West-Jersey pioneer., 1878-07-25
BARBARA FREITCHIE.

HER HISTORICAL vERITY-A NATIVE OF Ian
CASTER.
Although we speak very glibly and un
grudgingly of ''poetic license" the poet
romancer and novelist are seldom allowed
TO make use of any pretended fact in the
shape of an actual historical incident with
out being called to very sharp account fol
any inaccuracy coloring or exaggeration il
the narrative. The hero of ''The Mar
Without Country has been very conclu.
sively proved to have existed only in the
imagination of Edward Everette Hale
"Evangeline' has been written out of ac.
tual life; this remorseless spirit of iconoc-
clasm has not spared VIM. Tell, John Smith
and Pocohontas, and Schilemann arrived OF
the scene just in time to save all the Greek
Trojan heroes from elimination.
None of our later American ballads has
been subjected to more of this sort of in
vestigation than Whttier's famous poem
Barbara Frietchie" which to further illus
trate this discussion we append hereto.
The weight of popular opinion, as estab
lished upon the argument so far presented,
we believe to be against belief in the oc-
currence of the leading incidents of the
poem; and only few days ago the last of
a number of attempts to deny even the ex-
istence of Barbara Frietchie was made by
contemporary, who asserted that whatever
of foundation there was for the story based
on the acts of Mrs. Quantrill, of Fred
erick, Md, who was the real Barbara
Frietchie. Last fall a member of the edi-
torial staff of the Lancaster InteIEigencer,
visiting Frederick, inquiring of the truth
of the story, and viewing the spot where
Barbara Frietches house stood, thus re-
ported the result of his correspondence
with that paper:
On the banks of the creek at the bridge
crossing the main street. running east and
west, stood the house of the famous Barbara
Frietchie. Whittier has constructed his
patriotic story Of her flag waving, it seems,
on a very slender foundation of fact, since
it appears there is nothing true in the fable
except that the old lady was hot loyalist
and treated with scant courtesy the rebeI
soldiers who came to her door step and
sometimes used it as resting place whereor
to refresh themselves with the contents OF
their haversacks and the green corn alb
stracted from the fields on their march.
Barbara is said to have swept away the
cobs in the Monocacy with vigorous ex
pressions of disgust. She sleeps in the
German Reformed burying ground, and we
were directed to her grave as to shrine wor
thy of our visit; for the Frederick people
whether loyal or rebel sympathies incline tt
be proud of the fame of Barbara Frietchie
even though it was scarcely earned. feeling
that it reflects lustre npon their town
Nevertheless the old house has been tori
down, ostensibly to enlarge the bed of the
Monocacy after disastrous flood which
choked it and spread it's waters far and
wide over the city; but there seems to be a
well founded suspicion that the town au
thorities in the days of the war, when its
animosities were stronger than they are
now, were glad of an excuse to rid them
selves of the memories the old house ex
cited. If they had been anxious to preserve
it, they might readily have enlarged the
creek at the cost of the opposite bank. Bu
now that Whittier's story is found to b,
based on fiction, there is little need tt
regret the apparent vandalism that des
troyed the Frietchie dwelling and causet
its site to be occupied as now by the bee
of the Monocacy and tin shop.
Caroline Fl. Dali, lady who has previ-
ously interested herself in the matter, in
sists, however, that the story as furnished
to Whittier by Miss Dix, who obtained i
from soldier eye witness in the govern
ment hospital, is substantially true, and il
recently published magazine article give
the events an erte1aso' together with inter
esting details of the life of the heroine
which are of decided local interest. He
father was Niclaus Hauer, born in Nassu;
Saarbrucken in Dillendorf, Aug. 6, 1888
left Germany May 18th, 1854, and arrives
in Pennsylvania October 1st, 1854. Thi
record is preserved in Bible, original
his property and bequeathed by his daugh
ter to Mrs Mergardt, who has. it in he
possession. Hauer came to Lancaster an
settled here, and here his daughter Barbar
was born on the Sd day of December, 177f
in South Queen street, where the house c
the late Thaddeus Stevens stands;. residin
here until the removal of her father t
Frederick, an event which took place short
ly before the close of the revolutionar
war. There Barbara abode in maidenhoo
until May 9th, 1706, where at the age 0
nearly forty she was married to John Cas-
per Frietchie, fourteen years younger thai
herself, and who was a relative of the fathe
of the venerable Rev. John G. Fritchey
now residing in this city. He was note
glovemaker, and for his customers had th
gentry of Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky an
PENNSYLVANIA. He died in November 10tf
1S49, leaving his wife to survive him, an
in the enjoyment of competency he ha
amassed. She continued to dwell in th
cottage, where he and she had lived happll
for many years. 1t was located, as note
above, on the very edge of the creek whic
crosses Patrick street and separates FREQ
erick City from the Bentztown road; bu
the shop in which her husband worke
overhung the creek, SO that when he dresse
his skins the refuse was swept through