Chapter I: Front Matter

POEMS OF AMERICAN PATRIOTISM

CHOSEN BY BRANDER MATTHEWS

AN EDITION REVISED AND EXTENDED

ILLUSTRATED BY N.C. WYETH

TO THE MEMORY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT

PREFATORY NOTE

An attempt has been made in the present collection to gather together the patriotic poems of America, those which depict feelings as well as those which describe actions, since these latter are as indicative of the temper of the time. It is a collection, for the most part, of old favorites, for Americans have been quick to take to heart a stirring telling of a daring and noble deed; but these may be found to have gained freshness by a grouping in order. The arrangement is chronological so far as it might be, that the history of America as told by her poets should be set forth. Here and there occur breaks in the story, chiefly because there are fit incidents for song which no poet has fitly sung as yet.

The poems have been printed scrupulously from the best accessible text, and they have not been tinkered in any way, though some few have been curtailed slightly for the sake of space. In a few cases, where the whole poem has not fallen within the scope of this volume, only a fragment is here given. When this has been done, it is pointed out. Brief notes have been prefixed to many of the poems, making plain the occasion of their origin, and removing any chance obscurity of allusion.

NEW YORK, November, 1882.

In the two score years since this collection was prepared many things have happened, and many poets have been in-spired to celebrate men and moods and deeds. It has been found necessary to omit a few of the less important verses in the earlier edition to make room for the most significant of the lyric commemorations of events almost contemporary, and therefore appealing to us more immediately, and perhaps more poignantly.

B. M.

July 4, 1922.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BOSTON, Ralph Waldo Emerson

PAUL REVERE'S RIDE, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, Sidney Lanier

HYMN, Ralph Waldo Emerson

TICONDEROGA, V. B. Wilson

GRANDMOTHER'S STORY OF BUNKER HILL BATTLE, Oliver Wendell Holmes

WARREN'S ADDRESS, John Pierpont

THE OLD CONTINENTALS, Guy Humphrey McMaster

NATHAN HALE, Francis Miles Finch

THE LITTLE BLACK-EYED REBEL, Will Carleton

MOLLY MAGUIRE AT MONMOUTH, William Collins

SONG OF MARION'S MEN, William Cullen Bryant

TO THE MEMORY OF THE AMERICANS WHO FELL AT EUTAW, Philip Freneau

GEORGE WASHINGTON, James Russell Lowell

PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE, James Gates Percival

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER, Francis Scott Key

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, Thomas Dunn English

THE AMERICAN FLAG, Joseph Rodman Drake

OLD IRONSIDES, Oliver Wendell Holmes

MONTEREY, Charles Fenno Hoff man

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD, Theodore O'Hara

HOW OLD BROWN TOOK HARPER'S FERRY, Edmund Clarence Stedman

APOCALYPSE, Richard Realf

THE PICKET GUARD, Ethel Lynn Beers

THE WASHERS OF THE SHROUD, James Russell Lowell

BATTLE-HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC, Julia Ward Howe

AT PORT ROYAL, John Greenleaf Whittier

READY, Phoebe Gary

"HOW ARE YOU, SANITARY?", Bret Harte

SONG OF THE SOLDIERS, Charles G. Halpine

JONATHAN TO JOHN, James Russell Lowell

THE CUMBERLAND, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

KEARNY AT SEVEN PINES, Edmund Clarence Stedman

DIRGE FOR A SOLDIER, George H. Boker

BARBARA FRIETCHIE, John Greenleaf Whittier

FREDERICKSBURG, Thomas Bailey Aldrich

MUSIC IN CAMP, John R. Thompson

KEENAN'S CHARGE, George Parsons Lathrop

THE BLACK REGIMENT, George H. Boker

JOHN BURNS OF GETTYSBURG, Bret Harte

TWILIGHT ON SUMTER, Richard Henry Stoddard

THE BAY-FIGHT, Henry Howard Brownell

SHERIDAN'S RIDE, Thomas Buchanan Read

CRAVEN, Henry Newbolt

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA, Samuel H. M. Byers

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!, Walt Whitman

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, James Russell Lowell

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY, Francis Miles Finch

AT THE FARRAGUT STATUE, Robert Bridges

GRANT, H. C. Bunner

THE BURIAL OF SHERMAN, Richard Watson Gilder

THE MEN BEHIND THE GUNS, John Jerome Rooney

THE REGULAR ARMY MAN, Joseph C. Lincoln

WHEN THE GREAT GRAY SHIPS COME IN, Guy Wetmore Carryl

AD FINEM FIDELES, Guy Wetmore Carry

GROVER CLEVELAND, Joel Benton

A TOAST TO OUR NATIVE LAND, Robert Bridges

FIFTY YEARS, James Weldon Johnson

THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS, Marie Van Vorst