One of the things I have enjoyed studying about Gettysburg the most is the civilians. These were normal, small town people who read about war in the newspapers...read about the battles in Virginia...and probably would have never guessed they would ever lay eyes on a soldier. Much less have a battle fought right on their land...a battle renowned as the most famous battle of the American Civil War.Ginny Wade was one of these people. And that, as you might have guessed, that is her photograph, taken in 1861, when she was eighteen years old. Ginny's full name was Mary Virginia. If you have heard of her before, you probably have seen her name spelled "Jennie." This is an inaccurate spelling, however - a mistake made by the newspaper and a mistake that stuck.
Ginny's family was not one of the most respected families in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Ginny's father, James Wade, was a tailor, working under master tailor, Johnston Skelly. We know vaguely that James' health, along with his business, began to fail, and he ended up "finding" someone else's money and ran off with it. Eventually he was caught and sent to prison for two years. And after prison, it was the insane asylum. Needless to say, most people didn't take kindly to that degree of scandal.
With James gone, the Wades had to have someway to provide for themselves...and pay off their father's debts. Ginny's mother, Mary Ann Filsby Wade, worked as a seamstress. Ginny's twelve year old brother, Samuel, worked as a delivery boy for the town's butcher, James Pierce [see posts on Tillie Pierce here]. They struggled to make ends meet. During this time, the census tells us that the Wade's had an addition to their household - a six year old boy name Isaac Brinkerhoff. Isaac was crippled, and supposedly James Wade's illegitimate son.
Among Ginny's other family members were her half brother, James Jr. (James' son by his first marriage), her seventeen year old brother, John, and her eight year old brother, Harry. Ginny's only sister, Georgia Wade McCellan, twenty-two at the time of the battle, lived across the street. Georgia was pregnant at the time and her husband was away fighting with the Union army.
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Ginny was in love with a young man named Jack Skelly (right photo). As you might recall, James Wade used to work for Jack's father, Johnston Skelly. Jack joined the army in 1861, but continued to correspond with Ginny by mail. Jack was wounded in a battle prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, and while he was in the field hospital, he met an old friend of his and Ginny's - Wesley Culp. Wesley had been a resident of Gettysburg - his family still owned land there - before moving to Virginia and joining the Confederate army. Even though Jack and Wesley were now on opposite sides of the war, Jack gave Wesley a message for Ginny, knowing his army would be passing through soon. Jack died a few days later. And Wesley's message never got to Ginny. Wesley Culp was killed during the battle, ironically, on Culp's Hill - his own family's land.
On July 1st - the first day of the battle - Ginny was at her sister's house. Georgia had given birth to a son a few days before the battle and was still in recovery. Ginny was baking bread for Union troops in her sister's kitchen when a Confederate sharpshooter's bullet flew through two doors and struck Ginny just below the shoulder blade, piercing her heart and killing her instantly. She was twenty years old. Neither Ginny, Jack or Wesley knew of each other's deaths. Ginny Wade was the only civilian to be killed during the battle of Gettysburg.
Anyway, that story just fascinates me. I plan to write a novel about it someday when I am good enough to do the story justice. I'll be back with more Gettysburg civilian stories later this week...or sometime soon. Hope you enjoyed!
Bibliography: The True Story of Jennie Wade, by Cindy L. Small. Firestorm at Gettysburg: Civilian Voices, by Jim Slade.
1 comment:
That story is pretty cool.
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