CDVs Related to Maryland Heroine, Barbara Fritchie & Frederick, Maryland 

Lot of 6 CDVs, including 3 with the backmark of J. Davis Byerly of Frederick, MD, relating to the legendary story of Barbara Fritchie, featuring her portrait, her home, and her flag, plus 3 of Washington area landmarks, by anonymous publishers, featuring the Soldiers' Home, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery, and the bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square.

While the story of Barbara Fritchie is largely fictional, it was nonetheless a rallying cry and point of pride for the Union during the Civil War.  Fritchie (1766-1862) was one of a small percentage of Americans who had personal memories of the Revolution, and had participated in a memorial service for George Washington with Francis Scott Key. When Stonewall Jackson's Confederate forces marched through Frederick on their way to Antietam in September 1862, she demanded respect for the American flag and the Union it stood for. Allegedly, some of the passing soldiers had used the flag hanging from her home for target practice, but the 95-year-old Fritchie grabbed it and challenged the soldiers to shoot her rather than deface the flag, at which point General Jackson ordered his men to respect the lady and move on. The popularity of this version of events is due to the 1864 poem Barbara Frietchie (sic) by John Greenleaf Whittier, which experienced renewed interest when Winston Churchill recited it from memory when passing through Frederick with President Roosevelt in 1943.

Light soiling, else very good.