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The Heroine of Gettysburg

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“Jenny Wade.” Rudolph Wittig. Philadelphia: William R. Smith, 1864.

Two years ago I visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the anniversary weekend of the tragic battle. I have never been a Civil War aficionado, but to trod that consecrated ground among the Civil War reenactors and tour guides, to visit the house where Jennie Wade lived and died, was truly haunting. Remember the Battle of Gettysburg with songs from the Civil War Sheet Music Collection, including one about Jennie Wade, the only civilian casualty of the battle, in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Read more about the battle in the Today in History entries for July 1st, July 2nd,  and July 3rd in  American Memory.

See the first draft of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in American Treasures of the Library of Congress, and read more about the historic speech in the Library of Congress Web Guide, Primary Documents in American History.

Comments (2)

  1. Pat and other LOC staff:

    Did you not notice that you not only misspelled the heroine’s name, but did so right next to repeated correct spellings in the grafix?

  2. Hi Mark, I’ve seen her name spelled as Ginnie, Jenny, and Jennie, but the house where she lived and died in Gettysburg is known as the Jennie Wade House, and that’s the spelling I went with for the body of the post.

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