Military
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The Garthright House stood in the path of charging troops at two battles, Gaines’ Mill in 1862 and Cold Harbor in 1864. It belonged to Miles Garthright, a Confederate soldier whose cavalry unit saw action around Cold Harbor early in the battle. Portions of the building might have been 100 years old by the time of the Civil War, and the nearby enclosed brick cemetery dates from the middle of the 1700s, if not earlier. Union surgeons used the house as a field hospital in June 1864 while Mrs. Garthright took refuge in the basement and watched as blood dripped through the cracks in the floor into the cellar. At least 97 soldiers died from their wounds there and received temporary burial in the front yard. Two years later, after the Cold Harbor National Cemetery opened across the road, work crews reburied all of the Union dead there.
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Highland Springs, Virginia · United States
