Joseph Harris enlisted as a private in Co. I of the 4^th Texas Infantry on 17 July 1861 in Navarro County, Texas. In January and February of 1862, he was reported as absent sick in Bedford, Virginia. He appears as present for duty at all other times until his death during the Battle of Gettysburg. According to his obituary, he died on July 3, 1863. However, other sources state that he was killed during the assault on Little Round Top on July 2. According to John Spencer in From Corsicana to Appomattox, Joseph Harris and James Polk were the first men to reach a Federal battery near Devil's Den. "Harris, anxious to see where the Federals have gone, puts his hand on one of the guns and looks over it toward the Federals; just then a shell explodes near them, Harris turns, his face white as sun-bleached cow bones, and tries to walk, but the seal of death is already on him and he falls near Polk, his chest ripped apart by shrapnel." His obituary states that he participated in "nine severe battles" prior to his death; likely they included Seven Pines, Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.