The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-09-11
Barbara Fritchie.
Gen. Brudley z. johnson quoted in Belfor.a's
Mu11ziue

TGen. Br1rdley 7. johnson quoted. in Belfora'6
Magazine.
"The march of the army of North
ern Virginia Lees armyl through
the streets of Frederick ON the inva-
sion of Maryland i'll September 1862
was the occasion of a scandalous in
vention in derogation of its honor
which has gone to the world IS the
ballad of Barbara Fritchie. The
point and the pathos of this creation
Of the imagination is in the descrip-
ton of scene in which an aged and
decrepit woman, fired by patriotism
and nerved by courage in which the
men were lacking, planted the flag of
the United States defiantly in the
face of the Confederate column as it
swept through Frederick; that, by or
der of Stonewall jackson, a volley
was fired at her and the flag, and
then, seized by sudden remorse the
ideal Confederate hero passed on
with heart wrung by grief and head
bowed by shame for the Unnatural
crime of which the had been guilty.
1t transmits in smooth and melodious
verse the implicit statement that one
of the chief historical characters of
the Confederacy-he whom the love
of his contemporaries and the venera-
ton of the good in the whole world
have singled out and apotheosized as
the hero, the genius, the martyr of the
cause of honor, chiyalry, and patriot
ism-that Stonewall jackson ordered
Confederate soldiers to fire on an old
woman feebly Haunting flag out of a
garnet window, and then, overwhelmed
with remorse and grief, hung his
head and fed from the scene of his
shame. The function Of the singer
has at all times been akin to that
of the prophet. While the latter
gave expression to the will and the
purposes of the gods, the former
moulded into words and hopes, the
memories, and the aspirations of races,
of people, and of nations.
The real poet is under obligations
to both, for truth lives and stirs the
heart, and perpetuates heroic deeds
and the desire to do them. Therefore
there is no excuse for this SANDER and
libel of the Confederate cause, the
Confederate soldier, and the Confed-
crate hero. Not only in every allega-
ton is the fable of Barbara Fritchie
false, but there never existed founda-
ton for it.
1 was born in Frederick, and lived
there until May, 1861, when joined
the Confederate army. l had known
Barbara Fritchie all my life. At that
time she was eighty four years DID, and
had been bed ridden for some time
She never saw a Confederate soldier,
and probably no one of any kind. Her
house was at the corner of Patrick
street and Town Creek bridge. The
troops marched by there during a
portion Of the 10th of September. On
that morning General Jackson and
his staff rode into the town and paid a
visit to Mrs. Ross, the daughter of
Governor Mcdowell, of Lexington,
Va, where Jackson lived, whom he
knew well, After the visit to Mrs.
Ross at the parsonage, which was next
to the Presbyterian church, and not
on the same street, nor near Mrs. Frit-
chie's house, he rode at the head of
his staff by the court house, down
through the Mill alley some distance
beyond the Fritchie house. He never
passed it, and, in all probability, never
saw it.