In 1862 she was ninety six years old when a legend was created about her. In early September of that year General Lee's army paused at Frederick for several days on the way to what turned out to be the battle of Antietam. Leaving town on September 10, most of the Confederate troops passed her house on the one of the main streets in Frederick. According to the story that began circulating in the town a few months after her death, Barbara Frietschie waved or displayed the Union flag from a second story window of her home as General Jackson and his command passed by. Angered by this show of defiance, so the story goes, Jackson gave an order to fire; the flagstaff broke, whereupon the aged lady caught up the flag and continued to wave it vigorously. In John Greenleaf Whittier poem she is immortalized as a patriotic heroine of the Civil War. In Whittier's version she further emphasized her brave defiance;
"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head
"But spare your country's flag," she said.
Impressed by her courage, Jackson ordered his men not to fire again.
"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
"Dies like a dog! March on" he said.
and the flag continue to wave at her window until all the Southern army had passed. The poem titled "Barbara Fritchie" written by Whittier was published in the Atlantic Monthly in October 1863 and won immediate popularity.
"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head
"But spare your country's flag," she said.
Impressed by her courage, Jackson ordered his men not to fire again.
"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
"Dies like a dog! March on" he said.
and the flag continue to wave at her window until all the Southern army had passed. The poem titled "Barbara Fritchie" written by Whittier was published in the Atlantic Monthly in October 1863 and won immediate popularity.
In 1862 she was ninety six years old when a legend was created about her. In early September of that year General Lee's army paused at Frederick for several days on the way to what turned out to be the battle of Antietam. Leaving town on September 10, most of the Confederate troops passed her house on the one of the main streets in Frederick. According to the story that began circulating in the town a few months after her death, Barbara Frietschie waved or displayed the Union flag from a second story window of her home as General Jackson and his command passed by. Angered by this show of defiance, so the story goes, Jackson gave an order to fire; the flagstaff broke, whereupon the aged lady caught up the flag and continued to wave it vigorously. In John Greenleaf Whittier poem she is immortalized as a patriotic heroine of the Civil War. In Whittier's version she further emphasized her brave defiance;
"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head
"But spare your country's flag," she said.
Impressed by her courage, Jackson ordered his men not to fire again.
"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
"Dies like a dog! March on" he said.
and the flag continue to wave at her window until all the Southern army had passed. The poem titled "Barbara Fritchie" written by Whittier was published in the Atlantic Monthly in October 1863 and won immediate popularity.
"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head
"But spare your country's flag," she said.
Impressed by her courage, Jackson ordered his men not to fire again.
"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
"Dies like a dog! March on" he said.
and the flag continue to wave at her window until all the Southern army had passed. The poem titled "Barbara Fritchie" written by Whittier was published in the Atlantic Monthly in October 1863 and won immediate popularity.
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See more Frietschie or Hauer memorials in:
- Wolfsville Reformed Cemetery Frietschie or Hauer
- Wolfsville Frietschie or Hauer
- Frederick County Frietschie or Hauer
- Maryland Frietschie or Hauer
- USA Frietschie or Hauer
- Find a Grave Frietschie or Hauer
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