“The National Homestead at Gettysburg” - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 49.335 W 077° 13.834
18S E 309097 N 4410409
Yet another interpretive in a seemingly endless series of interpretives erected all over both historic district.
Waymark Code: WMCXDM
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 10/22/2011
Views: 3
The sign is held horizontally in a black, metal frame in front of the house. It sticks out of the grass, in front of the brick sidewalk. The sign is about 4 feet off the ground and angled for easy reading. There is a book about Sergeant Amos Humiston of the 154th New York and his death at the Battle of Gettysburg. His death led to wide publicity for his wife and their three orphaned children. The story led to the construction of the National Homestead at Gettysburg. "The Homestead" today provides lodging for visitors to Gettysburg.
The right side of the marker contains a photograph depicting “The Homestead building (now 777 and 785 Baltimore Street) in July 1874. The inset photos are of Sgt. Humiston and his three children.” (from HMDB) The sign of history reads:
This building was constructed in 1869 as a dormitory for “The National Homestead at Gettysburg,” a school for soldiers’ orphans established in 1866 in the brick building to your right. Among its first students were Alice, Frank and Frederick Humiston, the children of Sergeant Amos Humiston of the 154th New York Volunteers, killed at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. The Sergeant’s identity was unknown when his body was discovered with a photograph of his children clutched in his hands. The wide distribution of this photograph led to Humiston’s identification by his widow Philinda, and to a national outpouring of sympathy and donations for the “Children of the Battlefield.” Mrs. Humiston became the first matron, and some 200 students attended before the school closed in 1877.
On July 1, 1993 a memorial to the Humistons was dedicated on the grounds of the Gettysburg Fire Department on North Stratton Street.