Barbara Fritchie

According the 1863 John Greenleaf Whittier poem that carries her name, 90-year-old Barbara Fritchie was a union supporter who shouted “Shoot if you must this old gray head, but spare your country's flag” at occupying confederate general “Stonewall” Jackson during the American civil war. The poem also relates the general’s response: “Who touches a hair of yon gray head Dies like a dog! March on!” It’s lovely poetry; easy to memorize and fun to recite. But it’s also (like so many poems we’ve used to teach American history) probably a work of fiction. There was an elderly widow named Barbara Fritchie living in Frederick, Maryland during the time in question. She was known to wave the union flag. But there are no firsthand accounts of the event. When the poem was published, both Fritchie and Jackson were deceased, so neither of them could confirm or deny its authenticity. I suppose that’s why they call it “poetic license.”