Chapter II: The Historical Development of the Southern War Poetry (7)

“‘These are my jewels,’ said a Roman dame,
Long years ago.--Virginia says the same,”--

_The Virginia’s Knocking Around_: By M., Baltimore, March 30,
1863. (Md. Hist. B.)

“’Twas on a windy night in March,
In a chamber lone at Washington”--

_Virginia’s Message to the Southern States_: (R. R.)

“You dared not think I’d never come,
You could not doubt your Mother;”--

_Virginia’s Rallying Call_: By Louise Elemjay. (Bohemian.)

“Come, to my side, my gallant children come,
Heard ye that edict of yon caitiff scum:”--

_Virginia’s Tribute to Her Daughters_: By Cora. January, 1863.
(S. L. M., March, ’63.)

“Ye daughters of Virginia a joyous anthem raise,
Your Mother State doth honor you with richest meed of praise,”--

_A Voice from the Old Maryland Line_: Air, “Maryland, My
Maryland.” By N. G. R. (Dr. N. G. Ridgley.) Baltimore, October
27, 1861. (R. B. B., 70.)

“The Old Line’s foot is on thy shore, Maryland,
Returned triumphant as of yore! Maryland”--

_A Voice from the South_: Inscribed to Queen Victoria. By Rosa
Vertner Jeffrey, January, 1863. (E. V. M.)

“From our ancient moss-veiled forests,
Jasmine bowers, savannahs green”--

_The Voice of the South_: By Tyrtaeus. (W. G. S., from the
Charleston _Mercury_.)

“’Twas a goodly boon that our fathers gave,
And fits but ill to be held by the slave;”--

_Voices of the Winds_: By Major S. Yates Levy, of Georgia.
(Sunny.)

“Folded in the thoughtful mantle,
Night around the wretched binds;”--

_The Volunteer_: Air, “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” (C. S. B.)

“The hour was sad, I left the maid,
A lingering farewell taking”--

_The Volunteer, or, It is My Country’s Call_: By Harry
McCarthy. (C. S. B.)

“I leave my home and thee, dear, with sorrow in my heart,
It is my country’s call, dear, to aid her I depart”--

_Volunteer Mess Song_: John Hopkins, Printer, New Levee St.,
4th D. (Wash’n, 216.)

“Here’s to our Generals brave, who we know will well behave,
With their officers and soldiers to sustain em! ha! ha!”--

_Volunteer Song_: Written for the Ladies’ Military Fair held
at New Orleans, 1861. Published in the New Orleans _Picayune_,
April 28, 1861, and sung by the regiments departing for
Virginia. (Phot. Hist.)

“Go soldiers, arm you for the fight,
God shield the cause of Justice, Right:”--

_Volunteered_: (S. S.)

“I know the sun shines, and the lilacs are blowing,
And the summer sends kisses by beautiful May”--

_The Volunteer’s Return_: By Lieut. Howard C. Wright. (Sunny.)

“’Tis just three years this morning,
Since last I viewed this spot;”--

_The Volunteers to the “Melish:”_ By William C. Estres. (R. R.)

“Come forth, ye gallant heroes,
Rub up each rusty gun,”--

_Wait For the Wagon_: New Song Revised by Dr. Hopkins.
(Hopkins.)

“South Carolina, a fiery little thing,
Said she wouldn’t stay in a government
Where Cotton wasn’t King;”--

_Wait till the War, Love, is Over_: Words by A. J. Andrews,
Music by C. W. Burton. Richmond, Virginia. (R. B. M., 1864.)

“’Twas gentle spring, the flowers were bright,
The bird’s sweet song was lovely”--

_Waiting_: By William Shepardson. (Bohemian.)

“All day long beside the window,
Gazing through the mist and rain,”--

_Waiting For a Battle_: By Kentucky. (S. O. S.)

“As one oppressed who feels the coming of
A storm, insensible to splendor of”--

_The War, by Walt Whitman_: (By John R. Thompson): (S. L. M.,
Ed. Table, January, 1862.)

“I sing of war--
Grim-visaged, bloody-handed, rough-shod War, striking out from the
shoulder”--

_The War Chief Magruder_: Air, “Hail to the Chief.” By Col. H.
Washington. (Alsb.)

“Hail to the Chief! who in triumph has scatter’d
The clouds that o’er Texas so gloomily press’d”--

_The War-Christian’s Thanksgiving_: Respectfully dedicated
to the War-Clergy of the United States, Bishops, Priests and
Deacons. Jeremiah xxxxviii, 10. By S. Teackle Wallis, Fort
Warren, 1863. (E. V. M.)

“O God of battles! once again,
With banner, trump and drum,”--

_War-Shirkers_: By Teke, of Travis County. (Alsb.)

“A brood of skulkers are ye all!
As deaf as adders to the call”--

_War Song_: (R. R.)

“Come! come! come!
Come, brothers, you are called,”--

_War Song_: (Randolph.)

“Now is the hour, men of the South,
To strike for life or death”--

_War Song_: Air, “March, March, Eltrick and Teviotdale.” (R. R.
from the Charleston _Mercury_.)

“March, march, on brave ‘Palmetto’ boys”--

_War Song_: Tune, “Bonnie Blue Flag.” By J. H. Woodcock. (R. R.)

“Huzza! huzza! let’s raise the battle cry,
And whip the Yankees from our land,”--

_War Song (Manassas Hymn)_: Air, “Liberty Duet” in “Il
Puritani.” (S. L. M., Feb. and March, ’62.)

“Awake! arise my warriors!
Liberty, your mother calls to you!”--

_A War Song for Virginia_: (R. R.)

“Sound, Virginia, sound your clarion!
From your serried ranks of war!”--

_War Song of The Partisan Ranger_: Dedicated to Captain John H.
Morgan. Air, “McGregor’s Gathering.” By Benjamin F. Porter. (J.
M. S. from the Greenville, Alabama, _Observer_):

“The forests are green by the homes of the South
But the hearth stones are red with the blood of her youth;”--

_The War Storm_: By C. J. H. (R. R.)

“Often, by a treacherous sea-side,
I have heard the ocean’s roar,”--

_War-Waves_: By Catherine Gendron Poyas, of Charleston. (W. G.
S.)

“What are the war-waves saying,
As they compass us around?”--

_The Warrior’s Steed_: By Mrs. V. E. W. (McCord) Vernon,
Richmond, March 22, 1862. (C. C.)

“A day of wrath, was that which shone,
Upon Manassas’ plain”--

_The Waste of War_: (E. V. M.)

“Give me the gold that war had cost,
Before this peace-expanding day”--

_Wearing of the Grey_: By O. K. P. (Wash’n. 218.)

“Our cannon’s mouths are dumb--no more
Our volleyed muskets peal,”--

_Wearing of the Grey_: By a Mississippian. (E. V. M.)

“Oh, have you heard the cruel news?
Alas! it is too true;”--

_Wearin’ of the Gray_: By Tar Heel. (Fag.)

“Oh! Johnny, dear, and did you hear the news that’s lately spread,
That never more the Southern cross must rear its stately head;”--

_We Come! We Come!_ Dedicated to the Crescent Regiment, of New
Orleans, Col. M. J. Smith. By Millie Mayfield. (R. R.)

“We come! we come, for Death or life,
For the Grave, or Victory!”--

_We Conquer or Die_: Composed by James Pierpont. (J. M. S.)

“The war drum is beating, prepare for the fight,
The stern bigot Northmen exalts in his light,”--

_Weep, Weep_: By Refugee, May, 1865. (E. V. M.)

“Weep! for a fallen land,
For an unstained flag laid low;”--

_We Know That We Were Rebels, or Why Can We Not Be Brothers_:
By Clarence Prentice. (Alsb.)

“Why can we not be brothers? the battle now is o’er,
We’ve laid our bruised arms on the field, to take them up no more;”--

_Welcome “Jeff” to Baltimore_: Air, “Annie of the Vale.” (R. B.
B., 71.)

“In charms now we slumber, and insults in number
We hear from our insolent foes;”--

_A Welcome to the Invader_: “An Ode,” addressed to the picked
men of Col. Wilson’s New York command. (R. R. from the
_Charleston Courier_.)

“What! have ye come to spoil our fields,
Black hearts and bloody hands!”--

_We Left Him on the Field_: By Miss Marie E. Jones, of
Galveston. (Alsb.)

“We left him on the crimson’d field,
Where battle storms had swept,”--

_We’ll Be Free in Maryland_: Air, “Gideon’s Band.” By Robert E.
Holtz, January 30, 1862. (R. R.)

“The boys down South in Dixie’s land,
Will come and rescue Maryland”--

_Western Dixie_: By Mrs. Virginia Smith. (Im.)

“Come along, boys, we’ll go off to the wars,
Never mind the times, we’ll all march cheerily,”--

_We Swear_: (C. S. B. from the Louisville _Courier_.)

“Kneel, ye Southrons, kneel and swear,
On your bleeding country’s altar,”--

_What are Trumps?_ By James B. Randall. (S. L. M., Ed. Table,
December, ’61.)

“Not Diamonds: Mason breaks bedight,
Beyond their leprosy of light,”--

_What! Have Ye Thought?_ (W. G. S., from the Charleston
_Mercury_.)

“What! have ye thought to pluck
Victory from chance and luck”--

_What The Bugles Say_: Inscribed to Captain Ben. Lane Posey. By
A. B. Meek. (Bohemian.)

“Hark! the bugles on the hill!
Tarala! Tarala!”--

_What the South Winds Say_: (R. R. from the Richmond
_Dispatch_.)

“Faint as the echo of an echo born,
A bugle note swells on the air,”--

_What the Village Bell Said_: By John C. M’Lemore of South
Carolina (mortally wounded at the battle of Seven Pines). (W.
G. S.)

“For many a year in the village church,
Above the world have I made my home;”--

_What Tho’ These Limbs_: Written by Col. Benjamin Anderson of
Louisville, Kentucky, on the prison wall in Cincinnati, shortly
before committing suicide. (W. L.)

“What tho’ these limbs be bound with iron cords.
Still am I free!”--

_What Time is This for Dreaming?_ By Kentucky. (S. O. S.)

“What time is this for dreaming,
When hearts are breaking round?”--

_When Peace Returns_: By Olivia Tully Thomas. (W. G. S.,
Published in the Granada _Picket_.)

“When ‘war has smoothed his wrinkled front,’
And meek-eyed peace returning,”--

_When Pleasure’s Flowery Paths_: By a prisoner in solitary
confinement, May 28th, 1865. (W. L.)

“When pleasure’s flowery paths I trod,
My eyes were bent on earth alone,”--

_When That Cruel War Began_: By Thomas Q. Barnes. (Barnes.)

“The tocsin of war it sounded its knell
O’er the length and breadth of our sunny land”--

_When the Boys Come Home_: (Fag.)

“The boys are coming home again,
This war will soon be o’er,”--

_When the War is Over: A Christmas Lay_: By Margaret J.
Preston. (Beechenbrook.)

“Ah, the happy Christmas times,
Times we all remember,”--

_When This Cruel War is Over_: Ballad. Words by Charles C.
Sawyer, Richmond, Va. Music by Henry Tucker. George Dunn and
Co. (R. B. M.)

“Dearest one, do you remember,
When we last did meet?”--

_When Will the War be Over?_ (Alsb.)

“When will the war be over? asked a veteran whose sun-brown’d face
Implied in the ranks of the gallant he’d early sought a place,”--

_Where Are You Going, Abe Lincoln?_ Air, “Lord Lovell.” (Alsb.)

“Abe Lincoln he stood at the White House Gate,
Combing his milk-white steed,”--

_Where is the Rebel Fatherland_: By Mrs. M. J. P. [Mrs.
Margaret J. Preston]. (C. C.)

“Where is the Rebel Fatherland--
Is it Maryland, dear Maryland”--

_Where My Heart Is_: Air, “My Heart’s in the Highlands.” By
Kentucky: (S. O. S.)

“My heart’s with our brave men, my heart is not here,
For wherever I look, there Dutch soldiers appear;”--

_Who Will Care for Mother, Now?_ (Alsb.)

“Why am I so weak and weary? see how faint my heated breath!
All around to me seems darkness--tell me, comrades, is this death?”--

_Why Should the South Rejoice_: By A. Moise, Jr. Richmond,
Virginia, July 4, 1866. (C. C.)

“Rejoice for what? For fields destroyed, for homes in ashes laid?
For maiden at the altar slain--victim of fiendish raid?”--

_The Wide-Awakes_: (R. B. B., 116)

“O, what is all this noise about,
This midnight confusion?”--

_Will No One Write to Me?_ By Major George McKnight (“Asa
Hartz”) Johnson’s Island, January 1, 1864. (Sunny.)

“The list is called, and one by one
The anxious crowd now melts away,”--

_William Price_: Member of the Maryland “State” Senate and
author of the infamous Treason Bill. Air, “John Todd.” (R. B.
B., 94.)

“Your Sharp Treason Bill, William Price”--

_William Courtland Price_: By Julia Pleasants Creswell. (S. L.
M., November and December, 1862.)

“He came with youth and hope and swelling heart;
And freely cast them in the unequal scale;”--

_Will You Go!_ By Estelle. (R. R.)

“Will you go? will you go?
Where the foeman’s steel is bright”--

_A Wind from the South_: Written for the _Fair Journal_,
Southern Relief Fair of Baltimore, April 2, 1866. By C. C. (E.
V. M.)

“--I sing of the South,
Not as she was in her pride of yore,”--

_Woman’s Love_: By Lieut. H. C. Wright. (Sunny.)

“Wildly raging were the billows,
Wildly heaving was the sea,”--

_Woman’s Prayer_: Dedicated to Colonel Lane’s Regiment, Texas
Cavalry. (Alsb.)

“O Soldier, is thy weary heart with care and woe, oppress’d?
Is courage failing? hope departing from thy weary breast?”--

_The Word_: October, 1861. (R. N. S., from the Louisville
_Journal_.)

“Arm!
Arm without any words!”--

_A Word with the West_: By John R. Thompson. Richmond, December
1, 1862. (S. S., appearing originally in the _Southern
Illustrated News_.)

“Once more to the breach for the land of the West,
And a leader we give of our bravest and best,”--

_The Work of an Ironclad_: By Kentucky. (S. O. S.)

“Come, my fair one, sit thee down,
And sing for me thy sweetest song”--

_Worthier_: ---- was shot in trying to escape from Rock Island.
By Kentucky (S. O. S.)

“My best friend dead! yes; shot that he did try,
From prison to escape”--

_Would’st Thou Have Me Love Thee_: By Alexander B. Meek. (W. G.
S., from the Richmond Dispatch: also under title of _War Song_.)

“Would’st thou have me love thee, dearest,
With a woman’s proudest heart,”--

_Woven Fancies_: By Mrs. Fanny Downing, North Carolina, 1862.
(Amaranth.)

“I sit before my loom, today,
And with untiring fingers ply,”--

_The Wreck of the Florida’s Boat_: 16th July, 1864. (In memory
of M’d’m Wm. Beverley Sinclair of Virginia.) By Luola. (E. V.
M.)

“Oh! many a youth has fallen,
Out on the battle plain;”--

_Written Before the Secession of Virginia_: By Mrs. Rebecca
Tabb, of Gloucester, Virginia. (E. V. M.)

“Weep! yes, we will weep; but not from coward fears,
Poor woman! what has she to give her country save her tears?”--

_The Yankee Devil_: Cave Spring, Georgia, April 11, 1863. (R.
R.)

“Hurrah! Hurrah! good news and true,
Our woes will soon be past;”--

_Yankee Doodle_: (“An absurd thing, which came to us all the
way from Canada, where we have plenty of friends.”) (S. L. M.,
Ed. Table, January, ’62.)

“Yankee Doodle ran away,
Dixie he ran after”--

_Yankee Doodle’s Ride to Richmond_: By Rev. E. P. Birch, of La
Grange, Georgia. (Bohemian.)

“I sing of Yankee Doodle’s ride to famous Richmond town,
A gallant knight in truth was he, of valour and renown,”--

_Yankee Joke in Texas_: By Ned Bracken. (Alsb.)

“Messrs. Yankees came one day,
To stroll upon our beach;”--

[_Yankee Money_]: Air, “Little More Cider, Cider Do.” By
Captain T. F. Roche, C. S. A., Fort Delaware, 1865. (Roche.)

“Now when dis war is over, and all de fighting done,
And every hungry rebel will leave at once for home”--

_The Yankee President_: By Dr. Gilbert, of Houston, January 13,
1863. (Alsb.)

“I’ll sing you a new-made song, made by a modern pate,
Of a real Yankee President, who took the helm of State,”--

_Yankee Vandals_: Air, “Gay and Happy.” (R. B. B., 117.)

“The Northern Abolition vandals
Who have come to free the slave”--

_Ye Batteries of Beauregard_: By J. C. Barrick of Kentucky. (W.
G. S.)

“Ye batteries of Beauregard!
Pour your hail from Moultries Wall”--

_Ye Cavaliers of Dixie_: By Benjamin F. Porter of Alabama. (W.
G. S.)

“Ye Cavaliers of Dixie
That guard our Southern shores”--

_Ye Flight of Ye Rayl Splitter: A Ballad_: (P. & P. B. from the
New Orleans _Crescent_.)

“Of all ye flyghts that ever were flown
By several persons, or one alone”--

_Ye Gallant Sons of Carolina_: (Randolph.)

“Ye gallant sons of Carolina,
Listen to your country’s call,”--

_Ye Men of Alabama_: Air, “Ye Mariners of England.” By John D.
Phelan of Montgomery, Alabama. (W. G. S. from the Montgomery
_Advertiser_ of October, 1860.)

“Ye men of Alabama,
Awake, arise, awake!”--

_Ye Shall Be Free_: By Kentucky. (S. O. S.)

“Ye shall be free,
For with our guns we will stand o’er you,”--

_Yes, Build Your Walls_: (W. G. S. from the Charleston
_Mercury_.)

“Yes, build your walls of stone or sand,
But know when all is builded--then”--

_Yes, Call us Rebels! ’Tis the Name_: By Albert Pike of
Arkansas. (E. V. M., from the New Orleans _Picayune_, May,
1861.)

“Yes, call us rebels! ’tis the name
Our patriot fathers bore,”--

_You Are Going to the Wars, Willie Boy_: By John H. Hewitt.
(Beau.)

“You are going to the wars, Willie Boy, Willie Boy,
You are going to the wars far away”--

_You’ll Tell Her, Won’t You?_ (E. V. M.)

“You’ll tell her, won’t you? Say to her I died
As a brave soldier should--true to the last;”--

_Young Dodger Vs. Old Croaker_: Dialogue. (Alsb.)

“These croakers all I really hate, and love to hate them, too,
Convention men, submissionists, disloyal and not true;”--

_A Young Girl’s Foreboding_: By Kentucky, August 2, 1862. (S.
O. S.)

“Ah! it is very hard
To think my home may go”--

_Young Recruit_: (Randolph.)

“See! there’s ribbons gaily streaming.
I’m a soldier now, Lizette:”--

_Young Volunteer_: By John H. Hewitt. (Beau.)

“Our flag is unfurl’d and our arms flash bright,
As the sun wades up the sky;”--

_Your Mission_: (S. S., from the Charleston _Courier_.)

“Fold away all your bright-tinted dresses,
Turn the key on your jewels today”--

_Zollicoffer_: Killed in the Battle of Somerset, Kentucky,
January 19, 1862. By H. L. Flash. S. L. M., Ed., April, 1862.
(E. V. M.)

“First in the fight, and first in arms,
Of the white-winged angels of glory,”--

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.