Civil War Women at Gettysburg | Elizabeth Thorn & Jennie Wade - Talk With History

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:14</time>
Welcome to talk with history.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:17</time>
I am your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:19</time>
Jen.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:19</time>
Hello.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:20</time>
On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:23</time>
travels, YouTube channel journey, history through deeper conversations with the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:28</time>
curious, the explorers, and the Now, Jen, before we get into our main topic I want

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:35</time>
to put in a plug for some podcast reviews.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:38</time>
We have, I haven't asked for any podcast reviews for a while, and

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:40</time>
My, my Spotify five star count for the podcast is slowly increasing.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:45</time>
So for my Spotify listeners and my Apple podcast listeners, you

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:50</time>
can't let the other one catch up.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:51</time>
So if you're listening on Apple, don't let the Spotify folks catch up.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:54</time>
But if you're listening on Spotify, try to catch up to the Apple podcast, reviews.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:00</time>
You've got 30 plus,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:02</time>
you know, so we're doing well on the Apple podcast side.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:04</time>
We are only about, let me see I

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:09</time>
think we're only about 3, 650 reviews away from catching the History

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:01:18</time>
Oh, they have a podcast?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:01:19</time>
Oh,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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got like a history this week.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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They've got about 3, 700 reviews.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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So we're only, you know, Not too far behind, only a couple

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:27</time>
thousand.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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Do

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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they actually talk about history?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:01:29</time>
I have no idea.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:01:30</time>
I just

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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I have no clue.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:31</time>
I just looked it up because I think they have about 3, 700.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:35</time>
If you're listening, even if you're listening , for

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:37</time>
the first leave us a review.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:39</time>
It really helps us Today, we're venturing to the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:50</time>
Pennsylvania in July of 1863, the heart of the brutal battle But we're not focusing

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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on the generals and the grand maneuvers.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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In this episode, we delve into the lives of remarkable women who were caught in

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:08</time>
the maelstrom of the Battle of Gettysburg.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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We'll meet Elizabeth Thorne, a local resident who housed generals, buried many

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:18</time>
dead and all while six months pregnant.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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And there was Jenny Wade, the only civilian casualty at Gettysburg.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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Yes, the only one.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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Her story serving as a stark reminder of the war's human cost.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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But these are just two names.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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Many women played Crucial yet often overlooked roles during the Civil War

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:37</time>
from tending to the injured to gathering intelligence They shouldered enormous

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:41</time>
burdens and displayed immense courage So join us as we explore the experience

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:45</time>
of these extraordinary women and discovered how they shaped The course

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:51</time>
of history at Gettysburg and All right,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:00</time>
Jen So

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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we did a trip up to

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:03</time>
Gettysburg in a gorgeous time of the year in

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:05</time>
October.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:06</time>
It was beautiful

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:08</time>
Group best time to go is like right around

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:10</time>
Halloween is packed ton of people there But we focus on something

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:14</time>
a little different this time

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:15</time>
Yeah, I wanted to talk about the women of Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:18</time>
So I want people to, for me I like to kind of, how do I remember things?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:23</time>
Gettysburg, always think of the middle of the Civil War.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:27</time>
It happens 1863.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:29</time>
So smack in the middle between 1861 and 1865 and happens in July.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:35</time>
So it's the middle of the year.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:36</time>
So middle, it's really like the middle battle.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:39</time>
So everybody kind of knows what's going on.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:41</time>
Nobody really knows where the end, if the end is in sight.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:44</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:44</time>
So this is really, really, the South has a lot of momentum.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:47</time>
They're pushing North, right?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:49</time>
No one, realizes that this is going to be the turning point, but it will

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:54</time>
be because this is the South is coming really into Northern Territory now,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:03:59</time>
getting close to DC, getting close to coming into the Northern Territory.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:06</time>
And Elizabeth Thorne is an immigrant.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:10</time>
She, she was born in December of 1832 in, I'm sure I'm saying this

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:17</time>
wrong, but it's kind of funny.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:18</time>
Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:22</time>
And so her parents are both immigrants.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:25</time>
She's, she's immigrated.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:27</time>
Little is known about her early life, but they settle in Gettysburg, and she marries

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:32</time>
another German immigrant, Peter Thorn.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:34</time>
In, her husband becomes caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:38</time>
Evergreen Cemetery has just started.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:42</time>
It's established in 1855.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:44</time>
This is February of 1856

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:47</time>
that he becomes caretaker.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:04:48</time>
And we know Evergreen Cemetery today because it's

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:04:52</time>
near the National Cemetery out

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:53</time>
It's right beside it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:54</time>
It shares, it shares a What is that?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:56</time>
Like a wall?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:58</time>
Not even.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:04:58</time>
It's just a

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:04:58</time>
I got, like a fence line, but it's, it's right there

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:05:00</time>
across from battlegrounds, it's right smack in the middle of

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:03</time>
Yeah, Cemetery Hill.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:05</time>
When you hear Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg, they're talking about Evergreen Cemetery.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:05:09</time>
we show actually on our video, we're standing at the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:05:13</time>
sign for Evergreen Cemetery.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:05:14</time>
We look across the street and.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:05:16</time>
Literally across the street is Cemetery

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:19</time>
Yes, and Significantly, we'll talk about it, but this is where Lincoln will

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:24</time>
actually stand in Evergreen Cemetery when he delivers the Gettysburg Address.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:28</time>
So because he's dedicating that National Cemetery, which they share

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:31</time>
a fence, they border each other.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:33</time>
That was not there then.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:35</time>
So you can imagine that was just all.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:38</time>
She marries Peter Thorne, 1855, 1856 he becomes caretaker of Evergreen

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:42</time>
Cemetery, what's a caretaker?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:45</time>
It's a grave digger, basically, it's a person who you bring the body

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:48</time>
to, they, they find the plot, you know, they take care of the graves

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:52</time>
there, they're basically, it's just like a, a maintenance person.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:54</time>
person for the cemetery.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:05:57</time>
But he lives there with Elizabeth, her parents who speak German, and they

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:02</time>
have three boys, they're young boys, and she's pregnant with her fourth.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:06</time>
When Peter joins the 138th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, and he leaves

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:14</time>
her in charge of the cemetery.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:16</time>
And so when the Union troops start to come into Gettysburg, that's when

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:21</time>
she gets the knock on the door from General Howard asking her What roads

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:27</time>
lead into or he has to talk to the man of the house because this is 1863 and

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:32</time>
he figures a man's gonna know the roads and a woman won't know much at all

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:38</time>
But the man of the house doesn't speak

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:06:40</time>
right, because you said her, her father

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:06:42</time>
lived there and he only speaks German.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:06:43</time>
Only speaks

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:44</time>
only speaks German So she takes him out six months pregnant up

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:48</time>
on the hill And shows him the three main roads coming into Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:53</time>
And if he wants to get troops, these are the main roads that

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:56</time>
come into this little town.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:57</time>
It's a little town of people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:06:59</time>
And he says, okay, thank you.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:01</time>
You should probably leave.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:04</time>
There, we know that there's a lot of southern troops here.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:06</time>
We're bringing in a lot of northern troops here.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:08</time>
And there's going to be a fight.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:09</time>
And because I see you have elderly parents, three young boys, and you're

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:13</time>
pregnant, you should probably leave.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:14</time>
And they have a farm on the outskirts of town.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:17</time>
So they, they leave.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:19</time>
And.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:21</time>
They don't come back until July

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:07:23</time>
7th

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:07:24</time>
After the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:25</time>
the battle, I would say four days after the battle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:29</time>
And by the time they get back to their house, the caretaker house, which we

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:32</time>
show in the video, it's ransacked.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:35</time>
Because you can imagine these men are looking for food, looking

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:37</time>
for anything they can use.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:39</time>
And it was used as a makeshift hospital because it's right there.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:42</time>
It's a, it's a brick and mortar home right there by where a lot of fighting took

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:07:45</time>
It's a brick and mortar home right there by where a

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:07:50</time>
lot of fighting took place.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:52</time>
Yeah, it's right between the city and the visitor center.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:57</time>
So it's very easy to find.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:07:59</time>
And so by the time she gets back, it's okay, now what do I do?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:03</time>
I have to You know take care of these young boys.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:06</time>
I have to get my parents settled I have to kind of find food and oh, by the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:10</time>
way, she gets another knock at the door.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:13</time>
There's thousands of dead men out in fields just laying there

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:19</time>
and we need to bury these men.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:21</time>
So the statue depicted of her in Evergreen Cemetery is her kind of wiping her

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:28</time>
brow six months pregnant with a shovel.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:32</time>
She digs over a hundred graves by herself.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:36</time>
And you'd think graves, I'm talking six feet graves.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:40</time>
Like she's digging graves.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:41</time>
it was interesting being there, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:43</time>
One being in Gettysburg in the fall, the leaves changing.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:46</time>
It was, it was just gorgeous.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:47</time>
Weather was amazing, but the statue itself is so unique

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:51</time>
because she is pregnant, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:52</time>
They show her like they're displaying her, you know, six months pregnant.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:56</time>
So she looks like she's ready to give birth and here she is wiping her

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:00</time>
brow, holding a shovel in her hand.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:02</time>
It was just.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:03</time>
It's such a unique statue.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:05</time>
It was really neat to just go there and be in this beautiful location

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:09</time>
and see what this amazing woman did.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:12</time>
Yeah, and there's no true number.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:15</time>
Estimates are as low as 91 to 100, as high as 105.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:20</time>
So I would say about a hundred graves she, she dug on her own and I'm sure she helped

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:29</time>
More

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:30</time>
and planned.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:31</time>
I'm sure she helped plan.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:32</time>
I'm hope she, I'm sure she helped this is where we should put these people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:34</time>
These boys, we should put these people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:35</time>
This is, and then with the national cemetery starting at first, they

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:40</time>
buried men out on the battlefield.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:42</time>
Where they lay.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:44</time>
And then when they started to start the National Cemetery, they

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:46</time>
dug them up and started to bring them into the National Cemetery.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
And then they also repatriated Confederates back to where they should

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:52</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:52</time>
And I think you, you would even mention that even in Evergreen Cemetery,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:56</time>
there was families that would come

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:57</time>
Mm hmm.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:59</time>
the buried bodies, you know, of their family member and bring it

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:01</time>
And I think there's still some Confederates in the National Cemetery.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:05</time>
Because they they weren't sure if they got everybody but when we went to Hollywood

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:12</time>
Cemetery in Richmond, that's where I think most of the Gettysburg Confederates

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:18</time>
Because there's that big kind of

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:19</time>
monument

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:20</time>
hmm.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:21</time>
And so She helped plan all of that, right?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:24</time>
And so you really think this woman is Again, knowing the language,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:31</time>
big battle, dead men, and what she did too was she gave each man

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:40</time>
dignity and respect in their burial.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
She helped, you know, lay them to rest in a peaceful manner,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:47</time>
knowing that they were someone's husband or brother or son or uncle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
Like she was just very respectful of them as a caretaker's wife.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:56</time>
She already understands the process, helping to identify these men.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:00</time>
Most of them are traveling with pictures or something on them.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:04</time>
Pulling those items from them and then probably serializing them, identifying

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:10</time>
Well, and she's doing this in the heat of

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:12</time>
July in

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
know, it's so depending on the kind of summer it was, I mean,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:18</time>
she's sweating her, her, her butt off.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:20</time>
And I think you even mentioned in the video, and again, the, the link

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:23</time>
to this video, if you guys want to see the location, we'll, we'll be

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:26</time>
in the show notes of this podcast.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:28</time>
But you mentioned that she wore the same dress for was it six weeks or something?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:31</time>
It was, it was quite a

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:32</time>
while,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:32</time>
a while.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:33</time>
We'll go,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:33</time>
maybe not six have probably been be giving that time, but

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:38</time>
Yeah, she wore the same dress the entire time because

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:41</time>
she just didn't have the time to a probably make a bigger dress.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:45</time>
she didn't want Use other dresses for all this dirty work.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:48</time>
you probably wear your pregnancy dress when you think about it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:51</time>
On November 1st, she'll give birth to a daughter.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:53</time>
So after having three sons, she has a daughter named Rose Mead Thorne in honor

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:58</time>
of General George Mead, who commanded.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
the army of the Potomac there at Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:04</time>
She remained caretaker until her husband returned safely from war in 1865.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:09</time>
So it's not like he came right back either.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:11</time>
She was doing this for another year and a half until he came home giving birth.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:18</time>
It's just amazing to me.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:19</time>
They remain on and he resigns as caretaker in 1874.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:24</time>
So nine years later.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:26</time>
So you can imagine she gives birth in November.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:30</time>
Lincoln comes out.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:31</time>
Mid November to give the Gettysburg Address.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:34</time>
it that

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
Same year, 1863.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:37</time>
So she's probably helping, she's caretaker of the cemetery, set up the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:41</time>
stage, set up the podium in my cemetery.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:44</time>
setting all that

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:45</time>
Because it, he stood in Evergreen Cemetery and looked over into what

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:49</time>
was now the new National Cemetery.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:50</time>
And so she's caretaker, so she knows all of these logistics, so she's probably

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:55</time>
with a newborn planning all of this.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:59</time>
So this woman is just she's the unsung hero of Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:03</time>
I just wanted to give her some credit

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:06</time>
She'll die October 17th 1907 at age 74 her her and her husband

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:12</time>
are both buried at Evergreen

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:14</time>
Yeah,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:14</time>
So we visit their graves in the video as well

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:18</time>
And then from there so she's kind of, She's a, she's kind of a I'll say a

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:24</time>
historical character at the beginning, the very, before the battle ever starts.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:27</time>
And then obviously afterwards, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:29</time>
The, the, the death afterwards, kind of what I put on the thumbnail.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:32</time>
But Jenny Wade is someone who, who's significant kind of for

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:37</time>
what happened during the battle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:44</time>
so Jenny Wade is, most people will know that name.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:49</time>
The Jenny Wade house is a very tourist location for

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:55</time>
And if I remember right, her, her real, her full name is Virginia Wade.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:59</time>
Mary Virginia Wade.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:00</time>
She's born May 21st, 1843.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:03</time>
She's 20 years old.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:04</time>
But she is the only direct civilian casualty of the battle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:10</time>
So there are people who will die.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:12</time>
battle from injuries they sustained during the battle who were civilians,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:17</time>
but she's the only direct civilian casualty during the battle.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:22</time>
of mind boggling when, you know, Gettysburg is famous for a reason, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:27</time>
Turning point of the Civil War, but also There's a lot that happened

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:31</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:31</time>
All the men that died.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:32</time>
It's a lot.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:33</time>
I think it's 40, 000 men died.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:36</time>
and only one, to think that only one civilian died

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:39</time>
during the battle and it was

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:41</time>
Yeah, 50, 000 men died, 23, 000 Union, 28, 000 Confederates, and only

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:46</time>
one civilian died and it was a woman.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:49</time>
That's insane.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:50</time>
And especially if you go to Gettysburg and you like, but you

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:53</time>
should go, it's fantastic and go in the fall cause it's so much fun.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:57</time>
In the center of the city where the Jenny Wade house is, is really where there's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:01</time>
crossroads of battle was taking place as again, you're kind of cemetery hills

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:05</time>
behind you, what we just talked about.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:07</time>
Elizabeth.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:07</time>
Thorn is behind you and in front of you would be the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:10</time>
Confederates in Jenny Wade's house.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:12</time>
which is really her sister's

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:13</time>
right smack in the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
It's right in the back of the middle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:15</time>
So they're taking gunfire at home as they're, as they're going

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:21</time>
about their business in the house.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:23</time>
And this is happening to a lot of families in the area because

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:26</time>
the battle doesn't happen there.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:28</time>
That's the first day.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:29</time>
But as you move around the next two days, it moves around the city of Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:35</time>
And other houses Get in the crossfire and other barns and other people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:40</time>
So this there's bullet holes even today in the buildings of Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:45</time>
There's cannonballs in the buildings of Gettysburg.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:48</time>
So for her to be the only casualty is really crazy.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:53</time>
the only casualty is really crazy.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:58</time>
Yeah, and so they

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:02</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:03</time>
And So they say 150 bullets hit that house.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
So what's going on is Jenny Wade, again, is 20 years old.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:10</time>
Her sister lives at that house.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:12</time>
It's 548 Baltimore Street.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:14</time>
And her sister, George Anna, known as Georgie, had became engaged before the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:21</time>
war, married her sweetheart in 1862.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:23</time>
They moved into that two story brick house 548 Baltimore Street.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:28</time>
And her husband had joined the Union Army in was not in

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
Gettysburg during the battle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:33</time>
And he was also absent of the birth of their firstborn.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:36</time>
And the boy was born June 26th, 1863.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:41</time>
And so four days after the birth is when people are riding into

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:46</time>
Gettysburg and the war is starting.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:48</time>
And so Jenny's mother, Wade's mother decides we should go and stay with

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:53</time>
your sister to help her out since she just had a baby because they lived in

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:57</time>
the center of Gettysburg, which they probably would have been behind the fire

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
further away from the battle.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
Further

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
away from the battle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:03</time>
So they go to the house and they help.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:05</time>
And at the time she's making bread, she's kneading dough for loaves of bread.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:11</time>
And that's.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:12</time>
Again, why people think of the chivalry

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
of what she's

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
it for the soldiers

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:16</time>
doing that for the soldiers, which is what women in their

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:19</time>
capacity really did at the time.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:20</time>
Because again, these soldiers are traveling bare bones, what they can

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:24</time>
carry on them and food is scarce and they really scavenger for food.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:28</time>
And so when they are able to find a place where people are providing

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:32</time>
sustenance for them, women, really take it as their duty to perform that.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:38</time>
Yeah, and you hear about the rare occasions, the Clara Barton's, you know,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:43</time>
that started the Red Cross and was kind of one of the first kind of nurses on the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:46</time>
battlefield, you this kind of setting.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:49</time>
But like you said, the vast majority of what women did and knew how to do

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:54</time>
and actively did throughout the war was provide whatever sustenance they

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:58</time>
could for the men who were fighting.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:00</time>
And she, from what I read, that doe that she was needing when the bullet

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:06</time>
went through the door, went through another door, hit her through shoulder

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:12</time>
into her heart and killed her instantly.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:16</time>
Her mother, 14 loaves of bread with that dough and still made

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:21</time>
that dough for the soldiers because that's what she would have wanted.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:18:25</time>
would have

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:26</time>
A

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:26</time>
bullet flew through the window of the house and hit a bedpost while Georgiana

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:30</time>
was in bed lying with her baby.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:32</time>
And that's why they moved into the basement.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:34</time>
She woke early that day.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:35</time>
This happened the morning of July

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:18:38</time>
3rd.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:18:38</time>
Kind of like towards the end of the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:40</time>
Yes.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:40</time>
So 8am, July 3rd, the first day it was when 150 bullets hit the house, 8am,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:45</time>
July 3rd, she was kneading the bread.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:47</time>
And that's when.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:48</time>
A bullet through the two closed doors hit her in the shoulder, lodged

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:51</time>
itself in her heart, and got trapped in her body by the corset she was

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:55</time>
wearing, and she died instantly.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:58</time>
And the dough that she was kneading at the time of her death was baked into

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:01</time>
bread by her mother and made 15 loaves.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:04</time>
Union soldiers helped wrapped her body in a quilt and either

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:07</time>
brought her to the cellar or buried her in the backyard immediately.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:10</time>
So we show the backyard in the video.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
She was moved to the town's German church in November of 1865.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:17</time>
Her body was eventually moved to Evergreen cemetery, the same cemetery that

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:22</time>
Elizabeth Thorne is the caretaker for.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:24</time>
and that was one of the ones that had, you know, quite a

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:28</time>
unique kind of distinction at her, her little monument memorial that

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:33</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:34</time>
In 1900 with tireless efforts from her family and the women in the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:40</time>
area, they were able to get a large.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:43</time>
Gravestone and they have the perpetual American flag and I talk about it's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:48</time>
one of the only two sites in America besides the Betty Ross, Betsy Ross

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:52</time>
house that perpetually flies an American flag in honor of a woman.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:56</time>
I thought that was really neat because

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:58</time>
We see the American flag flying grave sites, but when you have that

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:05</time>
kind of distinction recognized for something, is doing couldn't and

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:11</time>
didn't really serve in battle, but they did serve in whatever capacity

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:15</time>
they could, seeing that recognized

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:17</time>
Yeah, and she had a sweetheart at the time who was also fighting

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:22</time>
in the, in the cause for the union.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:25</time>
She was carrying his picture.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:26</time>
His name was Jack Skelly, and he dies from wounds.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:31</time>
He's sustained in the battle.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:33</time>
In june of 1863 and he dies nine days after she dies They're buried close

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:38</time>
to each other in evergreen cemetery so you can find jack shelley's grave as

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:41</time>
well And if you go to the jenny wade house There's artifacts of the letters.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:46</time>
They wrote each other and stuff and things along that nature with their courtship.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:56</time>
there's other women at the time who are doing, who are making

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:00</time>
bread and being very brave.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:03</time>
I want to recognize like Elizabeth Thorne and Jenny Wade are the two big stories

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:08</time>
that we know of women at Gettysburg, but know that there were fighters.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:12</time>
There were seven women who were wounded in Gettysburg as, as soldiers.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:18</time>
And

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:18</time>
they were only found out later that their sex was revealed later.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:22</time>
And when they were given treatment, there were seven

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:26</time>
POWs who were women.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
And again, only found out later Nine died on the battlefield as soldiers.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:34</time>
So when you think about it, there's about 20 women who are disguising

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:41</time>
themselves as soldiers fighting.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:43</time>
And people will ask, well, why did women do that at the time?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:47</time>
And I'm not sure of all, you know, what each individual was

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:50</time>
thinking, but really it was a really

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:54</time>
duty and money.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:55</time>
and money.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:59</time>
Yes.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:02</time>
Sometimes you needed

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:09</time>
And sometimes you needed the money for your family.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:12</time>
Sometimes there were no boys, and your family needed something to survive.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:16</time>
And we always talk about when immigrants came off the boats to

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:20</time>
America, they were signing them up for the Civil War right there.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:23</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:24</time>
Come sign up.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:24</time>
Go fight for your country.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:25</time>
And they were handing them uniforms and rifles right then and guaranteeing them a

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:30</time>
paycheck, which was huge coming to America with no understanding of even maybe the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:36</time>
language or how the commerce is working.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:39</time>
So that is huge.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:41</time>
So as a woman to be able to pay make that money disguised as a man, that's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:47</time>
one of the reasons why women did it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:49</time>
Again, duty was another and some were fighting beside their husbands.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:54</time>
Some took up arms when their husbands, you know, got hurt or but it's just

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:59</time>
interesting to know that there, there are women who are participating

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:03</time>
in the Battle of Gettysburg in pretty much every capacity.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:07</time>
We just want to honor Elizabeth Thorne and Jenny Wade in all of those women's memory.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:11</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:12</time>
And women who were kind of playing, playing that, that It

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:15</time>
was, it was really incredible.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:16</time>
And if you can ever go to Gettysburg in October, do it

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:21</time>
because it is, it's beautiful.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:28</time>
Well, that brings us to the end of this episode of talk with We've explored

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:33</time>
the remarkable stories of women like Elizabeth Thorne and Jenny Wade, but their

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:36</time>
experiences represent countless others who played vital roles during the civil war.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:42</time>
These women served as nurses, cooks, spies, and so much more.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:48</time>
Their bravery, resilience, and unwavering determination in the face

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:52</time>
of wartime hardship deserve our Thank you for listening to Talk With History

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:58</time>
podcast, and please reach out to us at our website, talkwithhistory.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:01</time>
com.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:01</time>
But more importantly, if you know someone else that might enjoy this Podcasts.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:04</time>
Please share it with shoot them a text and tell them to look us up.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:08</time>
We rely on you, our community to grow, and we appreciate you all every day.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:13</time>
We'll talk to you next time.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:14</time>
Thank you.

Civil War Women at Gettysburg | Elizabeth Thorn & Jennie Wade

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