GDG- Jenny Wade

[Smith, David]

Ginny--

Thanks for another excellent post and thanks for reopening this fascinating story.  The Jennie Wade story is a fascinating one, and one in which the truth may be impossible to fully recover from the welter of accusations and counteraccusations.  It is an example of how virulent partisan conflict was near the border.

I think the real issue may not be Jennie and her sister as it is her Dad.  I regret that I don't have the information in front of me, but I think her Dad was named McClellan.  Anyway, he was found guilty before the war of theft - I think he was accused of stealing a watch or wallet.  He was convicted, so there had to have been some evidence.  I think he returned to the family after about a year away.  (Note that just the mother and the sister are mentioned as being known by the Mayor below).  This can all be found in Gettysburg's newspapers - if time permits and interest is sufficient, I will try to send citations.  Since Burns served as the town constable, I believe in the 1850s, I suspect he was plenty well acquainted with Jenny's dad.

Jennie's real name is "Virginia."  And Georgia's name was, well, "Georgia."  And her father was from a Southern state I believe, possibly Maryland (let's not reopen that debate!).  So on the surface, at least, in appearances, there could be some Southern sympathy in the family.  All this can be verified from either the 1860 or 1850 Adams County census [again, using her father's name].  Some notable Gettysburg historian - I forget whether it was Gladfelter, Fortenbaugh or who - remarked that this fact alone gave him some pause.

"Postmaster Buehler" was a leading Republican in town. He and his brother had operated the antislavery *Star and Republican Banner* for many years, and were leading Republican organizers as well.  The Wills family was also Republicans, if I recall correctly.  Notice the emphasis on "loyal" citizens of the town.  

Burns is not, however, the only source that casts aspersions on Jennie Wade and her family.  I believe Albertus McCreary does so as well in "A Boy At Gettysburg," *McClure's Magazine* (July 1909).  (He may be relying on Burns).  McCreary was a boy at the time of the battle.  However that account is so shot through with errors and inaccuracies that it is impossible to know what weight to put on it.  Tim Smith of the Adams County Historical Society pointed this out to me.  In it, McCreary claims to have met Lincoln, claims that Custer had been in Gettysburg in 1862, I believe, which he had not, and makes a whole raft of dubious claims.  (This is disconcerting to individuals like me who study the capture of African Americans during the campaign and would like to rely on his story of "Old Liz" who hid in the church tower, but know that his veracity is suspect).

This opens up a whole debate over what it means to be loyal.  In 1863, the Republican party was only nine years old, and less in Pennsylvania.  Democrats positioned themselves at the beginning of the war to blame Republican intransigence for a bloody, expensive, fratricidal war.  In response, Republicans labeled every Democrat who criticized war policy in the least as a "traitor."  (Some of those policies the Democrats didn't like included:  a long war, a war to free the slaves rather than restore status quo ante bellum, a war which ).  Of course, the Democrats themselves where unusually tied to their Southern wing and may have feared political annihilation if the two sections were not rapidly reunited.

What happened to Jenny Wade was a tragedy.  What happened to her reputation after the war was politics, employed by both sides.  The other great civilian controversy of the battle were the multiple arrests of Gettysburg Compiler editor Henry Stahle for allegedly helping the Confederates.  These fights over the meaning of "loyal" are also what held up the claims awards for so many years (for property owners to receive compensation for the damage to their property).

David G. Smith

 

Message: 8

Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:47:22 -0500

From: Ginny Gage <lewandginny at emailmv.com>
Subject: GDG- Jennie Wade
To: Gettysburg Discussion Group <gettysburg at gdg.org>
Message-ID: <C196EE1A.4A39%lewandginny at emailmv.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
For those interested in learning more, Cindy Small wrote a book entitled
³The Jennie Wade Story - ³A True and Complete Account of the Only Civilian
Killed During the Battle of Gettysburg.² Appendix IV is entitled ³Why Was
John Burns Antagonistic Toward Jennie Wade and Others in Gettysburg?² In
this section Burns was evidently contacted by a NYC newspaperman who was
preparing a book on Women of the War. John Burns wrote back regarding
Jennie Wade: ³I knew Miss Wade very well. The less said about her the
better. The story about her loyalty, her being killed while serving Union
soldiers, etc., is all of fiction, got up by some sensation correspondent.
The only fact in the whole story is that she was killed during the battle in
her house by a stray bullet Charity to her reputation forbids any further
remarks. You can refer, if you choose, to C. Wills Esq. - Postmaster
Buehler or any loyal citizen for the truth. I could call her a she-rebel.²
Pretty harsh words!
And Ms. Small does comment that Burns had to ³share² the hero¹s spotlight
with Jennie and that ³Jealousy probably provoked some of Burns¹ resentment
toward the young girl who had become instantly famous.²
She also mentions that Mayor William Weaver was a man who knew both Jennie¹s
mother and her sister. He said that ³John Burns¹ slighting remarks about
Jennie were not borne out by the facts as he knew them. Weaver said:
If John Burns intended to impute that Jennie Wade was not a Union
sympathizer, it may have been because she was not one of the throng of young
women who gathered to greet the arrival of General Buford¹s cavalry. (At
the time, Jennie was busy altering the uniform of her brother who had just
joined the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry, a patriotic task, indeed.)...John
Burns¹ opinion might have been the expression of an old, and probably
somewhat irascible resident who may or may not have known much of the young
girl.² 
Burns had at another time accused a Gettysburg resident of being a Southern
sympathizer.
While reading excerpts from this book, I ³rediscovered² that Jennie¹s
sister, Georgia, helped with the wounded soldiers in the Adams County Court
House shortly after her sister died, and then later went up to Camp
Letterman, and for the next two years tended to the wounded and ill soldiers
on several other battlefields.
Regarding her monument, according to this book, Jennie¹s grave was unmarked
except with a small tombstone until 1900. Georgia at that time was living
in Iowa and was National Executive Board Chairman of the Iowa Woman¹s Relief
Corps. Since there were no regiments from the state of Iowa in the battle,
in 1901 ³Because of the noble deeds of Jennie Wade and her relationship to a
noted Iowa lady it is most fitting that the Iowa W.R.C. erect the memorial
in contemplation...of the only woman who lost her life, directly in the line
of patriotic duty in this, the most memorable battle of the civil war.² The
cost of the monument was $1,200. The Gettysburg Battlefield Commission paid
$1,000 of that. It was erected August 17, 1900 and unveiled on September
16, 1901. Georgia gave a speech then. The flagstaff was placed by the
Gettysburg Association of Iowa Women in 1910.
I think I need to go to the Evergreen Cemetery and reacquaint myself with
the monument. The ³Wade family motto² is inscribed on one side:
³Whatsoever God Willeth Must be, Though a Nation Mourns.² I need to talk to
Lew (my husband). I don¹t believe we have a ³family motto!²
Ginny Gage