Fritchie, Barbara, Union antagonist of Stonewall Jackson

Engraved check signed ("Ba Fritchie"), on blue paper (2 3/4 x 7 3/8 in.; 70 x 187 mm), manufactured by Wilsons Safety Checks, Boston, and ornamented with a vignette portrait of George Washington, issued by the Frederick (Maryland) County Bank, 30 October 1856, made out to Mrs. Barbara Fritchie for thirty dollars "in part of income," accomplished and signed by A. Ritchie, executor of the estate of John C. Fritchie and endorsed by Mrs. Fritchie on the verso; cancellation slits, neatly silked. Housed in a highly elaborate blue morocco portfolio with an autograph letter signed by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1 page (6 1/4 x 4 1/8 in.; 159 x 105 mm) on a bifolium of blue-ruled wove paper, Amesbury, 6 November 1869, to Hattie Dwight, the facing integral leaf with an autograph transcript signed of the final eight couplets of Whittier's "Barbara Freitchie"; fold separations strengthened, small stain in lower left margin.

Mrs. Philip D. Sang (Sotheby's, 27 March 1985, lot 165) — Marshall B. Coyne (Sotheby's, 5 June 2001, lot 94)

Engraved check signed ("Ba Fritchie"), on blue paper (2 3/4 x 7 3/8 in.; 70 x 187 mm), manufactured by Wilsons Safety Checks, Boston, and ornamented with a vignette portrait of George Washington, issued by the Frederick (Maryland) County Bank, 30 October 1856, made out to Mrs. Barbara Fritchie for thirty dollars "in part of income," accomplished and signed by A. Ritchie, executor of the estate of John C. Fritchie and endorsed by Mrs. Fritchie on the verso; cancellation slits, neatly silked. Housed in a highly elaborate blue morocco portfolio with an autograph letter signed by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1 page (6 1/4 x 4 1/8 in.; 159 x 105 mm) on a bifolium of blue-ruled wove paper, Amesbury, 6 November 1869, to Hattie Dwight, the facing integral leaf with an autograph transcript signed of the final eight couplets of Whittier's "Barbara Freitchie"; fold separations strengthened, small stain in lower left margin.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
but spare your country's flag," she said.

The circumstances surrounding Barbara Fritchie's confrontation with Confederate troops as they passed through Frederick, Maryland, on 10 September 1862 are disputed. Her house was in the rebels' line of departure, but that route was evidently not taken by General Stonewall Jackson. Still, Whittier's eponymous poem, first printed in the October 1863 Atlantic Monthly, described a stirring altercation that mere facts could not in any case obscure. Fritchie herself had died before the poem was published, but through it she lives on as one of the indomitable figures of the Civil War. Despite her long life—she died at 96—examples of Fritchie's signature are rare: only three others are recorded in American Book Prices Current since 1964 (one endorsed check and two signed receipts).

Whittier's letter to Hattie Dwight apologizes that illness prevents him from copying the whole of his poem, which runs to thirty stanzas, but the concluding verses he provides fairly represent the merit of the work: "Barbara Freitchie's work is oer | And the Rebel rides on his raids no more. | Honor to her! and let a tear | Fall for her sake on Stonewall's bier! | Over Barbara Freitchie's grave | Flag of Freedom & Union wave! | ... And ever the stars above look down | On the stars below in Frederick town!" (Fritchie's name does appear in the historical record as Whittier gives it, as well as Frietchie and Frietschie.)