September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
Illustrated song sheet for "The Children of the Battle Field" with large image of that famous photograph on front cover with "Poetry and Music by James G. Clark Respectfully Dedicated to J. Francis Bourns, M.D." published by Lee & Walker, 1864, 8pp. large folio, with full interior description on the story of the photograph and Amos Humiston, and the proceeds used to care for his orphaned children. Sergeant Amos Humiston (1830-1863) was the "unknown soldier" killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. When Humiston's body was found the only identification he had on his person was a picture of three children that he clutched in his hand at his death. A description of the picture was printed on October 19, 1863, in the Philadelphia Inquirer with a story under the provocative headline: "Whose Father Was He?" At that time, newspapers were unable to print photos. The article said "a Union soldier was found in a secluded spot on the battlefield, where, wounded, he had laid himself down to die. In his hands, tightly clasped, was an ambrotype containing the portraits of three small children ... and as he silently gazed upon them his soul died. How touching! How solemn! ... It is earnestly desired that all papers in the country will draw attention to the discovery of this picture and its attendant circumstances, so that, if possible, the family of the dead hero may come into possession of it. Of what inestimable value will it be to these children, proving, as it does, that the last thought of their dying father was for them, and them only." Amos' wife, Philinda Humiston, living in Portville, New York, eventually came upon a news account of the photo. So much sympathy was poured out for the Humiston family that the proceeds allowed for the creation of an orphanage in Gettysburg for children of soldiers.
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