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Lone civilian met her death at Gettysburg
More than 7,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died during the Civil War battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
But only one civilian perished: Mary Virginia “Jennie” Wade. Born in Gettysburg on May 21, 1843, she was buried there 20 years later.
Jennie Wade and her mother were seamstresses, trying to make ends meet in their home on Breckenridge Street. Her father was in a mental institution.
On that fateful July 3, Jennie was in the kitchen of the Baltimore Street home of her sister, Georgie Wade McClellan. She was mixing dough that would be baked into bread for Union troops.
Wary of intermittent crossfire, Jennie and a brother had ventured out before dawn to gather wood for a fire in the oven.
While she attended to her kneading about 8:30 a.m., a rebel sharpshooter’s musket ball passed through two doors and struck her in the back, piercing her heart and killing her instantly.
The next day, her mother baked 15 loaves with dough from the trough where she had labored.
Jennie was buried in the basement of the house, and later in the family garden, in a coffin that Confederates had made for an officer.
She had not known that her fiancé, Union Cpl. Johnston Hastings “Jack” Skelly, was wounded in fighting at Carter’s Woods, Va., captured by the enemy and hospitalized in Winchester. He died July 12, unaware of the death of his betrothed.
The young couple, tragically separated by war, have lain near each other since 1865 in Evergreen Cemetery at Gettysburg. A flag flies around the clock at the Jennie Wade monument, which was placed there in 1900.
Also in 1900, the Jennie Wade House Museum opened near the battlefield. The home is furnished authentically from attic to cellar, a tribute to life during the Civil War.
The brick walls are pocked from gunfire. The hole in the front door is evidence of the shot that ended Jennie Wade’s life, the only direct civilian casualty at Gettysburg.
May a month of milestones
May was a milestone month in the public service career of Abraham Lincoln. Both the onset of his presidency and his final return to Springfield for burial occurred on May dates.
Lincoln was appointed to his first public office, postmaster of New Salem, on May 7, 1833. He had lost his campaign for the Illinois House in the previous year, finishing eighth out of 13 candidates.
President Andrew Jackson named Lincoln to the postal post, which he held until the office was discontinued on May 30, 1836.
On May 7, 1858, in Beardstown, Lincoln referred to an almanac to discredit a witness and win a verdict for Duff Armstrong, who was charged with murder.
On May 18, 1860, the Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated Lincoln for president on the third ballot. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was nominated for vice president.
Illinois delegates had been instructed to support Lincoln during the state Republican Convention on May 9 and 10 in Decatur, where he was tagged with the nickname, “Rail Splitter.”
In his letter of acceptance on May 23 to George Ashmun, president of the national convention, Lincoln responded:
“Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented in the convention; to the rights of all the states, and territories, and people of the nation; to the inviolability of the constitution, and the perpetual union, harmony, and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success of the principles declared by the convention.”
Less than five years later – on May 3, 1865 – the funeral train bearing Lincoln’s body reached Springfield at 9 a.m., and the cortege was escorted to the statehouse.
The 16th president was buried on May 4, 1865, in a public receiving vault in Oak Ridge Cemetery and was moved to a temporary vault on Dec. 21. It was not until Sept. 19, 1871, that the body was placed in a crypt in the partially completed tomb.