The house was built by General Elisha Boyd for his son John as the plantation house for the 1,400 acre Edgewood Manor plantation. During the American Civil War, John Boyd served in the Confederate Army and was captured when he visited home. He was nearly executed, but for the intervention of President Zachary Taylor's daughter, Mrs. Dandridge. Also during the war, General Stonewall Jackson camped on the lawn. Confederate General J. Johnston Pettigrew (July 4, 1828 – July 17, 1863) died in an upstairs bedroom at Edgewood after having been shot at Falling Waters during the retreat from the Battle of Gettysburg.