Songs and Ballads of the Southern People: 1861-1865 — John Shaqi
Songs and Ballads of the Southern People: 1861-1865
History
Songs and Ballads of the Southern People: 1861-1865
American poetry -- Southern States; Southern States -- Poetry; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Poetry; War poetry, American
Now, bring me out my buckskin suit!
My pouch and powder, too!
We'll see if seventy-six can shoot
As sixteen used to do.
Old Bess! we've kept our barrels bright!
Our triggers quick and true!
As far, if not as _fine_ a sight,
As long ago, we drew!
And pick me out a trusty flint!
A real white and blue;
Perhaps 'twill win the _other_ tint,
Before the hunt is through!
Give boys your brass percussion-caps!
Old "shut-pan" suits as well!
There's something in the _sparks_; perhaps
There's something in the smell!
We've seen the red-coat Briton bleed!
The red-skin Indian, too!
We never thought to draw a bead
On Yankee-doodle-doo!
But, Bessie! bless your dear old heart!
Those days are mostly done;
And now we must revive the art
Of shooting on the run!
If Doodle must be meddling, why,
There's only this to do:
Select the black spot in his eye
And let the daylight through!
And if he doesn't like the way
That Bess presents the view,
He'll, maybe, change his mind and stay
Where the good Doodles do!
Where Lincoln lives. The man, you know,
Who kissed the Testament;
To keep the Constitution? No!
_To keep the Government!_
We'll hunt for Lincoln, Bess! old tool,
And take him half and half;
We'll aim to _hit_ him, if a fool,
And _miss_ him if a calf!
We'll teach these shot-gun boys the tricks
By which a war is won;
Especially how seventy-six
Took Tories on the run.
ONLY ONE KILLED.
BY JULIA L. KEYES.
Only one killed in Company B,
'Twas a trifling loss--one man!
A charge of the bold and dashing Lee,
While merry enough it was, to see
The enemy, as he ran.
Only one killed upon our side--
Once more to the field they turn.
Quietly now the horsemen ride,
And pause by the form of the one who died,
So bravely, as now we learn.
Their grief for the comrade loved and true
For a time was unconcealed;
They saw the bullet had pierced him through;
That his pain was brief--ah! very few
Die thus on the battle-field.
The news has gone to his home, afar--
Of the short and gallant fight;
Of the noble deeds of the young La Var,
Whose life went out as a falling star
In the skirmish of the night.
"Only one killed! It was my son,"
The widowed mother cried;
She turned but to clasp the sinking one,
Who heard not the words of the victory won,
But of him who had bravely died.
Ah! death to her were a sweet relief,
The bride of a single year.
Oh! would she might, with her weight of grief,
Lie down in the dust, with the autumn leaf,
Now trodden and brown and sere!
But no, she must bear through coming life
Her burden of silent woe,
The aged mother and youthful wife
Must live through a nation's bloody strife,
Sighing and waiting to go.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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