Jenny Wade
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Mary Virginia "Ginnie" Wade [1] (May 21, 1843 – July 3, 1863), a seamstress, was the only Gettysburg citizen killed during the Battle of Gettysburg.[2] The house she was killed in is now a popular tourist attraction and museum. It is sometimes thought to be haunted by Ginnie herself and is one of the most well known supposed haunted houses in Gettysburg.
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[edit] Death
Jenny and her mother had travelled to her sister Georgia McClellan's house on 758 Baltimore Street on July 1, 1863 during the first day's fighting to assist her and her newborn child. More than 150 bullets hit her sister's home before, around 8:30am, a Minie ball, travelling through the door, hit her in the back while she was baking bread for Union soldiers. She was killed instantly.[3]
Shortly afterward, her mother found this out and told the rest of the family. She was temporarily buried in the basement, and then in the family garden.
[edit] Monument
Jenny Wade was reburied for the third and last time in Evergreen Cemetery in November 1865. A monument was erected in 1900 and has an American Flag flying there around the clock. (The only other woman who shares this distinction is Betsy Ross at the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia.)
The Jenny Wade monument is one of the more popular attractions at the Evergreen Cemetery.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Her name is commonly misspelled "Jenny" or "Jennie" Wade due to a typo in the newsspaper.
- ^ There were other civilians who died as an indirect result of the battle, including aged Ephraim Whistler who succumbed from a heart attack suffered when a Confederate shell burst directly above his Chambersburg Pike home, as well as various civilians who died from handling shells that exploded and loaded weapons which discharged.
- ^ While it is uncertain which side fired the fatal shot, many authors have attributed it to an unknown Confederate soldier, possibly firing from Breckinridge Street
