GEOCACHE INFO: You’re looking for a lock and lock container tucked under a cement slab. Please place the container back exactly as you found it. Otherwise, there is a chance it could get muggled. Jenni Wade History:
Mary Virginia “Jennie” Wade lived on Breckenridge Street in Gettysburg, where she and her mother worked as seamstresses. They fled their home in anticipation of the coming Battle, choosing to stay with Jennie’s sister Georgia McClellan. This was not only for their own safety, but because Georgia was very pregnant, finally giving birth just an hour before the Confederate arrived in Gettysburg.
Jennie was said to be betrothed to Corporal Johnston “Jack” Skelly, a childhood friend turned romantic interest. Jack was wounded and captured in Winchester, a fact that Jennie would never learn.
The Wades and McClellans did their patriotic duty by serving bread and water to the local Union forces. In the early morning of July 3rd, Jennie began to knead a fresh batch of dough so they could continue to provide for the soldiers.
That same morning, Confederate soldiers began firing on the North side of the house, which was hit by over 150 bullets. One such bullet, a Minie ball, had tragedy written on it. It passed through two doors and struck Jennie in the shoulder, penetrating her heart and finally coming to rest in her corset.
Federal soldiers carried Jennie’s body to the cellar—later they would bury her. Jennie’s work was not in vain—on July 4th, the very next day, her mother used the dough to bake 15 loaves of bread for the hungry Union soldiers.
Authentically furnished from cellar to attic, the Jennie Wade House is a shrine to Jennie and to life during the American Civil War. Just 20 years old at the time of the Battle, Jennie was kneading dough in the kitchen when a rifle bullet pierced two doors and claimed her life.
The Jennie Wade House features Guides in period attire that are well-versed in the history of the home. For years, they’ve enthralled visitors with passionate retellings of the tragedy that befell young Jennie and her family.
Artifacts from that fatal day in 1863 are on display as well, including the artillery shell that punctured the roof of the house and a floorboard with Jennie’s blood still on it.
[Nearby this cache is the home of the only civilian killed during the battle in Gettysburg.] Please BYOP *Bonus* Take a photo of the historical home and post it with the log.