The McMIllan house on the Gettysburg battlefield
The privately owned McMillan farmhouse is on West Confederate Avenue not far south of Gettysburg. (West Confederate Avenue Part 1 tour map) At the time of the battle it included extensive orchards both north and south of the house, and a woodlot known as McMillan’s Woods to its southwest. The twenty acre apple orchard northeast of the house was the largest orchard on the battlefield.
David McMillian was born in 1800 and lived here at the time of the battle with his children Adelaide, Laura, Caroline and Oscar, who ranged in age from 18 to 24.
On July 1 General Reynold’s Union First Corps marched across the fields to the east of the house on a shortcut that took them from Emmitsburg Road to the west side of Gettysburg. On July 2 and 3 the ridge on both sides of the house held several Confederate artillery batteries that dueled with their Union counterparts on Cemetery Hill.
After the battle the McMillans found the house and grounds devastated. The house had been damaged by artillery fire and completely ransacked. Trenches dug up the yard. Bodies of the dead were in the fields and the basement.
The Macmillan family continued to own the home until 1953. The house today has been extensively changed since the time of the battle. The twenty acre apple orchard is being replanted by the National Park Service.
Location of the Miller farm
The Miller farm is southwest of Gettysburg on the east side of West Confederate Avenue. It is about .4 mile south of the intersection with W. Middle Street.