Henry Thomas Harrison (1832 – October 28, 1923), known to most simply as "Harrison", was a spy for Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet during the American Civil War. He is most well known for the information he gave Longstreet and Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Gettysburg Campaign, which as a result, convinced Lee to converge on Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, thus causing the Battle of Gettysburg.
Contents |
Early life and early Confederate States Army service
Harrison was born in Nashville, Tennessee. At age 29, at the start of the Civil War in spring 1861, Harrison joined the Mississippi State Militia as a private.
Career as a Confederate spy
In November 1861, Harrison was discharged from the Militia and eventually became a spy for CSA Secretary of War, James Seddon. In April 1863, Harrison met James Longstreet during the Battle of Suffolk. From that point on, Harrison provided information for Longstreet, which usually proved to be reliable. Also, to maintain the loyalty of his prized spy, Longstreet frequently paid Harrison in U.S. gold coins and/or greenbacks. On the night of June 28, 1863, Harrison came to General Robert E. Lee with information about the Union positions. Lee had never heard of Harrison before, yet he came compliments of Longstreet, who had known Harrison since the beginning of that year. In addition, Longstreet's chief of staff, Moxley Sorrel, said that Harrison "always brought true information." In the end, Harrison's information was plausible enough for Lee to halt his entire army. Harrison reported that the Union had left Frederick, Maryland, and was moving northward, which was true. As a result of Harrison's information, Lee told all of his troops to converge on a small Pennsylvania town, Gettysburg, effectively selecting the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lee even said after hearing the news from Harrison, "A battle thus became, in a measure, unavoidable." After Gettysburg, Harrison operated mostly in the North, gathering intelligence while living in New York with his newly wed wife, Laura Broders, yet none of his future intelligence ever matched the importance of his discovery in the days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
Postbellum
After the war, Harrison took his wife and daughter to Mexico. But in 1866, facing marital difficulties, Harrison left Mexico to prospect for gold near in Montana. From 1867 through 1892, Harrison's whereabouts remained unknown. Laura Broders assumed that he was dead and later remarried. In 1893, Harrison moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1901, Harrison got a job in Cincinnati as a detective for the Municipal Reform League. In 1912, he moved to Covington, Kentucky and applied for a Confederate pension. On October 28, 1923, Harrison died in Covington at the age of 91. He is buried at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.
Acting misconception
Immortalized in the novel The Killer Angels, and in the film version, Gettysburg, Harrison was said to be a skilled Shakespearean actor. Also, historian, James Bakeless, later claimed that Harrison was actually a famed actor named James Harrison. Although not very much is known about Harrison, it is known that he was not an actor. Yet the notion he was an actor was true to a certain extent. A couple of months after Gettysburg, a friend bet Harrison 50 dollars to walk on the stage of a Richmond, Virginia, theater during the play. Harrison accepted the wager, and he won the bet.
References
- Longstreet's Scout, Henry Thomas Harrison
- Flagel, Thomas R., and Allers Jr., Ken, The History Buff's Guide to Gettysburg, Cumberland House Publishing Inc., 2006, ISBN 1581825091.
- Shaara, Michael, The Killer Angels, The Random House Publishing Group, 1974, ISBN 1586635247.
