The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-04-06

ed Mrs. Quantrell.
"Give it to me-" insisted Gen /
eral Hill, to present to General
Lee"
"My flag, was the prompt re-
Spouse, sis worthy of a better
cause than General Lee has es-
poused.p
a private soldier with a quick
motion of his bayonet, cut the
staff and the flag fell to the pave
ment.
Mrs. Quantrell said: "That is
the act of a cowardw
He tore the flags into strips
and stamping them under his
feet, grOwled: "G-d-the Stars
and Stripes and all who advocate
themw
But it happened that Miss
Hopwood, who stood by, had a
flag concealed in her sleeve.
Drawing it out, she handed it to
my mother, saying: "Here, Mrs.
Quantrille, take this"
The second flag met the same
fate as the first. Mrs. Guam
trille's friends begged her to flee,
believing that she would be shot
or taken prisoner, but she refused
to move. General Hill immedi-
ately returned and removing the
offender, severely reprimanded
him.
THE TESTIMONY OF MRS. FANNIE
SCHLEY HEWES.
In February, 1895, some inter.
esting new light was thrown on
the incident, by a statement
made by Mrs. Fannie Schley
Hewes, of Frederick, in which
she declared that recent writer's,
in their efforts to refute the accu-
racy Of the poem, by asserting
that General Stonewall Jack
sons division of Lees army did
not pass the home of Barbara
Frietchie at all on that pleasant
morn in early fall, "fell into
worse error by asserting that it
was the Union forces, under Gen
erals Reno and Burnside, that
passed the house, and that it was
General Reno who saw Barbara
Frietchie at her door, hailed her,
asked her age, and when she told
him "ninety Six" ordered his
men to give three cheers for her.
Mrs. Hewes is the daughter of
Mrs. Colonel Edward Schley,
who lived during the war at
"Lawndale." at the end of East
Patrick St., Frederick. The night
before his march to South Noun
tain, General Reno spent at Mrs.
Schley'S home, and took break
fast there i'll the morning. Az
the breakfast table a courier
handed him a dispatch, contain
ing an order to move at once in
pursuit of General Lee, and
without finishing his breakfast,
he was off and away, never halt
ing his command for anything at
Barbara Frietchie'S home or any
where else in Frederick. Mrs.
Hewes was present when he re.
ceived his order to move, and she
is sure that it could not have
been he who had the parley with
the good dame Fritchie, whose
name Whittier has made immor-
tai i'll his poem on Fredericktown.
WHAT WHITTIER SAID OF IT.
Upon being appealed to for his
account of the affair, Mr.. Whit.
tier wrote as follows:
81 wrote the ballad in the firm
belief of the truth of the incident
it describes, and the grounds of
that belief seemed to me ample.
1t may be that my original in
formant--a lady in whom | have
entire confidence - was herself
misinformed by her friends. 1t
may be that the cumulative and
cOrroborative evidence | have
since received is unreliable. If
so, l can only say that | shall |
regret It, not so much from a feel
ing of personal disappointment
as to what it involves, the loss of !
the noble idea of patriotism to
which | ought to do honor. AS
matter of fact | have no wish to
perpetuate in any offensive sense
the incidents of that sad fratrici-
cidal strife, the very names OF !
whose battle fields | would glad
ly see erased from our National
flags.
''It seems to be admitted by |
those who deny the main Incl
dent of the ballad that the ven
cradle Union woman did not hes.
itate TO make her way with her
cane through the Confederate sol
diers at her door, applying to
them epithets more energetic
than polite, and that she had a
Union flag in her house. If she
did not show it on that occasion, |
so much the worse for Frederick
City, and those who gave credit |
to the story of the heroism Of its
Oldest inhabitant will very natu-