Barbara Frietchie
a juvenile poem by John G. Whittier, written in 1863. The poem is based on an incident supposed to have occurred at Frederick, Maryland, during the Civil War. Doubt has been expressed by many as to the truth of the story. Lossing, none too accurate, in his Pictorial History of the War, accepts it as fact. The poem is partisan. Terms are used that Whittier would have avoided when the years of strife were over, but the lines are spirited and give credit for character on both sides of the contest. Early in September, 1862, General Lee swept into Frederick City on the march that led to Antietam:
Forty flags with their silver stars,
Forty flags with their crimson bars,
Forty flags with their crimson bars,
Flapped in the morning wind; the sun
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.
Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;
Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;
She took up the flag the men hauled down;
In her attic-window the staff she set,
To show that one heart was loyal yet.
To show that one heart was loyal yet.
Volume I · Aiton’s Encyclopedia