The William Butner–Thomas Palmer House is a brick, story-and-a-half, hall-and-parlor home built before 1834. It served as a field hospital and a landmark during the Battle of Richmond on August 29 and 30, 1862.
Now the pro shop and clubhouse of the Battlefield Golf Course, the house was the home of the Thomas Palmer family at the time of the battle. It was badly damaged during the fight near Mt. Zion Church, probably by Humphrey’s Arkansas Battery, posted near Pleasant View. Most of the damage was to the south and southeast side of the house, near today’s men’s restroom. The entrance was originally on the west side but was later moved to the east.
Wounded soldiers of the 69th Indiana and 95th Ohio Infantry were treated here, as was “General” John Miller (1798–1862), a prominent Richmond resident from one of the town’s founding families, who had volunteered before the battle as a civilian aide-de-camp to Federal Brig. Gen. Charles Cruft. Miller was mortally wounded trying to rally Federal troops fleeing the area north of Kingston and Mt. Zion Church; reliable witnesses said he was struck down while bravely waving the colors. He died at the Palmer House on September 7, 1862, and was buried in the Richmond Cemetery.
Several area families took refuge at the Palmer House during the battle, including Elizabeth Armstrong, her children and slaves from Pleasant View, about three-quarters of a mile to the southeast.
The house was a key landmark for the Confederates under Brig. Gen. Thomas Churchill, who marched up a ravine near Mt. Zion Church without being seen by the Federals. The maneuver flanked the Federals, collapsing their right and forcing a disorganized retreat north.
Like Mt. Zion Church and many other buildings used as field hospitals, the Palmer House was probably marked with a plain yellow hospital flag (possibly a red one) while the wounded were treated there. Both sides recognized these flags and usually would not deliberately fire on a building flying one. According to one account, Federal troops found and drank whiskey on the Palmer farm.
The Madison County Fiscal Court bought the Palmer House and the Battlefield Golf Course at auction in 2003, to improve and preserve the golf course and to save the Palmer House and the battlefield around it.