Gen. John F. Reynolds
"Dear Kate"
On the last day of June 1863, Emmitsburg became a Union army supply base. Union Gen. John F. Reynolds, commanding the left wing of the Army of the Potomac (I, III, and XI Corps), arrived as I Corps came into Emmitsburg to obtain needed supplies, camp, and muster to receive pay before marching five miles north across the Mason-Dixon line to Marsh Creek. On July 1, Reynolds traveled the Emmitsburg Road toward Gettysburg. Early on that first day of battle, a sharpshooter killed him.
This place has another connection to Reynolds after he was killed. Three years earlier, he met and fell in love with Cathrine Mary (Kate) Hewit. They had sailed together from San Francisco to New York and had exchanged rings. She received his West Point ring, and he a gold ring inscribed "Dear Kate." They planned to announce their engagement at a family party on July 8. Instead, Reynolds' family members learned about his fiancée when she arrived to view his body and they discovered on him both a locket and the inscribed ring. Kate had promised Reynolds that if he was killed she would enter religious life. On March 17, 1864, she joined the Daughters of Charity. She completed her initial training here at Saint Joseph's Central House and went on mission to Albany, N.Y. She was reported to be in poor health in subsequent years, withdrew from the community in 1868 before pronouncing her vows, and disappeared from the historical records.
Marker can be reached from South Seton Avenue (Business U.S. 15), on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
