In War Time, and Other Poems (1864) is a collection by John Greenleaf Whittier, published during the American Civil War. It contains Barbara Frietchie, the ballad of an old woman who defies Confederate troops by waving the Union flag.
The collection
Published in Boston by Ticknor and Fields in 1864, the book gathered poems written during the war, inspired by Whittier's hope that the conflict would end slavery.
As a Quaker, Whittier opposed war, but he supported the cause of emancipation that the Union was fighting for.
Barbara Frietchie
The ballad tells how, when Stonewall Jackson's army marched through Frederick, Maryland, in September 1862, the ninety-year-old Barbara Frietchie hung a Union flag from her window. Jackson, moved by her courage, ordered his men not to harm her.
Whittier based the poem on a story sent to him by the novelist E. D. E. N. Southworth. Historians doubt that the events took place as told, but the poem made Barbara Frietchie a national legend.
Legacy
The ballad was printed in The Atlantic Monthly in October 1863 and became a school classic. Winston Churchill recited it while driving through Frederick in 1943.
Barbara Frietchie's house in Frederick, rebuilt after a flood destroyed the original, has been kept as a museum.
Anecdotes
Churchill in Frederick
During a visit to the United States in 1943, Winston Churchill passed through Frederick with President Roosevelt and recited the whole of Barbara Frietchie from memory.
A real woman
Barbara Fritchie was a real resident of Frederick, who died in December 1862 aged ninety-six. Whether she ever waved a flag at Jackson's troops is uncertain.
Frequently asked questions
When was In War Time published?
In 1864, in Boston.
Who was Barbara Frietchie?
An elderly woman of Frederick, Maryland, made famous by Whittier's ballad for waving the Union flag at Confederate troops in 1862.
Is the story of Barbara Frietchie true?
Historians doubt it; the poem was based on a report sent to Whittier and may be legend.