Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-03
BARBARA FR|ETCHE
STORY CHALLENGED
BY ATHENS WOMAN

The accuracy of story published
in The Journal January %, con-
corning the monument erected to
Barbara Frietchie at Frederick, Nd,
has been challenged by Miss Mildred
Rutherford, of Athens, state histor-
ian of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy.
Miss Rutherford asserts that the
U. D. C. found all the proof to show
that the monument at Frederick was
monument to a falsehood." She
sent The Journal a copy Of an ad-
dress she delivered on the subject
1914, reading as follows:
Another wrong that must be
righted is that Barbara Frietchie
Myth Our children are reciting
that poem by Whittier and are be-
ing taught that our great and good
Stonewall Jackson was not only dis
courteous, but actually revengefuI
and cruel. We cannot allow this to
longer remain unrighted.
l"I have in my possession a copy or
a letter from John G. Whittier VIII
ten in 1892, in which he acknoWled'
ges that he was mistaken In the
name of the place where the incl
dent took place and the person men
toned in the poem who saved the
flag. He says that a United States
soldier returning from the war told
him the incident, and said that II
happened in Maryland when Jack
sons troops passed through. lie
supposed that it took place in Fred
erick, because Jackson passed
through that city, so wrote to the
postmaster there to inquire the name
of the person connected with the
flag waving. The postmaster re-
piled that he had never heard OF the
incident, but that it sounded very
much like Barbara Frietchle, Tor
she was very patriotic old woman
who had lived there at that time
The name struck Whittier as suit
able for q poem, so upon that au-
| thority only he wrote it.
81 have in my possession a copy
| of a letter from a nephew of Bar
bara F'rietchie, written in 1874, say
| ing that at the time Stonewan Jack
son passed through Frederick, Md
he was attending to his aunt's bust
ness affairs, and he knows positively
that she was not able to leave her
bed, much less, to mount a case
| ment to wave a flag.
II have in my possession a copy
of a letter from DR.. Zacharlas, her
pastor, saying that the day before
| StoneWall Jackson passed through
| Frederick, he was administering, as
| to a dying woman, the last commun~
| ion. He said he knew positively that
Barbara Frietchie was not able to go
to a window to wave a flag, even mad
StoneWall Jackson's men passed her
home, which they did not.
II have in my possession a chart
giving Jackson's line Of march In
Frederick and the location of Bar
bara F'rietchie's home, which was
quite off the line. And yet the wom-
en- of Frederick, knowing these facts,
have erected a monument in the
streets of that city and lately un-
yelled it to this falsehood in his
tory.
erick protested. The veterans Of the
u. c. v. in Frederick protested.
The daughters and veterans OF
Maryland protested anu Inc DALI
more Sun protested, but nothing
could stop it. The testimony of an
old woman over seventyfive years
old, whose memory is known to be
failing, has been taken, rather than
more reliable testimony. She is
niece of Barbara Frietchie and has
been fed upon this story so long
that she really believes it, when her
own brothers testimony disproves 1t.
There is nothing to do but to let 1t
be branded in history as monu-
ment to untruth. The mayor of
Frederick was asked why he allow
ed it to be erected and he said, Be
cause it will bring many visitors to
our city
yes, it is monument unique in
history, but does it honor, as
monument should, the memory OF
any one? L know Whittier would
have resented it, for while we didn't
| agree with him on the slavery ques
ton, he was a man of deep religious
convictions and a man who abhorred
sham. If Barbara Frietchie was SO
patriotic she would not desire an
honor that falsified facts