On July 1, 1863, the Civil War came to the sleepy town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On that day Confederate soldiers looking for shoes ran into Union troops outside the town. In the ensuing fighting, the Rebels pushed the Yankees through the town to high ground outside the town. The next two days saw Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of North Virginia attempt to take the high ground from Gen. George Meade’s Army of the Potomac. This culminated in Pickett’s Charge on July 3. The Battle of Gettysburg was the costliest of the war. Over 7,000 soldiers were killed in the battle. And one civilian.
Mary Virginia “Jennie” Wade was 20-years-old at the time of the battle. Her sister Georgia had given birth recently and Jennie and her mother had gone to stay with her just outside of town. The house was hit by more than 150 bullets over the three days. One of them hit the bedpost where Georgia and the baby were sleeping. On July 3, Jennie was in the kitchen kneading dough to make bread for the Union soldiers. A bullet went through two doors and hit her in her heart. She died instantly. It is unclear which side fired the fatal shot. She was buried in the back yard, but later reinterred in the cemetery where Lincoln made his “Gettysburg Address”. In 1882, her mother was granted a pension because her daughter gave her life in service to her country. Her mother had used the dough to bake 15 loaves of bread for the soldiers. In 1900, Georgia was able to put a large tombstone over her sister’s grave. It has a perpetual flag flying over it. It and Betsy Ross’ grave are the only female civilian graves that have flags continually flying over them.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/mary-virginia-jennie-wade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennie_Wade
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