OUR 1 band is few, but true and tried,
Our leader frank and bold;
The British soldier trembles
When Marion’s name is told.
Our fortress is the good greenwood,
Our tent the cypress-tree;
We know the forest round us,
As seamen know the sea;
We know its walls of thorny vines,
Its glades of reedy grass,
Its...
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IN their ragged regimentals
Stood the old Continentals,
Yielding not,
When the grenadiers were lunging,
And like hail fell the plunging
Cannon-shot;
When the files
Of the isles,
From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner of the rampant
Unicorn... -
The Colonel rode by his picket-line
In the pleasant morning sun,
That glanced from him far off to shine
On the crouching rebel picket’s gun.From his command the captain strode
Out with a grave salute,
And talked with the colonel as he rode:—
The picket levelled his piece to shoot.The colonel rode and the captain...
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Old man never had much to say—
’Ceptin’ to Jim,—
And Jim was the wildest boy he had,
And the old man jes’ wrapped up in him!
Never heerd him speak but once
Er twice in my life,—and first time was
When the army broke out, and Jim he went,
The old man backin’ him, fer three months;
And all ’at I heerd the old man say
Was... -
Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,The clustered spires of Frederick stand
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple and peach trees fruited deep,Fair as a garden of the Lord
To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,On that pleasant morn of the early...
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The General dashed along the road
Amid the pelting rain;
How joyously his bold face glowed
To hear our cheers’ refrain!His blue blouse flapped in wind and wet,
His boots were splashed with mire,
But round his lips a smile was set,
And in his eyes a fire.A laughing word, a gesture kind,—
We did not ask for... -
[December 15, 1862]
’T WAS the last fight at Fredericksburg,—
Perhaps the day you reck,
Our boys, the Twenty-Second Maine,
Kept Early’s men in check.
Just where Wade Hampton boomed away
The fight went neck and neck.All day the weaker wing we held,
And held it with a will.
Five several stubborn times we charged... -
Into a ward of the whitewashed halls
Where the dead and the dying lay,
Wounded by bayonets, shells, and balls,
Somebody’s darling was borne one day—
Somebody’s darling, so young and brave;
Wearing yet on his sweet pale face—
Soon to be hid in the dust of the grave—
The lingering light of his boyhood’s grace.Matted and...
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What, was it a dream? am I all alone
In the dreary night and the drizzling rain?
Hist!—ah, it was only the river’s moan;
They have left me behind with the mangled slain.Yes, now I remember it all too well!
We met, from the battling ranks apart;
Together our weapons flashed and fell,
And mine was sheathed in his quivering heart... -
I.—1863
“well, this is bad!” we sighing said,
While musing round the bivouac fire,
And dwelling with a fond desire,
On home and comforts long since fled.“How gayly came we forth at first!
Our spirits high, with new emprise,
Ambitious of each exercise,
And glowing with a martial thirst.“Equipped as for a...