Harris Smith Hawthorne

He Captured Lee’s Son as the Confederacy Collapsed

Harris Smith Hawthorne was born on February 29, 1832, in Salem, Washington County, New York. The surviving historical record preserves far more information about his military service than about his childhood and early civilian life. What can be established with confidence is that Harris Smith Hawthorne entered Union service from Otsego County, New York, and became a soldier in Company F of the 121st New York Infantry during the American Civil War.

The 121st New York Infantry was organized largely from men recruited in Otsego and Herkimer Counties and entered federal service in August 1862. It became part of the Army of the Potomac’s VI Corps and developed a formidable combat record. During the war the regiment participated in operations that included Fredericksburg, Marye’s Heights, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and the final pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Harris Smith Hawthorne eventually held the rank of Corporal in Company F. By the spring of 1865, the war in Virginia was approaching its decisive conclusion. Union forces had maintained relentless pressure against Confederate positions around Richmond and Petersburg, gradually severing the transportation routes that sustained General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

The situation changed dramatically at the beginning of April 1865. After the Confederate defeat at Five Forks and the breakthrough of the Petersburg defenses, Richmond and Petersburg were abandoned. Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia westward, hoping to reach supplies and eventually move south to join Confederate forces in North Carolina.

Union forces pursued aggressively.

For several days the retreat became increasingly desperate. Confederate soldiers were exhausted, short of food, and forced into difficult marches while Union infantry and cavalry pressed against their flanks and rear. On April 6, 1865, large portions of Robert E. Lee’s retreating army became trapped around Sailor’s Creek, Virginia.

The Battle of Sailor’s Creek was not one simple engagement but a series of interconnected clashes. Union cavalry blocked Confederate routes of retreat while elements of the II and VI Corps attacked isolated Confederate formations. Harris Smith Hawthorne’s 121st New York Infantry was serving with the VI Corps as the Federal pressure closed around forces associated with Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell.

The fighting became intense as Union infantry crossed difficult terrain and attacked Confederate troops who were attempting to hold open their escape route. Confederate formations were increasingly surrounded, and organized resistance began to collapse as Federal troops closed in from several directions.

It was during this battle that Corporal Harris Smith Hawthorne performed the act that would eventually earn him the Medal of Honor.

On April 6, 1865, Harris Smith Hawthorne captured Confederate Major General George Washington Custis Lee.

The identity of the prisoner made the achievement especially significant. George Washington Custis Lee was not only a major general in Confederate service but also the eldest son of General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The official Medal of Honor citation is strikingly concise. It recognizes Harris Smith Hawthorne for the capture of Confederate Major General George Washington Custis Lee at Sailor’s Creek.

The brevity of that wording hides the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the event. Harris Smith Hawthorne was an enlisted Union soldier operating in the chaos of one of the Confederacy’s final major battlefield disasters. Around him, Confederate units were fighting to avoid encirclement while Union soldiers pressed forward through resistance, confusion, surrendering troops, and shattered formations.

By the end of the battle, the Confederate losses were catastrophic. A large portion of Robert E. Lee’s remaining army had been killed, wounded, captured, or forced to surrender. Numerous Confederate generals fell into Union hands, including Richard S. Ewell and George Washington Custis Lee.

The defeat at Sailor’s Creek became one of the clearest indications that the Army of Northern Virginia could no longer continue an effective retreat. Only three days later, on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered the remaining Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Harris Smith Hawthorne therefore performed his Medal of Honor action during the final seventy-two hours before the surrender that effectively ended the major war in Virginia.

His military record later shows Sergeant as his highest verified rank. This distinction is important for the historical profile. Harris Smith Hawthorne was a Corporal when he captured George Washington Custis Lee at Sailor’s Creek, while Sergeant represents the highest verified rank associated with his later service record.

Recognition for the action did not arrive immediately.

Nearly thirty years passed before the United States formally awarded Harris Smith Hawthorne the Medal of Honor. On December 29, 1894, he received the nation’s highest military decoration for his conduct at Sailor’s Creek.

The Medal of Honor itself had been established during the Civil War. Congress authorized the Army version in 1862, at a time when the United States Army possessed nothing resembling the extensive system of valor decorations that would later include awards such as the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star.

For Civil War soldiers, the Medal of Honor became the principal national decoration available to recognize extraordinary military conduct. Many awards were issued during the war, while others were granted years or even decades later after wartime actions were reviewed.

Harris Smith Hawthorne belonged to the latter group.

Because his decoration was presented in 1894, the VictoriaCross.ca database represents the award as Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1894. The date range identifies the historical Army Medal of Honor era applicable to the decoration, while 1894 records the year of presentation. His heroic action itself always remains dated April 6, 1865.

No additional bar, clasp, star, oak leaf cluster, or other device has been verified for Harris Smith Hawthorne’s single Medal of Honor. His decoration therefore remains Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1894 — No device or clasp.

The surviving authoritative military record is much more detailed about Harris Smith Hawthorne’s Civil War service and Medal of Honor than about his later civilian employment. For that reason, uncertain claims about his postwar occupation or private family life should not be added merely to make the story longer.

What is securely documented is that Harris Smith Hawthorne lived for decades after the Civil War and survived long enough to see the conflict become a distant part of American history. By the time he finally received the Medal of Honor in 1894, almost three decades had passed since Sailor’s Creek.

Harris Smith Hawthorne eventually lived in Hoosick Falls, New York. He died there on March 23, 1911, at the age of seventy-nine.

Harris Smith Hawthorne was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Hoosick Falls, New York. His grave became the final resting place of a Union veteran whose military legacy had been secured during one extraordinary moment near the end of the Civil War.

The defining event of Harris Smith Hawthorne’s career occurred while the Confederacy was collapsing around Sailor’s Creek. An enlisted Corporal from the 121st New York Infantry entered the final battle of a retreating army and emerged officially credited with capturing a Confederate major general—the eldest son of Robert E. Lee.

Twenty-nine years later, the United States recognized that action with the Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1894.

Harris Smith Hawthorne’s story therefore stands at the intersection of individual courage and one of the most decisive moments of the American Civil War: the capture of George Washington Custis Lee on April 6, 1865, only three days before the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox Court House.