Amos Humiston (April 26, 1830 – July 1, 1863) was a

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

soldier who died in the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

Civil War

Humiston served in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Having previously been wounded at the

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

, he was killed in action on the

Gettysburg Battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first shot ...

, dying with his children's image that his wife had mailed to him months earlier. A local girl found the image, and Dr. John Francis Bourns saw it at the girl's father's tavern and subsequently publicized the image: "wounded, he had laid himself down to die. In his hands … was an

ambrotype The ambrotype (from grc, ἀμβροτός — “immortal”, and — “impression”) also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Like a pr ...

containing the portraits of three small children … two boys and a girl ... nine, seven and five years of age, the boys being respectively the oldest and youngest of the three. The youngest boy is sitting in a high chair, and on each side of him are his brother and sister. The eldest boy's jacket is made from the same material as his sister's dress ... t isdesired that all papers in the country will draw attention othe family … may come into possession of it" (''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', October 19, 1863). Humiston's wife in

Portville, New York Portville is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 3,504 at the 2020 census. The name is derived from the town's early role in shipping lumber and other items down the Allegheny River. It was formed in 1837 f ...

—who hadn't received a letter from her husband since the

—responded to the photograph's description in the ''

American Presbyterian Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture. History European origins Reformed Protestantism, of which Presbyterianism is a subs ...

'' of October 29. She subsequently confirmed the image after Bourns sent her a

carte de visite The ''carte de visite'' (, visiting card), abbreviated CdV, was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. Each photograph was the size o ...

copy of the image. Bourns took the original image to Humiston's widow. The family subsequently resided at the " National Homestead at Gettysburg" (opened October 1866) for 3 years until the widow remarried, when they relocated to Massachusetts.

Historiography

After numerous postbellum retellings and a 1993 memorial regarding the story at

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

, historian Mark H. Dunkelman published Humiston's 1999 biography using Humiston's war letters—including a May 1863 poem of how Humiston missed his family. (The lot of the "Hon. S. R. Russell" was used for Pennsylvania College's 1887 Glatfelter Hall

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In popular culture

Humiston's service at Gettysburg is dramatized in 2011 documentary '' Gettysburg (2011 film), Gettysburg''. In the 2012 film Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, a Federal unit, presumably the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry, is attacked by Confederate vampires and only one member survives. A photograph falls out of a soldier's hand and falls to the ground near the camera. It is the same one that Sergeant Humiston carried.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humiston, Amos 1830 births 1863 deaths People from Cattaraugus County, New York People from Owego, New York People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Union Army soldiers Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War Burials at Gettysburg National Cemetery