SHOOT, IF YOU MUST, THIS OLD GRAY HEAD Definition & Meaning

Shoot, if you must, this old gray head

A line from “Barbara Frietchie,” a poem from the Civil War years by the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier, which describes a fictional incident in the war. Barbara Frietchie, aged over ninety, displays a Union flag when Confederate troops march through her town. The soldiers shoot the flag off its staff, but Barbara Frietchie catches it, leans out the window, and addresses the soldiers: “Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, / But spare your country's flag!” she said.”

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“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country’s flag,” she said.

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The door was opened a little and the matron put forth her head with the words loudly spoken, "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head!" whereupon the watchman departed without a word.

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An' Barbara Frietchie, so 'tis said, Cried, "Shoot if you must this old, gray head, But I'd rather 'twould be your own instead!"

From

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

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shootie shooting box

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Shoot, if you must, this old gray head

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