Wills House Virtual Identity: Philinda and Amos Humiston

Philinda Humiston

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You have selected to discover the story of Philinda and Amos Humiston

To Begin. . .
Read the “Before the War” section below and then proceed to the next room in the Wills House and return to page when prompted.

 

Before The War

Philinda Smith first met Amos Humiston when she was visiting relatives in Candor, New York; he was staying there with his brother at the time. Amos had apprenticed as a harness maker as a young man, but then in late 1850 set off as a “green hand” aboard a whaling ship, the Harrison, out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The ship did not return to port for almost 3 ½ years, after having sailed from the North Pacific to the South Pacific and as far as the eastern shorts of Russia. He returned to Tioga County, New York and the harness-making trade and there met his bride; they were married on July 4, 1854. The couple seemed to move further west with the birth of each child, finally settling in Portville, 100 miles west around 1859. There, Amos opened a harness shop with a friend. At the start of the Civil War, Philinda and Amos had three children: Franklin, Alice, and Frederick. Seemingly his most daring and adventurous days were behind him.

From Here:
Find out what brought Amos, and then eventually the whole family, to Gettysburg after touring the first floor of the Wills’ home.

 

Sgt. Amos Humiston, 154th NY

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During The War

Amos enlisted in the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry on July 26, 1862, one of the first Portville men to respond to Lincoln’s call that month for 300,000 three-year volunteers. On July 1, 1863, the unit was ordered from the then quiet area of Cemetery Hill, toward the front northeast of town in order to cover the retreat of the 11th Army Corps. Amos and the 154th, along with three other regiments, were positioned near a brick yard about 500 yards from the David Wills residence, when two brigades of Confederates swept into view. Soon the Confederates outflanked the Union forces on both ends, and the 154th was ordered to retreat back to Cemetery Hill along the same route they had entered. Many were captured, and the unit as a whole sustained a high casualty rate. Amos was later found near the intersection of Stratton and York Streets; the only clue to his identity, since soldiers were not yet issued identification tags during the Civil War, was a photo of his three children, clutched in his hand. The search to properly identify him would soon begin when a Philadelphia doctor.

From Here:
You can return to the Humiston family story after you visit the Lincoln bedroom on the second floor.

 

The Humiston Children

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After The War

Dr. John Frances Bourns saw the photograph of the Humiston children at a nearby tavern on his way through Gettysburg, and was intrigued by the mystery soldier. When he returned to Philadelphia, he had copies created of the children’s photo, and printed an article with its description in the Philadelphia Inquirer (and encouraged other papers in the north to do the same). Soon, Dr. Bourns was contacted by the Portville, New York postmaster, requesting a cart de visite of the children for Philinda to confirm that the dead soldier was indeed her husband, Amos. Eventually Dr. Bourns would travel to Portville to return the original ambrotype to the family and present them with the proceeds from the sale of the copies. The photo of Franklin, Alice and Frederick Humiston also inspired a number of songs and a Gettysburg home for children orphaned by the war. Philinda and her children lived there for a brief time, just yards away from Amos’ grave in the New York plot of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.