Chapter V: Part 5

Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut, January 3, 1740. He was in command of a volunteer company at the outbreak of the Revolution, and marched at once to Cambridge. He served with great bravery on Lake Champlain, in Canada, and at Stillwater. After his treason he received a brigadier-general’s commission in the British army. At the close of the war he went to England, where he resided most of the time until his death, June 14, 1801. The second battle of Stillwater (sometimes called Bemis’s Heights and sometimes Saratoga) was fought October 7, 1777. Of Arnold’s part in this battle George William Curtis says, in his Centennial Oration: “The British, dismayed, bewildered, overwhelmed, were scarcely within their redoubts, when Benedict Arnold, to whom the jealous Gates, who did not come upon the field during the day, had refused a command, outriding an aide whom Gates had sent to recall him, came spurring up: Benedict Arnold--whose name America does not love,--whose ruthless will had dragged the doomed Canadian expedition through the starving wilderness of Maine, who, volunteering to relieve Fort Stanwix, had, by the mere terror of his coming, blown St. Leger away, and who on the 19th of September had saved the American left. Benedict Arnold, whom battle stung to fury, now whirled from end to end of the American line, hurled it against the great redoubt, driving the enemy at the point of the bayonet; then flinging himself to the extreme right, and finding there the Massachusetts brigade, swept it with him to the assault, and streaming over the breastworks, scattered the Brunswickers who defended them, killed their colonel, gained and held the point which commanded the entire British position, while at the same moment his horse was shot under him, and he sank to the ground wounded in the leg that had been wounded at Quebec. Here, upon the Hudson, where he tried to betray his country; here, upon the spot where, in the crucial hour of the Revolution, he illustrated and led the American valor that made us free and great, knowing well that no earlier service can condone for a later crime, let us recall for one brief instant of infinite pity the name that has been justly execrated for a century.”

Horatio Gates, who commanded the American forces at the battle of Stillwater, was an Englishman by birth, and had served under Braddock. He was made adjutant-general at the opening of the Revolution, and accompanied Washington to Cambridge when “the great Virginian” went thither to take charge of the army. Just before the battle of Stillwater Gates superseded General Schuyler in the command of the army of the north. He suffered a disastrous defeat at Camden, when at the head of the southern forces. His patriotism was undoubted, but he lacked the judgment of a great commander.

Burgoyne (John, 1723-1792), who commanded the British forces at the battle of Stillwater, had distinguished himself in Portugal, and had also been a member of the British Parliament before coming to America. Much was expected of his expedition. It was intended to cut the colonies in twain, and thus crush the rebellion. Burgoyne was at one time commander-in-chief in Ireland. During the closing years of his life he devoted himself to literature.

=Stanza 5.= =Poor= (Enoch), a New Hampshire brigadier-general who served with distinction in the Continental army until 1780, when he died at Hackensack, New Jersey.

=Learned= (Ebenezer), a Massachusetts brigadier-general who had served in the French and Indian War.

=Stanza 6.= =Cilley= (Joseph), a New Hampshire colonel who was later in the commands of General Wayne and General Sullivan.

=Stanza 7.= =Major Ackland=, of the Grenadier corps, a most gallant British officer, was shot through both legs in this battle. He recovered, but after his return to England he was slain in a duel into which he was drawn through his defence of the bravery of the Americans.

=Stanza 12.= =Armstrong= (John), a Pennsylvania major, at first attached to the staff of General Hugh Mercer, and later to that of General Gates, with whom he remained until the close of the war.

=Stanza 16.= =Brooks= (John), a Massachusetts colonel who afterward became adjutant-general.

=Wesson= (James), a Massachusetts colonel who commanded a regiment in Learned’s brigade.

=Livingston= (James), a New York colonel who commanded a regiment in Learned’s brigade.

=Morgan= (Daniel), a native of New Jersey whose family removed to Virginia while he was yet young. He served with much distinction throughout the Revolution, and rose to the rank of major-general.

7. THE YANKEE MAN-OF-WAR. Anonymous.

Of this spirited ballad Alfred M. Williams, in his “Studies in Folk Song and Popular Poetry,” says: “To this period, however [the Revolution], belongs what is perhaps the very best of American sea-songs. We do not know whether its authorship was of that time or not, although it probably was, and from internal evidence it would seem to have been composed by one of the very crew of the _Ranger_, Paul Jones’s ship, which escaped from a British squadron in the Irish Channel in 1778. It was first published, in 1883, by Commodore Luce, in his collection of ‘Naval Songs,’ with the statement that it was taken down from the recitation of a sailor.” To this fact is doubtless due the very evident break in the form of the fifth stanza. Most of the places mentioned in the poem (save Dunmore, a promontory on the southwestern coast) are situated on the southeastern coast of Ireland.

The spirit of the piece, the frequent recurrence of technical expressions, together with the swinging measure, remind one (albeit somewhat remotely) of the work of the foremost balladist of our day,--Rudyard Kipling.

8. THE RIDE OF JENNIE M’NEAL. By Will Carleton.

Will Carleton was born in Hudson, Michigan, October 21, 1845. He is
best known by his domestic ballads, “Over the Hill to the
Poorhouse” and “Betsey and I Are Out.”

The “Neutral Ground” of the poem--Westchester County, New York--was so called because it was held neither by the British nor the American armies during the Revolutionary War. This locality is the scene of some of the most stirring passages in Cooper’s _Spy_.

=Last stanza.= =Putnam.= See “Mary Butler’s Ride.”

9. THE SONG OF MARION’S MEN. By William Cullen Bryant.

William Cullen Bryant, “the father of American song,” was born in
Cummington, Massachusetts, November 3, 1794. For fifty years he was
the editor of the New York _Evening Post_. He died in New York
City, June 12, 1878. In “Thanatopsis” and “To a Waterfowl” his
genius finds its highest expression.

Francis Marion, one of the most noted partisan leaders of the Revolution, was born near Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1732. He was of Huguenot ancestry. He took part in the Cherokee war of 1761, and rendered conspicuous service throughout the struggle of the colonies for independence, particularly during the last two years. It is said that the brilliant British cavalry leader, Colonel Tarleton, first gave him the name of “swamp-fox.” He died at his plantation near Eutaw, South Carolina, in February, 1795.

10. HOW WE BURNED THE “PHILADELPHIA.” By Barrett Eastman.

Barrett Eastman, a Chicago journalist, was born in Chicago, January
25, 1869.

“The destruction of the _Philadelphia_, which Lord Nelson, then commanding the British blockading fleet off Toulon, called ‘the most bold and daring act of the age,’ was effected on the night of February 9, 1804. In the party, numbering but seventy-five officers and men all told, were Stephen Decatur, Jr., James Lawrence, Joseph Bainbridge, Thomas Macdonough, and many others who rose to distinction.”--B. E.

Stephen Decatur, who commanded the expedition against the _Philadelphia_, was of French descent, and was born in Sinnepuxent, Maryland, January 5, 1779. He first saw service against the French, was active in the war of 1812, and chastised the Algerines in 1815. He was killed in a duel by Commodore James Barron on March 22, 1820.

11. THE “SHANNON” AND THE “CHESAPEAKE.” By Thomas Tracy Bouvé.

Thomas Tracy Bouvé was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, June 23,
1875. He is the author of several other stirring ballads.

Lawrence (James), was born in Burlington, New Jersey, October 1, 1781. He was prominent in Decatur’s expedition to destroy the _Philadelphia_. He commanded the _Hornet_, which sank the brig-of-war _Peacock_, a victory which led to his being appointed to the _Chesapeake_. It was from Boston harbor that he sailed to meet the _Shannon_, June 1, 1813. He died at sea five days later.

=Stanza 5.= =Hingham=, a town of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, fourteen miles southeast of Boston, on Massachusetts Bay.

=Stanza 10.= =Broke= (Philip Bowes Vere), the captain of the _Shannon_, who was knighted for his victory over the _Chesapeake_, and became a popular hero in England.

12. THE FIGHT OF THE “ARMSTRONG” PRIVATEER. By James Jeffrey Roche.

James Jeffrey Roche, a journalist and ballad writer of much vigor,
was born in Queens County, Ireland, May 31, 1847. His early life
was spent on Prince Edward Island. He removed to Boston in 1866,
and on the death of John Boyle O’Reilly succeeded him as editor of
the _Pilot_.

The memorable “Fight of the _Armstrong_ Privateer” took place September 26 and 27, 1814. The British lost one hundred and twenty men killed and one hundred and eighty wounded, while the Americans had but two killed and seven wounded.

Samuel Chester Reid, who commanded the _Armstrong_, was the son of a lieutenant in the British navy. He was at one time harbor-master and warden of the port of New York, and was the designer of the present form of the United States flag, proposing to retain the original thirteen stripes and add a new star whenever a new State was admitted to the Union.

=l. 10.= =Nelson= (Horatio), England’s most noted naval commander, the hero of Copenhagen, Aboukir Bay, Egypt, where he destroyed the French fleet, and of Trafalgar, where he was victorious over the combined fleets of France and Spain, and where he met his death, October 21, 1805.

=l. 12.= =Dundonald= (Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, 1749-1831), a distinguished Scottish seaman.

=l. 31.= =Dartmoor=, an English prison in Devonshire. It was built in 1806, during the Napoleonic wars, for the retention of prisoners. Seven Americans were killed here, and sixty wounded, on April 16, 1815, a brutal and unprovoked act.

=l. 40.= =Pico=, one of the middle group of the Azores.

=l. 42.= =Lloyd= (Captain Robert), of the _Plantagenet_, the commander of the English fleet.

13. THE MEN OF THE ALAMO. By James Jeffrey Roche.

James Jeffrey Roche. See note on “The Fight of the _Armstrong_
Privateer.”

The Alamo was a Spanish Mission at San Antonio, founded early in the 18th century. Later it was transformed into a fortress. In addition to the church, with adjacent buildings used as quarters for the soldiers and for the magazine, there was a rectangular space about one hundred and fifty yards long and fifty yards wide protected by a stone wall from six to eight feet in height and nearly three feet in thickness. This enclosure was defended by fourteen or more cannon. The storming of the Alamo took place on the morning of the 6th of March, 1836. There were 188 Texans defending the place, while the Mexican force numbered from 2500 to 5000. Three women, a child, and a negro servant survived the fight. The statement in the last line of the poem refers to the defenders.

=l. 1.= =Houston= (Samuel, 1793-1863), a Virginian by birth, the commander-in-chief of the army of the Texas republic. He was the second president (first by regular election) of the Republic of Texas, and afterward United States senator and the governor of the State.

=l. 4.= =Nueces=, a river of southern Texas emptying into Corpus Christi Bay.

=l. 5.= =Castrillon=, a Mexican general (a Spaniard by birth) who was killed at San Jacinto, where he had command of the artillery. It was he who had charge of the assault on the Alamo.

=Cos= (Martin Perfecto de), a Mexican general, and brother-in-law of Santa Anna. He was in command at San Antonio when the place was surrendered to the Texans in December, 1835. He was released upon parole under the promise that he would not oppose the re-establishment of the Federal Constitution of 1824. He returned with Santa Anna the following year, and participated in the attack upon the Alamo, hence the epithet “perjured.”

=Sesmá= (Ramirez y), a Mexican general.

=Almontê= (Juan Nepomunceno), the son of a Mexican priest and patriot. He was a colonel in the Mexican army, and Santa Anna’s secretary. He at one time served as the Mexican minister to the United States. He was an upholder of Maximilian and served in his cabinet. When that ill-fated prince fell, Almontê escaped to France, where he died two or three years later.

=l. 6.= =Santa Anna= (Antonio Lopez de, 1795-1876), several times president of Mexico, and when not in power usually a conspirator against the head of the government. He was in command of the Mexican army in the war against the Texans, and again in the war with the United States. He served under Maximilian, and against him. No less than six times he was exiled, or fled the country.

=l. 13.= =Travis= (William Barrett, 1811-1836), the colonel who commanded at the defence of the Alamo, by birth an Alabamian. He practiced law in his native State in his early manhood, but emigrated to Texas in 1832, and there became interested in the cause of independence. He was of fine stature, and noted for his intrepidity.

=l. 16.= =Bowie= (James, 1790-1836), a Georgian who gained notoriety on account of his part in a bloody mêlée which followed a duel fought opposite Natchez, on the Mississippi, in August, 1827. It is said that it was in this encounter that the famous knife which afterward bore Bowie’s name was first used. The original weapon was made from a blacksmith’s broken rasp or file. Bowie emigrated from Louisiana, where he was living at the time of the duel, to Texas, and was active in the Texan struggle till his death.

=l. 17.= =Evans= (Robert), a Texan major of artillery who was shot when on the point of firing a train to blow up the magazine of the Alamo at Travis’s order.

=l. 29.= =Crockett= (David, familiarly known as “Davy,” 1786-1836). This noted frontiersman was a Tennesseean. He was prominent in the Creek war, and after a wild life as a scout and hunter became a member of the State legislature, and then of Congress. His waning influence with his constituents, owing to the fact that he opposed Jackson, caused him to join the Texans in their struggle for liberty.

=l. 54.= =San Jacinto.= See note on following poem.

=l. 57.= =Thermopylæ=, the pass from Thessaly into Locris where Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans fell, B.C. 480.

14. THE FIGHT AT THE SAN JACINTO. By John Williamson Palmer.

John Williamson Palmer. See note on “The Maryland Battalion.”

The San Jacinto is a river in southern Texas which joins Buffalo Bayou very near where that stream empties into Galveston Bay. The battle by which the Texans gained their independence took place on the 21st of April, 1836. The Texan army numbered exactly seven hundred and eighty-three men, while the Mexicans had more than double that force.

=Stanza 1.= =Harman= (Clark M.), a member of the Texan artillery corps.

=Stanza 2.= For =Santa Anna=, =Castrillon=, =Almontê= and =Cos=, see “The Men of the Alamo.”

=Portilla= (J. N. de la), the Mexican colonel, a native of Yucatan, in command at Goliad, who carried out Santa Anna’s infamous order, and executed Colonel Fannin and his men. See Fannin, p. 205.

=Houston.= See “The Men of the Alamo.”

=Stanza 4.= =Deaf Smith= (Erastus, called “Deaf” from his infirmity, 1787-1837), a New Yorker by birth, and a guide and spy in the Texan army. His parents early emigrated to Mississippi, and he visited Texas in 1817, but did not settle there until 1821. His courage and coolness in battle were remarkable, and his familiarity with the country rendered his services of the greatest value to the Texan cause.

=Karnes= (Henry W.), a Tennesseean, who rose to the rank of colonel in the Texan service. He served with “Deaf” Smith as a scout on various occasions, and was a captain of cavalry at San Jacinto. He died at San Antonio in 1840.

=Stanza 6.= For =Travis=, =Bowie=, and =Crockett=, see “The Men of the Alamo.”

=Milam= (Benjamin R.), one of the most distinguished and valorous of the Texan patriots who was killed while conducting the attack on San Antonio, December 7, 1835. (See Cos.). Milam was a Kentuckian, and was one of the first citizens of the United States to visit Texas. He was prominent in the Mexican War for Independence, but later suffered much at the hands of the Mexicans. The subjoined tribute to his memory is by William H. Wharton.

Oft shall the soldier think of thee,
Thou dauntless leader of the brave,
Who on the heights of Tyranny
Won Freedom and a glorious grave.

And o’er thy tomb shall pilgrims weep,
And pray to heaven in murmurs low
That peaceful be the hero’s sleep
Who conquered San Antonio.

Enshrined on Honor’s deathless scroll,
A nation’s thanks will tell thy fame;
Long as her beauteous rivers roll
Shall Freedom’s votaries hymn thy name.

For bravest of the Texan clime,
Who fought to make her children free,
Was Milam, and his death sublime
Linked with undying Liberty!

=Fannin= (James W., 1800-1835), a Texan colonel, born in North Carolina, who, with nearly four hundred men, was shot down in cold blood at Goliad, on the San Antonio River, after he had surrendered at the battle of Coleto Creek.

=Millard= (Henry), a Texan lieutenant-colonel.

=Lamar= (Mirabeau B.), the third president of the Republic of Texas, a Georgian by birth. He had command of the cavalry at San Jacinto.

15. MONTEREY. By Charles Fenno Hoffman.

Charles Fenno Hoffman, one of our most versatile and voluminous
writers until his brain became affected in 1849, was born in New
York City in 1806. He died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 7,
1884.

Monterey is the capital of the Mexican State Nuevo Leon. The famous battle was fought on September 21, 22, and 23, 1846. The place was defended by ten thousand men under General Ampudia. The American force is estimated to have been about six thousand five hundred.

16. THE DEFENSE OF LAWRENCE. By Richard Realf.

Richard Realf was born in Framfield, Sussex, England, June 14,
1834. He emigrated to America in 1855, and was connected with John
Brown and his men in Kansas and Iowa during the two years
following. He served with the 88th Illinois Volunteer Infantry
throughout the Civil War, and then became a newspaper writer and
lecturer. Unfortunate domestic relations led to his suicide in San
Francisco, October 28, 1878. The lyric “Indirection” is usually
regarded as Realf’s finest poem.

“The Defense of Lawrence” commemorates “the resistance made, in September, 1856, to the last pro-slavery attack on Lawrence, Kansas, when a small number of Free State men successfully held the place against twenty-four hundred armed Missourians, and drove back their advance of three hundred men.”

=Stanza 6.= =Gideon.= See Judges, chapters 6, 7, and 8.

=Stanza 7.= The river referred to in the last line of the stanza is the Wakarusa.

17. BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. By Wallace Rice.

Wallace Rice, a Chicago critic and poet, was born in Hamilton,
Ontario, November 10, 1859, of American parents temporarily
resident there.

“The treaty obtained from China by the English in 1858 was to be returned, by its terms, to the Chinese capital for final ratification by June 26, 1859. The British forces assembled at the mouth of Pei-Ho River, on the direct road to Pekin, for that purpose, June 25, 1859. Their heavier vessels were kept in the gulf by a bar, but the lighter gunboats went on up the stream until their progress was stopped by the obstructions placed at the fort. The U. S. S. _Powhatan_, Flag Officer Tattnall, bore John E. Wade and his suite, who were to represent the United States at similar negotiations then pending. The size of the _Powhatan_ did not permit her entry upon the river, so Tattnall secured the small unarmed merchant steamer _Toey-Wan_ to take the representative of our government to Pekin. The rest of the story is told substantially as it occurred, the British loss being 89 killed and 345 wounded, out of 1,100 engaged. But for the _Toey-Wan_ and Tattnall’s interference--wholly unwarranted by all considerations save those which he himself brought forward--there can be no doubt that England’s entire force would have been killed or captured.” W. R.

Josiah Tattnall, the hero of the “Blood is Thicker than Water” episode, was the son of a Georgia soldier and statesman, and was born in Bonaventure, Georgia, November 9, 1795. He entered the navy at seventeen, and served in the War of 1812, in the war with Algiers, and in the Mexican War. Soon after the outbreak of the Rebellion he offered his services to the Confederates. It was he who, in March, 1862, succeeded Franklin Buchanan in command of the _Merrimac_, and it was he who destroyed that noted vessel to prevent her capture. He died in Savannah, Georgia, June 14, 1871.

Stephen Decatur Trenchard, who was wounded at the Pei-Ho engagement, entered the navy in 1834, and served until 1880, when he was retired, being at the time a rear-admiral. He was a lieutenant when he fought with Tattnall.

The Gulf of Pechi-Li is a land-locked extension of the Yellow Sea between the base of the Corean peninsula and the Chinese province of Shan-Tung.

The Pei-Ho is a Chinese river that rises near the borders of Mongolia, and flows northeast and southeast past Pekin and Tientsin into the Gulf of Pechi-Li.

=Stanza 3.= =Hope= (Admiral Sir James, 1808-1881). He was twice severely wounded in the Pei-Ho action, but remained personally in command throughout the fight. The year following, he led an expedition which successfully attacked the forts, and opened the river for navigation.

=Stanza 4.= =Rason= and =McKenna=, officers in Hope’s fleet, the one a lieutenant-commander, the other a captain.

18. BETHEL. By Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne.

Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne was born in Boston, Massachusetts,
in 1823. He was a colonel of New York volunteers during the Civil
War. He was afterward employed upon the staff of the New York
_Tribune_. He died in New York City, October 20, 1884.

The battle of Big Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, Virginia, was the first action of the Civil War, and was fought June 10, 1861. The Union forces were under the command of a militia brigadier from Massachusetts, General E. W. Pierce, to whose incapacity and inexperience the Confederate success was largely due. Winthrop (Major Theodore, the author of “John Brent” and “Cecil Dreeme”) led an assault upon the rebel works, and was shot dead while standing upon a log, cheering his men to the charge. Says Horace Greeley of him in “The American Conflict,”--“His courage and conduct throughout the fight rendered him conspicuous to, and excited the admiration of, his enemies.” The Duryea mentioned in the poem (Colonel Abram) was in command of a regiment of New York volunteers. Later, he was made a brigadier-general, participated in several important battles, and at the close of the war was breveted major-general.

19. THE CHARGE BY THE FORD. By Thomas Dunn English.

Thomas Dunn English. See note on “Arnold at Stillwater.”

An incident that occurred in 1861, in the Gauley River region, West Virginia.

20. THE LITTLE DRUMMER. By Richard Henry Stoddard.

Richard Henry Stoddard, one of our three most distinguished living
poets, (see note on “Kearny at Seven Pines,” by Edmund Clarence
Stedman) was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, July 2, 1825. Mr.
Stoddard’s long devotion to literature (although he was for some
years connected with the New York custom-house and dock department)
is too well known to call for extended chronicle. Not only as a
poet, but also as an editor and critic, has he won a high place in
American letters.

Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon, a native of Connecticut (1818), a graduate of West Point, and a veteran of the Seminole and Mexican wars, was killed while rallying his troops at the battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861.

21. THE CUMBERLAND. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. See note on “Paul Revere.”

The battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia, during which the _Cumberland_ was sunk by the Confederate ram _Merrimac_, was fought March 9, 1862. Morris (George Upham, 1830-1875), who was temporarily commanding the _Cumberland_, entered the navy early in life as a midshipman, and served until the year before his death. He took part in a number of engagements during the Rebellion, and was wounded at Fort Darling. An incident of the _Cumberland-Merrimac_ battle is described by George H. Boker (see “The Black Regiment”) in a poem entitled

THE SWORD-BEARER

Brave Morris saw the day was lost:
For nothing now remained
Of the wrecked and sinking _Cumberland_
But to save the flag unstained.

So he swore an oath in the sight of heaven--
(If he kept it the world can tell!)
“Before I strike to a rebel flag,
I’ll sink to the gates of hell!

“Here, take my sword; ’tis in my way;
I shall trip o’er the useless steel;
For I’ll meet the lot that falls to all,
With my shoulder at the wheel,”

So the little negro took the sword,
And oh, with what reverent care!
Following his master step by step,
He bore it here and there.

A thought had crept through his sluggish brain,
And shone in his dusky face,
That somehow--he could not tell just how--
’Twas the sword of his trampled race.

And as Morris, great with his lion heart,
Rushed onward from gun to gun,
The little negro slid after him
Like a shadow in the sun.

But something of pomp and of curious pride
The sable creature wore,
Which at any time but a time like that
Would have made the ship’s crew roar.

Over the wounded, dying, and dead,
Like an usher of the rod,
The black page, full of his mighty trust,
With dainty caution trod.

No heed he gave to the flying ball,
No heed to the bursting shell;
His duty was something more than life,
And he strove to do it well.

Down with our starry flag apeak,
In the whirling sea we sank;
And captain and crew and the sword-bearer
Were washed from the bloody plank.

They picked us up from the hungry waves--
Alas, not all! And where,
Where is the faithful negro lad?
“Back oars! avast! look there!”

We looked, and as heaven may save my soul,
I pledge you a sailor’s word,
There, fathoms deep in the sea he lay,
Still grasping his master’s sword.

We drew him out; and many an hour
We wrought with his rigid form
Ere the almost smothered spark of life
By slow degrees grew warm.

The first dull glance that his eyeballs rolled
Was down toward his shrunken hand;
And he smiled, and closed his eyes again,
As they fell on the rescued brand.

And no one touched the sacred sword,
Till at length, when Morris came,
The little negro stretched it out
With his eager eyes aflame.

And if Morris wrung the poor boy’s hand,
And his words seemed hard to speak,
And tears ran down his manly cheeks,
What tongue shall call him weak?

22. JOHNSTON AT SHILOH. By Fleming James.

Albert Sydney Johnston, who commanded the Confederate forces at the battle of Shiloh, was a Kentuckian by birth (1803), and was one of the most able of the Southern leaders. He had had a wide experience in military affairs, being a West Point graduate, and having served in Mexico and upon the plains. The battle of Shiloh was fought on the 6th of April, 1862.

23. THE RIVER FIGHT. By Henry Howard Brownell.

Henry Howard Brownell, called “the laureate of the Civil War,” was
born in Providence, Rhode Island, February 6, 1820. His early
manhood was devoted to literary work. He served on the _Hartford_
under Farragut during a part of the Rebellion, and at the close of
the war accompanied that officer upon a cruise to various European
ports. He died in Hartford, Connecticut, October 31, 1872. Thomas
Bailey Aldrich has paid a beautiful tribute to his memory in a
sonnet beginning--

“They never crowned him, never knew his worth,
But let him go unlaureled to the grave.”

The conflict commemorated in this poem, resulting in the opening of the lower Mississippi, took place on the 24th of April, 1862. The introductory portion of the poem is omitted, and a few additional stanzas that retard, rather than accelerate, the forward movement.

=Stanza 1.= “Up the River of Death
Sailed the great Admiral.”

David Glasgow Farragut, generally conceded to be the greatest American seaman, was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, July 5, 1801. His most famous victories were those of the “River Fight” and of Mobile Bay, which Brownell celebrated in a poem entitled “The Bay Fight,” perhaps his best-known effort, the length of which precludes its use in this volume. (See poem, “Farragut,” by William T. Meredith). He died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 14, 1870.

=Stanza 4.= =Porter= (David Dixon, 1813-1891), the naval officer who succeeded Farragut as vice-admiral and admiral. He had command of the mortar flotilla in the “River Fight.”

=Last Stanza.= The church-pennant is made of white bunting in the form of an isosceles triangle, on each side of which is sewed blue bunting in shape of a cross resting horizontally on the white. This pennant is used only when religious service is being held, and is then hoisted above the national ensign.

24. KEARNY AT SEVEN PINES. By Edmund Clarence Stedman.

Edmund Clarence Stedman, our most distinguished critic, and one of
the three most distinguished of our living poets (the others being
Richard Henry Stoddard and Thomas Bailey Aldrich), was born in
Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1833. He entered journalism after
leaving college, and was a war correspondent during the early years
of the Civil War. Later he purchased a seat in the New York stock
exchange, and became a broker, devoting his leisure to literature.
He has for many years been one of the most prominent figures in
literary New York.

The battle of Seven Pines was fought on the 31st of May, 1862.

Philip Kearny was born in New York City, June 2, 1815. Entering the army in 1837, he was sent to Europe two years later to observe the tactics of the French cavalry. Enlisting in the French service, he performed many daring exploits in Algiers. He was in the Mexican War, and was the first American to enter the city of Mexico. He won the cross of the Legion of Honor in the Franco-Austrian war of 1859, and his service to the Union cause in the Rebellion before his death was conspicuous. General Scott once referred to him as the bravest and most perfect soldier he ever knew. The battle of Chantilly, where General Kearny lost his life, took place September 1, 1862. The general became separated from his men in the dusk and driving rain, and rode by mistake into the Confederate line. Encountering some skirmishers, he perceived his blunder, wheeled his horse, and endeavored to escape, but a volley rang out and he fell. It was in Kearny’s memory that George H. Boker wrote his most tender lyric:

DIRGE FOR A SOLDIER

Close his eyes; his work is done!
What to him is friend or foeman,
Rise of moon, or set of sun,
Hand of man, or kiss of woman?
Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

As man may, he fought his fight,
Proved his truth by his endeavor;
Let him sleep in solemn night,
Sleep forever and forever.
Lay him low, lay him low
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

Fold him in his country’s stars,
Roll the drum and fire the volley;
What to him are all our wars,
What but Death bemocking Folly?
Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

Leave him to God’s watching eye,
Trust him to the hand that made him.
Mortal love weeps idly by:
God alone has power to aid him.
Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? he cannot know:
Lay him low!

=Stanza 1.= =Jameson= (Charles Davis), a brigadier-general of volunteers who died in the service.

=Berry= (Hiram George), a major-general of volunteers, killed in the battle of Chancellorsville. See “Keenan’s Charge.”

=Birney= (David Bell), a major-general of volunteers, who succeeded General Berry after the fall of the latter at Chancellorsville. He died in the service.

25. AN UNKNOWN HERO. By William Gordon McCabe.

William Gordon McCabe was born in Richmond, Virginia, August 4,
1841. He served in various capacities in the Confederate army
throughout the Civil War, since the close of which he has been
active as an educator and as a writer upon educational and general
topics.

“After the battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia (July 1, 1862), a soldier was found dead fifty yards in advance of any officer or man, his musket firmly grasped in his rigid fingers,--name unknown,--simply ‘2 La.’ (Second Louisiana) on his cap.” Malvern Hill lies near the James River, about fifteen miles southeast of Richmond.

26. BARBARA FRIETCHIE. By John Greenleaf Whittier.

John Greenleaf Whittier, “the Quaker laureate of Puritan New
England,” and by some considered the most distinctively American
poet, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807.
Whittier was prominent among the anti-slavery agitators, and during
his early manhood gave much of his time and strength to the
interests of the cause. He took up his permanent residence at
Amesbury, Massachusetts, in 1840, and lived there, and at “Oak
Knoll,” in Danvers, during the remainder of his life. “Of all our
poets,” says Mr. Stedman, “he is the most natural balladist.” He is
seen at his best in such ballads as “Cassandra Southwick,” “Mary
Garvin,” and “The Wreck of Rivermouth,” and in the New England
pastoral, “Snowbound.” He died at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire,
September 7, 1892.

It was during the march of “Stonewall” Jackson’s command through Frederick City, Maryland, just before the battle of South Mountain, in September, 1862, that the incidents which inspired this poem are said to have occurred. Their truth having been questioned, Mr. Francis F. Browne appealed to Mr. Whittier, and in November, 1885, received from the poet the subjoined statement:--“Of the substantial truth of the heroism of Barbara Frietchie I can have no doubt. Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, the novelist, of Washington, sent me a slip from a newspaper stating the circumstance as it is given in the poem, and assured me of its substantial correctness. Dorothea L. Dix, the philanthropic worker in Union hospitals, confirmed it. From half a dozen other sources I had the account, and all agree in the main facts. Barbara Frietchie was the boldest and most outspoken Unionist in Frederick, and manifested it to the rebel army in an unmistakable manner.” In spite of Mr. Whittier’s belief in the truth of the incident, its authenticity has been seriously questioned in later years.

“Stonewall” Jackson (Thomas Jonathan), one of the most brilliant generals on either side in the Civil War, was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, January 21, 1824. He graduated at West Point, and was twice breveted in the war with Mexico. At the beginning of the Rebellion he took command of the Confederate troops at Harper’s Ferry. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Bull Run, where he gained the sobriquet “Stonewall” on account of the firm stand he made. After a series of brilliant victories, he was mortally wounded by some of his own men when returning from a reconnaissance after the battle of Chancellorsville. He died on the 10th of May, 1863.

=Line 10.= =Lee=, Robert Edward, the Commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces during the Civil War, was born at Stratford House in Virginia, the home of the Lees, on January 19, 1807. Like Jackson he was a West Point graduate, and like him served with distinguished bravery in the war with Mexico. At the close of the Rebellion, he was chosen president of Washington College, at Lexington, Virginia. His death occurred on October 12, 1870.

27. THE EAGLE OF CORINTH. By Henry Howard Brownell.

Henry Howard Brownell. See note on “The River Fight.”

The battle of Corinth was fought October 3d and 4th, 1862. The famous war-eagle of the poem was taken from a nest in Chippeway County, Wisconsin, by a Chippeway Indian, in July, 1861, and given by him to a farmer living near. A citizen of Eau Claire purchased the bird, and presented him to Company C, of the Eighth Wisconsin, with which he remained until the regiment was mustered out of active service. He was present at all of the battles in which the troops were engaged, and would fly over the enemy during the hottest of the fight, returning after a time to his perch upon a pole borne by one especially appointed for that duty. Whenever there was any cheering his wings were instantly outspread. At the battle of Corinth, the rebel general Price gave orders to capture or kill the eagle, saying that he was worth more than the whole brigade. The name by which the bird was universally known, “Old Abe,” was given him by Captain Wolf, of Company C, of the Eighth Wisconsin.

=Stanza 1. Price= (Stirling, 1809-1867), a Virginian who served the Confederate cause in the West and Southwest throughout the Civil War.

=Van Dorn= (=Earl=, 1820-1863), a Mississippian who rose to the rank of major-general in the Confederate service. He was shot and killed by a physician named Peters on account of some private grievance.

=Stanza 5.= =Robinett=, a fort erected by the Federal forces at Corinth.

28. READY. By Phœbe Cary.

Phœbe Cary, the younger of the Cary sisters, was born near
Cincinnati, Ohio, September 4, 1824, and died in Newport, Rhode
Island, July 31, 1873. Her best-known lyric is entitled “Nearer
Home.”

The incident described in this poem probably occurred some time during the first week in April, 1863, when there were several actions at Rodman’s Point. This point is a strip of land projecting into the Pimlico River about a mile and a half below Washington, North Carolina.

29. THE BATTLE OF CHARLESTON HARBOR. By Paul Hamilton Hayne.

Paul Hamilton Hayne, a nephew of the noted Senator Hayne, of South
Carolina, was born in Charleston, January 1, 1830. Most of his life
was devoted to literature, his best work being lyrics descriptive
of Southern scenery. He died at Copse Hill, Georgia, July 6, 1886.

The attack by the Union fleet upon the defenses of Charleston harbor occurred April 7, 1863.

The fort referred to in the fifth stanza is Moultrie.

30. KEENAN’S CHARGE. By George Parsons Lathrop.

George Parsons Lathrop, perhaps best known as a novelist, was born
in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, August 25, 1851, and died in New
York City, April 19, 1898.

During the second day of the battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, General Pleasanton was endeavoring to get twenty-two guns into a vital position as “Stonewall” Jackson made a sudden advance. Every instant’s delay was precious, at whatever cost it was purchased, so Pleasanton ordered Major Keenan, commanding the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry (four hundred strong), to charge the advancing ten thousand of the enemy.

General Alfred Pleasanton was born in Washington, D. C., June 7, 1824. He was a West Point graduate, and served in the Mexican War and in several Indian wars. He was the commander of the Union cavalry at the battle of Gettysburg.

Major Peter Keenan was born in York, New York, November 9, 1834. He was a resident of Philadelphia when the Civil War broke out, and assisted in recruiting the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry, in which he was made a captain. Having attained the rank of major, he was in command of his regiment at the battle of Chancellorsville, as above stated.

=Stanza 1.= “‘Stonewall’s’ Corps.” See “Barbara Frietchie.”

31. THE HERO OF THE GUN. By Margaret Junkin Preston.

Margaret Junkin Preston, a poet and prose writer who, though a
native of the North (born in Philadelphia, in 1825), has always
been identified with the South. She wrote many fine ballads. She
died in Baltimore, Maryland, March 28, 1897.

An incident of the Civil War which, though probably true, the son of the author is not able to identify.

32. AN INCIDENT OF WAR. By Maurice Thompson.

Maurice Thompson, poet, novelist, and journalist (brother of Will
Henry Thompson,--see “High Tide at Gettysburg” and “The Bond of
Blood”), was born in Fairfield, Indiana, September 9, 1844. His
boyhood was passed in Kentucky and Georgia, and he served in the
Confederate army throughout the Civil War, later engaging in the
practice of law at Crawfordsville, Indiana, his present home. He
was at one time the state geologist of Indiana. Mr. Thompson is a
nature-intimate, and his lyrics of “wild life” have a rare
freshness and charm.

Of “An Incident of War” the author says: “The poem has no exact model of fact; I got it out of my composite impression of war as I experienced it.”

33. THE BLACK REGIMENT. By George Henry Boker.

George Henry Boker, poet and diplomat, and perhaps best known as
the author of the play, “Francesca da Rimini,” was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1823. He was successively
United States Minister to Russia and Turkey. He died in
Philadelphia, January 2, 1890.

“The Black Regiment” commemorates the charge of the First and Third Louisiana Native Guards at Port Hudson, May 27, 1863. Of the bearing of the negro soldiers in that action General Banks spoke in the highest terms in reporting to General Halleck. “Their conduct,” he wrote, “was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring. They made, during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy losses, and holding their position at nightfall with the other troops on the right of our line. The highest commendation is bestowed upon them by all the officers in command on the right.”

In her “Camp-Fire and Memorial Poems,” Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood (see note on “Thomas at Chickamauga”) has paid an eloquent tribute to the valor of the “Black Regiment.”

34. GREENCASTLE JENNY. By Helen Gray Cone.

Helen Gray Cone, one of the most gifted of our women poets of
to-day, was born in New York City, March 8, 1859. She is a member
of the faculty of the Normal College of New York City.

The story of “Greencastle Jenny” was told by Colonel William R. Aylett, who succeeded General Armistead (see “High Tide at Gettysburg”) as commander of his brigade, at a reunion of the Blue and Grey at Gettysburg, in 1887. Miss Cone believes that the girl’s name is not known.

Greencastle is a small town in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, not far from the Maryland line.

=Stanza 1.= =Longstreet= (James, 1821-), a prominent Confederate general, by some considered the hardest fighter in the rebel service. He served in Mexico, and was active all through the Rebellion. At Gettysburg it is said he endeavored to dissuade Lee from ordering Pickett’s famous charge.

=Stanza 3.= =Pickett= (George Edward, 1825-1875), one of the most gallant Confederate generals. His charge at Gettysburg is historic, and was “the most brilliant feat of arms performed by the Confederates on any field.”

35. JOHN BURNS OF GETTYSBURG. By (Francis) Bret Harte.

(Francis) Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, August 25, 1839.
The years of his early manhood were passed in California. It was in
San Francisco, while he was the editor of the _Overland_ _Monthly_
that the publication of “The Luck of Roaring Camp” and “The Heathen
Chinee” established his reputation. He has been United States
Consul at Crefeld, Germany, and at Glasgow, Scotland. He resigned
the latter post in 1885, since when he has resided in and near
London.

The following statement, made by a Union officer who served in the Eleventh Corps at the battle of Gettysburg, is taken from Mr. Francis F. Browne’s “Bugle Echoes”:--“During the first day’s fight an old man, in a swallow-tailed coat and battered cylinder hat, came stalking across the fields from the town, and made his appearance at Colonel Stone’s position. With a musket in his hand, and ammunition in his pocket, this venerable citizen asked Colonel Wister’s permission to fight. Wister directed him to go over to the Iron Brigade, where he would be sheltered by the woods; but the old man insisted on going forward to the skirmish line. He was allowed to do so, and continued firing until the skirmishers retired, when he was the last man to leave. He afterward fought with the Iron Brigade, where he was three times wounded. This patriotic and heroic citizen was Constable John Burns, of Gettysburg.”

The battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1, 2, and 3, 1863.

=Line 11.= =Lee.= See “Barbara Frietchie.”

=l. 14.= =Meade= (George Gordon, 1815-1872), the commander of the Union army at Gettysburg. He served in the Mexican and Seminole Wars, and distinguished himself at Antietam and Fredericksburg. He was at the head of various military departments after the war.

=l. 100.= =Navarre.= See Macaulay’s ballad, “Ivry.”

36. HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG. By Will Henry Thompson.

Will Henry Thompson (brother of Maurice Thompson; see “An Incident
of War,” and “The Ballad of a Little Fun”), a lawyer and poet
residing in Seattle, Washington, was born in Calhoun county,
Georgia, March 10, 1848. Mr. Thompson was a Confederate soldier,
and his “High Tide at Gettysburg” is one of the finest poems
inspired by the Civil War.

“High Tide at Gettysburg,” the day of Pickett’s charge, was the last day of that memorable battle, July 3, 1863.

=Stanza 2.= =Lee.= See “Barbara Frietchie.”

=Pickett.= See “Greencastle Jenny.”

=Stanza 3.= =Shiloh.= See “Johnston at Shiloh.”

=Chickamauga.= See “Thomas at Chickamauga.”

=Stanza 4.= =Pettigrew=, (James Johnson) a Confederate brigadier-general who was mortally wounded in Pickett’s charge. He was a native of North Carolina (1828-1863).

=Waterloo.= June 18, 1815.

=Stanza 5.= =Kemper= (James Lamson, 1823-), a Confederate brigadier-general, severely wounded and captured at Gettysburg. He has been governor of Virginia.

=Garnett= (Richard Brooke, 1819-1863), a Confederate brigadier-general who fell at Gettysburg.

=Armistead= (Lewis Addison, 1817-1863), a Confederate brigadier-general in Pickett’s division, who was mortally wounded in the famous charge.

=Stanza 7.= =Doubleday= (Abner, 1819-1893), a Federal major-general of volunteers, whose division was active in repulsing Pickett’s charge. It was he who fired the first gun in defense of Fort Sumter.

For another rendering of this battle in verse see Edmund Clarence Stedman’s “Gettysburg” (Complete Poems.).

37. THOMAS AT CHICKAMAUGA. By Kate Brownlee Sherwood.

Kate Brownlee Sherwood, a poet and journalist of Toledo, Ohio, who
has written a number of successful war lyrics and memorial poems,
was born in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1841.

The battle of Chickamauga (Tennessee) was fought on the 19th and 20th of September, 1863. General George Henry Thomas, “the rock of Chickamauga,” who saved the day for the Federal forces, and made the Confederate victory a barren one, was a Virginian by birth (1816). He served in Florida and Mexico. It was he who was in command at Mission Ridge, and who overthrew the last Confederate army in the southwest. He was also in the Atlanta campaign. It has been said of him that he was the beau-ideal of a soldier and a gentleman. Among Federal generals he ranks after Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. He was in command of the military division of the Pacific when he died at San Francisco, March 28, 1870. The sobriquet “Pap” was spontaneously given Thomas by the soldiers of his command on account of the fatherly interest he took in them.

=l. 5.= =Hooker= (Joseph, 1814-1879), a distinguished Union general, who was nicknamed “Fighting Joe” by the soldiers for his courage under fire. He participated in some of the most important battles of the Rebellion, and was at one time in command of the Army of the Potomac.

=l. 33.= =Bragg= (Braxton, 1817-1876), a well-known rebel general who was in command of the Confederate forces at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga.

=l. 42.= =Steedman= (James Barrett, 1818-1883), a Pennsylvanian who was public printer at Washington during Buchanan’s administration. He was in command of the first division of the reserve corps of the Army of the Cumberland at Chickamauga, and reënforced Thomas at the most critical moment in the battle.

38. THE SMALLEST OF THE DRUMS. By James Buckham.

James Buckham, a well-known contributor to the periodicals of the
day, was born in Burlington, Vermont, November 25, 1858.

The author states that this poem was suggested by a newspaper paragraph.

=Stanza 3.= =Sherman= (William Tecumseh), the eighteenth general-in-chief of the United States army, famous for his “march to the sea,” was born in Lancaster, Ohio, February 8, 1820. He was Grant’s most efficient assistant at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga. He visited Europe in 1872, and was everywhere received with distinguished honor. In 1874 he retired from the command of the army to make room for Sheridan. He died in New York City, February 14, 1891. See “Sherman, an Horatian Ode,” by Louise Imogen Guiney (“A Roadside Harp”), and “General Sherman,” by H. C. Bunner (Complete Poems).

=Stanza 4.= =Chickamauga.= See “Thomas at Chickamauga.”

39. LITTLE GIFFEN. By Francis Orrery Ticknor.

Francis Orrery Ticknor, a physician, and the author of several
lyrics of the Civil War very popular in the South, was a native of
Georgia, and died near Columbus, in that State, in 1874. A
posthumous volume of his poems was issued in 1879, with an
introduction by Paul H. Hayne.

The hero of this poem was Isaac Giffen, a native of the mountainous region of East Tennessee. He had been terribly wounded at Murfreesboro, and was taken by Dr. Ticknor and his wife into their own home. He fell in one of the battles before Atlanta.

=Stanza 5.= “Johnson pressed at the front, they say.” Probably General Joseph Eggleston Johnston, is meant.

40. ULRIC DAHLGREN. By Kate Brownlee Sherwood.

Kate Brownlee Sherwood. See note on “Thomas at Chickamauga.”

Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, the son of Admiral Dahlgren, distinguished himself while serving upon the staffs of General Hooker, General Sigel, and General Meade, lost a leg at Gettysburg, and while on crutches led an expedition to free the Union prisoners in Libby prison at Richmond, during which he was ambushed and slain, on the night of March 2, 1864. He was twenty-two years of age.

41. FARRAGUT. By William Tuckey Meredith.

William Tuckey Meredith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
June 16, 1839. He served with Farragut at the battle of Mobile Bay,
and was afterward the admiral’s secretary. He subsequently became a
banker in New York City.

The battle of Mobile Bay was fought August 5, 1864. See “Craven,” below.

=Farragut.= See note on “The River Fight.”

=Stanza 2.= =Morgan=, a Confederate fort.

42. LEE TO THE REAR. By John Randolph Thompson.

John Randolph Thompson, journalist and poet, was born in Richmond,
Virginia, October 23, 1823. He abandoned the law to devote himself
to literature, and for a dozen years successfully edited the
_Southern Literary Messenger_. After the Civil War he was for a
time literary editor of the New York _Evening Post_. He died in New
York City, April 30, 1873.

The incident described in the poem is authentic. For LEE, See “Barbara Frietchie.”

=Stanza 1.= THE WILDERNESS is a region a few miles south of the Rapidan river, in Virginia, memorable for the dreadful battle fought there between the Federal army under Grant and the Confederate forces under Lee on the 5th and 6th of May, 1864.

=Mendelssohn=, the famous German composer, 1809-1847.

=Stanza 4.= =Grant= (Ulysses Simpson, 1822-1885), the eighteenth president of the United States, and the most distinguished Federal general in the War of the Rebellion. Grant’s most celebrated battles were Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and the conflicts in the Wilderness and before Richmond, which culminated in the surrender of Lee. See “Grant,” by H. C. Bunner (Complete Poems); “On the Death of an Invincible Soldier,” by E. C. Stedman (“Poems Now First Collected”); and “Great Captain, Glorious in Our Wars,” by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (Complete Poems).

43. CRAVEN. By Henry Newbolt.

Henry Newbolt, an English lawyer and poet, was born in Bilston,
England, June 6, 1862. His best work is to be found in the volume
entitled “Admirals All.”

=Craven= (Tunis Augustus Macdonough), the “Sidney of the American navy,” was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in January, 1813. He entered the navy at sixteen, and was a commander at the opening of the Civil War. As captain of the monitor _Tecumseh_, which had been given the post of honor, and was leading the fleet, he met his death in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864.

=Stanza 8.= =Sidney= (Sir Philip, poet, soldier, and statesman. 1554-1586.) The reference is to the well-known story of Sidney’s refusing a cup of water, when lying mortally wounded on the battle-field of Zutphen, in order to give it to a wounded soldier.

=Nelson.= See “Fight of the _Armstrong_ Privateer.” The reference here is to the battle of the Nile, where Nelson was severely wounded.