Henry Harrison:
To Be or Not to
Be...A Spy

A former actor and native of Nashville, Tennessee, Henry Harrison joined the Confederate Army in May 1861. After just a few months, he received a medical discharge and became a spy that year for Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon and later for Lieutenant General Longstreet, one of General Robert E. Lee’s most trusted field commanders.

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Confederate Secretary of War, James Seddon

A former actor and native of Nashville, Tennessee, Henry Harrison joined the Confederate Army in May 1861. After just a few months, he received a medical discharge and became a spy that year for Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon and later for Lieutenant General Longstreet, one of General Robert E. Lee’s most trusted field commanders.

Harrison proved an effective scout and spy. In late June 1863, his reporting touched off the greatest clash of the Civil War, after he apprised Longstreet and Lee of the location of the Union’s Army of the Potomac. Lee’s army was moving separately through southern Pennsylvania then, and Harrison reported sizable Union forces moving northward from the Potomac River. This discovery alarmed Lee, who was unaware that Union forces, previously thought to be in Virginia, were so close.

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From left: Pickett and Longstreet at Gettysburg; James Longstreet; Fallen at Devil's Den; Battle of Gettysburg; Scouts and guides of the Army of the Potomac

With his scattered troops threatened with piecemeal destruction from a concentrated Union army, Lee consolidated his forces, and the two sides soon collided in early July in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Though the three-day battle resulted in a major defeat for the Confederacy, Harrison’s warning forestalled an early disaster, with Longstreet writing that the spy provided him “with information more accurate than a force of cavalry could have secured.”

Despite his achievement at Gettysburg, Harrison was later dismissed by Longstreet for his drinking and gambling habits. Longstreet came to regret the removal and tried to reemploy Harrison, but the former scout could not be found. After the war, Harrison abandoned his family and disappeared for 25 years, eventually emerging in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as a detective for a decade. He later moved to Kentucky and died there in poverty in 1923.

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From left: Gamblers cartoon; Civil War playing cards; Henry Harrison after the war; Punishment for drinking

Despite his achievement at Gettysburg, Harrison was later dismissed by Longstreet for his drinking and gambling habits. Longstreet came to regret the removal and tried to reemploy Harrison, but the former scout could not be found. After the war, Harrison abandoned his family and disappeared for 25 years, eventually emerging in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as a detective for a decade. He later moved to Kentucky and died there in poverty in 1923.