Hillsman House serves as the visitors' center for Sailor's Creek Battlefield, the site of the last major engagement between Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. The battle foreshadowed the end of Lee's army and the Confederacy. Here eight thousand of Lee's men were captured along with eight of his generals, including his son G. W. C. Lee. The house, a relatively rare survivor of a once-typical dwelling type, was built by Moses Overton. It is a plain one-and-a-half-story, two-bay house with gable dormers and a one-story one-bay wing; it also has a gable roof. The frame structure has brick nogging and is sheathed with beaded siding. Used as a hospital for Union and Confederate soldiers, the house has stains on the floor that are reputed to be the mingled blood of soldiers from both sides.