CDV of the Image Found in the Dead Hand of Sergeant Amos Humiston at Get

Iconic CDV of “The Children of the Battlefield” – Found in the Dead Hand of Sergeant Amos Humiston at Gettysburg
 
This historically significant carte de visite is a direct copy of the famous ambrotype discovered clutched in the hand of Sergeant Amos Humiston of the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry as he lay dead on the battlefield of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. The image depicts Humiston’s three young children—Franklin, Alice, and Frederick—whose photograph provided the only clue to identifying their fallen father and became one of the most emotionally powerful symbols of the Civil War.
 
Sergeant Humiston, a husband and father from Portville, New York, enlisted in 1862. During the first day’s fighting at Gettysburg, he was killed in action. A local resident later found the unidentified soldier with the small photograph of his children held tightly in his hand. The image was reproduced as CDVs and widely distributed, sparking a national effort that ultimately reunited the children with their widowed mother, Philinda Humiston. The story touched the hearts of the Northern public, inspired songs and poetry, and helped lead to the establishment of a soldiers’ orphans’ home in Gettysburg.
 
This CDV preserves one of the most poignant and well-known images from the Battle of Gettysburg. It serves as a powerful reminder of the personal sacrifices made by soldiers and their families during America’s greatest conflict. A rare and emotionally charged artifact, it belongs in any serious collection of Gettysburg, 154th New York, or humanitarian Civil War photography.