Chapter C: S. a

BY FATHER ABRAM J. RYAN.

Do we weep for the heroes who died for us,
Who, living, were true and tried for us,
And, dying, sleep side by side for us;
The martyr band
That hallowed our land
With the blood they shed in a tide for us?

Ah! fearless on many a day for us,
They stood in the front of the fray for us,
And held the foeman at bay for us;
And tears should fall
Fore'er o'er all
Who fell while wearing the gray for us.

How many a glorious name for us,
How many a story of fame for us
They left: Would it not be a blame for us
If their memories part
From our land and heart,
And a wrong to them, and a shame for us?

No, no, no! they were brave for us,
And bright were the lives they gave for us;
The land they struggled to save for us
Will not forget
Its warriors yet
Who sleep in so many a grave for us.

On many and many a plain for us
Their blood poured down all in vain for us,
Red, rich, and pure, like a rain for us;
They bleed--we weep,
We live--they sleep,
"All lost," the only refrain for us.

But their memories e'er shall remain for us,
And their names, bright names, without stain for us;
The glory they won shall not wane for us,
In legend and lay
Our heroes in gray
Shall forever live over again for us.

THE SWEET SOUTH.

BY WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS.

O the sweet South! the sunny, sunny South!
Land of true feeling, land forever mine!
I drink the kisses of her rosy mouth,
And my heart swells as with a draught of wine;
She brings me blessings of maternal love;
I have her smile which hallows all my toil;
Her voice persuades, her generous smiles approve,
She sings me from the sky and from the soil!
O, by her lonely pines that wave and sigh!
O, by her myriad flowers, that bloom and fade,
By all the thousand beauties of her sky,
And the sweet solace of her forest shade,
She's mine--she's ever mine--
Nor will I aught resign
Of what she gives me, mortal or divine;
Will sooner part
With life, hope, heart--
Will die--before I fly!

O, love is hers--such love as ever glows
In souls where leap affection's living tide;
She is all fondness to her friends; to foes
She glows a thing of passion, strength, and pride;
She feels no tremors when the danger's nigh,
But the fight over and the victory won,
How, with strange fondness, turns her loving eye
In tearful welcome on each gallant son!
O! by her virtues of the cherished past--
By all her hopes of what the future brings--
I glory that my lot with her is cast,
And my soul flushes and exulting sings;
She's mine--she's ever mine--
For her will I resign
All precious things--all placed upon her shrine;
Will freely part
With life, hope, heart--
Will die--do aught but fly!

THE SOUTHERN CROSS.[19]

BY MRS. ELLEN KEY BLUNT.

In the name of God! Amen!
Stand for our Southern rights!
Arm, ye Southern men,
The God of Battle fights!
Fling the invaders far,
Hurl back their work of woe,
The voice is the voice of a brother,
But the hands are the hands of a foe.
They come with a trampling army,
Invading our native sod--
Stand, Southrons! fight and conquer!
In the name of the Mighty God!

They're singing _our_ song of triumph[20]
Which was made to make us free,
While they're breaking away the heartstrings
Of our nation's harmony.
Sadly it floateth from us,
Sighing o'er land and wave,
Till mute on the lips of the poet,
It sleeps in his Southern grave.
Spirit and song departed!
Minstrel and minstrelsy!
We mourn thee, heavy-hearted,
But we will, we shall be free!

They are waving _our_ flag above us,
With a despot's tyrant will;
With our blood they have stained its colors,
And call it holy still.
With tearful eyes, but steady hand,
We'll tear its stripes apart,
And fling them like broken fetters,
That may not bind the heart;
But we'll save our stars of glory,
In the might of the sacred sign
Of Him who has fixed forever
Our Southern Cross to shine.

Stand, Southrons! stand and conquer!
Solemn and strong and sure!
The strife shall not be longer
Than God shall bid endure.
By the life which only yesterday
Came with the infant's breath,
By the feet which ere the morn may
Tread to the soldier's death!
By the blood which cries to Heaven!
Crimson upon our sod!
Stand, Southrons! stand and conquer!
In the name of the Mighty God!

PARIS, 1862.

PATRIOTISM.

The holy fire that nerved the Greek
To make his stand at Marathon,
Until the last red foeman's shriek
Proclaimed that Freedom's fight was won,
Still lives unquenched--unquenchable!
Through every age its fires will burn--
Lives in the hermit's lonely cell,
And springs from every storied urn!

The hearthstone embers hold the spark
Where fell Oppression's foot hath trod;
Through Superstition's shadow dark
It flashes to the living God!
From Moscow's ashes spring the Russ;
In Warsaw Poland lives again;
Schamyl, on frosty Caucasus,
Strikes Liberty's electric chain!

Tell's freedom-beacon lights the Swiss;
Vainly the invader ever strives;
He finds "Sic Semper Tyrannis"
In San Jacinto's bowie-knives!
Than these--than all--a holier fire
Now burns thy soul, Virginia's son!
Strike then for wife, babe, gray-haired sire;
Strike for the grave of Washington!

The Northern rabble aims for greed;
The hireling parson goads the train--
In that foul crop from bigot seed,
Old "Praise God Barebones" howls again!
We welcome them to "Southern lands"--
We welcome them to "Southern slaves"--
We welcome them "with bloody hands
To hospitable Southern graves!"

SONG FOR THE MARYLAND LINE.

BY J. D. M'CABE, JR.

By old Potomac's rushing tide
Our bayonets are gleaming;
And o'er the bounding waters wide
We gaze while tears are streaming.
The distant hills of Maryland
Rise sadly up before us,
And tyrant bands have chained our land--
Our mother, proud, that bore us.

Our proud old mother's queenly head
Is bowed in subjugation;
With her children's blood her soil is red,
And fiends in exultation
Taunt her with shame as they bind her chains,
While her heart is torn with anguish;
Old mother, on famed Manassas's plains
Our vengeance did not languish!

We thought of your wrongs as on we rushed,
'Mid shot and shell appalling;
We heard your voice as it upward gushed
From the Maryland life-blood falling.
No pity we knew! Did they mercy show
When they bound the mother that bore us?
But we scattered death 'mid the dastard foe,
Till they, shrieking, fled before us!

We mourn for our brothers brave, that fell
On that field, so stern and gory;
But their spirits rose with our triumph-yell
To the heavenly realms of glory.
And their bodies rest on the hard-won field--
By their love so true and tender;
We'll keep the prize they would not yield,
We'll die, but we'll not surrender.

And, mother, we wait but the signal-blast,
To rush to redeem thy glory;
We may fall, but our conquering dust shall rest
On thy soil, so famed in story.
The tyrant's flag shall no longer shine,
Thy liberty to smother,
When the word is passed to the Maryland Line,
To strike for their loved old mother.

CONFEDERATE LAND.

BY H. H. STRAWBRIDGE.

States of the South! Confederate land!
Our foe has come--the hour is nigh;
His bale-fires rise on every hand--
Rise as one man, to do or die!
From mountain, vale, and prairie wide,
From forest vast, and field, and glen,
And crowded city, pour thy tide,
Oh! fervid South! of patriot men.
Up! old and young; the weak, be strong!
Rise for the right--hurl back the wrong,
And foot to foot, and hand to hand,
Strike for our own Confederate land!

Make every house, and rock, and tree,
And hill, your forts; and fen and flood
Yield not! our soil shall rather be
One waste of flame, one sea of blood!
Fear not their steel, but fear their gold--
Not Yankee force, but Yankee fraud;
Trust not the race--as false as cold--
Whose very prayers are lies to God.
Up! old and young, etc.

Armed, or unarmed, stand fearless forth,
Sons of the South! stand, wife and maid!
Against the foul insidious North,
Our _babes_ shall wield the battle-blade!
On! though perennial be the strife,
For honor dear, for hearth-stone fire;
Give blow for blow! take life for life!
"Strike! till the last armed foe expire!"
Up! old and young, etc.

THE BANNER SONG.

BY JAMES B. MARSHALL.

Up, up with the banner, the foe is before us,
His bayonets bristle, his sword is unsheathed,
Charge, charge on his line with harmonious chorus,
For the prayers go with us that beauty has breathed.

He fights for the power of despot and plunder,
While we are defending our altars and homes;
He has riven the firmly-knit Union asunder,
And to bind it with Tyranny's fetters he comes.
Like the prophet Mokanna, whose veil so resplendent,
His monstrous deformity closely concealed,
Duplicity marks Lincoln's course, and dependent
On falsehood is every fair promise revealed.

When that veil shall be raised, Freedom's last feast be taken,
A banquet to which all his followers will crowd;
Oh, horror of horrors! who can view it unshaken?
Without sense they will sit all in suppliance bowed!
We do not forget that they once were our brothers,
That we sat in our boyhood around the same board,
That our heart's best idolatry blest the same mothers,
And to the same fathers libations we poured.

We rallied around the same star-spangled standard,
When called to the field by the tocsin of war:
But they from our side have unfeeling wandered,
And we strip from our flag every recusant star.
They have forced us to stand by our own Constitution,
To defend our lov'd homesteads, our altars and fires,
While they tamely submit to a tyrant's pollution,
Beneath whose foul tread their own freedom expires.

Then up with the banner, its broad stripes wide flowing--
'Tis the emblem of Liberty--flag of the free;
Let it wave us to triumph, and every heart glowing,
Nerve each arm's bravest blow for its lov'd Tennessee.

THE SOUTHERN HOMES IN RUINS.

BY R. B. VANCE.

Many a gray-haired sire has died,
As falls the oak, to rise no more,
Because his son, his prop, his pride,
Breathed out his last all red with gore.
No more on earth, at morn, at eve,
Shall age and youth, entwined as one--
Nor father, son, for either grieve--
Life's work, alas, for both is done!

Many a mother's heart has bled
While gazing on her darling child,
As in its tiny eyes she read
The father's image, kind and mild;
For ne'er again his voice will cheer
The widowed heart, which mourns him dead;
Nor kisses dry the scalding tear,
Fast falling on the orphan's head!

Many a little form will stray
Adown the glen and o'er the hill,
And watch with wistful looks the way
For him whose step is missing still;
And when the twilight steals apace
O'er mead, and brook, and lonely home,
And shadows cloud the dear, sweet face--
The cry will be, "Oh, papa, come!"

And many a home's in ashes now,
Where joy was once a constant guest,
And mournful groups there are, I trow,
With neither house nor place of rest;
And blood is on the broken _sill_,[21]
Where happy feet went to and fro,
And everywhere, by field and hill,
Are sickening sights and sounds of woe;

There is a God who rules on high,
The widow's and the orphan's friend,
Who sees each tear and hears each sigh
That these lone hearts to Him may send!
And when in wrath He tears away
The reasons vain which men indite,
The record-book will plainest say
Who's in the wrong, and who is right.

'TIS MIDNIGHT IN THE SOUTHERN SKY.

BY MRS. M. J. YOUNG.

'Tis midnight in the Southern sky--
See the starry cross decline!
The watching flowers, all bath'd in tears,
Creep o'er the mournful sign!

But that decline but serves to mark
A bright and glorious hour,
Whose gleaming splendors shall then crown
With stars the simplest flower!

A day that in its turn shall tell
Of the starry cross uprighted!
Then weep not--ev'ry change is well--
All wrongs shall be requited!

"STACK ARMS."

BY JOSEPH BLYTHE ALSTON.[22]

"Stack arms!" I've gladly heard the cry,
When, weary with the dusty tread
Of marching troops, as night grew nigh,
And sank upon my soldier bed,
And calmly slept; the starry dome
Of heaven's blue arch my canopy,
And mingled with my dreams of home,
The thoughts of Peace and Liberty.

"Stack arms!" I've heard it, when the shout,
Exulting, rang along our line,
Of foes hurled back in bloody rout,
Captured, dispersed; its tones divine
Then came to mine enraptured ear,
Guerdon of duty nobly done,
And glistened on my cheek the tear
Of grateful joy for victory won.

"Stack arms!" In faltering accents, slow
And sad, it creeps from tongue to tongue,
A broken, murmuring wail of woe,
From manly hearts by anguish wrung.
Like victims of a midnight dream,
We move, we know not how nor why,
For life and hope but phantoms seem,
And it would be relief--to die.

THE INVOCATION.

BY B. W. W.

God bless the land of flowers,
And turn its winter hours
To bright summer time!
Be the brave soldier's friend,
And from dangers defend,
When Northern balls descend
On the Southern line!

Father, we implore Thee,
Let Thy people go free
From their foes once more!
And they will bend the knee,
And Thine the praise shall be,
On sunny land and sea,
As in days of yore!

Lord, bid the carnage cease,
Let the banner of peace
Again be unfurled!
Two nations make from one,
And when the work is done,
Over both reign alone--
Saviour of the world!

DOFFING THE GRAY.

BY LIEUTENANT FALLIGANT.

Off with your gray suits, boys,
Off with your rebel gear!
They smack too much of the cannon's peal,
The lightning flash of your deadly steel,
The terror of your spear.

Their color is like the smoke
That curled o'er your battle-line;
They call to mind the yell that woke
When the dastard columns before you broke,
And their dead were your fatal sign.

Off with the starry wreath,
Ye who have led our van;
To you 'twas the pledge of glorious death,
When we followed you over the gory heath,
Where we whipped them man to man.

Down with the cross of stars--
Too long hath it waved on high;
'Tis covered all over with battle-scars,
But its gleam the Northern banner mars--
'Tis time to lay it by.

Down with the vows we've made,
Down with each memory--
Down with the thoughts of our noble dead--
Down, down to the dust, where their forms are laid,
And down with Liberty.

THE CONFEDERATE FLAG.

BY FATHER A. J. RYAN.

Take that banner down, 'tis weary,
Round its staff 'tis drooping dreary,
Furl it, hide it, let it rest;
For there's not a man to wave it--
For there's not a soul to lave it
In the blood that heroes gave it.
Furl it, hide it, let it rest.

Take that banner down, 'tis tattered;
Broken is its staff, and shattered;
And the valiant hearts are scattered
Over whom it floated high.
Oh! 'tis hard for us to fold it--
Hard to think there's none to hold it--
Hard that those who once unrolled it
Now must furl it with a sigh.

Furl that banner, furl it sadly;
Once six millions hailed it gladly,
And three hundred thousand madly,
Swore it should forever wave--
Swore that foeman's sword should never
Hearts like theirs entwined dissever--
That their flag should float forever
O'er their freedom or their grave!

Furl it, for the hands that grasped it,
And the hearts that fondly clasped it,
Cold and dead are lying low;
And that banner--it is trailing,
While around it sounds the wailing
Of its people in their woe;
For though conquered, they adore it,
Love the cold, dead hands that bore it,
Weep for those who fell before it--
Oh! how wildly they deplore it,
Now to furl and fold it so!

Furl that banner; true 'tis gory,
But 'tis wreathed around with glory,
And 'twill live in song and story,
Though its folds are in the dust;
For its fame, on brightest pages--
Sung by poets, penned by sages--
Shall go sounding down to ages--
Furl its folds though now we must.

Furl that banner--softly, slowly;
Furl it gently, it is holy,
For it droops above the dead.
Touch it not, unfurl it never,
Let it droop there, furled forever,
For its people's hopes are fled.

FOLD IT UP CAREFULLY.

Gallant nation, foiled by numbers,
Say not that your hopes are fled;
Keep that glorious flag which slumbers,
One day to avenge your dead.

Keep it till your children take it,
Once again to hail and make it
All their sires have bled and fought for,
All their noble hearts have sought for,
Bled and fought for all alone.
All alone! aye, shame the story,
Millions here deplore the stain,
Shame, alas! for England's glory,
Freedom called, and called in vain.

Furl that banner, sadly, slowly,
Treat it gently, for 'tis holy:
'Till that day--yes, furl it sadly,
Then once more unfurl it gladly--
Conquered Banner--keep it still![23]

WHY CAN NOT WE BE BROTHERS?

BY CLARENCE PRENTICE.

Why can not we be brothers? the battle now is o'er;
We've laid our bruis'd arms on the field, to take them up no more;
We who have fought you hard and long, now overpower'd stand
As poor defenseless prisoners in our own native land.
_Chorus_--We know that we are Rebels,
And we don't deny the name,
We speak of that which we have done
With grief, but not with shame.

But we have rights most sacred, by solemn compact bound,
Seal'd by the blood that freely gush'd from many a ghastly wound;
When Lee gave up his trusty sword, and his men laid down their arms,
It was that they should live at home, secure from war's dire harms.

And surely, since we've now disarm'd, we are not to be dreaded;
Our old chiefs, who on many fields our trusty columns headed,
Are fast within an iron grasp, and manacled with chains,
Perchance, 'twixt dreary walls to stay as long as life remains!

Oh! shame upon the coward band, who in the conflict dire,
Went not to battle for their cause, 'mid the ranks of steel and fire,
Yet now, since all the fighting's done, are hourly heard to cry:
"Down with the traitors! hang them all, each Rebel dog shall die!"

We know that we were Rebels, we don't deny the name,
We speak of that which we have done with grief, but not with shame!
And we never will acknowledge that the blood the South has spilt,
Was shed defending what we deem'd a cause of wrong and guilt.

REUNITED.

BY FATHER ABRAM J. RYAN.[24]

Purer than thy own white snow,
Nobler than thy mountain's height,
Deeper than the ocean's flow,
Stronger than thy own proud might;
Oh! Northland, to thy sister land
Was late thy mercy's generous deed and grand.

Nigh twice ten years the sword was sheathed;
Its mist of green o'er battle plain
For nigh two decades spring had breathed;
And yet the crimson life-blood stain
From passive swards had never paled,
Nor fields, where all were brave and some had failed.

Between the Northland, bride of snow,
And Southland, brightest sun's fair bride,
Swept, deepening ever in its flow,
The stormy wake, in war's dark tide:
No hand might clasp across the tears,
And blood, and anguish of four deathless years.

When summer, like a rose in bloom,
Had blossomed from the bud of spring,
Oh! who could deem the dews of doom
Upon the blushing lips could cling?
And who could believe its fragrant light
Would e'er be freighted with the breath of blight?

Yet o'er the Southland crept the spell,
That e'en from out its brightness spread;
And prostrate, powerless, she fell,
Rachel-like, amid her dead.
Her bravest, fairest, purest, best,
The waiting grave would welcome, as its guest.

The Northland, strong in love, and great,
Forgot the stormy days of strife;
Forgot that souls with dreams of hate,
Or unforgiveness, e'er were rife.
Forgotten was each thought and hushed,
Save--she was generous and her foe was crushed.

No hand might clasp, from land to land;
Yea! there was one to bridge the tide;
For at the touch of Mercy's hand
The North and South stood side by side:
The Bride of Snow, the Bride of Sun,
In Charity's espousals are made one.

"Thou givest back my sons again,"
The Southland to the Northland cries;
"For all my dead, on battle plain,
Thou biddest my dying now uprise:
I still my sobs, I cease my tears,
And thou hast recompensed my anguished years.

"Blessings on thine every wave,
Blessings on thine every shore,
Blessings that from sorrows save,
Blessings giving more and more,
For all thou gavest thy sister land,
Oh! Northland, in thy generous deed and grand."

INDEX.

A Ballad of the War. George Herbert Sass, 179.

A Cry to Arms. Henry Timrod, 72.

"A. M. W.," 68.

Address of the Women to the Southern Troops. Mrs. Jane T. H. Cross, 160.

Alexandria, The Martyr of, 36.

Alston, Joseph Blythe, of South Carolina, 305.

A New Red, White, and Blue. Jeff Thompson, 153.

Antrobur, John, 196.

A Poem for the Times. John R. Thompson, 5.

A Poem which Needs no Dedication. James Barron Hope, 264.

"A Rebel," 92.

Arise. C. G. Poynas, 20.

Arm for the Southern Land. Mirabeau B. Lamar, 235.

"A Soldier's Wife," 256.

"Atlanta Confederacy," 62.

Ballard, Sallie E., of Texas, 44.

Band in the Pines, The. John Esten Cooke, 230.

Banner Song, The. James B. Marshall, 299.

Barrick, J. R., of Kentucky, 192.

Battle-field of Manassas, The. M. F. Bigney, 98.

Battle at Bull Run, The. "Ruth," 137.

Battle-Call. Annie Chambers Ketchum, 131.

Beaufort, F. P., 108.

Beauregard Songster, The, 171.

Bell, Maurice, 190.

Beyond the Potomac. Paul H. Hayne, 204.

Bigney, M. F., 98, 126.

Blue Cockade, The. Mary Walsingham Crean, 83.

Blunt, Mrs. Ellen Key, 292.

Bombardment of Vicksburg. Paul H. Hayne, 278.

Bonnie Blue Flag, The. Harry Macarthy, 135.

Box, Rev. A. M., 78.

Boy-Soldier, The. A Lady of Savannah, 284.

Burgess, G. T., 172.

Burn the Cotton. "Estelle," 211.

"B. W. W.," 306.

Call All! Call All! "Georgia," 31.

Canedo, Mrs. Margarita J., 199.

"Caroline," 23.

Cavaliers of Dixie, The. Benj. F. Porter, 162.

"Charleston Mercury," 23.

Chivalrous C. S. A. "B.," 96.

Civile Bellum. "The Once United States," 271.

"C. L. S.," 175.

Confederate Flag, The. J. R. Barrick, 192.

Confederate Flag, The. Mrs. C. D. Elder, 222.

Confederate Flag, The. Father A. J. Ryan, 309.

Confederate Land. By H. H. Strawbridge, 298.

"Confederate Prisoner," 226.

Confederate Song. Capt. E. Lloyd Wailes, 109.

Cooke, John Esten, 230.

"Cora," 252.

Crean, Mary Walsingham, 83.

Cross, Mrs. J. T. H., 160.