THE IRRIGA110N AGE. 



101 



great war. When the great battle of Get- 

 tysburg was fought a modest brick cottage 

 stood Where the fight was thickest. It 

 was occupied by Miss Jennie Wade and 

 her mother. Both were in full and ear- 

 nest sympathy with the Union and while 

 the tide of battle rose and fell the two 

 women busied themselves in drawing 

 water from the well near the house and 

 filling the empty canteens of the soldiers. 

 Their spare moments were occupied in 

 tender services to the dead and wounded 

 of the Union armies, many of whom were 

 brought into the yard surrounding the 

 Wade house and laid on the grass under 

 the shading trees. On the second day of 

 the battle Miss Wade with her mother 

 started to cook food for the almost ex- 



hausted soldiers and while at work a minie 

 ball crashed through the house and struck 

 her in the head, death being instant. No 

 movement to raise a stone over her grave 

 was started until a party of Iowa women, 

 members of the> Relief Corps, visited the 

 battlefield last year. One of the party 

 was a sister of Miss Wade and is now 

 prominent in the work of that corps. Ac- 

 cordingly it was suggested that the loyal 

 women of Iowa should undertake to build 

 the monument. The movement was suc- 

 cessful from the start and the monument 

 which was recently unveiled is among the 

 handsomest and most significant on the 

 historic battlefield. 



