Civil War Primer — by Pat Granstra

The Wade girls made history– Jennie by her untimely death, Georgia by her long life of service.

After the guns fell silent, Gettysburg’s citizens climbed out of their cellars or returned from their self-imposed exiles to safer locales to begin the daunting chore of returning to normalcy.

It was, of course, an overwhelming task.  Nothing was normal about Gettysburg on July 4, 1863, the day after the battle.  Homes and businesses stood damaged; fields, gardens, and orchards lay destroyed. Wounded soldiers screamed and moaned; and the acrid smell of black powder gave way to the stench of the putrifying flesh of fallen soldiers, horses, and amputated limbs.

In the midst of this communal suffering, the Wade family buried Jennie in the back yard of her sister’s home, the house in which she had been killed by a wayward shot.

Georgia Wade McClellan, Jennie’s sister, could not allow herself to be overcome by either her personal grief or the overall calamity of Gettysburg. Caring for her week-old son took priority.  Her relief must have been immense when her husband was discharged from the 165th Pennsylvania Cavalry in late July.

John Louis “Lou” McClellan, a carpenter, likely repaired some of the damage inflicted upon his home during the battle. (He did not remove the artillery shell embedded in an outer wall; some sources say it remained there for fifteen years.)   He may have plied his trade repairing other damaged buildings during the summer.

About the same time her husband returned to Gettysburg, Georgia did something remarkable for a young mother of the Victorian era:  She placed her infant in her mother’s care and became a volunteer nurse.  According to Cindy Small, author of The Jennie Wade Story,  Georgia worked for a week at a temporary hospital in the Adams County Court House before being transferred to a U. S. Army General Hospital two miles east of town.

Details of Georgia’s nursing career are sketchy, but Small writes that Mrs. McClellan worked off and on until 1865, aiding soldiers “on several other battlefields,” a confusing assertion considering that after Gettysburg, no battles were fought in the North.  In a tribute to Georgia shortly before her death in 1927,  Mrs. Jennie B. Jones told a G. A. R. assemblage in Newton, Iowa, that Georgia nursed in Emery Hospital in Washington, D. C.  in 1864.  It may be that she nursed wounded soldiers from various battlefields at that location.

In any case,  August 1863 marked the beginning of a career of service that extended well into the twentieth century.

*****

Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg in November to deliver a  “few appropriate remarks” at the dedication of the national cemetery.  Years later a Denison, Iowa, newspaper reported Georgia’s memory of the occasion as follows:

Mrs. McClellan related that the field of Gettysburg meant so much of sadness to her personally that she was tempted not to attend the dedication service, but changed her mind and went and standing very near the platform heard the words as they fell from the trembling lips of the president. . . .

*****

In January of 1864,  Jennie Wade was reburied in the German Reform Cemetery. In February, Lou McClellan enlisted in Company B of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry, raised in Chambersburg.  For the third time, Georgia saw her husband go to war.  Fortunately, she saw him return, uninjured, at the close of the war.

The young couple stayed in Gettysburg approximately a year after the war’s end.  Their second child, Jennie Wade McClellan, was born there August 22, 1865.  In November, Lou helped Georgia’s brother John reinter Jennie’s body in Evergreen Cemetery, where John had purchased a plot.

In 1866, the McClellans joined the post-war westward migration. Opportunities in the rapidly developing Midwest were attractive, but the McClellans had additional reasons for leaving Gettysburg.  Reminders of the battle were everywhere–  in the bullet-ridden walls of buildings, in the markers of the National Cemetery, and, of course, in the grave of Jennie Wade. For Georgia these reminders must have triggered constant memories of terror and sorrow.

Georgia may also have wanted to leave Gettysburg for another reason.  Cindy Small in The Jennie Wade Story and Margaret S. Creighten in The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg’s Forgotten History– Immigrants, Woman and African American’s in the Civil War’s Defining Battle report that within months after the battle what can only be described as a smear campaign was launched against the Wade family.  While the sources of rumor and innuendo are always difficult to identify, both Small and Creighten suggest that John Burns was the instigator.

Nearly 70 years old in 1863, Burns had a penchant for the military.  He claimed to have served in the war of 1812 and had attempted to join volunteer units in Gettysburg in 1861 but been rejected because of his age.  On the first day of the battle, he armed himself with an ancient musket and offered his service to the 150th Pennsylvania on McPherson’s Ridge.  His offer was accepted, and he took part in skirmishing.  By the end of the day, Burns had been wounded three times and was left behind when the Union soldiers fled through town to Cemetery Hill.  Confederates found him, dressed his wounds, and returned him to his home on Gettysburg’s west side.

After the battle, newspaper reporters wrote of the old soldier’s role in the battle, calling him the “hero of Gettysburg.”  Burns reveled in his new-found fame but apparently became jealous when the press and tourists displayed as much or more interest in the story of Jennie Wade.  In a mean-spirited attempt to grab the spotlight for himself, he sought to discredit Jennie Wade. Unfortunately, he had just enough facts mixed with fiction to meet with some success.

As Margaret Creighton points out, Gettysburg, even though a small village of 2,400 in 1863, was class conscious, and the Wade family belonged to the lower class. While that in itself was  not damaging, various circumstances caused some to look upon the Wades with disdain.

James Wade, Sr., the father of Jennie and Georgia, ran a tailoring business for a number of years.  He also ran afoul of the law.  Tim Smith, a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg who has studied the Jennie Wade story for many years, says Mr. Wade had several brushes with the law before being convicted of theft and sentenced to a two-year imprisonment.  Shortly after his release, Mrs. Wade had him declared insane, and he was confined to the Adams County poor house and insane asylum until his death in 1872.

Wade’s imprisonment and institutionalization forced Mary Ann Wade to use her skills as a seamstress to provide for her family. Young Georgia and Jennie learned the trade as well.  Because the Wade women were, therefore, operating their own business rather than working for an employer, they dealt directly with customers and vendors, most of whom were male.  In 1861-62, when the 10th New York Cavalry was in training at Gettysburg, many soldiers hired the girls to alter and repair uniforms.  (In 1898, veterans of the 10th made Georgia an honorary member in recognition of the work she and Jennie had done for them.) Such direct interaction between young men and women was considered unseemly by Victorian standards, and Burns parlayed it into accusations of immoral behavior.

Burns also accused the Wade girls, especially Jennie, of being southern sympathizers.  This allegation must have hurt Georgia deeply; not only had her sister aided Federal soldiers, but her husband, her brother, and her step-brother were serving the Union.  According to Tim Smith, Burn’s evidence for the charge was exceptionally flimsy:  James Wade’s Virginia nativity; the girls’ names– Mary Virginia and Georgia; and Jennie’s not being among the Gettysburg maidens gathered to cheer Gettsyburg’s Co. B of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry as they rode out to war on June 26, or to welcome Buford’s cavalry on the evening of July 1.  On the first occasion, Jennie was  feverishly altering the two-sizes-too-large uniform issued to her brother Samuel, a member of Co. B. On the second, she was probably helping the Wade’s young handicapped charge prepare for bed.

While John Burns had little on which to base his condemnation of Jennie Wade, his being older, better known, and decidely outspoken influenced the thinking of some Gettysburg residents and outsiders.

*****

Georgia and Lou McClellan left Gettysburg and its gossip behind and headed for Iowa.  They spent some time in Mahaska County.  Reasons for their stay there are unclear, but Cindy Small suggests that it may have been because passenger train service extended no farther.   The McClellans communicated with H. C. Laub, a former Gettysburg contractor who had relocated to Crawford County in west-central Iowa in the 1850’s.  According to Crawford-Woodbury-Harrison County Archives, Lou traveled to Crawford County check out employment opportunities.  Georgia and the children are said to have later ridden the first passenger train to Denison to join him.

A small, but growing, county seat community, Denison had much to offer the McClellans.  The 1870 Crawford County census shows that they owned real estate valued at $220 and had personal  assests amounting to $1,234.   By that time, they had three children, and Georgia’s 15 year-old brother, Harry, is listed as part of their household.

Lou’s occupation is listed as “carpenter,”  indicating that he may have been working for someone, probably Laub.  However, he eventually started his own construction and house moving business.  An examination of Denison newspapers from the late 1800’s reveals many mentions of the McClellan firm’s securing winning bids for public buildings.

As Lou established himself professionally, Georgia cared for her family, which eventually included six children.  She was, for a time, the only person with nursing experience in Denison and was frequently called upon to use her skills as epidemics of communicable diseases swept the town.

For years Lou was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization established to assist Civil War veterans of the Union army.  In 1883, Georgia traveled to Denver, Colorado, to attend the convention at which the GAR auxiliary, the  Woman’s National Relief Corps, was organized.  Two years later, she became an organizer and charter member of the John A. Logan Corps, No. 56 in Denison.  Georgia rose to prominence in the NWRC, holding seven state and national offices between 1887 and 1917.  She was also active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, serving as Iowa’s state president for several years.  She traveled extensively on behalf of these organizations, meeting and corresponding with influential individuals.

The McClellan’s participation in the GAR and NWRC provided a basis for keeping Jennie’s memory alive.   In 1867, the GAR designated May 30 as Memorial Day, a time for honoring the Civil War dead.  According to Cindy Small,  each year the Gettysburg post of the GAR placed a small American flag on Jennie’s grave in Evergreen Cemetery.  In June of 1900, when Georgia was the National Executive Board Chairman of the WRC, the Iowa Woman’s Relief Corps voted to place a monument in honor of Jennie Wade.  The marble monument was dedicated in a ceremony on September 16, 1901; Georgia McClellan was one of the speakers.  In 1910 Georgia was present when the Gettysburg Association of Iowa Women placed a steel flagstaff near Jennie’s grave.  The United States flag flies over the grave twenty-four hours a day.

*****

Georgia also worked with private individuals to ensure that Jennie would be remembered.  Cindy Small reports that when Robert C. Miller opened a museum and souviner shop in the former McClellan home on Baltimore Street, Georgia gave him a doughtray, along with an affidavit identifying it as the one Jennie used to prepare bread for soldiers.

While attending the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1913, Georgia met John White Johnston.  A Civil War enthusiast, writer, and lecturer, Johnston was fascinated by the story of Jennie Wade and asked for Georgia’s assistance in gathering information.  The result was the publication of The True Story of “Jennie” Wade, A Gettysburg Maid in 1917.  The short volume contains family history and pictures in addition to Georgia’s account of the events surrounding Jennie’s death.

Georgia McClellan had been widowed for four months when she met Johnston.  In the 1890’s, Lou’s health had deteriorated to the point that he applied for disability pensions on his Civil War enlistments, and in the autumn of 1910 he spent three weeks in Hot Springs, South Dakota, at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.  When the Iowa WCTU asked Georgia to become the administrator of its Benedict Home for unwed mothers in 1911, she accepted the position, probably for financial as much as altruistic reasons.  She and Lou moved from Denison to Fort Dodge, where Lou died on March 4, 1913.  Following his death, Georgia resigned her position and moved to Carroll, Iowa, where she lived with a granddaughter, Georgia Schwarzenbach, and her family.  In good health, Georgia remained active in her organizations for several years. Personal finances likely dictated Georgia’s move to Carroll.  Her only income at the time was a widow’s pension which, when she died in 1927, amounted to $50 a month.

*****

John White Johnston and Georgia Wade McClellan brought nearly identical  motives to their relationship in 1913:  Venerating Jennie Wade and making money.  The collaboration with Johnston gave Georgia an opportunity to counteract the decades-old smear campaign launched by Burns, who had died in 1872. The result was the small book that perhaps should have been called the Too Good to Be True Story of “Jennie Wade.” In it Jennie is depicted in almost-constant patriotic activity– taking water to soldiers, giving them bread, gathering firewood to bake more bread, setting a 15-loaf batch of new dough to rise, and, finally, whipping up a batch of biscuits so that the soldiers could be quickly fed.   Care is taken to mention that Jennie did not charge soldiers for the bread, although other people in Gettysburg had done so. The assertion is probably accurate, but the decision to sell or give the bread would have been Georgia’s as the baking was done in her house with her supplies.

Both the preface and the text show Jennie as virtuous.  Johnston writes that he tracked down survivors of the 10th New York Cavalry who recalled that Jennie invited them to attend church with her.  Georgia remembered her sister’s reading Bible passages aloud during the battle and declaring that if any family member were to die in the hostilities, she hoped it would be she. Thus Jennie is painted as a prophet and martyr, as well as a patriot.

No one but Georgia Wade McClellan could be consulted in 1917 about the events that transpired in her home during the battle, and in the main, her account is probably accurate.  However, it is possible that Georgia saw Johnston’s book as her one opportunity to polish Jennie’s gossip-tarnished reputation.  A loving and grieving sister may be forgiven for accentuating the positive a bit too vigorously.

Although Johnston was well-to-do and eventually  purchased both the Wade family home on Breckenridge Street and the Baltimore Street house in which Jennie was born, Cindy Small writes that he intended to sell copies of  The True Story of “Jennie” Wade from those locations and send the profits to Georgia.

If Georgia realized any income from the short 1917 publication, the amount was small.  Miller’s property, the location of Jennie’s death, drew more visitors than her birthplace and the Wade’s family home.  Miller did sell Johnston’s booklet for a time but stopped doing so for unknown reasons.  This action angered Georgia to such a degree says Cindy Small that she demanded Miller return the doughtray she had given him.  He refused.

Small writes that J. W. Johnston also declined to comply with a request made by Georgia.  Years after the erection of the IWRC monument in Evergreen Cemetery, Georgia asked Johnston to petition authorities to have the inscription altered to read either “Mary Virginia” or “Ginnie.”  That request must have seemed odd to Johnston as Georgia had had input on the monument’s design and inscription.  In addition, years earlier, she had embraced the term “Jennie” by naming her first daughter Jennie Wade McClellan.

*****

Near the end of a lifetime characterized by fortitude, compassion, and action, Georgia Wade McClellan lived quietly in Carroll, Iowa, in her granddaughter’s home.  In her family memoir A Record of Days Gone Bye, Deah Bruhn recalls her great-grandmother’s carrying a silver-headed cane and playing peek-a-boo with a great-grandson.

The games came to an end in November of 1925 when Georgia fell and broke a hip. She was taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Carroll where, according to a newspaper article written shortly before her death nineteen months later, she entertained student nurses with stories of her Civil War experiences.

As her health failed, she talked less and failed to recognize visitors.  Her mind drifting back to her days of tending Civil War soldiers, Georgia told one of her nurses a soldier across the hall needed to have a letter written to his mother as he would soon die. “I do wish you’d write it for him,” she is quoted as saying.

Georgia’s life ended at 5:00 o’clock the morning of September 5, 1927. She was 86. Always an organizer, she had planned her funeral three years earlier. What she could not have foreseen was that numerous high-ranking members of the organizations she had served would travel to eulogize her, mourn her passing, and see her buried next to her husband in Denison’s Oakland Cemetery.

As much as any soldier, Georgia Wade McClellan was a victim of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Those three days of July 1863 affected the rest of her life, causing fear, sadness, and even bitterness at times. They also propelled her into a life of service that reached across six decades.

Trivia

Official flags fly twenty-fours a day over the graves of only two American women:  Jennie Wade and Betsy Ross.

Jennie Wade and John Burns are both buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg.  Burns’ grave is also marked with a twenty-four hour flag.

Georgia Wade McClellan’s loyalty to the Union remained so strong that in 1888, she objected to a reunion of Union and Confederate soldiers held on Little Roundtop.

As Georgia lay near death, the 53rd session of the state encampment of the G.A.R. was held in Newton, Iowa.  The Woman’s Relief Corps planted an oak tree in Georgia’s honor.  No one seems to know where the tree was planted or if it survives.

What You Can Do

• Visit Evergreen Cemetery to see the graves of Jennie and John Burns.
• Read The True Story of “Jennie” Wade,  A Gettysburg Maid by J. W. Johnston.  It is available online.
• Read The Jennie Wade Story by Cindy Small.  This a well-researched little book discusses all aspects of the Jennie Wade tragedy.  Conflicting stories have emerged over the years, and Small addresses them all, either in the text or in endnotes.