The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems Part 40

THE OLD FLAG

[Written July 4, 1863.]

Have ye heard of Fort Donelson's desperate fight, Where the giant Northwest bared his arm for the right, Where thousands so bravely went down in the slaughter, And the blood of the West ran as freely as water; Where the Rebel Flag fell and our banner arose O'er an army of captured and suppliant foes?

Lo--torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder, The Old Flag is waving there prouder and prouder.

Heard ye of s.h.i.+loh, where fierce Beauregard O'erwhelmed us with numbers and pressed us so hard, Till our veteran supporters came up to our aid And the tide of defeat and disaster was staid-- Where like grain-sheaves the slaughtered were piled on the plain And the brave rebel Johnston went down with the slain?

Lo--torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder, The Old Flag is waving there prouder and prouder.

Heard ye the cannon-roar down by Stone River?

Saw ye the bleeding braves stagger and quiver?

Heard ye the shout and the roar and the rattle?

And saw ye the desperate surging of battle?

Volley on volley and steel upon steel-- Breast unto breast--how they lunge and they reel!

Lo--torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder, The Old Flag is waving there prouder and prouder.

Heard ye of Vicksburg--the Southern Gibraltar, Where the hands of our foemen built tyranny's altar, Where their hosts are walled in by a cordon of braves, And the pits they have dug for defense are their graves, Where the red bombs are bursting and hissing the shot, Where the nine thunders death and the charge follows hot?

Lo--torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder, The Old Flag is waving there prouder and prouder.

Heard ye from Gettysburg?--Glory to G.o.d!

Bare your heads, O ye Freemen, and kneel on the sod!

Praise the Lord!--praise the Lord!--it is done!--it is done!

The battle is fought and the victory won!

They first took the sword, and they fall by the sword; They are scattered and crushed by the hand of the Lord!

Lo--torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder, The Old Flag is waving there prouder and prouder.

GETTYSBURG: CHARGE OF THE FIRST MINNESOTA

[Written for and read at the Camp Fire of the G.A.R. Department of Minnesota, National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Minneapolis, June 22, 1884.]

Ready and ripe for the harvest lay the acres of golden grain Waving on hillock and hillside and bending along the plain.

Ready and ripe for the harvest two veteran armies lay Waiting the signal of battle on the Gettysburg hills that day.

Sharp rang the blast of the bugles calling the foe to the fray, And shrill from the enemy's cannon the demon sh.e.l.ls shrieked as they flew; Crashed and rumbled and roared our batteries ranged on the hill, Rumbled and roared at the front the bellowing guns of the foe Swelling the chorus of h.e.l.l ever louder and deadlier still, And shrill o'er the roar of the cannon rose the yell of the rebels below, As they charged on our Third Corps advanced and crushed in the lines at a blow.

Leading his clamorous legions, flas.h.i.+ng his saber in air, Forward rode furious Longstreet charging on Round Top there-- Key to our left and center--key to the fate of the field-- Leading his wild-mad Southrons on to the lions' lair.

Red with the blood of our legions--red with the blood of our best, Waiting the fate of the battle the lurid sun stood in the west.

Hid by the crest of the hills we lay at the right concealed, p.r.o.ne on the earth that shuddered under us there as we lay.

Thunder of cheers on the left!--das.h.i.+ng down on his stalwart bay, Spurring his gallant charger till his foaming flanks ran blood, Hanc.o.c.k, the star of our legions, rode down where our officers stood: "_By the left flank, double-quick, march!_"-- We sprang to our feet and away, Like a fierce pack of hunger-mad wolves that pant for the blood of the prey.

"_Halt!_"--on our battery's flank we stood like a hedge-row of steel-- Bearing the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day.

Down at the marge of the valley our broken ranks stagger and reel, Grimy with dust and with powder, wearied and panting for breath, Flinging their arms in panic, flying the hail-storm of death.

Rumble of volley on volley of the enemy hard on the rear, Yelling their wild, mad triumph, thundering cheer upon cheer, Dotting the slope with slaughter and sweeping the field with fear.

Drowned is the blare of the bugle, lost is the bray of the drum, Yelling, defiant, victorious, column on column they come.

Only a handful are we, thrown into the gap of our lines, Holding the perilous breach where the fate of the battle inclines, Only a handful are we--column on column they come.

Roared like the voice of a lion brave Hanc.o.c.k fierce for the fray: "Hurry the reserve battalions; bring every banner and gun: Charge on the enemy, Colvill, stay the advance of his lines: Here--by the G.o.d of our Fathers!--here shall the battle be won, Or we'll die for the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills today."

Shrill rang the voice of our Colonel, the bravest and best of the brave: "_Forward, the First Minnesota! Forward, and follow me, men!_"

Gallantly forward he strode, the bravest and best of the brave.

Two hundred and fifty and two--all that were left of us then-- Two hundred and fifty and two fearless, unfaltering men Dashed at a run for the enemy, sprang to the charge with a yell.

On us their batteries thundered solid shot, grape shot and sh.e.l.l; Never a man of us faltered, but many a comrade fell.

"_Forward, the First Minnesota!_"--like tigers we sprang at our foes; Grim gaps of death in our ranks, but ever the brave ranks close: Down went our sergeant and colors--defiant our colors arose!

"_Fire_!" At the flash of our rifles--grim gaps in the ranks of our foes!

"_Forward, the First Minnesota!_" our brave Colonel cried as he fell Gashed and shattered and mangled--"_Forward_!" he cried as he fell.

Over him mangled and bleeding frenzied we sprang to the fight, Over him mangled and bleeding we sprang to the jaws of h.e.l.l.

Flashed in our faces their rifles, roared on the left and the right, Swarming around us by thousands we fought them with desperate might.

Five times our banner went down--five times our banner arose, Tattered and torn but defiant, and flapped in the face of our foes.

Hold them? We held them at bay, as a bear holds the hounds on his track, Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, we met them and staggered them back.

Desperate, frenzied, bewildered, blindly they fired on their own; Like reeds in the whirl of the cyclone columns and colors went down.

Banner of stars on the right! Hurrah! gallant Gibbon is come!

Thunder of guns on the left! Hurrah! 'tis our cannon that boom!

Solid-shot, grape-shot and canister crash like the cracking of doom.

Baffled, bewildered and broken the ranks of the enemy yield; Panic-struck, routed and shattered they fly from the fate of the field.

Hold them? We held them at bay, as a bear holds the hounds on his track; Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, we met them and staggered them back; Two hundred and fifty and two, we held their mad thousands at bay, Met them and baffled and broke them, turning the tide of the day; Two hundred and fifty and two when the sun hung low in heaven, But ah! when the stars rode over we numbered but forty-seven: Dead on the field or wounded the rest of our regiment lay; Never a man of us faltered or flinched in the fire of the fray, For we bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day.

Tears for our fallen comrades--cover their graves with flowers, For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours.

They fell, but they fell victorious, for the Rebel ranks were riven, And over our land united--one nation from sea to sea, Over the grave of Treason, over millions of men made free, Triumphant the flag of our fathers waves in the winds of heaven-- Striped with the blood of her heroes she waves in the winds of heaven.

Tears for our fallen comrades--cover their graves with flowers, For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours; And oft shall our children's children garland their graves and say: "They bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day."

ADDRESS TO THE FLAG

[After the Battle of Gettysburg.]

Float in the winds of heaven, O tattered Flag!

Emblem of hope to all the misruled world: Thy field of golden stars is rent and red-- Dyed in the blood of brothers madly spilled By brother-hands upon the mother-soil.

O fatal Upas of the savage Nile,[CT]

Transplanted hither--rooted--multiplied-- Watered with bitter tears and sending forth Thy venom-vapors till the land is mad, Thy day is done. A million blades are swung To lay thy jungles open to the sun; A million torches fire thy blasted boles; A million hands shall drag thy fibers out And feed the fires till every root and branch Lie in dead ashes. From the blackened soil, Enriched and moistened with fraternal blood, Beside the palm shall spring the olive-tree, And every breeze shall waft the happy song Of Freedom crowned with olive-twigs and flowers.

Yea, Patriot-Flag of our old patriot-sires, Honored--victorious on an hundred fields Where side by side for Freedom's mother-land Her Southern sons and Northern fighting fell, And side by side in glorious graves repose,

[CT] African slavery.

I see the dawn of glory grander still, When hand in hand upon this battle-field The blue-eyed maidens of the Merrimac With dewy roses from the Granite Hills, And dark-eyed daughters from the land of palms With orange-blossoms from the broad St. Johns, In solemn concert singing as they go, Shall strew the graves of these fraternal dead.

The day of triumph comes, O blood-stained Flag!

Washed clean and l.u.s.trous in the morning light Of a new era, thou shalt float again In more than pristine glory o'er the land Peace-blest and re-united. On the seas Thou shalt be honored to the farthest isle.

The oppressed of foreign lands shall flock the sh.o.r.es To look upon and bless thee. Mothers shall lift Their infants to behold thee as a star New-born in heaven to light the darksome world.

The children weeping round the desolate, Sore-stricken mother in the saddened home Whereto the father shall no more return, In future years will proudly boast the blood Of him who bravely fell defending thee.

And these misguided brothers who would tear Thy starry field asunder and would trail Their own proud flag and history in the dust, Ere many years will bless thee, dear old Flag, That thou didst triumph even over them.

Aye, even they with proudly swelling hearts Will see the glory thou shalt shortly wear, And new-born stars swing in upon thy field In l.u.s.trous cl.u.s.ters. Come, O glorious day Of Freedom crowned with Peace. G.o.d's will be done!