The Project Gutenberg eBook of Poems of American History, by Burton Egbert Stevenson.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO
The Riverside Press Cambridge

All rights on poems in this volume are reserved by the holders of the copyright. The publishers and others named in the following list are the proprietors, either in their own right or as agents for the authors, of the poems of which the authorship and titles are given, and of which the ownership is thus specifically noted and is hereby acknowledged.

Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., New York.—William Cullen Bryant: "The Green Mountain Boys," "Seventy-Six," "Song of Marion's Men," "Oh Mother of a Mighty Race," "Our Country's Call," "Abraham Lincoln," "Centennial Hymn."

Messrs. Richard D. Badger & Co., Boston.—Edwin Arlington Robinson: "The Klondike."

The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.—Charles Edward Russell: "The Fleet at Santiago," from "Such Stuff as Dreams."

The Century Company, New York.—Richard Watson Gilder: "At the President's Grave," "Charleston," "The White City," "The Comfort of the Trees"; Robert Underwood Johnson: "Dewey at Manila"; Silas Weir Mitchell: "Herndon," "How the Cumberland went down," "Kearsarge," "Lincoln," "The Song of the Flags." From the Century Magazine.—William Tuckey Meredith: "Farragut"; Helen F. More: "What's in a Name"; Will Henry Thompson: "The High Tide at Gettysburg."

The Robert Clarke Company, Cincinnati.—William Davis Gallagher: "The Mothers of the West"; William Haines Lytle: "The Siege of Chapultepec," "The Volunteers."

Messrs. Henry T. Coates & Co., Philadelphia.—Ethel Lynn Beers: "The Picket-Guard"; Charles Fenno Hoffman: "Rio Bravo," "Monterey."

Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.—Ernest McGaffey: "Little Big Horn," "Geronimo"; William Henry Venable: "John Filson," "Johnny Appleseed," "The Founders of Ohio," "El Emplazado," "Battle-Cry," "National Song."

The R. R. Donnelly & Sons Company, Chicago.—Francis Brooks: "Down the Little Big Horn."

Messrs. Dana Estes & Co., Boston.—Hezekiah Butterworth: "The Thanksgiving for America," "The Legend of Waukulla," "The Fountain of Youth," "Verazzano," "Ortiz," "Five Kernels of Corn," "The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor," "Roger Williams," "Whitman's Ride for Oregon," "The Death of Jefferson," "Garfield's Ride at Chickamauga," "The Church of the Revolution."

Messrs. Harper & Brothers, New York.—Wallace Bruce: "Parson Allen's Ride"; Will Carleton: "The Prize of the Margaretta," "Across the Delaware," "The Little Black-Eyed Rebel," "Cuba to Columbia," "The Victory-Wreck"; William Dean Howells: "The Battle in the Clouds"; Herman Melville: "Malvern Hill," "The Victor of Antietam," "The Cumberland," "Running the Batteries," "A Dirge for McPherson," "Sheridan at Cedar Creek," "The Fall of Richmond," "The Surrender at Appomattox," "At the Cannon's Mouth." From Harper's Magazine and Harper's Weekly.—Guy Wetmore Carryl: "When the Great Gray Ships come in"; Joseph B. Gilder: "The Parting of the Ways"; Thomas A. Janvier: "Santiago"; Thomas Dunn English: "Arnold at Stillwater," "The Charge by the Ford," "The Fall of Maubila," "The Battle of the Cowpens," "The Battle of New Orleans"; John Eliot Bowen: "The Man who rode to Conemaugh."

Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.—Thomas Bailey Aldrich: "Fredericksburg," "By the Potomac," "The Bells at Midnight," "An Ode on the Unveiling of the Shaw Memorial," "Unguarded Gates"; Phœbe Cary: "Ready," "Peace"; John White Chadwick: "Mugford's Victory," "Full Cycle"; Mrs. Florence Earle Coates: "Columbus," "Buffalo," "By the Conemaugh"; Christopher Pearse Cranch: "After the Centennial"; Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Concord Hymn," "Boston Hymn"; Annie Fields: "Cedar Mountain"; Louise Imogen Guiney: "John Brown"; Francis Bret Harte: "Caldwell of Springfield," "The Reveille," "John Burns of Gettysburg," "A Second Review of the Grand Army," "An Arctic Vision," "Chicago"; John Hay: "Miles Keogh's Horse"; Oliver Wendell Holmes: "A Ballad of the Boston Tea-Party," "Lexington," "Grandmother's Story of Bunker-Hill Battle," "Old Ironsides," "Daniel Webster," "Brother Jonathan's Lament for Sister Caroline," "Sherman's in Savannah," "After the Fire," "Welcome to the Nations," "On the Death of President Garfield," "Additional Verses to Hail Columbia"; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe: "Our Country," "Battle-Hymn of the Republic," "Robert E. Lee," "Pardon," "Parricide," "J. A. G."; William Dean Howells: "The Battle in the Clouds"; Lucy Larcom: "Mistress Hale of Beverly," "The Nineteenth of April," "The Sinking of the Merrimack"; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "The Skeleton in Armor," "Sir Humphrey Gilbert," "The War-Token," "The Expedition to Wessagusset," "Prologue," "The Proclamation," "Prologue," "The Trial," "The Battle of Lovell's Pond," "A Ballad of the French Fleet," "The Embarkation," "Paul Revere's Ride," "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem," "The Wreck of the Hesperus," "Victor Galbraith," "The Cumberland," "The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face," "President Garfield," "The Republic"; James Russell Lowell: "Flawless his Heart," "The New-Come Chief," "Mr. Hosea Biglow speaks," "What Mr. Robinson thinks," "Jonathan to John," "The Washers of the Shroud," "Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration"; William Vaughn Moody: "On a Soldier fallen in the Philippines," "An Ode in Time of Hesitation"; Nora Perry: "Running the Blockade"; Edna Dean Proctor: "Columbus Dying," "The Captive's Hymn," "The Lost War-Sloop," "Sa-cá-ga-we-a," "John Brown," "The Brooklyn Bridge"; Margaret Junkin Preston: "The Mystery of Cro-a-tàn," "The Last Meeting of Pocahontas and the Great Captain," "The First Proclamation of Miles Standish," "The First Thanksgiving Day," "Dirge for Ashby," "Under the Shade of the Trees," "Virginia Capta," "Acceptation"; John Godfrey Saxe: "How Cyrus laid the Cable"; Edward Rowland Sill: "The Dead President"; Harriet Prescott Spofford: "How we became a Nation," "Can't"; Edmund Clarence Stedman: "Peter Stuyvesant's New Year's Call," "Salem," "Aaron Burr's Wooing," "How Old Brown took Harper's Ferry," "Sumter," "Wanted—A Man," "Kearny at Seven Pines," "Treason's Last Device," "Gettysburg," "Abraham Lincoln," "Israel Freyer's Bid for Gold," "Custer," "Liberty Enlightening the World," "Cuba," "Hymn of the West"; Bayard Taylor: "Through Baltimore," "Lincoln at Gettysburg," "The National Ode"; Joseph Russell Taylor: "Breath on the Oat"; Edith M. Thomas: "A Christopher of the Shenandoah," "To Spain—A Last Word"; Maurice Thompson: "The Ballad of Chickamauga"; J. T. Trowbridge: "Columbus at the Convent"; Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward: "Conemaugh"; Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney: "Peace"; John G. Whittier: "The Norsemen," "Norembega," "John Underhill," "Cassandra Southwick," "The King's Missive," "St. John," "Pentucket," "Lexington," "The Vow of Washington," "Skipper Ireson's Ride," "Texas," "The Angels of Buena Vista," "The Crisis," "To William Lloyd Garrison," "Ichabod," "The Kansas Emigrants," "Burial of Barber," "Le Marais du Cygne," "Brown of Ossawatomie," "Barbara Frietchie," "The Battle Autumn of 1862," "At Port Royal," "To John C. Frémont," "Astræa at the Capitol," "The Proclamation," "Laus Deo," "To the Thirty-Ninth Congress," "The Cable Hymn," "Chicago," "Centennial Hymn," "On the Big Horn," "The Bartholdi Statue"; Forceythe Willson: "Boy Brittan"; Constance Fenimore Woolson: "Kentucky Belle." From the Atlantic Monthly.—George Houghton: "The Legend of Walbach Tower"; Henry Newbolt: "Craven"; Thomas William Parsons: "Dirge."

The Ladies' Home Journal, Philadelphia.—Virginia Woodward Cloud: "The Ballad of Sweet P."

The J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.—George Henry Boker: "Upon the Hill before Centreville," "Dirge for a Soldier," "Zagonyi," "On Board the Cumberland," "The Cruise of the Monitor," "The Ballad of New Orleans," "The Varuna," "Hooker's Across," "Before Vicksburg," "The Black Regiment," "The Battle of Lookout Mountain"; William C. Elam: "The Mecklenburg Declaration"; Robert Loveman: "Hobson and his Men"; Marion Manville: "The Surrender of New Orleans," "Lee's Parole"; Henry Peterson: "The Death of Lyon"; Thomas Buchanan Read: "The Rising," "Valley Forge," "Blennerhassett's Island," "The Attack," "Sheridan's Ride," "The Eagle and Vulture"; Francis Orrery Ticknor: "The Virginians of the Valley," "A Battle Ballad," "Our Left," "Little Giffen."

The Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company, Boston.—Richard Burton: "The Old Santa Fé Trail"; Paul Hamilton Hayne: "Macdonald's Raid," "Beyond the Potomac," "Vicksburg," "The Battle of Charleston Harbor," "Charleston," "The Stricken South to the North," "South Carolina to the States of the North," "Yorktown Centennial Lyric"; William Hamilton Hayne: "The Charge at Santiago."

Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.—Kate Brownlee Sherwood: "Albert Sidney Johnston," "Thomas at Chickamauga."

The Macmillan Company, New York.—Hamlin Garland: "Logan at Peach Tree Creek"; George Edward Woodberry: "Our First Century," "Essex Regiment March," "The Islands of the Sea," "O Land Beloved."

The Mershon Company, New York.—John Boyle O'Reilly: "Crispus Attucks," "At Fredericksburg," "Chicago," "Boston," "Midnight—September 19, 1881," "The Ride of Collins Graves," "Mayflower."

Messrs. L. C. Page & Co., Boston.—Charles G. D. Roberts: "Brooklyn Bridge," "In Apia Bay," "A Ballad of Manila Bay."

Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.—Louis James Block: "The Final Struggle"; Guy Wetmore Carryl: "When the Great Gray Ships come in."

Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.—William Ernest Henley: "Romance"; George Parsons Lathrop: "Keenan's Charge"; Sidney Lanier: "The Story of Vinland," "The Triumph," "Lexington," "Land of the Wilful Gospel," "The Dying Words of Stonewall Jackson," "The Centennial Meditation of Columbia"; Thomas Nelson Page: "The Dragon of the Seas"; James Jeffrey Roche: "Panama"; Richard Henry Stoddard: "Abraham Lincoln," "Men of the North and West," "The Little Drummer."

Messrs. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston.—Richard Hovey: "The Word of the Lord from Havana," "The Battle of Manila"; Walt Whitman: "Ethiopia Saluting the Colors," "O Captain! My Captain!" "The Sobbing of the Bells."

Messrs. Herbert S. Stone & Co., Chicago.—John Williamson Palmer: "The Fight at San Jacinto."

The Whitaker & Ray Company, San Francisco.—Joaquin Miller: "Columbus," "The Defence of the Alamo," "Alaska," "Rejoice," "Cuba Libre," "San Francisco," "Resurge San Francisco." The Youth's Companion, Boston.—Mary A. P. Stansbury: "The Surprise at Ticonderoga"; Thomas Tracy Bouvé: "The Shannon and the Chesapeake."

In addition to the above, the compiler begs to acknowledge express permission from the following authors for the use of such of their poems as appear in this volume:

Joel Benton, Louis James Block, Virginia Fraser Boyle, Robert Bridges, Wallace Bruce, Richard Burton, S. H. M. Byers, Will Carleton, Madison Cawein, Robert W. Chambers, John Vance Cheney, Joseph I. C. Clarke, Virginia Woodward Cloud, Florence Earle Coates, Kinahan Cornwallis, F. Marion Crawford, Mrs. Ernest Crosby (for Ernest Crosby), Caroline Duer, Barrett Eastman, Francis Miles Finch, Hamlin Garland, Joseph D. Gilder, Richard Watson Gilder, Arthur Guiterman, Sharlot M. Hall, Edward Everett Hale, William Hamilton Hayne (for himself and Paul Hamilton Hayne), Caroline Hazard, Rupert Hughes, Minna Irving, Thomas A. Janvier, Tudor Jenks, John Howard Jewett, Robert Underwood Johnson, Walter Learned, Robert Loveman, Charles F. Lummis, Ernest McGaffey, Edwin Markham, John James Meehan, Lloyd Mifflin, William Vaughn Moody, Thomas Nelson Page, Mrs. John W. Palmer (for John Williamson Palmer), John James Piatt, Wallace Rice, Laura E. Richards, Edwin Arlington Robinson, James Jeffrey Roche, John Jerome Rooney, Alfred D. Runyon, Charles Edward Russell, Clinton Scollard, Mrs. Katherine Brownlee Sherwood, Lewis Worthington Smith, Joseph Russell Taylor, Richard H. Titherington, William Henry Venable, Robert Burns Wilson.

The Editor is indebted to the following authors and publishers for permission to use the poems mentioned, all rights in which are reserved:

Houghton Mifflin Company: "Victory Bells," from Wilderness Songs, by Grace Hazard Conkling.

Aline Kilmer (for Joyce Kilmer): "The White Ships and the Red," "Rouge Bouquet."

Charles Scribner's Sons: "A Call to Arms," by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews; "Ode in Memory of the American Volunteers Fallen for France," by Alan Seeger; "Mare Liberum," by Henry van Dyke.

One who underrates the significance of our literature, prose or verse, as both the expression and stimulant of national feeling, as of import in the past and to the future of America, and therefore of the world, is deficient in that critical insight which can judge even of its own day unwarped by personal taste or deference to public impression. He shuts his eyes to the fact that at times, notably throughout the years resulting in the Civil War, this literature has been a "force."—Edmund Clarence Stedman.

INTRODUCTION

The poetry relating to American history falls naturally into two classes: that written, so to speak, from the inside, on the spot, and that written from the outside, long afterwards. Of the first class, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the most famous example, as well as perhaps the best. Even at this distant day, reading it with a knowledge of the circumstances which produced it, it has a power of touching the heart and gripping the imagination which goes far toward proving the genuineness of its art. Of the second class, "Paul Revere's Ride" is probably the most widely known, though Mr. Longfellow's own "Ballad of the French Fleet" is a better poem.

It is evident that, in compiling an anthology such as this, different standards must be used in judging these two classes. The first, aside from any quality as poetry which it may have, is of value because of its historical or political interest, because it is an expression and an interpretation of the hour which gave it birth. With it, poetic merit is not the first consideration, which is, perhaps, as well. Yet, however slight their merit as poetry may be, many of the early ballads possess an admirable energy, directness, and aptness of phrase, and there is about them a childlike simplicity impossible of reproduction in this sophisticated age—as where Stephen Tilden, in his epitaph on Braddock, requests the great commanders who have preceded that unfortunate soldier to the grave to

With the retrospective ballad, on the other hand, poetic merit is a sine qua non. It has little value historically, however accurate its facts. It differs from the contemporary ballad in the same way that the "New Canterbury Tales" differ from Froissart; or as the "Idylls of the King" differ from "Le Morte Arthur." It is less authentic, less convincing, less vital. It may have atmosphere, but there is no infallible way of telling whether the atmosphere is right. Unless it is something more, then, than mere metrical history, the modern ballad has little claim to consideration.

These are the two principles which the present compiler has had constantly in mind. Yet the second principle has been violated more than once, since, in a collection such as this, one must cut one's coat according to the cloth; or, rather, one must make sure that one is decently covered, though the covering may here and there be somewhat inferior in quality. So it has been necessary, in order to keep the thread of history unbroken, to admit some strands anything but silken; and if the choice has sometimes been of ills, rather than of goods, the compiler can only hope that he chose wisely.

The most difficult and trying portion of his task has been, not to get his material together, but to compress it into reasonable limits. Especially in the colonial period was the temptation great to include more early American verse. Peter Folger's "A Looking-Glass for the Times," Benjamin Tompson's "New England's Crisis," Michael Wigglesworth's "God's Controversy with New England," the "Sot-Weed Factor," and many others, which it is recalling an old sorrow to name here, were excluded only after long and bitter debate. No doubt other exclusions will be noticed by nearly every reader of the volume—and it may interest him to know that the material gathered together would have made four such books as this.

The thread of narrative upon which the poems have been strung together has been made as slight as possible, just strong enough to carry the reader understandingly from one poem to the next. The notes, too, have been limited to the explanation of such allusions as are not likely to be found in the ordinary works of reference, with here and there an account of the circumstances which caused the lines to be written, or an indication of source, where the source is unusual. Every available source has been drawn upon—the works of all the better known and many of the minor American and English poets, anthologies, newspaper collections, magazines, collections of Americana and especially of broadsides—in a word, American and English poetry generally.

In this connection, the compiler wishes to make grateful acknowledgment of the assistance he has received on every hand, especially from Mr. Herbert Putnam and Miss Margaret McGuffey, of the Library of Congress; Mr. N. D. C. Hodges, librarian of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Public Library; Mr. C. B. Galbreath, librarian of the Ohio State Library; Mr. Charles F. Lummis, librarian of the Los Angeles, California, Public Library; Dr. Edward Everett Hale, Mr. William Henry Venable, Mr. Isaac R. Pennypacker, Mr. Arthur Guiterman, and Mr. Wallace Rice. He might add that it is a matter of deep personal gratification to him that in no instance has any author refused to permit the use of his work in this collection. On the contrary, many of them have been most helpful in suggestions.

A special effort has been made to secure accuracy of text,—no light task, especially with the early ballads. Where the text varied, as was often the case, that has been followed which seemed to have the greater authority, except that obvious misprints have been corrected. In this, the compiler has had the coöperation of The Riverside Press, and has had frequent occasion to admire the care and knowledge of the corrector and his assistants.

PART I
THE COLONIAL PERIOD
America, Arthur Cleveland Coxe	2
CHAPTER I
The Discovery of America
The Story of Vinland, Sidney Lanier	3
The Norsemen, John Greenleaf Whittier	4
The Skeleton in Armor, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	6
Prophecy, Luigi Pulci	7
The Inspiration, James Montgomery	8
Columbus, Lydia Huntley Sigourney	9
Columbus to Ferdinand, Philip Freneau	9
Columbus at the Convent, John T. Trowbridge	10
The Final Struggle, Louis James Block	11
Steer, Bold Mariner, On, Friedrich von Schiller	12
The Triumph, Sidney Lanier	12
Columbus, Joaquin Miller	14
The Thanksgiving for America, Hezekiah Butterworth	15
Columbus in Chains, Philip Freneau	17
Columbus Dying, Edna Dean Proctor	18
Columbus, Edward Everett Hale	18
Columbus and the Mayflower, Lord Houghton	18
CHAPTER II
In the Wake of Columbus
The First Voyage of John Cabot, Unknown	19
The Legend of Waukulla, Hezekiah Butterworth	19
The Fountain of Youth, Hezekiah Butterworth	21
Ponce de Leon, Edith M. Thomas	22
Balboa, Nora Perry	23
With Cortez in Mexico, W. W. Campbell	24
The Lust of Gold, James Montgomery	24
Verazzano, Hezekiah Butterworth	25
Ortiz, Hezekiah Butterworth	26
The Fall of Maubila, Thomas Dunn English	27
Quivíra, Arthur Guiterman	31
Norembega, John Greenleaf Whittier	32
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	34
The First American Sailors, Wallace Rice	34
CHAPTER III
The Settlement of Virginia
The Mystery of Cro-a-tàn, Margaret Junkin Preston	36
John Smith's Approach to Jamestown, James Barron Hope	38
Pocahontas, William Makepeace Thackeray	38
Pocahontas, George Pope Morris	39[xiv]
Bermudas, Andrew Marvell	39
Newes from Virginia, Richard Rich	40
To the Virginian Voyage, Michael Drayton	42
The Marriage of Pocahontas, Mrs. M. M. Webster	43
The Last Meeting of Pocahontas and the Great Captain, Margaret Junkin Preston	43
The Burning of Jamestown, Thomas Dunn English	44
Bacon's Epitaph, Unknown	45
Ode to Jamestown, James Kirke Paulding	46
The Downfall of Piracy, Benjamin Franklin	48
From Potomac to Merrimac, Edward Everett Hale	49
CHAPTER IV
The Dutch at New Amsterdam
Henry Hudson's Quest, Burton Egbert Stevenson	50
The Death of Colman, Thomas Frost	50
Adrian Block's Song, Edward Everett Hale	51
The Praise of New Netherland, Jacob Steendam	52
The Complaint of New Amsterdam, Jacob Steendam	53
Peter Stuyvesant's New Year's Call, Edmund Clarence Stedman	54
CHAPTER V
The Settlement of New England
The Word of God to Leyden came, Jeremiah Eames Rankin	56
Song of the Pilgrims, Thomas Cogswell Upham	57
Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, Felicia Hemans	57
The First Proclamation of Miles Standish, Margaret Junkin Preston	58
The Mayflower, Erastus Wolcott Ellsworth	59
The Peace Message, Burton Egbert Stevenson	60
The First Thanksgiving Day, Margaret Junkin Preston	60
The War-Token, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	61
Five Kernels of Corn, Hezekiah Butterworth	62
The Expedition to Wessagusset, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	63
New England's Annoyances, Unknown	65
The Pilgrim Fathers, William Wordsworth	66
The Pilgrim Fathers, John Pierpont	66
The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor, Hezekiah Butterworth	67
The First Thanksgiving, Clinton Scollard	68
New England's Growth, William Bradford	69
The Assault on the Fortress, Timothy Dwight	70
Death Song, Alonzo Lewis	70
Our Country, Julia Ward Howe	71
CHAPTER VI
Religious Persecutions in New England
Prologue, from "John Endicott," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	71
Roger Williams, Hezekiah Butterworth	72
God makes a Path, Roger Williams	72
Canonicus and Roger Williams, Unknown	73
Anne Hutchinson's Exile, Edward Everett Hale	73
John Underhill, John Greenleaf Whittier	74
The Proclamation, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	76
Cassandra Southwick, John Greenleaf Whittier	77
The King's Missive, John Greenleaf Whittier	80
[xv]
CHAPTER VII
King Philip's War and the Witchcraft Delusion
The Lamentable Ballad of the Bloody Brook, Edward Everett Hale	82
The Great Swamp Fight, Caroline Hazard	83
On a Fortification at Boston begun by Women, Benjamin Tompson	85
The Sudbury Fight, Wallace Rice	85
King Philip's Last Stand, Clinton Scollard	88
Prologue, from "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	88
Salem, Edmund Clarence Stedman	89
The Death of Goody Nurse, Rose Terry Cooke	90
A Salem Witch, Ednah Proctor Clarke	91
The Trial, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	92
Giles Corey, Unknown	96
Mistress Hale of Beverly, Lucy Larcom	97
CHAPTER VIII
The Struggle for the Continent
St. John, John Greenleaf Whittier	99
The Battle of La Prairie, William Douw Schuyler-Lighthall	101
The Sack of Deerfield, Thomas Dunn English	102
Pentucket, John Greenleaf Whittier	105
Lovewell's Fight, Unknown	106
Lovewell's Fight, Unknown	108
The Battle of Lovell's Pond, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	109
Louisburg, Unknown	110
A Ballad of the French Fleet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	110
The British Lyon roused, Stephen Tilden	111
The Song of Braddock's Men, Unknown	112
Braddock's Fate, Stephen Tilden	112
Ned Braddock, John Williamson Palmer	114
Ode to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Unknown	114
The Embarkation, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	115
On the Defeat at Ticonderoga or Carilong, Unknown	117
On the Late Successful Expedition against Louisbourg, Francis Hopkinson	118
Fort Duquesne, Florus B. Plimpton	119
Hot stuff, Edward Botwood	121
How Stands the Glass around, James Wolfe	121
Brave Wolfe, Unknown	122
The Death of Wolfe, Unknown	123
The Captive's Hymn, Edna Dean Proctor	123
A Prophecy, Arthur Lee	125
PART II
THE REVOLUTION
Flawless his Heart, James Russell Lowell	128
CHAPTER I
The Coming of Discontent
The Virginia Song, Unknown	129
The World turned Upside Down, Unknown	130
A Song, Unknown	130[xvi]
The Liberty Pole, Unknown	131
The British Grenadier, Unknown	132
Crispus Attucks, John Boyle O'Reilly	132
Unhappy Boston, Paul Revere	134
Alamance, Seymour W. Whiting	135
A New Song called the Gaspee, Unknown	135
A Ballad of the Boston Tea-Party, Oliver Wendell Holmes	136
A New Song, Unknown	137
How we became a Nation, Harriet Prescott Spofford	138
A Proclamation, Unknown	138
The Blasted Herb, Mesech Weare	139
Epigram, Unknown	140
The Daughter's Rebellion, Francis Hopkinson	140
On the Snake depicted at the Head of Some American Newspapers, Unknown	140
Free America, Joseph Warren	140
Liberty Tree, Thomas Paine	141
The Mother Country, Benjamin Franklin	142
Pennsylvania Song, Unknown	142
Maryland Resolves, Unknown	142
Massachusetts Song of Liberty, Mercy Warren	143
Epigram, Unknown	144
To the Boston Women, Unknown	144
Prophecy, Gulian Verplanck	144
CHAPTER II
The Bursting of the Storm
Paul Revere's Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	144
What's in a Name, Helen F. More	146
Lexington, Sidney Lanier	146
Lexington, Oliver Wendell Holmes	147
New England's Chevy Chase, Edward Everett Hale	148
The King's Own Regulars, Unknown	150
Morgan Stanwood, Hiram Rich	151
The Minute-Men of Northboro, Wallace Rice	152
Lexington, John Greenleaf Whittier	153
The Rising, Thomas Buchanan Read	154
The Prize of the Margaretta, Will Carleton	155
The Mecklenburg Declaration, William C. Elam	156
A Song, Unknown	157
CHAPTER III
The Colonists take the Offensive
The Green Mountain Boys, William Cullen Bryant	157
The Surprise at Ticonderoga, Mary A. P. Stansbury	157
The Yankee's Return from Camp, Edward Bangs	159
Tom Gage's Proclamation, Unknown	160
The Eve of Bunker Hill, Clinton Scollard	161
Warren's Address to the American Soldiers, John Pierpont	161
The Ballad of Bunker Hill, Edward Everett Hale	162
Bunker Hill, George H. Calvert	162
Grandmother's Story of Bunker-Hill Battle, Oliver Wendell Holmes	163
The Death of Warren, Epes Sargent	166
The Battle of Bunker Hill, Unknown	167
The New-Come Chief, James Russell Lowell	168
The Trip to Cambridge, Unknown	169[xvii]
War and Washington, Jonathan Mitchell Sewall	170
The Bombardment of Bristol, Unknown	171
Montgomery at Quebec, Clinton Scollard	171
A Song, Unknown	172
A Poem containing Some Remarks on the Present War, Unknown	173
Mugford's Victory, John White Chadwick	174
Off from Boston, Unknown	176
CHAPTER IV
Independence
Emancipation from British Dependence, Philip Freneau	176
Rodney's Ride, Unknown	177
American Independence, Francis Hopkinson	178
The Fourth of July, John Pierpont	179
Independence Day, Royall Tyler	179
On Independence, Jonathan Mitchell Sewall	179
The American Patriot's Prayer, Unknown	180
Columbia, Timothy Dwight	180
CHAPTER V
The First Campaign
The Boasting of Sir Peter Parker, Clinton Scollard	181
A New War Song by Sir Peter Parker, Unknown	182
The Maryland Battalion, John Williamson Palmer	183
Haarlem Heights, Arthur Guiterman	183
Nathan Hale, Unknown	185
Nathan Hale, Francis Miles Finch	186
The Ballad of Sweet P, Virginia Woodward Cloud	186
Across the Delaware, Will Carleton	188
The Battle of Trenton, Unknown	188
Trenton and Princeton, Unknown	188
Assunpink and Princeton, Thomas Dunn English	189
Seventy-Six, William Cullen Bryant	191
Betsy's Battle Flag, Minna Irving	191
The American Flag, Joseph Rodman Drake	192
CHAPTER VI
"The Fate of Sir Jack Brag"
The Rifleman's Song at Bennington, Unknown	193
The Marching Song of Stark's Men, Edward Everett Hale	193
Parson Allen's Ride, Wallace Bruce	194
The Battle of Bennington, Thomas P. Rodman	195
Bennington, W. H. Babcock	196
The Battle of Oriskany, Charles D. Helmer	198
Saint Leger, Clinton Scollard	199
The Progress of Sir Jack Brag, Unknown	200
Arnold at Stillwater, Thomas Dunn English	200
The Fate of John Burgoyne, Unknown	202
Saratoga's Song, Unknown	202
CHAPTER VII
The Second Stage
Lord North's Recantation, Unknown	204
A New Ballad, Unknown	205[xviii]
General Howe's Letter, Unknown	205
Carmen Bellicosum, Guy Humphreys McMaster	206
Valley Forge, Thomas Buchanan Read	207
British Valor displayed; or, The Battle of the Kegs, Francis Hopkinson	208
The Little Black-Eyed Rebel, Will Carleton	209
The Battle of Monmouth, Unknown	210
The Battle of Monmouth, Thomas Dunn English	211
Molly Pitcher, Kate Brownlee Sherwood	213
Molly Pitcher, Laura E. Richards	213
Yankee Doodle's Expedition to Rhode Island, Unknown	214
Running the Blockade, Nora Perry	215
Betty Zane, Thomas Dunn English	216
The Wyoming Massacre, Uriah Terry	217
CHAPTER VIII
The War on the Water
The Cruise of the Fair American, Unknown	219
On the Death of Captain Nicholas Biddle, Philip Freneau	220
The Yankee Privateer, Arthur Hale	221
Paul Jones, Unknown	222
The Yankee Man-of-War, Unknown	223
Paul Jones—A New Song, Unknown	224
Paul Jones, Unknown	224
The Bonhomme Richard and Serapis, Philip Freneau	225
Barney's Invitation, Philip Freneau	226
Song on Captain Barney's Victory, Philip Freneau	227
The South Carolina, Unknown	228
CHAPTER IX
New York and the "Neutral Ground"
Sir Henry Clinton's Invitation to the Refugees, Philip Freneau	229
The Storm of Stony Point, Arthur Guiterman	230
Wayne at Stony Point, Clinton Scollard	230
Aaron Burr's Wooing, Edmund Clarence Stedman	231
The Modern Jonas, Unknown	232
Caldwell of Springfield, Bret Harte	232
The Cow-Chace, John André	233
Brave Paulding and the Spy, Unknown	237
Arnold the Vile Traitor, Unknown	238
Epigram, Unknown	238
André's Request to Washington, Nathaniel Parker Willis	238
André, Charlotte Fiske Bates	239
Sergeant Champe, Unknown	239
A New Song, Joseph Stansbury	240
The Lords of the Main, Joseph Stansbury	241
The Royal Adventurer, Philip Freneau	241
The Descent on Middlesex, Peter St. John	242
CHAPTER X
The War in the South
Hymns of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	245
About Savannah, Unknown	245
A Song about Charleston, Unknown	246
The Swamp Fox, William Gilmore Simms	247[xix]
Song of Marion's Men, William Cullen Bryant	248
Macdonald's Raid, Paul Hamilton Hayne	248
Sumter's Band, J. W. Simmons	250
The Battle of King's Mountain, Unknown	251
The Battle of the Cowpens, Thomas Dunn English	252
The Battle of Eutaw, William Gilmore Simms	254
Eutaw Springs, Philip Freneau	255
The Dance, Unknown	256
Cornwallis's Surrender, Unknown	256
The Surrender of Cornwallis, Unknown	257
News From Yorktown, Lewis Worthington Smith	257
An Ancient Prophecy, Philip Freneau	258
CHAPTER XI
Peace
On Sir Henry Clinton's Recall, Unknown	259
On the Departure of the British from Charleston, Philip Freneau	260
On the British King's Speech, Philip Freneau	261
England and America in 1782, Alfred Tennyson	262
On Disbanding the Army, David Humphreys	262
Evacuation of New York by the British, Unknown	262
Occasioned by General Washington's Arrival in Philadelphia, on his Way to his Residence in Virginia, Philip Freneau	263
The American Soldier's Hymn, Unknown	264
Thanksgiving Hymn, Unknown	264
Land of the Wilful Gospel, Sidney Lanier	265
PART III
THE PERIOD OF GROWTH
"Oh Mother of a Mighty Race," William Cullen Bryant	268
CHAPTER I
The New Nation
A Radical Song of 1786, St. John Honeywood	269
The Federal Convention, Unknown	269
To the Federal Convention, Timothy Dwight	270
The New Roof, Francis Hopkinson	270
Convention Song, Unknown	271
The Federal Constitution, William Milns	272
The First American Congress, Joel Barlow	273
Washington, James Jeffrey Roche	274
The Vow of Washington, John Greenleaf Whittier	274
On the Death of Benjamin Franklin, Philip Freneau	275
George Washington, John Hall Ingham	275
Washington, Lord Byron	276
Adams and Liberty, Robert Treat Paine	276
Hail Columbia, Joseph Hopkinson	277
Ye Sons of Columbia, Thomas Green Fessenden	278
Truxton's Victory, Unknown	279
The Constellation and the Insurgente, Unknown	280
Washington's Monument, Unknown	280[xx]
How we burned the Philadelphia, Barrett Eastman	281
Reuben James, James Jeffrey Roche	282
Skipper Ireson's Ride, John Greenleaf Whittier	283
A Plea for Flood Ireson, Charles Timothy Brooks	284
CHAPTER II
The Second War with England
The Times, Unknown	285
Reparation or War, Unknown	286
Terrapin War, Unknown	286
Farewell, Peace, Unknown	287
Come, ye Lads, who wish to shine, Unknown	287
Hull's Surrender, Unknown	287
The Constitution and the Guerrière, Unknown	288
Halifax Station, Unknown	289
On the Capture of the Guerrière, Philip Freneau	290
Firstfruits in 1812, Wallace Rice	291
The Battle of Queenstown, William Banker, Jr.	292
The Wasp's Frolic, Unknown	293
The United States and Macedonian, Unknown	293
The United States and Macedonian, Unknown	294
Jack Creamer, James Jeffrey Roche	295
Yankee Thunders, Unknown	296
The General Armstrong, Unknown	296
Capture of Little York, Unknown	298
The Death of General Pike, Laughton Osborn	299
Old Fort Meigs, Unknown	300
The Shannon and the Chesapeake, Thomas Tracy Bouvé	300
Chesapeake and Shannon, Unknown	301
Defeat and Victory, Wallace Rice	302
Enterprise and Boxer, Unknown	302
Perry's Victory, Unknown	303
The Battle of Erie, Unknown	303
Perry's Victory—A Song, Unknown	305
The Fall of Tecumseh, Unknown	305
The Legend of Walbach Tower, George Houghton	306
The Battle of Valparaiso, Unknown	307
The Battle of Bridgewater, Unknown	308
The Hero of Bridgewater, Charles L. S. Jones	309
The Battle of Stonington, Philip Freneau	309
The Ocean-Fight, Unknown	310
The Lost War-Sloop, Edna Dean Proctor	311
On the British Invasion, Philip Freneau	312
The Battle of Lake Champlain, Philip Freneau	312
The Battle of Plattsburg Bay, Clinton Scollard	313
The Battle of Plattsburg, Unknown	314
The Battle of Baltimore, Unknown	315
Fort McHenry, Unknown	316
The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key	317
Ye Parliament of England, Unknown	318
The Bower of Peace, Robert Southey	318
Reid at Fayal, John Williamson Palmer	319
The Fight of the Armstrong Privateer, James Jeffrey Roche	319
The Armstrong at Fayal, Wallace Rice	321
Fort Bowyer, Charles L. S. Jones	323
The Battle of New Orleans, Thomas Dunn English	323[xxi]
Jackson at New Orleans, Wallace Rice	325
To the Defenders of New Orleans, Joseph Rodman Drake	326
The Hunters of Kentucky, Unknown	326
The Constitution's Last Fight, James Jeffrey Roche	327
Sea and Land Victories, Unknown	328
Ode to Peace, Unknown	329
CHAPTER III
The West
The Settler, Alfred B. Street	329
The Mothers of the West, William Davis Gallagher	330
On the Emigration to America, Philip Freneau	331
John Filson, William Henry Venable	331
Sainclaire's Defeat, Unknown	332
Johnny Appleseed, William Henry Venable	334
The Founders of Ohio, William Henry Venable	335
Blennerhassett's Island, Thomas Buchanan Read	335
The Battle of Muskingum, William Harrison Safford	337
To Aaron Burr, under Trial for High Treason, Sarah Wentworth Morton	338
The Battle of Tippecanoe, Unknown	339
The Tomb of the Brave, Joseph Hutton	339
Sa-cá-ga-we-a, Edna Dean Proctor	340
On the Discoveries of Captain Lewis, Joel Barlow	341
Whitman's Ride for Oregon, Hezekiah Butterworth	342
Discovery of San Francisco Bay, Richard Edward White	343
John Charles Frémont, Charles F. Lummis	345
"The Days of 'Forty-Nine," Unknown	345
The Old Santa Fé Trail, Richard Burton	346
California, Lydia Huntley Sigourney	346
CHAPTER IV
Through Five Administrations
Theodosia Burr, John Williamson Palmer	346
On the Death of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, John G. C. Brainard	347
On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake, Fitz-Greene Halleck	348
On Laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, John Pierpont	348
La Fayette, Dolly Madison	349
The Death of Jefferson, Hezekiah Butterworth	349
Old Ironsides, Oliver Wendell Holmes	351
Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson	351
The Wreck of the Hesperus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	351
Old Tippecanoe, Unknown	353
The Death of Harrison, Nathaniel Parker Willis	353
CHAPTER V
The War with Mexico
The Valor of Ben Milam, Clinton Scollard	354
Ben Milam, William H. Wharton	355
The Men of the Alamo, James Jeffrey Roche	355
The Defence of the Alamo, Joaquin Miller	357
The Fight at San Jacinto, John Williamson Palmer	357
Song of Texas, William Henry Cuyler Hosmer	358
Texas, John Greenleaf Whittier	358[xxii]
Mr. Hosea Biglow speaks, James Russell Lowell	360
The Guns in the Grass, Thomas Frost	361
Rio Bravo—A Mexican Lament, Charles Fenno Hoffman	362
To Arms, Park Benjamin	363
Monterey, Charles Fenno Hoffman	363
Victor Galbraith, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	364
Buena Vista, Albert Pike	364
The Angels of Buena Vista, John Greenleaf Whittier	366
The Bivouac of the Dead, Theodore O'Hara	368
What Mr. Robinson thinks, James Russell Lowell	369
Battle of the King's Mill, Thomas Dunn English	370
The Siege of Chapultepec, William Haines Lytle	371
Illumination for Victories in Mexico, Grace Greenwood	371
The Crisis, John Greenleaf Whittier	372
The Volunteers, William Haines Lytle	374
CHAPTER VI
Fourteen Years of Peace
The Ship Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Francis Lieber	374
The War Ship of Peace, Samuel Lover	375
On the Defeat of Henry Clay, William Wilberforce Lord	376
On the Death of M. D'Ossoli and his Wife, Margaret Fuller, Walter Savage Landor	376
The Last Appendix to "Yankee Doodle," Unknown	376
Daniel Webster, Oliver Wendell Holmes	377
The Flag, James Jeffrey Roche	378
Kane, Fitz-James O'Brien	379
Herndon, S. Weir Mitchell	380
Blood is Thicker than Water, Wallace Rice	380
Baron Renfrew's Ball, Charles Graham Halpine	382
PART IV
THE CIVIL WAR
Battle-Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe	384
CHAPTER I
The Slavery Question
To William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier	385
Clerical Oppressors, John Greenleaf Whittier	385
The Debate in the Sennit, James Russell Lowell	386
Ichabod, John Greenleaf Whittier	388
The Kidnapping of Sims, John Pierpont	388
The Kansas Emigrants, John Greenleaf Whittier	389
Burial of Barber, John Greenleaf Whittier	389
The Defence of Lawrence, Richard Realf	390
The Fight over the Body of Keitt, Unknown	391
Le Marais du Cygne, John Greenleaf Whittier	392
How Old Brown took Harper's Ferry, Edmund Clarence Stedman	393
The Battle of Charlestown, Henry Howard Brownell	395
Brown of Ossawatomie, John Greenleaf Whittier	396
Glory Hallelujah! or John Brown's Body, Charles Sprague Hall	397[xxiii]
John Brown, Edna Dean Proctor	397
John Brown: a Paradox, Louise Imogen Guiney	397
Lecompton's Black Brigade, Charles Graham Halpine	398
Lincoln, the Man of the People, Edwin Markham	399
Brother Jonathan's Lament for Sister Caroline, Oliver Wendell Holmes	400
Jefferson D., H. S. Cornwell	401
The Old Cove, Henry Howard Brownell	401
A Spool of Thread, Sophie E. Eastman	402
God save Our President, Francis DeHaes Janvier	403
CHAPTER II
The Gauntlet
Bob Anderson, my Beau, Unknown	403
On Fort Sumter, Unknown	403
Sumter, Edmund Clarence Stedman	404
The Battle of Morris' Island, Unknown	404
Sumter—A Ballad of 1861, Unknown	405
The Fight at Sumter, Unknown	407
Sumter, Henry Howard Brownell	408
The Great Bell Roland, Theodore Tilton	408
Men of the North and West, Richard Henry Stoddard	409
Out and Fight, Charles Godfrey Leland	409
No More Words, Franklin Lushington	410
Our Country's Call, William Cullen Bryant	410
Dixie, Albert Pike	411
A Cry to Arms, Henry Timrod	411
"We Conquer or Die," James Pierpont	412
"Call All," Unknown	412
The Bonnie Blue Flag, Annie Chambers Ketchum	413
I give my Soldier Boy a Blade, Unknown	413
CHAPTER III
The North gets its Lesson
The Nineteenth of April, Lucy Larcom	414
Through Baltimore, Bayard Taylor	414
My Maryland, James Ryder Randall	415
Ellsworth, Unknown	416
Colonel Ellsworth, Richard Henry Stoddard	416
On the Death of "Jackson," Unknown	417
The Virginians of the Valley, Francis Orrery Ticknor	417
Bethel, A. J. H. Duganne	417
Dirge, Thomas William Parsons	419
Wait for the Wagon, Unknown	419
Upon the Hill before Centreville, George Henry Boker	420
Manassas, Catherine M. Warfield	423
A Battle Ballad, Francis Orrery Ticknor	424
The Run from Manassas Junction, Unknown	425
On to Richmond, John R. Thompson	426
Cast Down, but not Destroyed, Unknown	427
Shop and Freedom, Unknown	428
The C. S. A. Commissioners, Unknown	428
Death of the Lincoln Despotism, Unknown	429
Jonathan to John, James Russell Lowell	430
A New Song to an Old Tune, Unknown	432
[xxiv]
CHAPTER IV
The Grand Army of the Potomac
Civil War, Charles Dawson Shanly	432
The Picket-Guard, Ethel Lynn Beers	433
Tardy George, Unknown	433
How McClellan took Manassas, Unknown	434
Wanted—A Man, Edmund Clarence Stedman	435
The Gallant Fighting "Joe," James Stevenson	436
Kearny at Seven Pines, Edmund Clarence Stedman	437
The Burial of Latané, John R. Thompson	437
The Charge by the Ford, Thomas Dunn English	438
Dirge for Ashby, Margaret Junkin Preston	439
Malvern Hill, Herman Melville	439
A Message, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps	440
Three Hundred Thousand More, James Sloan Gibbons	440
Cedar Mountain, Annie Fields	441
"Our Left," Francis Orrery Ticknor	441
Dirge for a Soldier, George Henry Boker	442
The Reveille, Bret Harte	442
Beyond the Potomac, Paul Hamilton Hayne	443
Barbara Frietchie, John Greenleaf Whittier	444
Marthy Virginia's Hand, George Parsons Lathrop	445
The Victor of Antietam, Herman Melville	445
The Crossing at Fredericksburg, George Henry Boker	446
At Fredericksburg, John Boyle O'Reilly	447
Fredericksburg, Thomas Bailey Aldrich	449
By the Potomac, Thomas Bailey Aldrich	449
The Washers of the Shroud, James Russell Lowell	450
CHAPTER V
The War in the West
The Little Drummer, Richard Henry Stoddard	451
The Death of Lyon, Henry Peterson	453
Zagonyi, George Henry Boker	453
Battle of Somerset, Cornelius C. Cullen	454
Zollicoffer, Henry Lynden Flash	454
Boy Brittan, Forceythe Willson	455
Albert Sidney Johnston, Kate Brownlee Sherwood	456
Albert Sidney Johnston, Francis Orrery Ticknor	457
Beauregard, Mrs. C. A. Warfield	457
The Eagle of Corinth, Henry Howard Brownell	458
The Battle of Murfreesboro, Kinahan Cornwallis	459
Little Giffen, Francis Orrery Ticknor	460
The Battle Autumn of 1862, John Greenleaf Whittier	460
CHAPTER VI
The Coast and the River
At Port Royal, John Greenleaf Whittier	461
Ready, Phœbe Cary	461
The Daughter of the Regiment, Clinton Scollard	462
The Turtle, Unknown	462
The Attack, Thomas Buchanan Read	463
The Cumberland, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	464
On Board the Cumberland, George Henry Boker	464[xxv]
The Cumberland, Herman Melville	466
How the Cumberland went down, S. Weir Mitchell	466
The Cruise of the Monitor, George Henry Boker	467
The Sinking of the Merrimack, Lucy Larcom	468
The River Fight, Henry Howard Brownell	468
The Ballad of New Orleans, George Henry Boker	472
The Varuna, George Henry Boker	474
The Surrender of New Orleans, Marion Manville	475
Mumford, Ina M. Porter	476
Butler's Proclamation, Paul Hamilton Hayne	476
CHAPTER VII
Emancipation
To John C. Frémont, John Greenleaf Whittier	477
Astræa at the Capitol, John Greenleaf Whittier	478
Boston Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson	478
The Proclamation, John Greenleaf Whittier	480
Treason's Last Device, Edmund Clarence Stedman	480
Laus Deo, John Greenleaf Whittier	481
CHAPTER VIII
The "Grand Army's" Second Campaign
Mosby at Hamilton, Madison Cawein	482
John Pelham, James Ryder Randall	482
Hooker's Across, George Henry Boker	483
Stonewall Jackson's Way, John Williamson Palmer	483
Keenan's Charge, George Parsons Lathrop	484
"The Brigade must not know, Sir," Unknown	485
Stonewall Jackson, Henry Lynden Flash	486
The Dying Words of Stonewall Jackson, Sidney Lanier	486
Under the Shade of the Trees, Margaret Junkin Preston	486
The Ballad of Ishmael Day, Unknown	487
Riding with Kilpatrick, Clinton Scollard	488
Gettysburg, Edmund Clarence Stedman	489
The High Tide at Gettysburg, Will Henry Thompson	491
Gettysburg, James Jeffrey Roche	492
The Battle-Field, Lloyd Mifflin	492
John Burns of Gettysburg, Bret Harte	493
Kentucky Belle, Constance Fenimore Woolson	494
The Draft Riot, Charles de Kay	496
Lincoln at Gettysburg, Bayard Taylor	497
CHAPTER IX
With Grant on the Mississippi
Running the Batteries, Herman Melville	498
Before Vicksburg, George Henry Boker	499
Vicksburg, Paul Hamilton Hayne	499
The Battle-Cry of Freedom, George Frederick Root	500
The Black Regiment, George Henry Boker	500
The Ballad of Chickamauga, Maurice Thompson	501
Thomas at Chickamauga, Kate Brownlee Sherwood	502
Garfield's Ride at Chickamauga, Hezekiah Butterworth	503
The Battle of Lookout Mountain, George Henry Boker	505
The Battle in the Clouds, William Dean Howells	506[xxvi]
Charleston, Henry Timrod	507
The Battle of Charleston Harbor, Paul Hamilton Hayne	507
Bury Them, Henry Howard Brownell	508
Twilight on Sumter, Richard Henry Stoddard	509
CHAPTER X
The Final Struggle
Put it Through, Edward Everett Hale	509
Logan at Peach Tree Creek, Hamlin Garland	510
A Dirge for McPherson, Herman Melville	511
With Corse at Allatoona, Samuel H. M. Byers	511
Allatoona, Unknown	512
Sherman's March to the Sea, Samuel H. M. Byers	512
The Song of Sherman's Army, Charles Graham Halpine	513
Marching through Georgia, Henry Clay Work	513
Ethiopia Saluting the Colors, Walt Whitman	514
Sherman's in Savannah, Oliver Wendell Holmes	514
Savannah, Alethea S. Burroughs	514
Carolina, Henry Timrod	515
Charleston, Paul Hamilton Hayne	515
Romance, William Ernest Henley	516
The Foe at the Gates, John Dickson Bruns	516
Ulric Dahlgren, Kate Brownlee Sherwood	517
Lee to the Rear, John Randolph Thompson	518
Can't, Harriet Prescott Spofford	519
Obsequies of Stuart, John Randolph Thompson	519
A Christopher of the Shenandoah, Edith M. Thomas	520
Sheridan at Cedar Creek, Herman Melville	521
Sheridan's Ride, Thomas Buchanan Read	521
The Year of Jubilee, Henry Clay Work	522
Virginia Capta, Margaret Junkin Preston	523
The Fall of Richmond, Herman Melville	523
The Surrender at Appomattox, Herman Melville	524
Lee's Parole, Marion Manville	524
Robert E. Lee, Julia Ward Howe	524
CHAPTER XI
Winslow and Farragut
The Eagle and Vulture, Thomas Buchanan Read	525
Kearsarge and Alabama, Unknown	526
Kearsarge, S. Weir Mitchell	526
The Alabama, Maurice Bell	527
Craven, Henry Newbolt	527
Farragut, William Tuckey Meredith	528
Through Fire in Mobile Bay, Unknown	529
The Bay Fight, Henry Howard Brownell	530
"Albemarle" Cushing, James Jeffrey Roche	535
At the Cannon's Mouth, Herman Melville	537
CHAPTER XII
The Martyr President
Lincoln, S. Weir Mitchell	537
O Captain! My Captain! Walt Whitman	537[xxvii]
The Dead President, Edward Rowland Sill	538
Abraham Lincoln, Edmund Clarence Stedman	538
Pardon, Julia Ward Howe	539
The Dear President, John James Piatt	539
Abraham Lincoln, William Cullen Bryant	540
Abraham Lincoln, Richard Henry Stoddard	540
Parricide, Julia Ward Howe	542
Abraham Lincoln, Tom Taylor	543
CHAPTER XIII
Peace
"Stack Arms," Joseph Blynth Alston	545
Jefferson Davis, Walker Meriwether Bell	545
In the Land where we were Dreaming, Daniel B. Lucas	546
Acceptation, Margaret Junkin Preston	547
The Conquered Banner, Abram J. Ryan	547
Peace, Adeline D. T. Whitney	547
Peace, Phœbe Cary	548
A Second Review of the Grand Army, Bret Harte	548
When Johnny comes marching Home, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore	549
Driving Home the Cows, Kate Putnam Osgood	550
Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration, James Russell Lowell	550
PART V
THE PERIOD OF EXPANSION
The Eagle's Song, Richard Mansfield	558
CHAPTER I
Reconstruction and After
To the Thirty-Ninth Congress, John Greenleaf Whittier	559
"Mr. Johnson's Policy of Reconstruction," Charles Graham Halpine	559
Thaddeus Stevens, Phœbe Cary	560
South Carolina to the States of the North, Paul Hamilton Hayne	561
Ku-Klux, Madison Cawein	562
The Rear Guard, Irene Fowler Brown	562
The Blue and the Gray, Francis Miles Finch	563
The Stricken South to the North, Paul Hamilton Hayne	564
How Cyrus laid the Cable, John Godfrey Saxe	565
The Cable Hymn, John Greenleaf Whittier	565
An Arctic Vision, Bret Harte	566
Alaska, Joaquin Miller	567
Israel Freyer's Bid for Gold, Edmund Clarence Stedman	567
Chicago, John Greenleaf Whittier	568
Chicago, Bret Harte	569
Chicago, John Boyle O'Reilly	569
Boston, John Boyle O'Reilly	570
The Church of the Revolution, Hezekiah Butterworth	570
After the Fire, Oliver Wendell Holmes	571
The Ride of Collins Graves, John Boyle O'Reilly	571
[xxviii]
CHAPTER II
The Year of a Hundred Years
Our First Century, George Edward Woodberry	572
Centennial Hymn, John Greenleaf Whittier	573
The Centennial Meditation of Columbia, Sidney Lanier	573
Centennial Hymn, William Cullen Bryant	574
Welcome to the Nations, Oliver Wendell Holmes	574
The National Ode, Bayard Taylor	575
Our National Banner, Dexter Smith	578
After the Centennial, Christopher Pearse Cranch	578
CHAPTER III
The Conquest of the Plains
The Pacific Railway, C. R. Ballard	579
After the Comanches, Unknown	579
Down the Little Big Horn, Francis Brooks	580
Little Big Horn, Ernest McGaffey	581
Custer's Last Charge, Frederick Whittaker	582
Custer, Edmund Clarence Stedman	583
The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	583
Miles Keogh's Horse, John Hay	584
On the Big Horn, John Greenleaf Whittier	585
The "Grey Horse Troop," Robert W. Chambers	585
Geronimo, Ernest McGaffey	586
The Last Reservation, Walter Learned	586
Indian Names, Lydia Huntley Sigourney	587
CHAPTER IV
The Second Assassination
Rejoice, Joaquin Miller	587
The Bells at Midnight, Thomas Bailey Aldrich	588
J. A. G., Julia Ward Howe	589
Midnight—September 19, 1881, John Boyle O'Reilly	589
At the President's Grave, Richard Watson Gilder	590
On the Death of President Garfield, Oliver Wendell Holmes	590
President Garfield, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	591
Yorktown Centennial Lyric, Paul Hamilton Hayne	592
The Brooklyn Bridge, Edna Dean Proctor	593
Brooklyn Bridge, Charles George Douglas Roberts	593
Charleston, Richard Watson Gilder	594
Mayflower, John Boyle O'Reilly	594
Fairest of Freedom's Daughters, Jeremiah Eames Rankin	594
Liberty Enlightening the World, Edmund Clarence Stedman	595
The Bartholdi Statue, John Greenleaf Whittier	595
Additional Verses to Hail Columbia, Oliver Wendell Holmes	596
New National Hymn, Francis Marion Crawford	596
In Apia Bay, Charles George Douglas Roberts	597
An International Episode, Caroline T. Duer	598
By the Conemaugh, Florence Earle Coates	599
The Man who rode to Conemaugh, John Eliot Bowen	599
A Ballad of the Conemaugh Flood, Hardwick Drummond Rawnsley	600
Conemaugh, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward	601
"The White City," Richard Watson Gilder	602
The Kearsarge, James Jeffrey Roche	602[xxix]
Tennessee, Virginia Fraser Boyle	603
An Ode on the Unveiling of the Shaw Memorial, Thomas Bailey Aldrich	603
The Klondike, Edwin Arlington Robinson	604
CHAPTER V
The War with Spain
Apostrophe to the Island of Cuba, James Gates Percival	606
The Gallant Fifty-One, Henry Lynden Flash	606
Cuba, Edmund Clarence Stedman	607
The Gospel of Peace, James Jeffrey Roche	607
Cuba, Harvey Rice	608
Cuba to Columbia, Will Carleton	608
Cuba Libre, Joaquin Miller	609
The Parting of the Ways, Joseph B. Gilder	609
The Men of the Maine, Clinton Scollard	609
The Word of the Lord from Havana, Richard Hovey	610
Half-Mast, Lloyd Mifflin	611
The Fighting Race, Joseph I. C. Clarke	611
On the Eve of War, Danske Dandridge	612
To Spain—A Last Word, Edith M. Thomas	612
The Martyrs of the Maine, Rupert Hughes	612
El Emplazado, William Henry Venable	613
Battle Song, Robert Burns Wilson	613
Greeting from England, Unknown	614
Battle Cry, William Henry Venable	614
Just One Signal, Unknown	614
Dewey at Manila, Robert Underwood Johnson	615
Dewey and his Men, Wallace Rice	617
"Off Manilly," Edmund Vance Cooke	618
Manila Bay, Arthur Hale	618
A Ballad of Manila Bay, Charles George Douglas Roberts	618
The Battle of Manila, Richard Hovey	619
Dewey in Manila Bay, R. V. Risley	620
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," Madison Cawein	620
The Spirit of the Maine, Tudor Jenks	621
The Dragon of the Seas, Thomas Nelson Page	621
The Sailing of the Fleet, Unknown	622
"Cut the Cables," Robert Burns Wilson	622
The Race of the Oregon, John James Meehan	624
Battle-Song of the Oregon, Wallace Rice	624
Strike the Blow, Unknown	625
Eight Volunteers, Lansing C. Bailey	626
The Men of the Merrimac, Clinton Scollard	626
The Victory-Wreck, Will Carleton	627
Hobson and his Men, Robert Loveman	627
The Call to the Colors, Arthur Guiterman	627
Essex Regiment March, George Edward Woodberry	628
The Gathering, Herbert B. Swett	629
Comrades, Henry R. Dorr	629
Wheeler's Brigade at Santiago, Wallace Rice	629
Deeds of Valor at Santiago, Clinton Scollard	630
The Charge at Santiago, William Hamilton Hayne	630
Private Blair of the Regulars, Clinton Scollard	631
Wheeler at Santiago, James Lindsay Gordon	631
Spain's Last Armada, Wallace Rice	632
Santiago, Thomas A. Janvier	633
The Fleet at Santiago, Charles E. Russell	634[xxx]
The Destroyer of Destroyers, Wallace Rice	635
The Brooklyn at Santiago, Wallace Rice	636
The Rush of the Oregon, Arthur Guiterman	637
The Men behind the Guns, John Jerome Rooney	637
Cervera, Bertrand Shadwell	638
McIlrath of Malate, John Jerome Rooney	639
When the Great Gray Ships come in, Guy Wetmore Carryl	640
Full Cycle, John White Chadwick	640
Breath on the Oat, Joseph Russell Taylor	641
The Islands of the Sea, George Edward Woodberry	641
Ballade of Expansion, Hilda Johnson	642
"Rebels," Ernest Crosby	643
On a Soldier fallen in the Philippines, William Vaughn Moody	643
The Ballad of Paco Town, Clinton Scollard	644
The Deed of Lieutenant Miles, Clinton Scollard	644
Aguinaldo, Bertrand Shadwell	645
The Fight at Dajo, Alfred E. Wood	645
An Ode in Time of Hesitation, William Vaughn Moody	646
CHAPTER VI
The New Century
A Toast to Our Native Land, Robert Bridges	649
Buffalo, Florence Earle Coates	649
McKinley, Unknown	649
Faithful unto Death, Richard Handfield Titherington	650
The Comfort of the Trees, Richard Watson Gilder	650
Outward Bound, Edward Sydney Tylee	650
Panama, James Jeffrey Roche	651
Darien, Edwin Arnold	651
Panama, Amanda T. Jones	652
A Song of Panama, Alfred Damon Runyon	652
Hymn of the West, Edmund Clarence Stedman	653
Britannia to Columbia, Alfred Austin	654
Those Rebel Flags, John H. Jewett	654
The Song of the Flags, S. Weir Mitchell	655
Arizona, Sharlot M. Hall	655
San Francisco, Joaquin Miller	657
San Francisco, John Vance Cheney	657
To San Francisco, S. J. Alexander	657
Resurge San Francisco, Joaquin Miller	658
Grover Cleveland, Joel Benton	658
Unguarded Gates, Thomas Bailey Aldrich	659
National Song, William Henry Venable	659
Ad Patriam, Clinton Scollard	660
O Land Beloved, George Edward Woodberry	660
The Republic, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	660
CHAPTER VII
The World War
Sonnets written in the Fall of 1914, George Edward Woodberry	661
Abraham Lincoln walks at Midnight, Vachel Lindsay	661
The "William P. Frye," Jeanne Robert Foster	662
The White Ships and the Red, Joyce Kilmer	663
Mare Liberum, Henry van Dyke	664
Ode in Memory of the American Volunteers fallen for France, Alan Seeger	664
Republic to Republic, Witter Bynner	666[xxxi]
To the United States of America, Robert Bridges	666
The Captive Ships at Manila, Dorothy Paul	666
The Road to France, Daniel Henderson	667
Pershing at the Tomb of Lafayette, Amelia Josephine Burr	667
Your Lad, and my Lad, Randall Parrish	668
A Call to Arms, Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews	668
The First Three, Clinton Scollard	669
To America, on her First Sons fallen in the Great War, E. M. Walker	670
Rouge Bouquet, Joyce Kilmer	670
Marching Song, Dana Burnet	671
Our Modest Doughboys, Charlton Andrews	671
Seicheprey	672
A Ballad of Redhead's Day, Richard Butler Glaenzer	672
Victory Bells, Grace Hazard Conkling	673
Epicedium, J. Corson Miller	673
The Dead, David Morton	674
The Unreturning, Clinton Scollard	674
The Star, Marion Couthouy Smith	674
Brest left behind, John Chipman Farrar	674
To the Returning Brave, Robert Underwood Johnson	675
The Return, Eleanor Rogers Cox	676
King of the Belgians, Marion Couthouy Smith	676
The Family of Nations, Willard Wattles	677
The League of Nations, Mary Siegrist	677
Beyond Wars, David Morton	678
"When there is Peace," Austin Dobson	678
After the War, Richard Le Gallienne	678

NOTES	681
INDEX OF AUTHORS	699
INDEX OF FIRST LINES	705
INDEX OF TITLES	713

PART I
THE COLONIAL PERIOD

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

Scene II.—Interior of the Meeting-house.
Mather and the Magistrates seated in front of the pulpit.
Before them a raised platform. Martha in chains. Corey near her.
Mary Walcot in a chair. A crowd of spectators, among them Gloyd.
Confusion and murmurs during the scene.

HATHORNE
Call Martha Corey.

MARTHA
I am here.

HATHORNE
Come forward.

She ascends the platform.

The Jurors of our Sovereign Lord and Lady
The King and Queen, here present, do accuse you
Of having on the tenth of June last past,
And divers other times before and after,
Wickedly used and practised certain arts
Called Witchcrafts, Sorceries, and Incantations,
Against one Mary Walcot, single woman,
Of Salem Village: by which wicked arts
The aforesaid Mary Walcot was tormented,
Tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, and wasted,
Against the peace of our Sovereign Lord and Lady
The King and Queen, as well as of the Statute
Made and provided in that case. What say you?

MARTHA
Before I answer, give me leave to pray.

HATHORNE
We have not sent for you, nor are we here,
To hear you pray, but to examine you
In whatsoever is alleged against you
Why do you hurt this person?

MARTHA
I do not.
I am not guilty of the charge against me.

MARY
Avoid, she-devil! You may torment me now!
Avoid, avoid, Witch!

MARTHA
I am innocent.
I never had to do with any Witchcraft
Since I was born. I am a gospel woman.

MARY
You are a gospel Witch!

MARTHA (clasping her hands)
Ah me! ah me!
Oh, give me leave to pray!

MARY (stretching out her hands)
She hurts me now.
See, she has pinched my hands!

HATHORNE
Who made these marks
Upon her hands?

MARTHA
I do not know. I stand
Apart from her. I did not touch her hands.

HATHORNE
Who hurt her then?

MARTHA
I know not.

HATHORNE
Do you think
She is bewitched?

MARTHA
Indeed I do not think so.
I am no Witch, and have no faith in Witches.

HATHORNE
Then answer me: When certain persons came
[93] To see you yesterday, how did you know
Beforehand why they came?

MARTHA
I had had speech;
The children said I hurt them, and I thought
These people came to question me about it.

HATHORNE
How did you know the children had been told
To note the clothes you wore?

MARTHA
My husband told me
What others said about it.

HATHORNE
Goodman Corey,
Say, did you tell her?

COREY
I must speak the truth;
I did not tell her. It was some one else.

HATHORNE
Did you not say your husband told you so?
How dare you tell a lie in this assembly?
Who told you of the clothes? Confess the truth.

MARTHA bites her lips, and is silent.

You bite your lips, but do not answer me!

MARY
Ah, she is biting me! Avoid, avoid!

HATHORNE
You said your husband told you.

MARTHA
Yes, he told me
The children said I troubled them.

HATHORNE
Then tell me,
Why do you trouble them?

MARTHA
I have denied it.

MARY
She threatened me; stabbed at me with her spindle;
And, when my brother thrust her with his sword,
He tore her gown, and cut a piece away.
Here are they both, the spindle and the cloth.
Shows them.

HATHORNE
And there are persons here who know the truth
Of what has now been said. What answer make you?

MARTHA
I make no answer. Give me leave to pray.

HATHORNE
Whom would you pray to?

MARTHA
To my God and Father.

HATHORNE
Who is your God and Father?

MARTHA
The Almighty!

HATHORNE
Doth he you pray to say that he is God?
It is the Prince of Darkness, and not God.

MARY
There is a dark shape whispering in her ear.

HATHORNE
What does it say to you?

MARTHA
I see no shape.

HATHORNE
Did you not hear it whisper?

MARTHA
I heard nothing.

MARY
What torture! Ah, what agony I suffer!
Falls into a swoon.

HATHORNE
You see this woman cannot stand before you.
If you would look for mercy, you must look
In God's way, by confession of your guilt.
Why does your spectre haunt and hurt this person?

[94] MARTHA
I do not know. He who appeared of old
In Samuel's shape, a saint and glorified,
May come in whatsoever shape he chooses.
I cannot help it. I am sick at heart!

COREY
O Martha, Martha! let me hold your hand.

HATHORNE
No; stand aside, old man.

MARY (starting up)
Look there! Look there!
I see a little bird, a yellow bird,
Perched on her finger; and it pecks at me.
Ah, it will tear mine eyes out!

MARTHA
I see nothing.

HATHORNE
'Tis the Familiar Spirit that attends her.

MARY
Now it has flown away. It sits up there
Upon the rafters. It is gone; is vanished.

MARTHA
Giles, wipe these tears of anger from mine eyes.
Wipe the sweat from my forehead. I am faint.
She leans against the railing.

MARY
Oh, she is crushing me with all her weight!

HATHORNE
Did you not carry once the Devil's Book
To this young woman?

MARTHA
Never.

HATHORNE
Have you signed it,
Or touched it?

MARTHA
No; I never saw it.

HATHORNE
Did you not scourge her with an iron rod?

MARTHA
No, I did not. If any Evil Spirit
Has taken my shape to do these evil deeds,
I cannot help it. I am innocent.

HATHORNE
Did you not say the Magistrates were blind?
That you would open their eyes?

MARTHA (with a scornful laugh)
Yes, I said that;
If you call me a sorceress, you are blind!
If you accuse the innocent, you are blind!
Can the innocent be guilty?

HATHORNE
Did you not
On one occasion hide your husband's saddle
To hinder him from coming to the Sessions?

MARTHA
I thought it was a folly in a farmer
To waste his time pursuing such illusions.

HATHORNE
What was the bird that this young woman saw
Just now upon your hand?

MARTHA
I know no bird.

HATHORNE
Have you not dealt with a Familiar Spirit?

MARTHA
No, never, never!

HATHORNE
What then was the Book
You showed to this young woman, and besought her
To write in it?

MARTHA
Where should I have a book?
I showed her none, nor have none.

MARY
The next Sabbath
Is the Communion Day, but Martha Corey
Will not be there!

MARTHA
Ah, you are all against me.
What can I do or say?

[95] HATHORNE
You can confess.

MARTHA
No, I cannot, for I am innocent.

HATHORNE
We have the proof of many witnesses
That you are guilty.

MARTHA
Give me leave to speak.
Will you condemn me on such evidence,—
You who have known me for so many years?
Will you condemn me in this house of God,
Where I so long have worshipped with you all?
Where I have eaten the bread and drunk the wine
So many times at our Lord's Table with you?
Bear witness, you that hear me; you all know
That I have led a blameless life among you,
That never any whisper of suspicion
Was breathed against me till this accusation.
And shall this count for nothing? Will you take
My life away from me, because this girl,
Who is distraught, and not in her right mind,
Accuses me of things I blush to name?

HATHORNE
What! is it not enough? Would you hear more?
Giles Corey!

COREY
I am here.

HATHORNE
Come forward, then.

COREY ascends the platform.

Is it not true, that on a certain night
You were impeded strangely in your prayers?
That something hindered you? and that you left
This woman here, your wife, kneeling alone
Upon the hearth?

COREY
Yes; I cannot deny it.

HATHORNE
Did you not say the Devil hindered you?

COREY
I think I said some words to that effect.

HATHORNE
Is it not true, that fourteen head of cattle,
To you belonging, broke from their enclosure
And leaped into the river, and were drowned?

COREY
It is most true.

HATHORNE
And did you not then say
That they were overlooked?

COREY
So much I said.
I see; they're drawing round me closer, closer,
A net I cannot break, cannot escape from!
(Aside.)

HATHORNE
Who did these things?

COREY
I do not know who did them.

HATHORNE
Then I will tell you. It is some one near you;
You see her now; this woman, your own wife.

COREY
I call the heavens to witness, it is false!
She never harmed me, never hindered me
In anything but what I should not do.
And I bear witness in the sight of heaven,
And in God's house here, that I never knew her
As otherwise than patient, brave, and true,
Faithful, forgiving, full of charity,
A virtuous and industrious and good wife!

HATHORNE
Tut, tut, man; do not rant so in your speech;
You are a witness, not an advocate!
Here, Sheriff, take this woman back to prison.

MARTHA
O Giles, this day you've sworn away my life!

MARY
Go, go and join the Witches at the door.
Do you not hear the drum? Do you not see them?
Go quick. They're waiting for you. You are late!

[Exit Martha; Corey following.
[96]

COREY
The dream! the dream! the dream!

HATHORNE
What does he say?
Giles Corey, go not hence. You are yourself
Accused of Witchcraft and of Sorcery
By many witnesses. Say, are you guilty?

COREY
I know my death is foreordained by you,—
Mine and my wife's. Therefore I will not answer.

During the rest of the scene he remains silent.

HATHORNE
Do you refuse to plead?—'Twere better for you
To make confession, or to plead Not Guilty.—
Do you not hear me?—Answer, are you guilty?
Do you not know a heavier doom awaits you,
If you refuse to plead, than if found guilty?
Where is John Gloyd?

GLOYD (coming forward)
Here am I.

HATHORNE
Tell the Court;
Have you not seen the supernatural power
Of this old man? Have you not seen him do
Strange feats of strength?

GLOYD
I've seen him lead the field,
On a hot day, in mowing, and against
Us younger men; and I have wrestled with him.
He threw me like a feather. I have seen him
Lift up a barrel with his single hands,
Which two strong men could hardly lift together,
And, holding it above his head, drink from it.

HATHORNE
That is enough; we need not question further.
What answer do you make to this, Giles Corey?

MARY
See there! See there!

HATHORNE
What is it? I see nothing.

MARY
Look! Look! It is the ghost of Robert Goodell,
Whom fifteen years ago this man did murder
By stamping on his body! In his shroud
He comes here to bear witness to the crime!

The crowd shrinks back from Corey in horror.

HATHORNE
Ghosts of the dead and voices of the living
Bear witness to your guilt, and you must die!
It might have been an easier death. Your doom
Will be on your own head, and not on ours.
Twice more will you be questioned of these things;
Twice more have room to plead or to confess.
If you are contumacious to the Court,
And if, when questioned, you refuse to answer,
Then by the Statute you will be condemned
To the peine forte et dure! To have your body
Pressed by great weights until you shall be dead!
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

CHAPTER VIII

Of the onset, fear-inspiring, and the firing and the pillage
Of our village, when De Rouville with his forces on us fell,
When, ere dawning of the morning, with no death-portending warning,
With no token shown or spoken, came the foeman, hear me tell.

High against the palisadoes, on the meadows, banks, and hill-sides,
At the rill-sides, over fences, lay the lingering winter snow;
And so high by tempest rifted, at our pickets it was drifted,
That its frozen crust was chosen as a bridge to bear the foe.

We had set at night a sentry, lest an entry, while the sombre
Heavy slumber was upon us, by the Frenchman should be made;
But the faithless knave we posted, though of wakefulness he boasted,
'Stead of keeping watch was sleeping, and his solemn trust betrayed.

Than our slumber none profounder; never sounder fell on sleeper,
Never deeper sleep its shadow cast on dull and listless frames;
But it fled before the crashing of the portals, and the flashing,
And the soaring, and the roaring, and the crackling of the flames.

Fell the shining hatchets quickly 'mid the thickly crowded women,
Growing dim in crimson currents from the pulses of the brain;
Rained the balls from firelocks deadly, till the melted snow ran redly
With the glowing torrent flowing from the bodies of the slain.

I, from pleasant dreams awaking at the breaking of my casement,
With amazement saw the foemen enter quickly where I lay;
Heard my wife and children's screaming, as the hatchets woke their dreaming,
Heard their groaning and their moaning as their spirits passed away.

'Twas in vain I struggled madly as the sadly sounding pleading
Of my bleeding, dying darlings fell upon my tortured ears;
'Twas in vain I wrestled, raging, fight against their numbers waging,
Crowding round me there they bound me, while my manhood sank in tears.

At the spot to which they bore me, no one o'er me watched or warded;
There unguarded, bound and shivering, on the snow I lay alone;
Watching by the firelight ruddy, as the butchers dark and bloody,
Slew the nearest friends and dearest to my memory ever known.

And it seemed, as rose the roaring blaze, up soaring, redly streaming
O'er the gleaming snow around me through the shadows of the night,
That the figures flitting fastly were the fiends at revels ghastly,
Madly urging on the surging, seething billows of the fight.

Suddenly my gloom was lightened, hope was heightened, though the shrieking,
Malice-wreaking, ruthless wretches death were scattering to and fro;
For a knife lay there—I spied it, and a tomahawk beside it
Glittering brightly, buried lightly, keen edge upward, in the snow.

Naught knew I how came they thither, nor from whither; naught to me then
If the heathen dark, my captors, dropped those weapons there or no;
[103] Quickly drawn o'er axe-edge lightly, cords were cut that held me tightly,
Then, with engines of my vengeance in my hands, I sought the foe.

Oh, what anger dark, consuming, fearful, glooming, looming horrid,
Lit my forehead, draped my figure, leapt with fury from my glance;
'Midst the foemen rushing frantic, to their sight I seemed gigantic,
Like the motion of the ocean, like a tempest my advance.

Stoutest of them all, one savage left the ravage round and faced me;
Fury braced me, for I knew him—he my pleading wife had slain.
Huge he was, and brave and brawny, but I met the slayer tawny,
And with rigorous blow, and vigorous, clove his tufted skull in twain—
Madly dashing down the crashing bloody hatchet in his brain.

As I brained him rose their calling, "Lo! appalling from yon meadow
The Monedo of the white man comes with vengeance in his train!"
As they fled, my blows Titanic falling fast increased their panic,
Till their shattered forces scattered widely o'er the snowy plain.

Stern De Rouville then their error, born of terror, soon dispersing,
Loudly cursing them for folly, roused their pride with words of scorn;
Peering cautiously they knew me, then by numbers overthrew me;
Fettered surely, bound securely, there again I lay forlorn.

Well I knew their purpose horrid, on each forehead it was written—
Pride was smitten that their bravest had retreated at my ire;
For the rest the captive's durance, but for me there was assurance
Of the tortures known to martyrs—of the terrible death by fire.

Then I felt, though horror-stricken, pulses quicken as the swarthy
Savage, or the savage Frenchman, fiercest of the cruel band,
Darted in and out the shadows, through the shivered palisadoes,
Death-blows dealing with unfeeling heart and never-sparing hand.

Soon the sense of horror left me, and bereft me of all feeling;
Soon, revealing all my early golden moments, memory came;
Showing how, when young and sprightly, with a footstep falling lightly,
I had pondered as I wandered on the maid I loved to name.

Her, so young, so pure, so dove-like, that the love-like angels whom a
Sweet aroma circles ever wheresoe'er they move their wings,
Felt with her the air grow sweeter, felt with her their joy completer,
Felt their gladness swell to madness, silent grow their silver strings.

Then I heard her voice's murmur breathing summer, while my spirit
Leaned to hear it and to drink it like a draught of pleasant wine;
Felt her head upon my shoulder drooping as my love I told her;
Felt the utterly pleased flutter of her heart respond to mine.

Then I saw our darlings clearly that more nearly linked our gladness;
Saw our sadness as a lost one sank from pain to happy rest;
Mingled tears with hers and chid her, bade her by our love consider
How our dearest now was nearest to the blessed Master's breast.

I had lost that wife so cherished, who had perished, passed from being,
In my seeing—I, unable to protect her or defend;
At that thought dispersed those fancies, born of woe-begotten trances,
While unto me came the gloomy present hour my heart to rend.

For I heard the firelocks ringing fiercely flinging forth the whirring,
Blood-preferring leaden bullets from a garrisoned abode;
[104] There it stood so grim and lonely, speaking of its tenants only,
When the furious leaden couriers from its loopholes fastly rode.

And the seven who kept it stoutly, though devoutly triumph praying,
Ceased not slaying, trusting somewhat to their firelocks and their wives;
For while they the house were holding, balls the wives were quickly moulding—
Neither fearful, wild, nor tearful, toiling earnest for their lives.

Onward rushed each dusky leaguer, hot and eager, but the seven
Rained the levin from their firelocks as the Pagans forward pressed;
Melting at that murderous firing, back that baffled foe retiring,
Left there lying, dead or dying, ten, their bravest and their best.

Rose the red sun, straightly throwing from his glowing disk his brightness
On the whiteness of the snowdrifts and the ruins of the town—
On those houses well defended, where the foe in vain expended
Ball and powder, standing prouder, smoke-begrimed and scarred and brown.

Not for us those rays shone fairly, tinting rarely dawning early
With the pearly light and glistering of the March's snowy morn;
Some were wounded, some were weary, some were sullen, all were dreary,
As the sorrow of that morrow shed its cloud of woe forlorn.

Then we heard De Rouville's orders, "To the borders!" and the dismal,
Dark abysmal fate before us opened widely as he spoke;
But we heard a shout in distance—into fluttering existence,
Brief but splendid, quickly ended, at the sound our hopes awoke.

'Twas our kinsmen armed and ready, sweeping steady to the nor'ward,
Pressing forward fleet and fearless, though in scanty force they came—
Cried De Rouville, grimly speaking, "Is't our captives you are seeking?
Well, with iron we environ them, and wall them round with flame.

"With the toil of blood we won them, we've undone them with our bravery;
Off to slavery, then, we carry them or leave them lifeless here.
Foul my shame so far to wander, and my soldiers' blood to squander
'Mid the slaughter free as water, should our prey escape us clear.

"Off, ye scum of peasants Saxon, and your backs on Frenchmen turning,
To our burning, dauntless courage proper tribute promptly pay;
Do you come to seize and beat us? Are you here to slay and eat us?
If your meat be Gaul and Mohawk, we will starve you out to-day."

How my spirit raged to hear him, standing near him bound and helpless!
Never whelpless tigress fiercer howled at slayer of her young,
When secure behind his engines, he has baffled her of vengeance,
Than did I there, forced to lie there while his bitter taunts he flung.

For I heard each leaden missile whirr and whistle from the trusty
Firelock rusty, brought there after long-time absence from the strife,
And was forced to stand in quiet, with my warm blood running riot,
When for power to give an hour to battle I had bartered life.

All in vain they thus had striven; backward driven, beat and broken,
Leaving token of their coming in the dead around the dell,
They retreated—well it served us! their retreat from death preserved us,
Though the order for our murder from the dark De Rouville fell.

As we left our homes in ashes, through the lashes of the sternest
Welled the earnest tears of anguish for the dear ones passed away;
[105] Sick at heart and heavily loaded, though with cruel blows they goaded,
Sorely cumbered, miles we numbered four alone that weary day.

They were tired themselves of tramping, for encamping they were ready,
Ere the steady twilight newer pallor threw upon the snow;
So they built them huts of branches, in the snow they scooped out trenches,
Heaped up firing, then, retiring, let us sleep our sleep of woe.

By the wrist—and by no light hand—to the right hand of a painted,
Murder-tainted, loathsome Pagan, with a jeer, I soon was tied;
And the one to whom they bound me, 'mid the scoffs of those around me,
Bowing to me, mocking, drew me down to slumber at his side.

As for me, be sure I slept not: slumber crept not on my senses;
Less intense is lover's musing than a captive's bent on ways
To escape from fearful thralling, and a death by fire appalling;
So, unsleeping, I was keeping on the Northern Star my gaze.

There I lay—no muscle stirring, mind unerring, thought unswerving,
Body nerving, till a death-like, breathless slumber fell around;
Then my right hand cautious stealing, o'er my bed-mate's person feeling,
Till each finger stooped to linger on the belt his waist that bound.

'Twas his knife—the handle clasping, firmly grasping, forth I drew it,
Clinging to it firm, but softly, with a more than robber's art;
As I drove it to its utter length of blade, I heard the flutter
Of a snow-bird—ah! 'twas no bird! 'twas the flutter of my heart.

Then I cut the cord that bound me, peered around me, rose uprightly,
Stepped as lightly as a lover on his blessed bridal day;
Swiftly as my need inclined me, kept the bright North Star behind me,
And, ere dawning of the morning, I was twenty miles away.

Thomas Dunn English.

POEMS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

INTRODUCTION

PART I THE COLONIAL PERIOD

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

PART II THE REVOLUTION

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

PART I
THE COLONIAL PERIOD

PART II
THE REVOLUTION