Vintage portrait of Barbara Frietchie (1766 – 1862), the elderly Unionist who became part of American Civil War folklore thanks to a popular poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. Legend has it that Frietchie (also spelt Fritchie or Frietschie) waved a Union flag from her attic window at occupying Confederate forces in Frederick, Maryland, in September 1862 and declared: "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, but spare your country's flag." Detail from a print circa 1896 by the National Publishing Co / W W Welch of Cleveland.

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Size: 3145px × 4002px
Photo credit: © Archive Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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