Yea, it was noblest for him--it was best (Questioning naught of our Father’s decrees), There to pass over the river and rest Under the shade of the trees! [Southern.] [Illustration] [Illustration] STONEWALL JACKSON. (Mortally wounded at Chancellorsville, May, 1863.) BY HERMAN MELVILLE. The Man who fiercest charged in fight, Whose sword and prayer were long-- Stonewall! Even him who stoutly stood for Wrong, How can we praise? Yet coming days Shall not forget him with this song. Dead is the Man whose Cause is dead, Vainly he died and set his seal-- Stonewall! Earnest in error, as we feel; True to the thing he deemed was due, True as John Brown or steel. Relentlessly he routed us; But _we_ relent, for he is low-- Stonewall! Justly his fame we outlaw; so We drop a tear on the bold Virginia’s bier, Because no wreath we owe. [Illustration] The Black Regiment BY GEORGE H. BOKER. Dark as the clouds of even, Ranked in the western heaven, Waiting the breath that lifts All the dead mass, and drifts Tempest and falling brand Over a ruined land,-- So still and orderly, Arm to arm, knee to knee, Waiting the great event, Stands the black regiment. Down the long dusky line Teeth gleam and eyeballs shine; And the bright bayonet, Bristling and firmly set, Flashed with a purpose grand, Long ere the sharp command Of the fierce rolling drum Told them their time had come, Told them what work was sent For the black regiment. “Now,” the flag-sergeant cried, “Though death and hell betide, Let the whole nation see If we are fit to be Free in this land; or bound Down, like the whining hound,-- Bound with red stripes of pain In our cold chains again!” Oh, what a shout there went From the black regiment! “Charge!” trump and drum awoke; Onward the bondsmen broke; Bayonet and sabre-stroke Vainly opposed their rush. Through the wild battle’s crush, With but one thought aflush, Driving their lords like chaff, In the gun’s mouth they laugh; Or at the slippery brands, Leaping with open hands, Down they tear man and horse, Down in their awful course; Trampling with bloody heel Over the crushing steel,-- All their eyes forward bent, Rushed the black regiment.