Hummelbaugh House at Gettysburg
The Jacob Hummelbaugh farm is south of Gettysburg, on the north side of Pleasonton Avenue at Taneytown Road. (Pleasonton Avenue tour map) Although Pleasonton Avenue did not exist in 1863 Taneytown Road was a major route into Gettysburg for the Union army. The two story log house has shiplap siding and a gable roof. It was built sometime in the 1840s.
Jacob Hummelbaugh was a widower. His son, Leander, was away with the 138th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was not at the Battle of Gettysburg. It had been assigned to the Harpers Ferry garrison. At the time of the battle the regiment was escorting military stores to Washington D.C. to prevent them from falling into the hands of Lee’s army. Leander was badly wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.
The house was just behind the lines of the Union 2nd Corps on the 2nd and 3rd day of the battle. It was somewhat sheltered by its location on the east side of Cemetery Ridge. The 2nd Corps used the farm as a field hospital, and the wounded Confederate General William Barksdale was treated here before he died on July 2nd. Union Cavalry commander General Alfred Pleasanton also had his headquarters here from July 4th through July 6th.
The monument visible in the distance above the pump on the left of the photograph is the United States Regulars monument on Hancock Avenue, showing how close the farm is to the scene of some of the battle’s heaviest fighting.
The Hummelbaugh farm at Gettysburg is owned today by the National Park Service.