Verdugo Views: Tragic story of Union solder who died at Battle of Gettysburg has Glendale ties
David McGee, who describes himself as a “Civil War buff,” came across a story that he thought might be of interest. He discovered that a woman who is interred in Grand View Memorial Park had been part of a heartbreaking event following the Battle of Gettysburg.
He sent me a letter regarding the tragedy, which drew national attention in 1863.
Here is McGee’s synopsis: “Following the Battle of Gettysburg, the body of a Union soldier, Amos Humiston, was found clutching a photograph of his three small children. This photograph drew national attention and was soon identified by Amos’ widow, Philinda.”
McGee added, “Given the touching image of a dying soldier looking at a picture of his three young children, this incident can be found in many of the books and films dealing with the Battle of Gettysburg.”
Intrigued, I found several Internet sites that told the story. Here are more details, greatly condensed from historynet.com.
A young girl, daughter of a local tavern keeper, found the dead soldier and took the photograph to her father. The picture became a conversation piece at the tavern.
A few days later, four men — on their way to care for the wounded — were forced to stop near the tavern when their wagon broke down. Here, they heard the tale of the fallen soldier and saw the photograph. One of the men, a Philadelphia physician, convinced the innkeeper to give him the photograph so he could try to locate the dead man’s family.
After returning to Philadelphia, the physician had hundreds of inexpensive duplicates of the photo made. And, he contacted a local newspaper with the story.
The Philadelphia Inquirer carried the story on Oct. 19, 1863, under the headline, “Whose Father Was He?”
Many papers across the North reprinted the article, and, as the story spread, readers bought copies of the photograph. Within a few weeks, one of the newspapers reached Philinda Humiston in Portville, N.Y.
She had sent her husband a photograph of their three children, but had heard nothing from him since the Battle of Gettysburg.
When the physician learned this, he rushed a copy of the photo to her. And so Gettysburg’s mysterious, unknown soldier was identified as Sgt. Amos Humiston of the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
The local newspaper broke the news on Nov. 19, 1863; the same day that President Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg.
The following January, the physician and several others traveled to the Humiston home. After visiting, they knelt with the family in prayer and, before leaving, the physician presented the widow with the profits from the sale of hundreds of copies of the photograph.
McGee added in his letter that Alice Humiston, one of the three children, later moved to Glendale.
She was 6 years old when her father died, according to information posted on findagrave.com, Alice Humiston lived with her mother for many years. She worked at various jobs and never married; eventually she moved to Glendale to live with her niece, a cataloguer in the UCLA library.
In 1933, her skirt caught fire while she was sweeping the floor near an uncovered heater. She died two days later at age 76 and was laid to rest at Grand View. Her niece and namesake, who retired as UCLA’s head librarian, is also buried there.
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Readers Write:
Glendale resident Ken Martinet emailed: “Your article about Frank Kurtis (May 20, 2017) brought back some memories that I haven’t thought about for many years. The Kurtis’ original family name was Kuretich, and my parents were friends of Frank’s brother, Bill. Bill would arrange for my father to get tickets to the Midget races when I was 5 or 6 years old. Knowing vaguely about the Kurtis family’s involvement in the Indy 500 must have nurtured my lifelong interest in cars. I never miss the yearly Glendale Cruise Night. I didn’t know why the sounds, smells and images were so attractive to me, but your article makes me think it was the early introduction from the Kuretich’s auto racing that got into my blood. I may have met Frank, but Bill and his wife, Ruth, were very nice and giving people.
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The Friends of the Glendale Public Library and Glendale’s new Museum of Neon Art, or MONA, are teaming up to present the Jewel City Noir: Film & Lecture Series, which will be shown in the auditorium of the newly renovated Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale. The series will open June 17 with the 1946 film “Blue Dahlia,” starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. For more information, visit the Friends’ website: friendsofglendalepubliclibrary.org.
KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 202 W. First St., Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.
