The flag was always flying from the Fritchie window and Dame Barbara kept busy, helping sick soldiers and cheering the despairing Unionists. “Never mind,” she would say when news of reverses came, “we must conquer sometime.” For stimulated by the glorious memory of what she had lived through, she had a supreme faith that the Union must survive. “It will never happen that one short life like mine shall see the beginning and the end of a nation like this.” She would ask the shopkeeper, “How do matters look now?” If the reports were cheering her joy was evident; if sad, she would say, “Do not be cast down. We have seen darker times. Stand firm, it will all come right, I know it will. The Union must be preserved.” Often the southern troops marched through Frederick, tired out, and stopped to rest on the porches of private houses. Once they halted in front of Barbara Fritchie’s home, sat on her steps, and went to the spring near by for water. To all this she made no objection, but when they began to talk in a derogatory way of her beloved country, she was at the door in a moment and bade them move on, laying about her with her cane in the most vigorous manner, crying, “Off, off, you Rebels!” and clearing the porch in a few moments. With victory alternating between North and South, matters dragged on until September of 1862, when Lee’s advance troops under Stonewall Jackson spent a week in Frederick, to encourage recruiting for the Confederate army. Every Union flag was ordered hauled down, and according to one version of the story Barbara Fritchie, with the other loyalists, took down her flag and hid it in the Bible, saying that no Rebel would think of looking for it there. Another story tells how on the morning of the sixth Dame Barbara’s niece went to see her and told her of a rumor that the soldiers would pass through the town that day. Presently the child ran in and called out in great excitement, “Aunt Fritchie, the troops are coming!” To the loyal old lady troops meant only one army. She heard the sound of marching feet. Picking up a silk flag she stepped out on the porch and waved it at the men passing. Instantly a murmur arose. A captain, riding up to the porch, said kindly, “Granny, you had better take your flag in the house.” “I won’t do it, I won’t,” was her reply, as she saw for the first time that the passing soldiers were dressed in gray. Defiantly she shook the flag. The excitement in the ranks increased. Threatening murmurs arose. Another officer left the line and said, “Old woman, put that flag away, or you may get in trouble.” “I won’t,” she responded and waved it again. Angry shouts came from the men. A third officer approaching warned her: “If you don’t stop that, you’ll have that flag shot out of your hand.”