A Town on Edge

For a small fee, the Jenny Wade House offers guided tours inside, and it's actually one of my favorite tours in Gettysburg. Let's jump right in to the summer of 1863. By June, the American Civil War was in its third year. 

Up until then, Gettysburg hadn't really experienced the horrors of battle because the fighting had stayed in the southern states. But the townspeople were not immune to the war's effects.

See, Gettysburg was a crossroads town, which meant it was crisscrossed by roads connecting Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Harrisburg, and other main hubs out west. 

So, locals were accustomed to the occasional general or even brigade coming through town for supplies. And besides that, some men in town had enlisted in Lincoln's army and left town to fight for the Union cause.

Jenny Moves In

The house we're visiting now actually belonged to Jenny Wade's sister, Georgia, and Georgia's husband, Lou McClellan.

Lou had enlisted in the army, and that summer, he was stationed in Virginia. Ordinarily, Georgia McClellan was a headstrong lady who did just fine on her own, thank you very much.

The only problem was, in mid-June 1863, Georgia was nine months pregnant with her first child, and she was due any day. 

And at that time, 20-year-old Jenny, her youngest brother Harry, and their mother Mary lived on the north side of town.

So, Mary came to stay with Georgia, while Jenny stayed behind to look after her brother Harry.

The Battle Begins

At the same time, Confederate General Robert E. Lee wanted to push the fighting to the north.

So, Gettysburg began to see Confederate soldiers coming to town in search of supplies. And that made people nervous, that their small town might soon be overrun with the enemy's troops on their way to bigger northern cities. No one thought that the battle would happen right here in town. 

But then, on July 1st, shots rang out on the west side of Gettysburg. Mary Wade urged her daughter Jenny to gather up Harry and come to Georgia's house at once.

The family would be safe here on the south side of town, and could wait things out until the skirmish was over.

Jenny and Harry arrived here at Georgia's house just in time to see Georgia have her baby. They also saw more and more Union soldiers coming to the south side.

According to the Union guards that were stationed outside the McClellan house, this was becoming more than just a skirmish.

It was turning out to be a full-scale battle. And so, Jenny, who did not like to sit still, turned her sister's house into a makeshift bakery.

For two days, while shots from enemy gunfire flew outside, Jenny made batch upon batch of fresh bread for the troops. 

A Tragic Morning

But tragedy came on July 3rd, 1863. Early that morning, Jenny began preparing bread for the day. At the same time, Confederate soldiers posted up along the other side of Baltimore Street.

They fired off shots, presumably aiming for the Union troops stationed on Cemetery Hill. At about 8 a.m., Jenny bent down to open the oven.

At that very moment, a stray bullet came through the kitchen door and struck Jenny Wade in the back left shoulder blade. 

The shot pierced her heart and killed her instantly. By the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, there were over 7,000 soldiers killed in action. But surprisingly, there was only one civilian death, and that was Jenny.

Jenny's Lasting Legacy

Despite their grief, the Wades continued to help the soldiers until all the troops had left Gettysburg.

In 1882, the United States Senate voted to grant Jenny's mother Mary a pension from the Army, citing that her daughter had been killed serving the Union cause, feeding the Union soldiers.

There's a lot more to the Wade story, and the wonderful historians that work here tell it with a great amount of care and reverence. 

So I urge you to take a guided tour of the Wade House and see for yourself the family's ordeal on those three fateful days of the Civil War.