Mary Virginia Wade (May 21, 1843 – July 3, 1863), also known as Jennie Wade or Ginnie Wade, was a resident of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town.
Gettysburg is home to th ...
during the
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...
. At the age of 20, she was the only direct civilian casualty of the battle, when she was killed by a stray bullet on July 3, 1863.
The house where she was killed is now a popular tourist attraction and museum called the "Jennie Wade House."
Early life
Wade was born in Gettysburg, and worked as a seamstress with her mother in their house on Breckenridge Street while her father was in a
mental asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
. She may have been engaged to
Johnston Hastings "Jack" Skelly, a corporal in the 87th Pennsylvania, who had been wounded two weeks earlier in the
Battle of Winchester. He died from his injuries on July 12, 1863, unaware that Wade had died days earlier.
Casualty of war
Wade, her mother, and two younger brothers left their home in central Gettysburg and traveled to the house of her sister, Georgia Anna Wade McClellan at 548 Baltimore Street to assist her and her newborn child. It was July 1, 1863, during the
first day's fighting of the Battle of Gettysburg. More than 150 bullets hit the McClellan house during the fighting.
About 8:00 a.m. on July 3, Wade was kneading dough for bread when a
Minié ball
The Minié ball or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié, inventor of the French Minié rifle, for muzzle-loading rifled muskets. It was invented in 1847 and came to prominence in the Crimean War and ...
traveled through the kitchen door and the parlor door of her sister's house and hit her. It pierced her left shoulder blade, went through her heart, and ended up in her corset. She was killed instantly. While it is uncertain which side fired the fatal shot, some authors have attributed it to an unknown
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
sharpshooter.
Wade's mother heard her fall to the floor and went to tell her sister Georgia in the other room that her sister had been shot dead; two Union soldiers came from upstairs when they heard the screams of the women. They temporarily buried Wade's body in the back yard of the McClellan house, in a coffin originally intended for the Confederate General
William Barksdale
William Barksdale (August 21, 1821 – July 3, 1863) was a lawyer, newspaper editor, US Representative, and Confederate general in the American Civil War. A staunch secessionist, he was mortally wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg while he ...
. In January 1864, her body was relocated to the cemetery of the German Reformed Church on Stratton Street. Her final resting place is located in the Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg.
[Petruzzi, p. 221.] On July 4, her mother baked 15 loaves of bread with the dough Wade had kneaded.
In 1882, the United States Senate voted to grant Wade's mother a pension, citing that her daughter had been killed serving the Union cause – baking bread for the soldiers.
Monument
In November 1865, Wade's remains were reburied in the
Evergreen Cemetery near Jack Skelly. A monument to her, designed by Gettysburg resident Anna M. Miller, was erected in 1900 that includes an
American flag
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...
that flies around the clock. (The
Betsy Ross House
The Betsy Ross House is a landmark in Philadelphia purported to be the site where the seamstress and flag-maker Betsy Ross (1752-1836) lived when she is said to have sewed the first American Flag. The origins of the Betsy Ross myth trace back to ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
is the only other site devoted to a woman to share this distinction of the perpetual flag. The Evergreen Cemetery grave of
John L. Burns
John Lawrence BurnsPetruzzi, p. 235. (September 5, 1793 – February 4, 1872) was an American soldier and constable. A veteran of the War of 1812, at age 69 he fought as a civilian combatant with the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg durin ...
also flies the perpetual flag.)
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Notes
References
* Frassanito, William A. ''Early Photography at Gettysburg''. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1995. .
* Halbur, Patsy. "Jennie Wade and Gettysburg: It Was Not Supposed to Happen." ''Gettysburg Magazine'' 25 (July 2001): 105-15.
* Petruzzi, J. David, and Steven Stanley. ''The Complete Gettysburg Guide''. New York: Savas Beatie, 2009. .
* Tanaka, Shelley. ''Gettysburg: A Day that Changed America''. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2003. .
* Trudeau, Noah Andre. ''Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage''. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. .
* Wert, Jeffry D. ''Gettysburg: Day Three''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. .
External links
Jennie Wade House Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Jennie
1843 births
1863 deaths
Women in the American Civil War
People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War
People from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Civilians killed in the American Civil War
Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Adams County, Pennsylvania)