The

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Ghost Encounters of the Jennie Wade House Kind ABOVE: The supposed fatal bullet hole in the original side door of the Jennie Wade House. The placement and angle would have been about right for the bullet to have entered the house and fatally strike Wade in the kitchen. By the time the battle was over, there would be over 150 bullet holes in the "Jennie Wade House," and one unexploded rifled artillery shell lodged in the roof. Jennie Wade Entry Page Jennie Wade House History Jennie Wade Paranormal Gallery Jennie Wade Links Return to Gettysburg Menu

~ History ~ Page One ~ Page Two ~ Page Three On this day, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, aiding and abetting Lincoln's murderous war machine would prove to be a fatal decision for Jennie Wade. Miraculously, the inhabitants of the "Jennie Wade House" made it through Day One and Day Two in a deadly no-man's land. The house was wracked by over 150 bullet holes and the upper floor had been penetrated by a three-inch rifled artillery shell which, fortunately for them, failed to detonate. But, for the Wades, good luck was starting to run out. As the opposing sharpshooters' work for the day heated-up to renewed intensity around 7 a.m., the Wades were sent a final warning of things to come when a spent Confederate ball shattered the window glass in the front room and landed on the pillow on Jennie's sister's bed. And yet Jennie's intent on making biscuits and bread continued essentially undaunted until about 8:30 a.m. A Confederate ball penetrated the kitchen door, even piercing the open front room door leading to the kitchen, before striking Jennie below the left shoulder blade, fatally damaging her heart. When Jennie's sister screamed, Union soldiers in the vicinity came running. A group of New York soldiers entered through the bullet-ridden side door and became silent, gazing at the fallen form. Perhaps for the first time for some of those battle-worn soldiers, they were suddenly given a chance to behold a sight seen frequently throughout the South for the past three years. The pain inflicted on innocent civilians by Lincoln's War Machine had, for a moment, come home. Page One ~ Page Two ~ Page Three

Gettysburg Trivia: During the 1960s, a myth began that stated that the three-ring bullets were Union-made, and two-ring bullets were Confederate-made. In truth, both sides made two and three-ring bullets, and lots of them. But the myth dies hard. Recently at a shop in Gettysburg I saw a jar of bullets labeled "Confederate two-ringers!" It was a jar of two-ring Union Sharps carbine bullets. Even funnier, in another shop, I ran across a jar of smoothbore musket balls labeled "Mini Balls!!!!" I guess they had gotten it all confused with Minie' balls, named after the inventor of the conical shaped bullets commonly used in the war, and thought it referred to size!