The Alrich Tract played a significant role in the May 12, 1864 engagement at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. The property is located approximately ½ mile north of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia and is bounded by Route 208 (Courthouse Road) to the southeast and by National Park Service (NPS) lands at Spotsylvania Battlefield to the north and west. The farm shares nearly two miles of boundary with the NPS and less than 20 yards from the property, and inside the park, are the substantial remains of a set of earthworks known as "Heth's Salient."

The property was traversed by two Confederate brigades on the afternoon of May 12, 1864. Throughout the morning, fighting had focused around the "Bloody Angle," located at the tip of the large Confederate "muleshoe" salient one mile to the west. Hoping to divert Confederate reinforcements away from the angle and possibly capitalize on his own successes there, Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered General Ambrose E. Burnside to attack the eastern leg the salient. Burnside planned to make the attack with two divisions, commanded by Generals Orlando B. Willcox and Thomas L. Crittenden. The target of this attack was the small protrusion in the Confederate lines dubbed Heth's Salient.

At the same time that Burnside was preparing his assault, Confederate General Robert E. Lee visited Heth's Salient and decided it was a good place from which to launch his own attack. Two brigades, under General James H. Lane and Colonel David A. Weiseger were to advance eastward from the salient and then strike north against Burnside's left flank. At the appointed time, Lane's North Carolinians crept out of the protective works and swept northward (across the Alrich Tract) and overran a Union battery. Hand-to-hand fighting erupted among the guns and although Lane captured the battery he could not bring them off the field.

Simultaneous with Lane's attack, Crittenden and Willcox began their movement toward Heth's Salient. Almost immediately, Weiseger's Virginians slammed into Willcox's exposed left flank. Once more close-quarters fighting broke out. "The hottest place I have been in since Manassas," asserted one Confederate. Lane joined the fight and bayonets and clubbed muskets sliced through the air. While Willcox fought off the Confederates on his flank, others pushed on. Nearing the salient, the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters and 27th Michigan Infantry threw themselves over the parapet and onto the Confederate side of the salient works. Lacking adequate support, they reluctantly gave up their prize and fell back across the field. After a half hour of fighting, both sides called off their attacks and ran a gauntlet of fire back to their respective lines.

Casualties were high in the brief but vicious fight. The two Confederate brigades lost nearly 750 men in the fighting. A total for Burnside's loss is difficult to calculate, but must have been substantially higher. Lane claimed 410 Union prisoners and two flags captured, while Weiseger likewise claimed 400 Federals and two flags taken. Although the two Confederate brigades failed to roll up the Union flank, Lee still sought opportunities in this area.

Shortly after returning to their works, Weisiger's men were once again put into motion. This time joined by General John R. Cooke's North Carolina brigade, the small Confederate force pushed north along the Courthouse Road and succeeded in overrunning two lines of Union entrenchments before massed artillery halted the advance. The two brigades held on until nightfall before falling back their lines.

Lee's attack at this location lacked the size and force to roll up Burnside's flank, but coming off as it did it threw the Union assault on Heth's Salient into disarray and contributed to its collapse. While Grant continued to pound away closer to the center, he could not expect much help from Burnside. Lee remained aggressive, even in the face of a massive assault on his lines.

A portion of the Alrich Tract is identified in Spotsylvania County's Civil War Battlefield Sites Related to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, a county document listing important areas that are outside NPS boundaries, yet associated with the local battlefields. The Heth's Salient East zone, which incorporates much of the property, is given a Priority One category. The values assigned to this zone pertain to the event and the impact to the setting of the park. "The tract is adjacent to the park," the document states, "and could impact the visitor experience and the ability of the park to meet its conservation, interpretation, and public enjoyment goals." The desired conditions, as spelled out in the data base, are to "maintain the present, undeveloped landscape character so that the Confederate attacks can be interpreted."