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Flag Poems (U.S.)

Barbara Frietchie

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Barbara Frietchie

I can't think off-hand of any other poem discussing the U.S. flag that is as well known within the U.S. as this one. The author, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), was one of the leading American poets of his day and a prominent abolitionist. The poem describes an episode in the American Civil War. It is September 1862, and Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces have invaded Maryland. The Confederate corps commanded by Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson passed through the town of Frederick.

"Barbara Frietchie"
by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892

Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple and peach tree fruited deep,

Fair as the garden of the Lord
To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of early fall
When Lee marched over the mountain wall;

Over the mountains winding down,
Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

Forty flags with their silver stars
Forty flag with their crimson bars,

Flapped in the morning wind; the sun
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;

In her attic window the staff she set,
To show that one heart was loyal yet.

Up the street came the rebel tread,
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.

Under his slouched hat left and right
He glanced; the old flag met his sight.

"Ha