Appalachian History

Barbara Frietchie's story has been immortalized in plays, poems, and local Frederick, MD lore. The story relates that a 96 year old widow draped the Union flag from her window as Confederate troops rode by. Stonewall Jackson saw the display and ordered his troops to shoot the flag. Frietchie is reported to have said, "Shoot if you must this old gray head, but spare your country’s flag."

Makes for great storytelling; the problem is, when you go back to primary sources, the details don't quite add up to that exact story.

"Barbara Frietchie was loyal to her heart's core," Mrs. Shriver Tompkins confirms in a NY Times editorial dated October 25, 1899. "This I state from personal knowledge, though I believe she was the only member of her family who was.

"She was not bedridden at the time of the battles of Antietam and South Mountain, for I saw and conversed with her at that time. She had a small flag which she kept in her window during the memorable week of Gen. Robert E. Lee's occupation of Frederick. Barbara Frietchie was not a myth, neither was her loyalty. I have always understood and believed absolutely that she waved her flag as Gen. Reno passed her house, he looking at her and exclaiming, 'The Spirit of '76!"

So we've got the elderly Frietchie at the window, waving the Union flag energetically at the troops below. Except that General Reno is not leading Confederate troops or shooting at her flag. And Tompkins makes no mention at all of Stonewall Jackson.

George O. Seilheimer, in an article titled The Historical Basis of Whittier's "Barbara Frietchie," goes further:

"That Barbara Frietchie lived is not denied. That she died at the advanced age of 96 years and is buried in the burial-ground of the German Reformed Church in Frederick is also true.

"There is only one account of Stonewall Jackson's entry into Frederick, and that was written by a Union army surgeon who was in charge of the hospital there at the time. 'Jackson I did not get a look at to recognize him,' the doctor wrote on the 21st of September, 'though I must lave seen him, as I witnessed the passage of all the troops through the town.'

"Not a word about Barbara Frietchie and this incident.

"Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, too, was in Frederick soon afterward, on his way to find his son, reported mortally wounded at Antietam. Such a story, had it been true, could scarcely have failed to reach his ears, and be would undoubtedly have told it in his delightful chapter of war reminiscences, 'My Hunt for the Captain,' had he heard it.

"Barbara Frietchie had a flag, and it is now in the possession of Mrs. Handschue and her daughter, Mrs. Abbott, of Frederick. Mrs. Handschue was the niece and adopted daughter of Mrs. Frietchie, and the flag came to her as part of her inheritance, a cup out of which General Washington drank tea when he spent a night in Frederick in 1791 being among the Frietchie heirlooms.

"This flag which Mrs. Handschue and her daughter so religiously preserve is torn, but the banner was not rent with seam and gash from a rifle-blast; it is torn---only this and nothing more.

"That Mrs. Frietchie did not wave the flag at Jackson's men Mrs. Handschue positively affirms. The flag-waving act was done, however, by Mrs. Mary S. Quantrell, another Frederick woman; but Jackson took no notice of it, and as Mrs. Quantrell was not fortunate enough to find a poet to celebrate her deed she never became famous.

"Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas, who was with General Jackson every minute of his stay in Frederick, declares in an article in "The Century " for June, 1886, that Jackson never saw Barbara Frietchie, and that Barbara never saw Jackson. This story is borne out by Mrs. Frietchie's relatives.

"Barbara Frietchie had a flag and she waved it, not on the 6th to Jackson's men, but on the 12th to Burnside's.

"The manner in which the Frietchie legend originated was very simple. A Frederick lady visited Washington some time after the invasion and spoke of the open sympathy and valor of Barbara Frietchie. The story was told again and again, and it was never lost in the telling."


sources: The Historical Basis of Whittier’s 'Barbara Frietchie,' by George O. Seilheimer, "Battles and leaders of the Civil War, Vol 2," edited by Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buel, The Century Co, NY, 1884

NY Times editorial dated October 25, 1899, online at http://bit.ly/3tLBb

John Denton fought for the Confederate Army, but deserted it. Then he joined the Union Army, but deserted it even faster. And that was just the beginning of his troubles.

Denton volunteered for Company B (Monroe County, TN), 3rd Tennessee Regiment of Confederate Volunteers in Knoxville, TN on May 23, 1861 and fought at Manassas. We know he was still present for duty as of February 1862, but on May 7, 1863 he switched sides and enlisted for three years at Lebanon, KY in Company D, 11th Tennessee Cavalry, Union Army Volunteers.

That didn’t last long. By July Denton was listed as a deserter from Camp Nelson, KY. The following month’s muster rolls reported Private John Denton absent from recruiting duty.

"While on leave (from Union Army) in Monroe County he was captured by a band of Confederate guerillas or bushwackers from the area,” begins a letter found in Cocke County, Tennessee’s Stokely Memorial Library.

“They stripped Uncle John, tied a rope around his neck, threw it over a tree limb and pulled him off the ground until he about choked. They'd let him down and then repeat the process. While this amusement was going on word came that a Union patrol was in the area.

“Two men were assigned to take Uncle John deeper into the woods and shoot him. When they arrived at a rail fence Uncle John managed to push one of his guards over the fence and knock the other one down and run away.

“Instead of hiding in the deep woods he managed to get to a lightly wooded section and cover himself with leaves while the search for him went on in the more heavily forested area. Subsequently he managed to get to the cabin of a couple of Union women whose husbands were gone away to serve in the Union Army. They dressed him in women's clothes, put a bonnet on his head and managed to smuggle him through the lines.

“Some time after the war, knowing some of his captors, they being from the same area, he killed a couple of them and was sent to prison for a few years until pardoned."

On April 10, 1864, Denton, his brother Charles, their cousin William Click, and another associated family member, Pink Gentry, murdered Patrick T. Trotter. The men hung Trotter by the thumbs and severely beat him, before shooting him in the presence of his elderly mother.

Several months later, on the 4th of July, brothers William Riley and David Burton Curtis had headed home on leave from the Confederate Army. They arrived just in time to discover one of the women in their family being raped by bushwackers. The attackers had the element of surprise in their favor, and they shot and killed the two brothers before they even got past the front porch.

Family members "dressed in women's clothing" waited across the river for the escaping offenders. Jackson Denton, Grief Ragsdale, and William Hartsell were later charged with this murder, but historians think John Denton also may have been involved.

John & Charles Denton were arrested by Union troops on October 3 in Roane County, but by February 1865 they’d been released at Knoxville. In May 1866 the two brothers, William Click and Pink Gentry were indicted for their role in Trotter’s murder; that September the sheriff was directed to arrest them and bring them to court. The ensuing trial was moved to Blount County, where the two were convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

However, they filed an appeal with the Supreme Court over the change of venue, the conviction was overturned on a technicality, and the case was sent back to Monroe County for further disposition in 1869.

After numerous delays and postponements, Charles and John Denton were brought to trial in 1872 in Monroe County and found guilty of 1st degree murder. They again filed an appeal, but it never transpired. John Denton went to prison from 1873 till 1880. His brother fled to Missouri and apparently was never apprehended.

John Denton filed for a government pension in late summer of 1890, but was rejected in 1891 because he’d served less than the required 90 days of service, and because he did not have an honorable discharge.

He died on Aug 12, 1912.


Sources: Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, by Thomas Harvey Coldwell, Tennessee Supreme Court, publ. S.C. Mercer, 1870
www.flickr.com/photos/21734563@N04/2198268918
http://members.aol.com/atsissie1/page/index.htm
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/DENTON/1997-08/0871781476
www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0307.htm



Monroe+County+TN John+Denton civil+war+veteran appalachia appalachian+history appalachian+mountains+history

Confederate Memorial Day is May 10. On May 12, 1909 the 4th Ohio Cavalry Association returned the Rifle Scouts' Civil War battle flag to the state of Alabama at the Elk's Theater in Huntsville. Note the presence of Tallulah B. Bankhead --not the famous actress, who was 7 years old at the time, but rather her mother.

Captain John R. Pitts of the 4th Ohio Cavalry Association presented the flag to Mrs. Charles G. Brown of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The following individuals are pictured: Mayor T. W. Smith of Huntsville; James Quinton (4th Ohio); Mrs. Virginia Clay-Clopton (UDC); Mrs. Helen Plaine (UDC); Joseph H. Goddard (4th Ohio); L. C. Bramkamp (4th Ohio); T. C. Lindsey (4th Ohio); W. W. Shoemaker (4th Ohio); William H. Henry (4th Ohio); Mrs. A. W. Newsom (UDC); Mrs. Charles G. Brown (UDC); Mrs. Cornelia Branch Stone (UDC); Mrs. Andrew J. Dowdell (UDC); Captain John R. Pitts (4th Ohio); Mrs. Thomas W. Palmer (UDC); Mrs. Bennett B. Ross (UDC); Mrs. Leopold Bashinski (UDC); Mrs. Tallulah B. Bankhead (UDC); Mrs. Clarence M. Tardy (UDC); Thomas Osborn (4th Ohio); M. H. Richardson (4th Ohio); C. N. Vaught (UCV); James R. Johnson; Mrs. Ellen P. Bryce (UDC); Mrs. Asa S. Rountree (UDC); Mrs. L. T. Pride (UDC).

4th+Ohio+Cavalry+Association United+Daughters+of+the+Confederacy Huntsville+AL civil+war+veteran

CEDAR BLUFF "REBEL" SOLDIER HALE AND HEARTY AND NEARING 100. -- Cedar Bluff, May 19 - Today, in our town, one of our grand old veterans of the '61 gang passed the 96th milestone of his journey through this ever-changing world. "Uncle George" ---as he is familiarly known--- Burnett, one of the few remaining veterans of the Civil War, is still hale and hearty at this ripe old age, and says "temperance in all things, faith, hard work, lots of patience, and the goodness of the Almighty Father" are some of the main reasons he has attained this age.

He is, possibly, one of the oldest veterans left in our county, and is still active taking long daily walks. His vision is not quite as keen as the day near Petersburg he spied the "Yank" nestled close up against a log as the boys in grey had 'em on the run. He walked over to this "Yank," who was trembling with fear, and poked him in the ribs with his old trusty rifle and said, "Come out of there, Yank, and get behind these columns of grey, and we'll not kill you for sometime yet."

He is still able to read the Clinch Valley News and looks forward to this paper. He is known all over the western end of the county, and his honesty, straight forwardness, and sincere dealing with all of his fellow men is a known trait. He owes no man and says when the Master of all things calls him to a better world, he is ready to go. His home is located near the top of Claypool Hill, and his towering figure, now slightly stooped, is often seen along the road, taking his daily walks.

As we see that sparkle in his eyes, we wonder if he isn't happy basking in this sunset time of life, with memories of a well-spent life, and hope of a glorious future in that "purple valley" beyond. His many friends wish for him many more happy birthdays; tho' there may not be "many" these friends want to see Uncle George reach that one hundred mark. 'Tis fine to live by a fine old neighbor like you, Uncle George, and we want you to stick around for several more years.

Clinch Valley News
Tazewell County, Virginia
May 19, 1936


civil+war+veteran confederate+veteran appalachian+culture appalachian+history history+of+appalachia appalachia