Shoot, if you must, this old gray head

1. 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.”

Example Sentences

“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!"

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

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