Gettysburg Unsung Heroes: Jennie Wade and Elizabeth Thorn

Scott: 00:00:14

Welcome to talk with history.

Scott: 00:00:17

I am your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian,

Scott: 00:00:19

Jen.

Jenn: 00:00:19

Hello.

Scott: 00:00:20

On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world

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travels, YouTube channel journey, history through deeper conversations with the

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curious, the explorers, and the Now, Jen, before we get into our main topic I want

Scott: 00:00:35

to put in a plug for some podcast reviews.

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We have, I haven't asked for any podcast reviews for a while, and

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My, my Spotify five star count for the podcast is slowly increasing.

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So for my Spotify listeners and my Apple podcast listeners, you

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can't let the other one catch up.

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So if you're listening on Apple, don't let the Spotify folks catch up.

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But if you're listening on Spotify, try to catch up to the Apple podcast, reviews.

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You've got 30 plus,

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you know, so we're doing well on the Apple podcast side.

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We are only about, let me see I

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think we're only about 3, 650 reviews away from catching the History

Jenn: 00:01:18

Oh, they have a podcast?

Jenn: 00:01:19

Oh,

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got like a history this week.

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They've got about 3, 700 reviews.

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So we're only, you know, Not too far behind, only a couple

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thousand.

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Do

Jenn: 00:01:28

they actually talk about history?

Jenn: 00:01:29

I have no idea.

Jenn: 00:01:30

I just

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I have no clue.

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I just looked it up because I think they have about 3, 700.

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If you're listening, even if you're listening , for

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the first leave us a review.

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It really helps us Today, we're venturing to the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg,

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Pennsylvania in July of 1863, the heart of the brutal battle But we're not focusing

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on the generals and the grand maneuvers.

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In this episode, we delve into the lives of remarkable women who were caught in

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the maelstrom of the Battle of Gettysburg.

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We'll meet Elizabeth Thorne, a local resident who housed generals, buried many

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dead and all while six months pregnant.

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And there was Jenny Wade, the only civilian casualty at Gettysburg.

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Yes, the only one.

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Her story serving as a stark reminder of the war's human cost.

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But these are just two names.

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Many women played Crucial yet often overlooked roles during the Civil War

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from tending to the injured to gathering intelligence They shouldered enormous

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burdens and displayed immense courage So join us as we explore the experience

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of these extraordinary women and discovered how they shaped The course

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of history at Gettysburg and All right,

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Jen So

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we did a trip up to

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Gettysburg in a gorgeous time of the year in

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October.

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It was beautiful

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Group best time to go is like right around

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Halloween is packed ton of people there But we focus on something

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a little different this time

Jenn: 00:03:15

Yeah, I wanted to talk about the women of Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:03:18

So I want people to, for me I like to kind of, how do I remember things?

Jenn: 00:03:23

Gettysburg, always think of the middle of the Civil War.

Jenn: 00:03:27

It happens 1863.

Jenn: 00:03:29

So smack in the middle between 1861 and 1865 and happens in July.

Jenn: 00:03:35

So it's the middle of the year.

Jenn: 00:03:36

So middle, it's really like the middle battle.

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So everybody kind of knows what's going on.

Scott: 00:03:41

Nobody really knows where the end, if the end is in sight.

Jenn: 00:03:44

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:03:44

So this is really, really, the South has a lot of momentum.

Jenn: 00:03:47

They're pushing North, right?

Jenn: 00:03:49

No one, realizes that this is going to be the turning point, but it will

Jenn: 00:03:54

be because this is the South is coming really into Northern Territory now,

Jenn: 00:03:59

getting close to DC, getting close to coming into the Northern Territory.

Jenn: 00:04:06

And Elizabeth Thorne is an immigrant.

Jenn: 00:04:10

She, she was born in December of 1832 in, I'm sure I'm saying this

Jenn: 00:04:17

wrong, but it's kind of funny.

Jenn: 00:04:18

Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany.

Jenn: 00:04:22

And so her parents are both immigrants.

Jenn: 00:04:25

She's, she's immigrated.

Jenn: 00:04:27

Little is known about her early life, but they settle in Gettysburg, and she marries

Jenn: 00:04:32

another German immigrant, Peter Thorn.

Jenn: 00:04:34

In, her husband becomes caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery.

Jenn: 00:04:38

Evergreen Cemetery has just started.

Jenn: 00:04:42

It's established in 1855.

Jenn: 00:04:44

This is February of 1856

Jenn: 00:04:47

that he becomes caretaker.

Scott: 00:04:48

And we know Evergreen Cemetery today because it's

Scott: 00:04:52

near the National Cemetery out

Jenn: 00:04:53

It's right beside it.

Jenn: 00:04:54

It shares, it shares a What is that?

Jenn: 00:04:56

Like a wall?

Jenn: 00:04:58

Not even.

Jenn: 00:04:58

It's just a

Scott: 00:04:58

I got, like a fence line, but it's, it's right there

Scott: 00:05:00

across from battlegrounds, it's right smack in the middle of

Jenn: 00:05:03

Yeah, Cemetery Hill.

Jenn: 00:05:05

When you hear Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg, they're talking about Evergreen Cemetery.

Scott: 00:05:09

we show actually on our video, we're standing at the

Scott: 00:05:13

sign for Evergreen Cemetery.

Scott: 00:05:14

We look across the street and.

Scott: 00:05:16

Literally across the street is Cemetery

Jenn: 00:05:19

Yes, and Significantly, we'll talk about it, but this is where Lincoln will

Jenn: 00:05:24

actually stand in Evergreen Cemetery when he delivers the Gettysburg Address.

Jenn: 00:05:28

So because he's dedicating that National Cemetery, which they share

Jenn: 00:05:31

a fence, they border each other.

Jenn: 00:05:33

That was not there then.

Jenn: 00:05:35

So you can imagine that was just all.

Jenn: 00:05:38

She marries Peter Thorne, 1855, 1856 he becomes caretaker of Evergreen

Jenn: 00:05:42

Cemetery, what's a caretaker?

Jenn: 00:05:45

It's a grave digger, basically, it's a person who you bring the body

Jenn: 00:05:48

to, they, they find the plot, you know, they take care of the graves

Jenn: 00:05:52

there, they're basically, it's just like a, a maintenance person.

Jenn: 00:05:54

person for the cemetery.

Jenn: 00:05:57

But he lives there with Elizabeth, her parents who speak German, and they

Jenn: 00:06:02

have three boys, they're young boys, and she's pregnant with her fourth.

Jenn: 00:06:06

When Peter joins the 138th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, and he leaves

Jenn: 00:06:14

her in charge of the cemetery.

Jenn: 00:06:16

And so when the Union troops start to come into Gettysburg, that's when

Jenn: 00:06:21

she gets the knock on the door from General Howard asking her What roads

Jenn: 00:06:27

lead into or he has to talk to the man of the house because this is 1863 and

Jenn: 00:06:32

he figures a man's gonna know the roads and a woman won't know much at all

Jenn: 00:06:38

But the man of the house doesn't speak

Scott: 00:06:40

right, because you said her, her father

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lived there and he only speaks German.

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Only speaks

Jenn: 00:06:44

only speaks German So she takes him out six months pregnant up

Jenn: 00:06:48

on the hill And shows him the three main roads coming into Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:06:53

And if he wants to get troops, these are the main roads that

Jenn: 00:06:56

come into this little town.

Jenn: 00:06:57

It's a little town of people.

Jenn: 00:06:59

And he says, okay, thank you.

Jenn: 00:07:01

You should probably leave.

Jenn: 00:07:04

There, we know that there's a lot of southern troops here.

Jenn: 00:07:06

We're bringing in a lot of northern troops here.

Jenn: 00:07:08

And there's going to be a fight.

Jenn: 00:07:09

And because I see you have elderly parents, three young boys, and you're

Jenn: 00:07:13

pregnant, you should probably leave.

Jenn: 00:07:14

And they have a farm on the outskirts of town.

Jenn: 00:07:17

So they, they leave.

Jenn: 00:07:19

And.

Jenn: 00:07:21

They don't come back until July

Scott: 00:07:23

7th

Scott: 00:07:24

After the

Jenn: 00:07:25

the battle, I would say four days after the battle.

Jenn: 00:07:29

And by the time they get back to their house, the caretaker house, which we

Jenn: 00:07:32

show in the video, it's ransacked.

Jenn: 00:07:35

Because you can imagine these men are looking for food, looking

Jenn: 00:07:37

for anything they can use.

Jenn: 00:07:39

And it was used as a makeshift hospital because it's right there.

Jenn: 00:07:42

It's a, it's a brick and mortar home right there by where a lot of fighting took

Scott: 00:07:45

It's a brick and mortar home right there by where a

Scott: 00:07:50

lot of fighting took place.

Jenn: 00:07:52

Yeah, it's right between the city and the visitor center.

Jenn: 00:07:57

So it's very easy to find.

Jenn: 00:07:59

And so by the time she gets back, it's okay, now what do I do?

Jenn: 00:08:03

I have to You know take care of these young boys.

Jenn: 00:08:06

I have to get my parents settled I have to kind of find food and oh, by the

Jenn: 00:08:10

way, she gets another knock at the door.

Jenn: 00:08:13

There's thousands of dead men out in fields just laying there

Jenn: 00:08:19

and we need to bury these men.

Jenn: 00:08:21

So the statue depicted of her in Evergreen Cemetery is her kind of wiping her

Jenn: 00:08:28

brow six months pregnant with a shovel.

Jenn: 00:08:32

She digs over a hundred graves by herself.

Jenn: 00:08:36

And you'd think graves, I'm talking six feet graves.

Jenn: 00:08:40

Like she's digging graves.

Scott: 00:08:41

it was interesting being there, right?

Scott: 00:08:43

One being in Gettysburg in the fall, the leaves changing.

Scott: 00:08:46

It was, it was just gorgeous.

Scott: 00:08:47

Weather was amazing, but the statue itself is so unique

Scott: 00:08:51

because she is pregnant, right?

Scott: 00:08:52

They show her like they're displaying her, you know, six months pregnant.

Scott: 00:08:56

So she looks like she's ready to give birth and here she is wiping her

Scott: 00:09:00

brow, holding a shovel in her hand.

Scott: 00:09:02

It was just.

Scott: 00:09:03

It's such a unique statue.

Scott: 00:09:05

It was really neat to just go there and be in this beautiful location

Scott: 00:09:09

and see what this amazing woman did.

Jenn: 00:09:12

Yeah, and there's no true number.

Jenn: 00:09:15

Estimates are as low as 91 to 100, as high as 105.

Jenn: 00:09:20

So I would say about a hundred graves she, she dug on her own and I'm sure she helped

Scott: 00:09:29

More

Jenn: 00:09:30

and planned.

Jenn: 00:09:31

I'm sure she helped plan.

Jenn: 00:09:32

I'm hope she, I'm sure she helped this is where we should put these people.

Jenn: 00:09:34

These boys, we should put these people.

Jenn: 00:09:35

This is, and then with the national cemetery starting at first, they

Jenn: 00:09:40

buried men out on the battlefield.

Jenn: 00:09:42

Where they lay.

Jenn: 00:09:44

And then when they started to start the National Cemetery, they

Jenn: 00:09:46

dug them up and started to bring them into the National Cemetery.

Jenn: 00:09:48

And then they also repatriated Confederates back to where they should

Scott: 00:09:52

Yeah.

Scott: 00:09:52

And I think you, you would even mention that even in Evergreen Cemetery,

Scott: 00:09:56

there was families that would come

Jenn: 00:09:57

Mm hmm.

Scott: 00:09:59

the buried bodies, you know, of their family member and bring it

Jenn: 00:10:01

And I think there's still some Confederates in the National Cemetery.

Jenn: 00:10:05

Because they they weren't sure if they got everybody but when we went to Hollywood

Jenn: 00:10:12

Cemetery in Richmond, that's where I think most of the Gettysburg Confederates

Scott: 00:10:18

Because there's that big kind of

Scott: 00:10:19

monument

Jenn: 00:10:20

hmm.

Jenn: 00:10:21

And so She helped plan all of that, right?

Jenn: 00:10:24

And so you really think this woman is Again, knowing the language,

Jenn: 00:10:31

big battle, dead men, and what she did too was she gave each man

Jenn: 00:10:40

dignity and respect in their burial.

Jenn: 00:10:43

She helped, you know, lay them to rest in a peaceful manner,

Jenn: 00:10:47

knowing that they were someone's husband or brother or son or uncle.

Jenn: 00:10:52

Like she was just very respectful of them as a caretaker's wife.

Jenn: 00:10:56

She already understands the process, helping to identify these men.

Jenn: 00:11:00

Most of them are traveling with pictures or something on them.

Jenn: 00:11:04

Pulling those items from them and then probably serializing them, identifying

Scott: 00:11:10

Well, and she's doing this in the heat of

Jenn: 00:11:12

July in

Scott: 00:11:14

know, it's so depending on the kind of summer it was, I mean,

Scott: 00:11:18

she's sweating her, her, her butt off.

Scott: 00:11:20

And I think you even mentioned in the video, and again, the, the link

Scott: 00:11:23

to this video, if you guys want to see the location, we'll, we'll be

Scott: 00:11:26

in the show notes of this podcast.

Scott: 00:11:28

But you mentioned that she wore the same dress for was it six weeks or something?

Scott: 00:11:31

It was, it was quite a

Scott: 00:11:32

while,

Jenn: 00:11:32

a while.

Jenn: 00:11:33

We'll go,

Scott: 00:11:33

maybe not six have probably been be giving that time, but

Jenn: 00:11:38

Yeah, she wore the same dress the entire time because

Jenn: 00:11:41

she just didn't have the time to a probably make a bigger dress.

Scott: 00:11:45

she didn't want Use other dresses for all this dirty work.

Jenn: 00:11:48

you probably wear your pregnancy dress when you think about it.

Jenn: 00:11:51

On November 1st, she'll give birth to a daughter.

Jenn: 00:11:53

So after having three sons, she has a daughter named Rose Mead Thorne in honor

Jenn: 00:11:58

of General George Mead, who commanded.

Jenn: 00:12:01

the army of the Potomac there at Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:12:04

She remained caretaker until her husband returned safely from war in 1865.

Jenn: 00:12:09

So it's not like he came right back either.

Jenn: 00:12:11

She was doing this for another year and a half until he came home giving birth.

Jenn: 00:12:18

It's just amazing to me.

Jenn: 00:12:19

They remain on and he resigns as caretaker in 1874.

Jenn: 00:12:24

So nine years later.

Jenn: 00:12:26

So you can imagine she gives birth in November.

Jenn: 00:12:30

Lincoln comes out.

Jenn: 00:12:31

Mid November to give the Gettysburg Address.

Scott: 00:12:34

it that

Jenn: 00:12:35

Same year, 1863.

Jenn: 00:12:37

So she's probably helping, she's caretaker of the cemetery, set up the

Jenn: 00:12:41

stage, set up the podium in my cemetery.

Scott: 00:12:44

setting all that

Jenn: 00:12:45

Because it, he stood in Evergreen Cemetery and looked over into what

Jenn: 00:12:49

was now the new National Cemetery.

Jenn: 00:12:50

And so she's caretaker, so she knows all of these logistics, so she's probably

Jenn: 00:12:55

with a newborn planning all of this.

Jenn: 00:12:59

So this woman is just she's the unsung hero of Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:13:03

I just wanted to give her some credit

Jenn: 00:13:06

She'll die October 17th 1907 at age 74 her her and her husband

Jenn: 00:13:12

are both buried at Evergreen

Scott: 00:13:14

Yeah,

Jenn: 00:13:14

So we visit their graves in the video as well

Scott: 00:13:18

And then from there so she's kind of, She's a, she's kind of a I'll say a

Scott: 00:13:24

historical character at the beginning, the very, before the battle ever starts.

Scott: 00:13:27

And then obviously afterwards, right?

Scott: 00:13:29

The, the, the death afterwards, kind of what I put on the thumbnail.

Scott: 00:13:32

But Jenny Wade is someone who, who's significant kind of for

Scott: 00:13:37

what happened during the battle.

Jenn: 00:13:44

so Jenny Wade is, most people will know that name.

Jenn: 00:13:49

The Jenny Wade house is a very tourist location for

Scott: 00:13:55

And if I remember right, her, her real, her full name is Virginia Wade.

Jenn: 00:13:59

Mary Virginia Wade.

Jenn: 00:14:00

She's born May 21st, 1843.

Jenn: 00:14:03

She's 20 years old.

Jenn: 00:14:04

But she is the only direct civilian casualty of the battle.

Jenn: 00:14:10

So there are people who will die.

Jenn: 00:14:12

battle from injuries they sustained during the battle who were civilians,

Jenn: 00:14:17

but she's the only direct civilian casualty during the battle.

Scott: 00:14:22

of mind boggling when, you know, Gettysburg is famous for a reason, right?

Scott: 00:14:27

Turning point of the Civil War, but also There's a lot that happened

Jenn: 00:14:31

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:14:31

All the men that died.

Jenn: 00:14:32

It's a lot.

Jenn: 00:14:33

I think it's 40, 000 men died.

Scott: 00:14:36

and only one, to think that only one civilian died

Scott: 00:14:39

during the battle and it was

Jenn: 00:14:41

Yeah, 50, 000 men died, 23, 000 Union, 28, 000 Confederates, and only

Jenn: 00:14:46

one civilian died and it was a woman.

Jenn: 00:14:49

That's insane.

Jenn: 00:14:50

And especially if you go to Gettysburg and you like, but you

Jenn: 00:14:53

should go, it's fantastic and go in the fall cause it's so much fun.

Jenn: 00:14:57

In the center of the city where the Jenny Wade house is, is really where there's

Jenn: 00:15:01

crossroads of battle was taking place as again, you're kind of cemetery hills

Jenn: 00:15:05

behind you, what we just talked about.

Jenn: 00:15:07

Elizabeth.

Jenn: 00:15:07

Thorn is behind you and in front of you would be the

Jenn: 00:15:10

Confederates in Jenny Wade's house.

Jenn: 00:15:12

which is really her sister's

Scott: 00:15:13

right smack in the

Jenn: 00:15:14

It's right in the back of the middle.

Jenn: 00:15:15

So they're taking gunfire at home as they're, as they're going

Jenn: 00:15:21

about their business in the house.

Jenn: 00:15:23

And this is happening to a lot of families in the area because

Jenn: 00:15:26

the battle doesn't happen there.

Jenn: 00:15:28

That's the first day.

Jenn: 00:15:29

But as you move around the next two days, it moves around the city of Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:15:35

And other houses Get in the crossfire and other barns and other people.

Jenn: 00:15:40

So this there's bullet holes even today in the buildings of Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:15:45

There's cannonballs in the buildings of Gettysburg.

Jenn: 00:15:48

So for her to be the only casualty is really crazy.

Scott: 00:15:53

the only casualty is really crazy.

Scott: 00:15:58

Yeah, and so they

Jenn: 00:16:02

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:16:03

And So they say 150 bullets hit that house.

Jenn: 00:16:07

So what's going on is Jenny Wade, again, is 20 years old.

Jenn: 00:16:10

Her sister lives at that house.

Jenn: 00:16:12

It's 548 Baltimore Street.

Jenn: 00:16:14

And her sister, George Anna, known as Georgie, had became engaged before the

Jenn: 00:16:21

war, married her sweetheart in 1862.

Jenn: 00:16:23

They moved into that two story brick house 548 Baltimore Street.

Jenn: 00:16:28

And her husband had joined the Union Army in was not in

Jenn: 00:16:32

Gettysburg during the battle.

Jenn: 00:16:33

And he was also absent of the birth of their firstborn.

Jenn: 00:16:36

And the boy was born June 26th, 1863.

Jenn: 00:16:41

And so four days after the birth is when people are riding into

Jenn: 00:16:46

Gettysburg and the war is starting.

Jenn: 00:16:48

And so Jenny's mother, Wade's mother decides we should go and stay with

Jenn: 00:16:53

your sister to help her out since she just had a baby because they lived in

Jenn: 00:16:57

the center of Gettysburg, which they probably would have been behind the fire

Scott: 00:17:01

further away from the battle.

Scott: 00:17:02

Further

Jenn: 00:17:02

away from the battle.

Jenn: 00:17:03

So they go to the house and they help.

Jenn: 00:17:05

And at the time she's making bread, she's kneading dough for loaves of bread.

Jenn: 00:17:11

And that's.

Jenn: 00:17:12

Again, why people think of the chivalry

Jenn: 00:17:15

of what she's

Scott: 00:17:15

it for the soldiers

Jenn: 00:17:16

doing that for the soldiers, which is what women in their

Jenn: 00:17:19

capacity really did at the time.

Jenn: 00:17:20

Because again, these soldiers are traveling bare bones, what they can

Jenn: 00:17:24

carry on them and food is scarce and they really scavenger for food.

Jenn: 00:17:28

And so when they are able to find a place where people are providing

Jenn: 00:17:32

sustenance for them, women, really take it as their duty to perform that.

Scott: 00:17:38

Yeah, and you hear about the rare occasions, the Clara Barton's, you know,

Scott: 00:17:43

that started the Red Cross and was kind of one of the first kind of nurses on the

Scott: 00:17:46

battlefield, you this kind of setting.

Scott: 00:17:49

But like you said, the vast majority of what women did and knew how to do

Scott: 00:17:54

and actively did throughout the war was provide whatever sustenance they

Scott: 00:17:58

could for the men who were fighting.

Jenn: 00:18:00

And she, from what I read, that doe that she was needing when the bullet

Jenn: 00:18:06

went through the door, went through another door, hit her through shoulder

Jenn: 00:18:12

into her heart and killed her instantly.

Jenn: 00:18:16

Her mother, 14 loaves of bread with that dough and still made

Jenn: 00:18:21

that dough for the soldiers because that's what she would have wanted.

Scott: 00:18:25

would have

Jenn: 00:18:26

A

Jenn: 00:18:26

bullet flew through the window of the house and hit a bedpost while Georgiana

Jenn: 00:18:30

was in bed lying with her baby.

Jenn: 00:18:32

And that's why they moved into the basement.

Jenn: 00:18:34

She woke early that day.

Jenn: 00:18:35

This happened the morning of July

Scott: 00:18:38

3rd.

Scott: 00:18:38

Kind of like towards the end of the

Jenn: 00:18:40

Yes.

Jenn: 00:18:40

So 8am, July 3rd, the first day it was when 150 bullets hit the house, 8am,

Jenn: 00:18:45

July 3rd, she was kneading the bread.

Jenn: 00:18:47

And that's when.

Jenn: 00:18:48

A bullet through the two closed doors hit her in the shoulder, lodged

Jenn: 00:18:51

itself in her heart, and got trapped in her body by the corset she was

Jenn: 00:18:55

wearing, and she died instantly.

Jenn: 00:18:58

And the dough that she was kneading at the time of her death was baked into

Jenn: 00:19:01

bread by her mother and made 15 loaves.

Jenn: 00:19:04

Union soldiers helped wrapped her body in a quilt and either

Jenn: 00:19:07

brought her to the cellar or buried her in the backyard immediately.

Jenn: 00:19:10

So we show the backyard in the video.

Jenn: 00:19:13

She was moved to the town's German church in November of 1865.

Jenn: 00:19:17

Her body was eventually moved to Evergreen cemetery, the same cemetery that

Jenn: 00:19:22

Elizabeth Thorne is the caretaker for.

Scott: 00:19:24

and that was one of the ones that had, you know, quite a

Scott: 00:19:28

unique kind of distinction at her, her little monument memorial that

Jenn: 00:19:33

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:19:34

In 1900 with tireless efforts from her family and the women in the

Jenn: 00:19:40

area, they were able to get a large.

Jenn: 00:19:43

Gravestone and they have the perpetual American flag and I talk about it's

Jenn: 00:19:48

one of the only two sites in America besides the Betty Ross, Betsy Ross

Jenn: 00:19:52

house that perpetually flies an American flag in honor of a woman.

Scott: 00:19:56

I thought that was really neat because

Scott: 00:19:58

We see the American flag flying grave sites, but when you have that

Scott: 00:20:05

kind of distinction recognized for something, is doing couldn't and

Scott: 00:20:11

didn't really serve in battle, but they did serve in whatever capacity

Scott: 00:20:15

they could, seeing that recognized

Jenn: 00:20:17

Yeah, and she had a sweetheart at the time who was also fighting

Jenn: 00:20:22

in the, in the cause for the union.

Jenn: 00:20:25

She was carrying his picture.

Jenn: 00:20:26

His name was Jack Skelly, and he dies from wounds.

Jenn: 00:20:31

He's sustained in the battle.

Jenn: 00:20:33

In june of 1863 and he dies nine days after she dies They're buried close

Jenn: 00:20:38

to each other in evergreen cemetery so you can find jack shelley's grave as

Jenn: 00:20:41

well And if you go to the jenny wade house There's artifacts of the letters.

Jenn: 00:20:46

They wrote each other and stuff and things along that nature with their courtship.

Jenn: 00:20:56

there's other women at the time who are doing, who are making

Jenn: 00:21:00

bread and being very brave.

Jenn: 00:21:03

I want to recognize like Elizabeth Thorne and Jenny Wade are the two big stories

Jenn: 00:21:08

that we know of women at Gettysburg, but know that there were fighters.

Jenn: 00:21:12

There were seven women who were wounded in Gettysburg as, as soldiers.

Jenn: 00:21:18

And

Jenn: 00:21:18

they were only found out later that their sex was revealed later.

Jenn: 00:21:22

And when they were given treatment, there were seven

Jenn: 00:21:26

POWs who were women.

Jenn: 00:21:27

And again, only found out later Nine died on the battlefield as soldiers.

Jenn: 00:21:34

So when you think about it, there's about 20 women who are disguising

Jenn: 00:21:41

themselves as soldiers fighting.

Jenn: 00:21:43

And people will ask, well, why did women do that at the time?

Jenn: 00:21:47

And I'm not sure of all, you know, what each individual was

Jenn: 00:21:50

thinking, but really it was a really

Jenn: 00:21:54

duty and money.

Scott: 00:21:55

and money.

Scott: 00:21:59

Yes.

Scott: 00:22:02

Sometimes you needed

Jenn: 00:22:09

And sometimes you needed the money for your family.

Jenn: 00:22:12

Sometimes there were no boys, and your family needed something to survive.

Jenn: 00:22:16

And we always talk about when immigrants came off the boats to

Jenn: 00:22:20

America, they were signing them up for the Civil War right there.

Jenn: 00:22:23

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:22:24

Come sign up.

Jenn: 00:22:24

Go fight for your country.

Jenn: 00:22:25

And they were handing them uniforms and rifles right then and guaranteeing them a

Jenn: 00:22:30

paycheck, which was huge coming to America with no understanding of even maybe the

Jenn: 00:22:36

language or how the commerce is working.

Jenn: 00:22:39

So that is huge.

Jenn: 00:22:41

So as a woman to be able to pay make that money disguised as a man, that's

Jenn: 00:22:47

one of the reasons why women did it.

Jenn: 00:22:49

Again, duty was another and some were fighting beside their husbands.

Jenn: 00:22:54

Some took up arms when their husbands, you know, got hurt or but it's just

Jenn: 00:22:59

interesting to know that there, there are women who are participating

Jenn: 00:23:03

in the Battle of Gettysburg in pretty much every capacity.

Jenn: 00:23:07

We just want to honor Elizabeth Thorne and Jenny Wade in all of those women's memory.

Scott: 00:23:11

Yeah.

Scott: 00:23:12

And women who were kind of playing, playing that, that It

Scott: 00:23:15

was, it was really incredible.

Scott: 00:23:16

And if you can ever go to Gettysburg in October, do it

Scott: 00:23:21

because it is, it's beautiful.

Scott: 00:23:28

Well, that brings us to the end of this episode of talk with We've explored

Scott: 00:23:33

the remarkable stories of women like Elizabeth Thorne and Jenny Wade, but their

Scott: 00:23:36

experiences represent countless others who played vital roles during the civil war.

Scott: 00:23:42

These women served as nurses, cooks, spies, and so much more.

Scott: 00:23:48

Their bravery, resilience, and unwavering determination in the face

Scott: 00:23:52

of wartime hardship deserve our Thank you for listening to Talk With History

Scott: 00:23:58

podcast, and please reach out to us at our website, talkwithhistory.

Scott: 00:24:01

com.

Scott: 00:24:01

But more importantly, if you know someone else that might enjoy this Podcasts.

Scott: 00:24:04

Please share it with shoot them a text and tell them to look us up.

Scott: 00:24:08

We rely on you, our community to grow, and we appreciate you all every day.

Scott: 00:24:13

We'll talk to you next time.

Jenn: 00:24:14

Thank you.