“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country?s flag,” she said.
So goes the famous patriotic poem and school yard chant about the legendary Barbara Fritchie, who supposedly defied Confederate troops by waving the Union flag from her window as they marched through Frederick on their way to the Battle of Antietam.
Much debate is still waged about whether the 95-year-old Fritchie actually risked her life to display the flag, but one local historian is rising above the fray to focus on the real woman behind the myth.
Robert Harrison has examined the heroine?s family diaries, textiles, photographs, spectacles and other personal effects.
“This gives a more human dimension to someone who is more myth than reality now,” he said.
Born in 1766, Fritchie lived with the stigma of being married to the son of a man executed for treason during the Revolutionary War, said Harriet Arthur, curator of the Barbara Fritchie House and Museum on West Patrick Street in Frederick, which honors the woman whose life bridged America?s birth and Civil War.
“That gave her an impetus to appear to be loyal to the United States, even through the Civil War,” Harrison said.
Harrison is among several speakersslated to give monthly lunchtime talks, which kicked off this month at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster.
Every first Monday until October, lecturers will share insights on Civil War women, wine and Victorian lemonade, among other topics.
“On your lunch hour, if you don?t want to hustle and bustle at the mall or at a restaurant, come to the museum, bring a boxed lunch and listen to someone talk,” said Dottie Freeman, administrator of the museum, which showcases late 19th-century and early 20th-century farm equipment and practices.
IF YOU GO
What: Farm Museum Lunch Talk
When: Noon June 4
Where: 500 S. Center St., Westminster
Cost: $2
