The Leister House (Meade's HQ) Part 1

The Leister House, or Meade's HQ as it is now often called was the home of the widow Lydia Leister, located a mile from the centre of Gettysburg down the Taneytown Rd.

The photo above, now in the Library of Congress collection, was taken only days after the battle, as the horse carcasses that litter the field bear witness. This image will be invaluable in an accurate representation to scale. Note the dark window frames and door.

This second image shows the house in better detail. According to the photographer it was taken during the battle itself, although the density of foliage on the trees doesn't seem to compare with the first image. Note the faded clap board on the near side, and again the darker window frames. I assume the outbuilding is the smokehouse mentioned in period descriptions.

On my last trip, I took a number of photos, which I could compare with these period images and the scale drawings from the LOC website.


The house today, which has been restored to its original appearance. Note the window frames are now painted white, and I am not sure as to whether the porch window (left of photo) is present in the earlier wetplate images.

This view from the rear of the house (taken between 1874 and 1888) shows another larger extension, added in the 1870's. Strangely when Leister sold the property to the Battlefield Memorial Association, she removed the extension and attached it to her new house.

These changes over time show the difficulty in returning the property to it's original state. However, by using these sources, it is possible to form pretty complete picture of how the place looked in 1863.