American War Ballads and Lyrics, Volume 2 (of 2): A Collection of the Songs and Ballads of the Colonial Wars, the Revolutions, the War of 1812-15, the War with Mexico and the Civil War
History
American War Ballads and Lyrics, Volume 2 (of 2): A Collection of the Songs and Ballads of the Colonial Wars, the Revolutions, the War of 1812-15, the War with Mexico and the Civil War
United States -- History -- Poetry; War poetry, American; War songs -- United States -- Texts
What mother, with long-watching eyes
And white lips cold and dumb,
Waits with appalling patience for
Her darling boy to come?
Her boy! whose mountain grave swells up
But one of many a scar
Cut on the face of our fair land
By gory-handed war.
What fights he fought, what wounds he wore,
Are all unknown to fame;
Remember, on his lonely grave
There is not even a name!
That he fought well and bravely too,
And held his country dear,
We know, else he had never been
A Georgia Volunteer.
He sleeps--what need to question now
If he were wrong or right?
He knows, e’er this, whose cause was just
In God the Father’s sight.
He wields no warlike weapons now,
Returns no foeman’s thrust;
Who but a coward would revile
An honest soldier’s dust?
Roll, Shenandoah, proudly roll
Adown thy rocky glen;
Above thee lies the grave of one
Of Stonewall Jackson’s men.
Beneath the cedar and the pine,
In solitude austere,
Unknown, unnamed, forgotten, lies
A Georgia Volunteer.
[Southern.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
“HOW ARE YOU, SANITARY?”
BY BRET HARTE.
[There is nothing in the history of the Civil War
worthier of celebration in verse, or more to be honored
in the remembrance, than the organization and work of the
United States Sanitary Commission. When the conditions
created by the stress of the war became apparent, the
compassion of kindly men and women in the North was deeply
stirred by the thought that there was suffering among the
soldiers which the government could not relieve, and that
there were wants which could not be supplied by military
agencies. The generous desire to minister to these wants
and to relieve this suffering was quickly organized into
action with that business-like sagacity which distinguishes
the American character. The Sanitary Commission was formed
as the agent and almoner of the popular generosity. It was
supported entirely by voluntary contributions. It was as
thoroughly organized as the army commissariat itself, and
wherever there was a comfort needed, or a wounded or sick
man to be cared for, its supply wagons, its appliances,
and its trained nurses were found. The affectionate
gratitude of the troops toward the beneficent association
is reflected in this poem.--EDITOR.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
“HOW ARE YOU, SANITARY?”
Down the picket-guarded lane
Rolled the comfort-laden wain,
Cheered by shouts that shook the plain,
Soldier-like and merry:
Phrases such as camps may teach,
Sabre-cuts of Saxon speech,
Such as “Bully!” “Them’s the peach!”
“Wade in, Sanitary!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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