Confederate bullets penetrated this original "Cross and Bible" door on this side of the Jennie Wade House facing the buildings being used by Southern sharpshooters.
Union bullets riddled the bricks in this wall of the Farnsworth House as they tried to neutralize the fire of the Confederates within. A few of these bullets holes are circled. Others can be seen as well in the photograph. ~ History ~
She no doubt also watched as terrified women begged the retreating Union soldiers not to abandon the town. Hardly a wonder, since the Federal propaganda mill had previously spread the word that the Confederate soldiers were killing and eating babies as they marched into Pennsylvania to try and scare the inhabitants out of cooperating with the Southern army.
As the battle of the first day wound down, it left the bulk of the town in Confederate hands, with a perimeter of town structures basically in a no-man's land running from Cemetery Ridge to the North-West flank of Culp's Hill.
These buildings were quickly manned with Union sharpshooters to guard against any approach to the Union right flank from the town. The opposing buildings in the immediate area were also just as quickly manned with Confederate sharpshooters to try and clear those occupied by the enemy.
The family passed through a nearly sleepless night, and, at dawn, the snipers' work began from both Southern and Northern-held buildings in the town, including the yard of the McClellan and McClain house where Union soldiers sniped at the enemy.
During the second day of battle, little changed as far as the continuous sniping at the edge of town. Apparently, as much to calm the nerves as out of overwhelming feelings of patriotism, the women decided to make bread for the Union soldiers, wounded and otherwise, around the house, as well as to keep them supplied with water.
The sporadic exchange of opposing snipers, along with an occasional artillery round thrown-in for effect or to rattle a particularly obstinate enemy hold-out, continued through the night into the third day and set the stage for the death of Jennie Wade.
Gettysburg Trivia:
The Confederates unknowingly captured 10,000 Union experimental, explosive bullets at Chancellorsville, and turned them on their creators at Gettysburg, thinking they were just regular Minie' balls! The bullets were made of pewter, with a short channel-fuse leading to a charge of gunpowder inside. The idea was that it would enter the body and then explode into flesh-shredding pewter shrapnel, as opposed to the lead bullet, which just flattened out and caused a single wound. The discovery that these bullets had been produced by the Union nearly led to an international boycott. Lincoln agreed to terminate production of these "inhumane" bullets, primarily out of fear it would turn the tide of European support for the Confederate States.
The
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
of the
Jennie Wade House
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