548 Baltimore Street
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Voice: 717-334-4100

Mary Virginia (Jennie) Wade was the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. This is the house of her sister, whom had just had a baby four days before the battle and refused to leave the house when the fighting started. Jennie was baking bread when the fatal shot came through the door and struck her down. The shot killed her instantly. Jennie's sister refused to have the house repaired after the battle was over. Instead it was left as it was in honor and remembrance of Jennie. This was the first museum of the Civil war in Gettysburg.

Today, as you begin your tour, the first thing you will notice is all the bullet holes in the brick and the doors. You will see the bullet hole in the outside door and then as you enter the house you will see the hole in the kitchen door. These two are the holes of the bullet that took Jennie's life.

You have a guide tell you the story of Jennie and her family as you are observing the outside of the house. The guide will then take you inside and describe the events of that fateful day. You are then given a sheet for a self-guided tour through the rest of the house so you can explore at your own pace.

The parlor is where Mrs. McClellan, Jennie's sister, had moved her bed to. She was living alone before the baby was born as her husband was fighting in the war, so she had the bed brought downstairs to the parlor to give birth to her baby. By the end of the battle, every window on the north side of the house had been shot out.

The upstairs rooms had been the sleeping quarters. This was a double house, with another family living on the other side. On the morning of July 2, an artillery shell passed through the roof of the house and broke down the brick wall between the two sides.

The self-guided tour proceeds through this other side of the house and proceeds to the cellar. Union soldiers came and placed Jennie's body here in the cellar until they were able to come back and bury her body in a temporary grave in the garden.

KAT'S VIEW