Songwriters & Music Lovers:
Here’s a studio recording of an original Ed Schaeffer song: "Ode to Jennie Wade", written in 2012
and recorded in 2021. An “Ode” is a lyric that respects or celebrates the worth or influence of
another; in this song, Jennie Wade.
Mary Virginia Wade of Gettysburg, Pa, during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, at the age
of 20, became the only direct civilian casualty, killed while baking bread, by a stray bullet through
her door. A music lover at Cactus Flatts, Jim Riche, suggested I write a song about Wade,
whose story begs endless fascination. Poetic license allowed my bending her story into this song.
Musicians:
Peter Sittner Bass
Tad Marks Fiddle
Ed Schaeffer Vocal & Martin Guitar
To listen, click: http://rattlesnakehill.org/Web_Music/edsmusic.html
Ed
Ode to Jennie Wade D-
Ed Schaeffer 2012
Chorus: Where's your rebel Jennie Wade, Jennie Wade?
Not some battlefield, not some grave
Not a breath left in the breeze
Not a whisper in the leaves
I'll bake bread for you my dear, before the battle starts
We'll be safe within our home, a fire is in the hearth
Was that a crack come from the fire? Your knock upon the door?
Below the handle, by the lock, I feel a hole's been bored
A bullet slices through the door, then deeply through her breast
A fountain red of blood pours out, a fire within her chest
He falls first from battle's doom, then she from bullet stray
His last thought: her baking bread, so still their bodies lay
