Jennie Wade House

Jennie (or Ginnie) Wade was shot and killed in this house during the Battle of Gettysburg.  She was the only civilian casualty of the battle.

Jennie (Ginnie) Wade, a native of Gettysburg, was twenty years old when the Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863.  [Her full name was Mary Virginia Wade, and she was nicknamed “Ginnie.”  Newspaper reports after the battle mistakenly referred to her as “Jennie.”]  On the first day of the battle, Ginnie, her mother, and two younger brothers left their house on Breckenridge Street to assist Ginnie’s sister, Georgia Wade McClellan, and her new baby, in the McClellan home on Baltimore Street.  On the morning of July 3, while Ginnie was kneading dough for bread, a bullet fired by an unknown soldier tore through the kitchen door and struck Ginnie.  She died instantly.  Amazingly, Ginnie was the only civilian casualty during the three-day battle.  The McClellan house, now called the Jennie Wade House, is a museum and tourist attraction.