker T. Washington, served as the second president of the Tuskegee Institute, and was the keynote speaker at the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

Virginia · United States