Barbara Fritchie

Barbara Fritchie (nee Hauer), Barbara Frietschie) (December 3, 1766 - December 18, 1862) was a U.S. patriot in Civil War. She was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and was married to John Casper Fritchie, a glove maker, on May 6, 1806.

Related Topics:
1766 - 1862 - U.S. - Civil War - Lancaster, Pennsylvania

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She was a personal friend of Francis Scott Key and they participated together in a memorial service at Frederick, Maryland when George Washington died. A central figure in the history of Frederick, her house is a stop in the town's walking tour. When Winston Churchill passed through Frederick in 1943, he stopped at the house and recited the poem from memory. At 95 years of age she waved the Union flag out of her window despite opposition from Stonewall Jackson's troops, who were passing through Frederick. This event is the subject of John Greenleaf Whittier's 1864 poem "Barbara Fritchie".

Related Topics:
Francis Scott Key - Frederick, Maryland - George Washington - Winston Churchill - Union flag - Stonewall Jackson - John Greenleaf Whittier - Barbara Fritchie

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"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,

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But spare your country's flag," she said.

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A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,

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Over the face of the leader came;

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The nobler nature within him stirred

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To life at that woman's deed and word;

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"Who touches a hair of yon gray head

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Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.

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Again in a 1899 play by that same title Clyde Fitch takes artistic liberty and intertwines her story with that of his own grandparents' love story, which also takes place during the Civil War.

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