“My Country Needs Me”: The Story of Corporal Johnston Hastings Shelly Jr. 87th Pennsylvania Infantry: A Don of Gettysburg and Confidant of Jennie Wade (Enrica D’Alessandro - DLM)

by Enrica D'Alessandro This book has 5 previously unpublished letters from Jennie Wade to Jack Skelly. The first book is about Jennie Wade's beau, Jack Skelly. At the age of 20, Jack Skelly, a Gettysburg civilian, said to his mother, My country needs me, Mother. May I go? He left his home to volunteer in the Union army from April of 1861 until June 1863. He initially served in the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry before joining the 87th Pennsylvania Infantry the unit he was serving with when he was mortally wounded on June 15, 1863, at the Battle of Second Winchester (also known as Carter s Grove and Stephenson s Depot). Skelly died July 12, 1863, in a Confederate hospital while a prisoner of war. His confidant, Jennie Wade, was the only civilian fatality during the Battle of Gettysburg, dying nine days earlier. The story of Jack Skelly and the Skelly family. Includes 17 letters written between Jack and his mother Elizabeth, during the Civil War years. The book also discusses the relationship