whether the marriage occurred in 1613 or 1614. The former has been
the more generally accepted date, but the compiler has adopted the
latter on the authority of Mr. Wyndham Robertson, who has made an
exhaustive study of the question, the results of which were embodied
in a paper read before the Virginia Historical Society in 1860. Mr.
Robertson proves pretty conclusively that April 5, 1614, is the
correct date.
Page 43. _Sparkling-Water._ The English meaning of Pocahontas.
Page 45. _The town shall not rise from its ashes again._ Jamestown,
at the time it was burned, consisted of a church, state-house, and
about eighteen dwellings, mostly of brick. Only the tower of the
church and a few chimneys were left standing.
Page 45. BACON'S EPITAPH. This remarkable poem has been preserved in
an anonymous "History of Bacon's and Ingram's Rebellion," known as
"The Burwell Papers," and printed by the Massachusetts Historical
Society in 1814. The "Burwell Papers" have been attributed to a
planter named Cotton of Acquia Creek, but this is only conjecture,
and there seems to be absolutely no clue to the authorship of
the elegy, which will probably always remain one of the literary
mysteries of America.
Page 48. THE DOWNFALL OF PIRACY. This is thought to be one of the
ballads referred to by Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography. He
says: "I now took a fancy to poetry, and made some little pieces. My
brother, thinking it might turn to account, encouraged me, and put
me on composing occasional ballads. One was called 'The Lighthouse
Tragedy,' and contained an account of the drowning of Captain
Worthilake, with his two daughters; the other was a sailor song on
the taking of Teach (or Blackbeard) the pirate."
It had been thought for many years that both of these ballads were
lost, but "The Downfall of Piracy" was discovered by Dr. Edward
Everett Hale in a volume entitled "Some Real Sea-Songs," edited by
Mr. John Ashton, and published in London. There is, in Dr. Hale's
opinion, no doubt that it is one of the Franklin ballads. The news of
the fight probably reached Boston about the first of January, 1719,
and the ballad was no doubt written soon after. Of "The Lighthouse
Tragedy" no trace has been found.
Page 50. _'Twas Juet spoke._ Robert Juet accompanied Hudson as mate
on his previous voyage, and on this one acted as clerk. He kept a
curious journal of the voyage, which has been preserved in Purchas's
third volume.
Page 52. THE PRAISE OF NEW NETHERLAND. The full title, in English, is
"The Praise of New Netherland: wherein are briefly and truly shown
the excellent qualities which it possesses in the purity of the air,
fertility of the soil, production of the cattle, abundance of game
and fish, with its advantages for navigation and commerce." It was
printed at Amsterdam "for Jacobus Van Der Fuyk, bookseller in the
Still-Alley, Anno 1661." Steendam had returned to Amsterdam, it is
thought only on a visit, at the time of the publication of this poem.
It is dedicated to "The Honorable Cornelis van Ruyven, councillor and
secretary of the Hon. West India Company there. Faithful and very
upright Promoter of New Netherland."
Page 54. _Noch vaster._ A play upon words, a whimsical device adopted
by Steendam. Steendam means "stone dam," and _noch vaster_, "still
firmer." Notwithstanding which he seems to have been "a man of very
unsettled purposes of life."
Page 58. _Bartholomew Gosnold's 'headlands.'_ Gosnold commanded an
expedition which, in 1602, discovered Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard,
both of which were named by him.
Page 63. THE EXPEDITION TO WESSAGUSSET. Mr. Longfellow has followed
the account of this expedition given in Winslow's Relation of
"Standish's Expedition against the Indians of Weymouth." He has,
however, turned the incident of Standish's killing of the chiefs,
Pecksuot and Wituwamat, into a much more open and heroic piece of
conduct than the chronicle admits. The killing really occurred in a
room into which Standish and a few of his men had enticed them. This
was the first Indian blood shed by the Pilgrims. A general battle
followed in the open field, from which the Indians fled and in which
no lives were lost.
"Concerning the killing of those poor Indians," wrote Robinson of
Leyden (December 16, 1623), "of which we heard first by report and
since by more certain relation, O how happy a thing had it been, if
you had converted some before you had killed any!"
Page 65. NEW ENGLAND'S ANNOYANCES. These verses are undoubtedly of
a very early date, probably about 1630. Rufus W. Griswold, in his
introduction to "The Poets and Poetry of America" (Philadelphia,
1854), calls them "the first verses by a colonist," a statement which
is, of course, impossible of proof. They appeared originally in the
Massachusetts Historical Collections, with the statement that they
were "taken memoriter, in 1785, from the lips of an old lady at the
advanced age of 96."
Page 73. ANNE HUTCHINSON'S EXILE. The basis of the famous Antinomian
controversy, as it was called, was the promulgation, by Mrs.
Hutchinson, of "two dangerous errors: first, that the person of
the Holy Ghost dwells in a justified person; second, that no
sanctification can help to evidence to us our justification." The
words are Winthrop's. To these two doctrines Mrs. Hutchinson
attached so much importance that she undertook the public
ministration of them. Sir Harry Vane, the young governor of the
colony, was one of her converts, but in May, 1637, Winthrop was
chosen governor instead of Vane, and at once took steps to suppress
the Antinomians, which resulted in the banishment of the more
prominent among them.
Page 73. _The father._ William Hutchinson, who had accompanied his
family from England.
Page 73. _The boys and girls._ There were fifteen children, so that
Portsmouth, which they founded, started off with a larger population
than most towns of the period.
Page 75. _In the ruler's seat._ Underhill was chosen governor of the
"Passataquack men" in October, 1638.
Page 83. _Pettaquamscut town._ South Kingston, Rhode Island. The
Narragansett stronghold lay sixteen miles away, in what is now the
town of North Kingston.
Page 83. _George Fox._ Founder of the Society of Friends, who visited
America in 1671-72.
Page 84. _Connecticut had sent her men._ Of the army of a thousand,
five hundred and twenty-seven were furnished by Massachusetts, and
the remainder by Connecticut and Plymouth.
Page 85. ON A FORTIFICATION AT BOSTON BEGUN BY WOMEN. This poem
occurs on pages 30-31 of "New England's Crisis," and not, as
Duyckinck states, at the beginning. The author, Benjamin Tompson,
"learned schoolmaster and physician, and ye renowned poet of New
England," as the epitaph upon his tombstone puts it, was born at
Braintree, Massachusetts, July 14, 1642, graduated from Harvard in
1662, and after serving as master of the Boston Latin School and
Cambridge Preparatory School, died at Cambridge in 1675.
Page 85. _Sudbury's battle._ The Indian attack was made early in the
morning of April 21, and lasted practically all the day. News of it
soon reached the neighboring towns, and relief parties were started
forward. The Indians were on the lookout for them. A party of eleven
men from Concord walked into an ambush and only one escaped; eighteen
troopers from Boston finally got into the town with a loss of four;
and a party of fifty from Marlboro, under Captain Samuel Wadsworth,
were caught in an adroitly prepared trap, out of which but thirteen
came alive.
Page 99. _Charles of Estienne._ Charles de St. Estienne was a son
of Claude de la Tour, a nobleman who, in 1610, had been forced by
poverty to seek his fortune in the New World. They came to Port
Royal, shared in the vicissitudes of the little settlement, and
were among those who took to the woods after its destruction by the
English. Among the fugitives was the Sieur de Biencourt, who held a
grant to the country about Port Royal. They built some rude cabins,
cultivated little patches of ground, and raised a fort of logs and
earth near Cape Sable, which they called Fort St. Louis. Biencourt
died in 1623, and Charles de la Tour took command of the fort and
assumed control of Biencourt's property, claiming that Biencourt had
so willed it. Another fort was built on the River St. John, and La
Tour was appointed by the king lieutenant-governor over Fort Louis,
Port la Tour, and dependencies.
At about the same time, Richelieu sent out an expedition to take
formal possession of New France, and named Isaac de Launay de Razilly
governor of all Acadia. He made his settlement at La Hève, on the
Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, but died in 1635, and his deputy,
Charles de Menou, Chevalier D'Aulnay, asserted his right to command
in the colony. Thereupon began between him and Charles de la Tour
that famous struggle for the possession of Acadia which forms so
romantic a passage in American history.
Page 101. _Pentagoet shall rue._ La Tour was unable to avenge
himself, but time did it for him. D'Aulnay was drowned in 1650,
and La Tour was appointed governor of Acadia. In 1653 he married
D'Aulnay's widow, Jeanne de Motin.
Page 105. PENTUCKET. The Indian name for Haverhill.
Page 106. LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. This ballad, which is of extraordinary
interest as the oldest American war ballad extant, was preserved
in "The | History | of the | Wars of New England with the Eastern
Indians, | or a | Narrative | of their continued perfidy and cruelty,
| from the 10th of August, 1703, | to the Peace renewed 13th of July,
1713, | and from the 25th of July, 1722, | to their Submission 15th
December, 1725, | which was Ratified August 5th, 1726. | By Samuel
Penhallow, Esqr. | Boston, 1726." This was reprinted at Cincinnati,
Ohio, in 1859, and the ballad occurs on page 129.
Page 106. _Of worthy Captain Lovewell._ Not much is known of
Lovewell. He was a son of Zaccheus Lovewell, an ensign in the army of
Oliver Cromwell, who had come to America and settled at Dunstable,
where he died at the great age of one hundred and twenty years,--"the
oldest white man who ever died in New Hampshire." He left three sons,
the youngest of whom was John, the hero of Pigwacket. At the time of
the fight, he was about thirty-three years of age, and had a wife and
two or three children. After the Indian attack on Dunstable in 1624,
he and some others petitioned the House of Representatives at Boston
to make some provision for a force to be sent against the savages.
The Representatives voted that all such volunteers should be paid
two shillings and sixpence a day, and promised large rewards for the
scalps of male Indians old enough to fight. A company of thirty was
raised, with Lovewell as captain, and captured one prisoner and took
one scalp. A second expedition brought back ten scalps and some other
booty, and the third expedition culminated in the battle at Pigwacket.
Page 106. _'Twas nigh unto Pigwacket._ The old name for Fryeburg.
Pigwacket was at the time the principal village of the Ossipe tribe.
Also spelled Pequawket.
Page 108. _They killed Lieutenant Robbins._ Robbins was a native of
Chelmsford. He was so badly wounded that he had to be left on the
ground. He desired his companions to charge his gun and leave it with
him, saying, "As the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, I
will kill one more of them if I can."
Page 108. _Good young Frye._ Jonathan Frye, the chaplain of the
company, was the only son of Captain James Frye, of Andover, and
had graduated at Harvard only two years before. It is a curious
commentary on the taste of the time that he should be commended for
scalping Indians, as well as killing them; the scalping, however, was
the result not of ferocity but of the large rewards offered by the
Boston legislature for these trophies.
Page 108. _Wymans Captain made._ Ensign Seth Wymans, or Wyman,
belonged in Woburn, and commanded through the day, after the fall of
his superiors at the first fire. He so distinguished himself that he
was given a captain's commission, and his admiring townsmen presented
him with a silver-hilted sword.
Page 108. LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. From Collections, | Historical and
Miscellaneous; | and | Monthly Literary Journal: | [table of
contents] Edited by J. Farmer and J. B. Moore. | Concord: | Published
by J. B. Moore. | 1824. Vol. iii, page 94.
Page 108. _Anon, there eighty Indians rose._ Penhallow says seventy,
Hutchinson eighty, Williamson sixty-three, and Belknap forty-one.
Page 111. THE BRITISH LYON ROUSED. From Tilden's | miscellaneous |
Poems, | on | Divers Occasions; | Chiefly to Animate & Rouse | the |
Soldiers. | Printed 1756. The little volume from which this poem was
taken is one of the most interesting published before the Revolution.
For a long time nothing whatever was known of the author, not even
his first name. But that was subsequently discovered by Mr. J. H.
Trumbull, and communicated to the "New York Historical Magazine,"
iv, 72, by him. This account seems to have been overlooked by all of
Tilden's biographers. Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography
fails to give his first name, nor does any history or cyclopædia of
American literature with which the compiler is familiar.
Page 112. THE SONG OF BRADDOCK'S MEN. This spirited song has been
preserved by Mr. Winthrop Sargent in his excellent monograph upon the
Braddock expedition, published by the Pennsylvania Historical Society
in 1855. Mr. Sargent states that it was composed in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, while the army was on the march in the early autumn of
1755, and that there is no doubt of its authenticity. He does not say
where he discovered it.
Page 112. BRADDOCK'S FATE. It will be noticed that these verses were
composed just six weeks after the battle which they describe, and the
author must have sat down to them at once upon hearing the news of
the defeat.
Page 113. _Old sixty-six._ The author.
Page 114. _North America._ It is worthy of note that in all colonial
and revolutionary poetry, America is rhymed with such words as day,
say, and away.
Page 114. _Telesem._ A name which Tilden gave to this form of verse.
Page 118. Of _Wolfe's brave deeds._ General James Wolfe, who
commanded a brigade, and took the leading part in the assaults on the
fortress, on one occasion plunging into the sea at the head of his
grenadiers, and capturing a battery which commanded the beach.
Page 118. _Amherst's patriot name._ Jeffrey (afterwards Baron)
Amherst, commander-in-chief of the land forces, fourteen thousand
strong. He was hotly criticised by Wolfe for his blundering conduct
of the campaign.
Page 119. _The tartans of Grant's Highlanders._ Major Grant, of the
Highlanders, had obtained permission to reconnoitre the fort, and set
out with about eight hundred men. He reached the fort on September
14, but, relying on his supposed superior numbers, divided his force
in such a way that the different parts could not support each other.
He was defeated in detail, his force cut to pieces, and himself taken
prisoner. His loss was nearly three hundred.
Page 119. _Loyalhanna._ Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
Page 121. _Ned Botwood._ Edward Botwood, sergeant in the grenadiers
of the Forty-seventh, or Lascelles' Regiment. He was the author
of the verses given here, which were written on the eve of the
expedition's departure from Louisburg, and continued popular with the
British troops throughout the Revolution. He was killed during an
unsuccessful assault, July 31.
Page 122. _Then Wolfe he took his leave._ A short time before leaving
for America, Wolfe had become engaged to Katherine, daughter of
Robert Lowther.
Page 122. _A parley._ This is, of course, purely imaginary. There was
no parley.
Page 122. _Then instant from his horse._ Wolfe was not on horseback.
Page 129. THE VIRGINIA SONG. When David Garrick wrote "Hearts of Oak"
as an expression of English patriotism, he little dreamed that he was
furnishing ammunition for England's enemies. It was to the air of
that song that the most popular of the colonial patriotic songs were
written, and it was probably better known than any of our national
songs are to us to-day. Such versions as "The Virginia Song," "The
Patriot's Appeal," "The Massachusetts Song," and "The Liberty Song"
were printed on broadside sheets and in newspaper columns and sung
in village meeting and city street throughout the land, awakening
immense enthusiasm.
Page 131. THE LIBERTY POLE. From "The Procession with the Standard of
Faction, a Cantata," a four-page folio preserved in the Du Simitière
collection of broadsides.
Page 132. _Who carry caps and pouches._ "Pouches," perhaps a
survival of the days of the hand-grenade.
Page 132. CRISPUS ATTUCKS. Attucks was a resident of Framingham, and
there is some difference of opinion as to whether he was a mulatto or
half-breed Indian. His only claim to remembrance is that he happened
to be in the path of a British bullet on that March day in Boston.
Page 135. A NEW SONG CALLED THE GASPEE. The author of this old ballad
is unknown. It was rescued from oblivion by Mr. John S. Taylor, who
printed it in his "Sketches of Newport and its Vicinity," New York,
1842.
Page 138. _Tremble! for know, I, Thomas Gage._ Gage was the last
royal governor of Massachusetts, and the best hated.
Page 139. _Against Virginia's hostile land._ Patrick Henry's famous
speech, delivered in 1764 before the House of Burgesses, had never
ceased to ring in the ears of royalty, and the people of Virginia had
long been regarded as a "rebellious band that must be broken."
Page 139. _Hail, Middlesex!_ A small number of the people of
Middlesex County, Virginia, early in 1774, had adopted some Royalist
"resolves," an event which gave rise to the following epigram by a
"Lady of Pennsylvania":--
To manhood he makes a vain pretence
Who wants both manly form and sense;
'Tis but the form and not the matter,
According to the schoolmen's clatter;
From such a creature, Heaven defend her!
Each lady cries, no _neuter gender_!
But when a number of such creatures,
With women's hearts and manly features,
Their country's generous schemes perplex,
I own I hate this Middle-sex.
Page 139. _To Murray bend the humble knee._ John Murray, Earl of
Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, 1770-1775.
Page 139. _Mesech Weare._ Weare was president of the state of New
Hampshire in 1776. His verses were set to a psalm tune and widely
sung.
Page 140. _In spite of Rice._ This refers to the extensive donations
sent from the other colonies to the people of Boston.
Page 140. _Rivington's New York Gazetteer._ This paper, the principal
vehicle of Royalist poetry during the Revolution, was established
by James Rivington, a bookseller, in 1773, and printed at his "ever
open and uninfluenced press." In the autumn of 1775 his printing
outfit was destroyed by a patriot mob; but he was soon afterwards
appointed King's Printer for the colony, furnished with a new outfit,
and started "Rivington's New York Loyal Gazette." At the close of
the war he changed its title to "Rivington's Gazette and Universal
Advertiser," but it died of starvation in 1783.
Page 141. LIBERTY TREE. On August 14, 1765, an effigy representing
Andrew Oliver, distributer of stamps for Boston, was found hanging
from a great elm opposite the Boylston Market. A mob gathered when
the sheriff tried to take down the effigy, the stamp office was
demolished, and Oliver himself was compelled to repair to the tree
and resign his commission. It was thenceforward called the Liberty
Tree. Liberty trees were afterwards consecrated in many other New
England towns.
Page 143. _Since mad Lee now commands us._ Major-General Charles Lee,
that eccentric, morose, and ill-fated genius, characterized by Thomas
Paine as "above all monarchs and below all scum."
Page 143. MASSACHUSETTS SONG OF LIBERTY. This song, to the air
"Hearts of Oak," became almost as popular as "Adams and Liberty"
did at a later day. Mrs. Mercy Warren, to whom it is attributed,
published a volume of "Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous" (Boston,
1790), dedicated to Washington.
Page 144. TO THE BOSTON WOMEN. From Upcott, iv, 339.
Page 144. PAUL REVERE'S RIDE. It is possible that Mr. Longfellow
derived the story, as told in the poem, from Revere's account of the
adventure in a letter to Dr. Jeremy Belknap, printed in Mass. Hist.
Coll. v. The publication of the poem called out a long controversy as
to the accuracy of its details.
Page 147. _Then Devens looked._ Richard Devens, a member of the
Committee of Safety, of which Hancock and Warren were the leading
spirits.
Page 147. _Then haste ye, Prescott and Revere._ Dr. Samuel Prescott,
of Concord, joined Revere and Dawes at Lexington and started with
them for Concord. They were stopped by a British patrol. Prescott
escaped by leaping his horse over the roadside wall and spurred on to
Concord, while his companions were taken prisoners, but soon released.
Page 147. _The red-coats fire, the homespuns fall._ Eight Americans
were killed, four near the spot where the battle monument now stands,
and four others while escaping over the fences. Their names, as
recorded on the monument, were Robert Monroe, Jonas Parker, Samuel
Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, and
John Brown, of Lexington, and Asahel Porter, of Woburn.
Page 148. NEW ENGLAND'S CHEVY CHASE. As Lord Percy, at the head of
the relief column, marched through Roxbury, his bands playing "Yankee
Doodle" in derision of the opponents he was soon to meet, he observed
a boy who seemed to be exceedingly amused. He stopped and asked the
boy why he was so merry. "To think," said the boy, "how you will
dance by and by to Chevy Chase." Percy, who was very superstitious,
was worried by the remark all day. Its point will be appreciated when
it is remembered that Percy was a lineal descendant of the Earl Percy
who was slain at Chevy Chase.
Page 149. _We saw Davis fall dead._ Captain Isaac Davis, of the Acton
company. He and Abner Hosmer were killed as the Americans charged the
British stationed at the North Bridge. "I haven't a man that's afraid
to go!" he had exclaimed as he wheeled his company into line for the
charge.
Page 150. _We'd rather have spent it this way than to home._ One of
the veterans of the fight made this very remark to Edward Everett.
Page 153. _Of man for man the sacrifice._ The British lost 65 killed,
180 wounded, 28 captured; the Americans, 59 killed, 39 wounded, 5
missing.
Page 158. _King David._ See 2 Samuel v, 23, 24.
Page 159. _Yankee Doodle._ Accounts of the origin of "Yankee Doodle"
are many and various. The air is very old, and nearly every country
in Europe claims it. It probably reached England from Holland, and in
the days of Charles I was used for some verses about Lydia Lockett
and Kittie Fisher, gay ladies of the town. Afterwards, when Cromwell
rode into Oxford on a pony, with his single plume fastened into a
sort of knot called a "macaroni," the Cavaliers used the same air for
their derisive verses. The story goes that this fact was recalled
by Dr. Richard Shuckburg, of the Seventeenth Foot, when the queerly
garbed provincial levies presented themselves, in June, 1755, at the
camp at Albany, to take part in the campaign against the French. He
wrote down the notes of the air and got the regimental band to play
it. It was taken up by the Americans and became instantly popular.
Verses innumerable have been attached to the air, the best known of
which are "The Yankee's Return from Camp" and "The Battle of the
Kegs."
Page 160. _Edward Bangs._ This is upon the authority of Dr. Edward
Everett Hale, who states that "an autograph note of Judge Dawes, of
the Harvard class of 1777, addressed to my father, says that the
author of the well-known lines was Edward Bangs, who graduated with
him. Mr. Bangs had, as a college boy, joined the Middlesex farmers in
the pursuit of April 19, 1775. He was afterward a judge in Worcester
County."
Page 160. TOM GAGE'S PROCLAMATION. General Gage's proclamation,
issued June 12, 1775, was as follows:--
"Whereas the infatuated multitudes, who have long suffered themselves
to be conducted by certain well-known incendiaries and traitors, in
a fatal progression of crimes against the constitutional authority
of the state, have at length proceeded to avowed rebellion, and the
good effects which were expected to arise from the patience and
lenity of the king's government have been often frustrated, and are
now rendered hopeless by the influence of the same evil counsels,
it only remains for those who are entrusted with the supreme rule,
as well for the punishment of the guilty as the protection of the
well-affected, to prove that they do not bear the sword in vain."
Page 162. THE BALLAD OF BUNKER HILL. An unsigned copy of these
verses, apparently an authentic Revolutionary ballad, but really
written by Dr. Hale in 1845, was "discovered," about 1858, among
some old manuscripts at Millbury, Mass., and reproduced in the
"Historical Magazine," iii, 311. Dr. Hale had himself lost all trace
of the poem, until he came across it in the first edition of this
compilation.
Page 163. GRANDMOTHER'S STORY OF BUNKER-HILL BATTLE. Dr. Holmes
himself says:--
"The story of Bunker Hill battle is told as literally in accordance
with the best authorities as it would have been if it had been
written in prose instead of in verse. I have often been asked what
steeple it was from which the little group I speak of looked upon
the conflict. To this I answer that I am not prepared to speak
authoritatively, but that the reader may take his choice among all
the steeples standing at that time in the northern part of the city.
Christ Church in Salem Street is the one I always think of, but I do
not insist upon its claim. As to the personages who made up the small
company that followed the old corporal, it would be hard to identify
them, but by ascertaining where the portrait by Copley is now to be
found, some light may be thrown on their personality."
It has been pointed out that the belfry could hardly have been that
of Christ Church, since tradition has it that General Gage himself
watched the battle from that vantage point.
The poem was first published in 1875, in connection with the
centenary of the battle which it describes.
Page 167. THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. This "popular" ballad was
written and printed as a broadside for the purpose of encouraging
recruiting for the English army. There are many versions of it, as
well as parodies composed by Yankee sympathizers.
Page 169. _'Twas then he took his gloomy way._ Washington's journey
was, as a matter of fact, a kind of triumph.
Page 169. _Lawyer Close._ Washington's aide, Major Lee.
Page 170. _Like Esop's greedy cur._ Fable 118. A dog crossing a
rivulet, with a piece of meat in his mouth, saw his own shadow; and
believing it to be another dog with a larger piece of meat, snatched
at it, with the result that he lost his own piece.
Page 173. A POEM CONTAINING SOME REMARKS ON THE PRESENT WAR,
etc., is from Poems | upon | Several Occasions, | viz. | I. A
POEM on the Enemy's first coming | to _Boston_; the burning of
_Charles-_ | _town_; the Fight at _Bunker_-Hill, &c. | II. The
WIDOW'S Lamentation. | III. _Nebuchadnezzar's_ DREAM. | IV. Against
OPPRESSION. | V. An heroic POEM on the taking of Gen. | _Burgoyne_,
&c. | Boston: Printed for the AUTHOR, 1779. | It is an 8vo of sixteen
pages, the first poem being printed in double column. A note at the
end of the volume is signed "A Friend to Liberty."
Page 176. EMANCIPATION FROM BRITISH DEPENDENCE. The following
explanatory note is from Duyckinck's edition of Freneau:--
"Sir James Wallace, Admiral Graves, and Captain Montague were British
naval officers, employed on our coast. The Viper and Rose were
vessels in the service. Lord Dunmore, the last Royal governor of
Virginia, had recently, in April, 1775, removed the public stores
from Williamsburg, and, in conjunction with a party of adherents,
supported by the naval force on the station, was making war on
the province. William Tryon, the last Royal governor of New York,
discerning the signs of the times, took refuge on board the Halifax
packet in the harbor, and left the city in the middle of October,
1775."
Page 177. _Rodney_, who was one of the Delaware delegates to the
Continental Congress, had obtained leave of absence for a journey
through the southern part of the state to prepare the people for
a change of government. His colleagues, Thomas McKean and George
Read, were divided on the question, and the former, knowing Rodney
to be favorable to the declaration, sent him a message urging his
return. By great exertion Rodney arrived just in time for the final
discussion, and his affirmative vote secured the consent of the
Delaware delegation to the declaration, and effected that unanimity
among the colonies which was essential to the success of the measure.
Page 180. THE AMERICAN PATRIOT'S PRAYER. This poem was formerly
ascribed to Thomas Paine, but recent authority has rejected this on
the basis of internal evidence.
Page 183. THE MARYLAND BATTALION. At the opening of the Revolution,
the young men of Baltimore organized the "Baltimore Independent
Company," and elected Mordecai Gist captain. This was afterwards
increased to a battalion, of which Gist was appointed major. The
battalion checked the advance of Cornwallis at the battle of Long
Island, and saved a portion of Stirling's command from capture. Two
hundred and fifty-nine were left dead on the field.
Page 183. _Grant._ The British general who commanded the left wing.
He had declared in the House of Commons that the Americans would not
fight, and that he could march from one end of the continent to the
other with five thousand men.
Page 183. _Stirling._ William Alexander, commonly called Lord
Stirling, eldest son of James Alexander Stirling, who had fled to
America upon the discovery of the Jacobite conspiracy of 1715.
Page 184. _Knowlton._ Thomas Knowlton, lieutenant-colonel of a
regiment of rangers selected from the Connecticut troops. He was
killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, as was Major Leitch, who had
been sent to his aid.
Page 185. NATHAN HALE. Nathan Hale was a great-grandson of John Hale,
first minister of Beverly, Massachusetts. He was born in 1755, and
graduated from Yale in 1773. Little is known of his personal history.
Page 188. TRENTON AND PRINCETON. From McCarty's "National Song Book,"
iii, 88. McCarty says it was written from the dictation of an old
lady who had heard it sung during the Revolution.
Page 204. LORD NORTH'S RECANTATION. These verses were written by "a
gentleman of Chester," England, and first appeared in the "London
Evening Post."
Page 205. GENERAL HOWE'S LETTER. From Upcott, v, 45.
Page 208. BRITISH VALOR DISPLAYED; OR, THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS. This
ballad was occasioned by a real incident. Certain machines in the
form of kegs, charged with gunpowder, were sent down the river to
annoy the British shipping then at Philadelphia. The danger of these
machines being discovered, the British manned the wharfs and shipping
and discharged their small-arms and cannons at everything they saw
floating in the river during the ebb tide.--Author's note.
David Bushnell, inventor of the American torpedo, constructed the
machines, which were so arranged as to explode on coming in contact
with anything. Hopkinson's verses, which swept from colony to colony,
did much to relieve the strain of those early months of 1778, and
were perhaps worth as much, in tonic and inspiration, as the winning
of a battle would have been.
Page 208. _Sir William._ Sir William Howe, commanding the British
army.
Page 208. _Mrs. Loring._ Wife of Joshua Loring, the notorious
commissary of prisoners.
Page 208. _Sir Erskine._ Sir William Erskine.
Page 214. _King Hancock at their head._ John Hancock commanded the
second line of Massachusetts militia in this movement.
Page 214. _Bold Pigot._ Sir Robert Pigot commanded the British forces
in Rhode Island.
Page 216. BETTY ZANE. Elizabeth Zane was about eighteen years of age
at the time she performed this exploit, and had just returned to Fort
Henry from Philadelphia, where she had completed her education. She
lived until 1847.
Page 216. _Betty's brothers._ Ebenezer and Silas.
Page 217. THE WYOMING MASSACRE. This ballad was printed, apparently
for the first time, in Charles Miner's "History of Wyoming"
(Philadelphia, 1845), where it is stated that it was written shortly
after the tragedy by Mr. "Uriah Terry, of Kingston." In McCarty's
"National Song Book" (iii, 344) it is said to have been written "by a
person then resident near the field of battle."
Page 219. THE CRUISE OF THE FAIR AMERICAN. The war song of the Salem
Privateersmen during the Revolution, and preserved in Griswold's
manuscript collection of "American Historical Ballads." It was taken
down from the mouths of Hawthorne's surviving shipmates early in the
last century.
Page 219. _Bold Hawthorne._ Daniel Hawthorne, grandfather of
Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Page 223. THE YANKEE MAN-OF-WAR. This, one of the very best of
American sea-songs, was first published by Commodore Luce, in his
collection of "Naval Songs." He states that it was taken down from
the recitation of a sailor. Internal evidence would indicate that it
was composed by a member of the Ranger's crew.
Page 224. PAUL JONES--A NEW SONG. This is Number 613, vol. iii, of
the Roxburghe collection of broadsides.
Page 224. _As Green, Jemmy Twitcher._ Captain Green was a noted
pirate, and Jemmy Twitcher was the name given to the notorious John,
Lord Sandwich.
Page 224. _Pierce._ Captain Richard Pearson. He was knighted as a
reward for his fight with Jones. The latter remarked, upon hearing of
it, "Should I fall in with him again, I'll make a lord of him."
Page 225. _The Alliance bore down and the Richard did rake._ The
Alliance was commanded by Pierre Landais, a Frenchman, and his
actions have never been satisfactorily explained. He had held his
ship aloof at the opening of the battle, disregarding Jones's orders,
but came up later only to pour three or four broadsides into the
Richard, killing or wounding many of her crew and almost sinking her.
She then drew off and awaited the result of the battle.
Page 225. _Full forty guns Serapis bore._ She really carried fifty
against the Richard's forty-two. Besides, she was a new frigate,
only four months out, while the Richard was old and unseaworthy. The
Serapis carried 320 men, the Richard 304.
Page 226. _Bold Pallas soon the Countess took._ The Countess of
Scarborough struck to the Pallas after a gallant two hours' battle.
Page 226. _In the Hyder Ali._ Hyder Ali was an Indian prince who
defeated the English in 1767 and subsequently caused them so much
annoyance that he was very popular with American patriots.
Page 229. _The Hope._ The ship Hope and the brig Constance, which
were with the South Carolina, were also taken.
Page 229. _Sir Henry Clinton._ Clinton was left in command of New
York city, when Howe started on his expedition for the capture of
Philadelphia.
Page 230. _Braving the death that his heart foretold._ Wayne was
convinced that he would not survive the attack on Stony Point, but
nevertheless led the assault in person. He was struck in the head by
a bullet, but insisted on being borne into the fort with his men.
Page 232. THE MODERN JONAS. A pasquinade printed as a broadside and
stuck up in New York city. "Old Knyp" was General Knyphausen; "Old
Clip," General Robertson; and "Yankee Farms," Connecticut Farms.
Page 233. THE COW-CHACE. The last canto of this poem was published in
"Rivington's Royal Gazette" on the day that André was captured. These
are the only verses he is known to have published. The original copy
is still in existence, and has the following stanza upon it, under
André's signature:--
When the epic strain was sung,
The poet by the neck was hung,
And to his cost he finds too late
The dung-born tribe decides his fate.
The poem was afterwards published by Rivington as an 8vo of 69 pages.
"The Cow-Chace," in its early editions, had the following explanatory
notes:--
Tanner: General Wayne's _legal_ occupation.
Mumps: A disorder prevalent in the Rebel lines.
Yan Van Poop: Who kept a dram-shop.
Jade: A New England name for a horse, mare, or gelding.
Bodies: A cant appellation given among the soldiery to the corps that
have the honor to guard his majesty's person.
Cunningham: Provost-Marshal of New York.
The shot will not go thro':
Five Refugees ('tis true) were found
Stiff on the block-house floor,
But then 'tis thought the shot went round,
And in at the back door.
Frost-bit Alexander: Earl of Stirling.
The frantic priest: Caldwell, a minister at Elizabethtown.
One pretty marquis: Lafayette, a French coxcomb in the rebel service.
Page 237. _John Paulding._ Paulding was born in New York city in 1758
and died in 1818. His capture of André was his one famous exploit.
With him at the time were two comrades, named Isaac Van Wart and
David Williams. They were given medals by Congress and an annuity of
two hundred dollars.
Page 239. _And then, at last, a transatlantic grave._ In 1821 André's
remains were removed to England and placed in Westminster Abbey.
Page 240. _Sir Hal._ Sir Henry Clinton.
Page 241. _Congo._ The American Congress.
Page 242. _The reverend Mather._ Moses Mather, D.D.
Page 245. HYMN OF THE MORAVIAN NUNS OF BETHLEHEM. The banner
of Pulaski's legion was embroidered by the Moravian sisters of
Bethlehem, who helped to support their house by needlework. It is
preserved in the cabinet of the Maryland Historical Society at
Baltimore.
Page 245. _Martial cloak and shroud for thee._ The banner was made to
be carried on a lance and was only twenty inches square. It could not
have been used as a shroud.
Page 246. _Brave Maitland push'd in._ Colonel Maitland brought a
large body of British troops from Beaufort to Prevost's aid.
Page 246. _Moncrieffe._ Major Moncrieff was the engineer who planned
Savannah's defences.
Page 246. _Who attempted to murder his king._ In 1771 Pulaski
attempted to kidnap Stanislaus, King of Poland.
Page 250. _South Mount._ Sumter's home near Camden, South Carolina.
Page 259. _Two birds of his feather._ Howe and Burgoyne.
Page 259. _Poor Charley._ Cornwallis.
Page 260. _A murder'd Hayne._ Isaac Hayne, hanged by the British,
August 4, 1781.
Page 262. _And Whitehead._ William Whitehead, poet laureate 1751-1785.
Page 263. _Thus he._ Cincinnatus.
Page 269. _No taxes we'll pay._ Shays and his followers demanded
decreased taxes and a paper currency.
Page 269. _Here's a pardon for Wheeler, Shays, Parsons, and Day._
Wheeler, Parsons, and Day were associates of Shays. All of them fled
from the state, but were afterwards pardoned.
Page 271. _So they went to Federal Street._ The convention was held
in a church on Long Lane, which was afterwards christened Federal
Street in honor of the event.
Page 273. THE FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS. From "The Columbiad."
Page 274. THE VOW OF WASHINGTON. Read in New York, April 30, 1889, at
the centennial celebration of Washington's inauguration.
Page 276. ADAMS AND LIBERTY. Mr. Charles Prentiss, in his preface
to the collected works of Robert Treat Paine, published at Boston
in 1812, gives the following account of the writing of "Adams and
Liberty":--
"In June, 1798, at the request of the 'Massachusetts Charitable Fire
Society,' Mr. Paine wrote his celebrated political song of 'Adams
and Liberty.' It may appear singular that politics should have
any connection with an institution of benevolence: but the great
object of the anniversary being to obtain charitable donations, the
more various and splendid were the attractions, the more crowded
the attendance: and of course, the more ample the accumulation for
charity.
"There was, probably, never a political song more sung in America
than this; and one of more poetical merit was, perhaps, never
written: an anecdote deserves notice respecting one of the best
stanzas in it. Mr. Paine had written all he intended; and being in
the house of Major Russell, editor of the 'Centinel,' showed him
the verses. It was highly approved, but pronounced imperfect; as
Washington was omitted. The sideboard was replenished, and Paine was
about to help himself; when Major Russell familiarly interfered,
and insisted, in his humorous manner, that he should not slake his
thirst till he had written an additional stanza, in which Washington
should be introduced. Paine marched back and forth a few minutes,
and suddenly starting, called for a pen. He immediately wrote the
following sublime stanza [the one beginning "Should the tempest of
war overshadow our land"].
"The sale of this song yielded him a profit of about seven hundred
and fifty dollars. It was read by all; and there was scarcely in
New England, a singer, that could not sing this song. Nor was its
circulation confined to New England: it was sung at theatres, and
on public and private occasions, throughout the United States; and
republished and applauded in Great Britain."
Page 277. HAIL COLUMBIA. The following letter from Joseph Hopkinson,
son of Francis Hopkinson, is quoted by Rev. R. W. Griswold, in his
"Poets and Poetry of America":--
"It ["Hail Columbia"] was written in the summer of 1798, when war
with France was thought to be inevitable. Congress was then in
session in Philadelphia, deliberating upon that important subject,
and acts of hostility had actually taken place. The contest between
England and France was raging, and the people of the United States
were divided into parties for the one side or the other, some
thinking that policy and duty required us to espouse the cause
of republican France, as she was called; while others were for
connecting ourselves with England, under the belief that she was the
great preservative power of good principles and safe government. The
violation of our rights by both belligerents was forcing us from the
just and wise policy of President Washington, which was to do equal
justice to both, to take part with neither, but to preserve a strict
and honest neutrality between them. The prospect of a rupture with
France was exceedingly offensive to the portion of the people who
espoused her cause, and the violence of the spirit of party has never
risen higher, I think not so high, in our country, as it did at that
time, upon that question. The theatre was then open in our city. A
young man belonging to it, whose talent was as a singer, was about
to take his benefit. I had known him when he was at school. On this
acquaintance, he called on me one Saturday afternoon, his benefit
being announced for the following Monday. His prospects were very
disheartening; but he said that if he could get a patriotic song
adapted to the tune of the 'President's March,' he did not doubt of a
full house; that the poets of the theatrical corps had been trying to
accomplish it, but had not succeeded. I told him I would try what I
could do for him. The object of the author was to get up an _American
spirit_, which should be independent of and above the interests,
passions, and policy of both belligerents: and look and feel
exclusively for our own honour and rights. No allusion is made to
France or England, or the quarrel between them: or to the question,
which was most at fault in their treatment of us: of course the song
found favour with both parties, for both were Americans; at least
neither could disavow the sentiments and feelings it inculcated."
Page 278. YE SONS OF COLUMBIA: AN ODE. From "Original Poems by Thomas
Green Fessenden, Esq., author of Terrible Tractoration, or Caustic's
Petition to the Royal College of Physicians, and Democracy Unveiled.
Philadelphia: Printed at the Lorenzo Press of E. Bronson. 1806."
The following note to this poem appears in the first edition: "The
above Ode was written, set to musick, and sung on a publick occasion
in Rutland, Vermont, July, 1798. At that time the armament, which
afterwards sailed to Egypt, under Buonaparte, lay at Toulon: its
destination was not known in America, but many supposed that it was
intended to waft the blessings of _French Liberty_ to the United
States." Fessenden seems to have been possessed of an acute hatred
of the French, due, perhaps, to his residence in England. Three
other poems in this little book are devoted to denouncing Napoleon,
the Jacobins, and the "sans culotte"--of which latter phrase he was
singularly fond.
Page 283. _So the common sailor died._ James did not die. He
recovered from his wounds, served through the second war with England
and lived till about 1840.
Page 283. SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE. Whittier heard the story of Skipper
Ireson in 1828, when he was a student at Haverhill Academy. It was
told him by a schoolmate from Marblehead, and he began at once to
write the ballad, but it was not published until 1857, when it
appeared in the second number of the "Atlantic Monthly."
Mr. Samuel Roads, Jr., in his "History of Marblehead," contended that
Ireson was in no way responsible for the abandonment of the disabled
ship, and Whittier, in writing to Mr. Roads, says: "I have now no
doubt that thy version of Skipper Ireson's ride is the correct one.
My verse was founded solely on a fragment of rhyme which I heard
from one of my early schoolmates, a native of Marblehead. I supposed
the story to which it referred dated back at least a century. I knew
nothing of the participants, and the narrative of the ballad was
pure fancy. I am glad for the sake of truth and justice that the
real facts are given in thy book. I certainly would not knowingly do
injustice to any one, dead or living."
The use of dialect in the refrain was suggested by Lowell, the editor
of the "Atlantic" at the time.
Page 285. THE TIMES. McCarty's "National Song Book" (Philadelphia,
1861) is a real treasure-house of ballads written during the second
war with England. "The Times" is from this source, as are many of the
other ballads quoted here.
Page 287. HULL'S SURRENDER. This ballad was copied from a broadside
in the possession of the library of Harvard University. It is so
tattered that one stanza, the last, is indecipherable and had to be
omitted.
Page 289. _Commanded by Dacres the grandee O._ Captain (afterward
Rear-Admiral of the Red) James Richard Dacres.
Page 292. _Where Brock, the proud insulter, rides._ Sir Isaac Brock.
He had received Hull's surrender less than two months before. He
was pierced by three bullets as he led his troops into battle at
Queenstown and died where he fell.
Page 298. _Brave Chauncey._ Captain Isaac Chauncey.
Page 302. _We mourn, indeed, a hero lost!_ Captain William Burrows,
of the Enterprise, and Captain Blythe, of the Boxer, both fell during
the action, and were buried side by side at Portland.
Page 303. _And whether like Yeo, boys, they'd taken affright._ Sir
James Lucas Yeo, who had been defeated by Captain Isaac Chauncey and
was afterwards blockaded by him in Kingston Harbor.
Page 304. _Thought it best from his well-peppered ship to depart._
The Lawrence was so severely shot up early in the action, that Perry
transferred his flag to the Niagara. He afterwards returned to the
Lawrence to receive the surrender of the surviving British officers.
Page 306. _And Tecumseh fell prostrate before him._ The honor of
having killed Tecumseh was claimed for Colonel Richard Malcolm
Johnston, but the claim was never conclusively established.
Page 306. _Walbach._ John Batiste de Barth, Baron de Walbach, a
German veteran who had come to America on a visit in 1798. He
enlisted in the American army, won steady promotion, and died in 1857
with the rank of brigadier-general.
Page 309. _Four gallant ships._ The Ramillies 74, commanded by Sir
Thomas Hardy; the Pactolus 38, the Despatch 22, and a bombship.
Page 313. _Downie._ George Downie, commander of the British fleet. He
was killed during the action.
Page 313. _Macomb._ General Alexander Macomb, in command of the
American land force. His army, consisting of about fifteen hundred
regulars and some detachments of militia, was greatly outnumbered by
the British.
Page 315. _To serve me just like Drummond._ Sir Gordon Drummond, who
lost a large part of his force by the explosion of a mine, while
assaulting Fort Erie.
Page 315. _Old Ross, Cockburn, and Cochrane too._ Robert Ross,
selected by Wellington to command the troops sent to this country in
1814. He was killed while leading the advance toward Baltimore, after
having sacked Washington. Sir George Cockburn, second in command of
the fleet, who had become notorious for his raids along the American
coast. Sir Alexander Cochrane, in command of the British fleet on the
American station.
Page 315. _General Winder._ General William Henry Winder, in command
of the American militia at the battle of Bladensburg.
Page 317. THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. The poem was really written at
white heat, for Key made his first draft while the fight was actually
in progress, and corrected it at Baltimore next day. It was at once
struck off as a broadside, and was received with great enthusiasm.
The air, from which it is inseparable, was selected almost at random,
from a volume of flute music, by an actor named Ferdinand Durang,
and was known as "Anacreon in Heaven." Additional stanzas have been
written for the poem from time to time, but none of them are in any
way notable except those written during the Civil War by Oliver
Wendell Holmes:
When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor who dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
Page 321. _Take our wounded and our dead._ The American loss was two
killed and seven wounded, while the British lost 120 killed and 180
wounded.
Page 323. _For I went down with Carroll._ William Carroll,
major-general of Tennessee militia.
Page 324. _'Twas Pakenham in person._ Sir Edward Michael Pakenham. He
had succeeded Ross in the command of Wellington's veterans, and, like
his predecessor, was killed while leading his men against the enemy.
Page 325. _And came, with Gibbs to head it._ Sir Samuel Gibbs, second
in command to Pakenham.
Page 325. _It is the Baratarian._ The headquarters of Jean Lafitte,
the freebooter, at Barataria, had been broken up only a short time
before, and many of his band captured and imprisoned. They were
subsequently released, and under three of Lafitte's lieutenants,
Dominique, You, and Bluche, hastened to Jackson's aid before New
Orleans, where they did good service, especially with the artillery.
Page 325. _Keane was sorely wounded._ Baron John Keane, in command of
the third brigade.
Page 327. _Our captain._ Charles Stewart. He held the remarkable
record of being seventy-one years in the service, and senior officer
for seventeen years. He lived until 1869. His daughter was the mother
of Charles Stewart Parnell.
Page 335. _Oyo._ The Indian name for the Ohio.
Page 337. _Blanny._ A popular corruption of Blennerhassett.
Page 337. _Our General brave._ Major-General Buell.
Page 337. _I have the Baron in my head._ The only system of military
tactics then in use among the officers in the western country was
that of Baron Steuben.
Page 337. _The Deputy._ Governor Return Jonathan Meigs.
Page 338. _'Twas half a kneel of Indian meal._ A kneel is equal to
two quarts.
Page 338. _Tyler, they say, lies at Belpré._ Comfort Tyler was one of
Burr's chief lieutenants.
Page 338. _The Cor'ner._ Joel Bowen.
Page 338. _Instead of sword, he seized his board._ Buell was a tailor
by trade.
Page 343. _Good Junipero._ Father Junipero Serra, the famous head of
the missionaries in California.
Page 343. _The Visitador._ José de Galvez, Visitador General of New
Spain.
Page 344. _Viscaino._ Sebastian Viscaino, who conducted a Spanish
exploring expedition along the California coast in 1602-03.
Page 345. "THE DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE." Half a century ago, this song
was widely popular, and yet to-day it is almost impossible to find
an authentic copy. There is a version in Upham's "Notes of a Voyage
to California," but it is anything but convincing. The version
given here was contributed to "Out West" by Florence Gleason, of
Bakersfield, California, and has the ear-marks of authenticity.
Page 351. CONCORD HYMN. The first quatrain of this poem is inscribed
on the Battle Monument at Concord. Emerson's grandfather, William
Emerson, was minister at Concord in 1775, and from his pulpit
strongly advocated resistance to the British. When the day of trial
came, he took his place among "the embattled farmers." "Let us stand
our ground," he said to the minute-men; "if we die, let us die here."
The fight took place near his own house, the home afterwards of
Emerson and of Hawthorne, and celebrated by the latter as "The Old
Manse."
Page 353. OLD TIPPECANOE. From "The Harrison Log Cabin Song Book,"
Columbus [Ohio], 1840.
Page 356. _A thousand Mexicans lay dead._ A careful estimate places
the Mexican loss at about five hundred. Six of the Texans, including
Travis, Bowie, and Crockett, were taken alive, but were immediately
put to death by Santa Anna's order.
Page 357. _Save the gasp of a woman._ While every man of the garrison
was killed, three women survived, one of whom was Mrs. Almerion
Dickinson, wife of a lieutenant belonging to the garrison. Three
children also survived.
Page 358. _We slew and slew till the sun set red._ Houston reported
the Mexican loss to be 630 killed, 208 wounded, 730 captured. The
wounded were, however, counted among the prisoners. The American loss
was 2 killed and 23 wounded. Santa Anna himself was captured next day.
Page 362. _Rio Bravo._ Rio Bravo del Norte, "Rapid River of the
North," is a Spanish name for the Rio Grande.
Page 366. THE ANGELS OF BUENA VISTA. A letter-writer from Mexico
during the Mexican War, when detailing some of the incidents at the
terrible fight of Buena Vista, mentioned that Mexican women were
seen hovering near the field of death, for the purpose of giving aid
and succor to the wounded. One poor woman was found surrounded by
the maimed and suffering of both armies, ministering to the wants of
Americans as well as Mexicans with impartial tenderness.--Author's
note.
Page 369. _Guvener B._ George Nixon Briggs was the Whig governor of
Massachusetts from 1844 to 1851.
Page 369. _John P. Robinson._ John Paul Robinson (1799-1864) was a
resident of Lowell, a lawyer of considerable ability and a thorough
classical scholar. Late in the gubernatorial contest of 1847 it was
rumored that Robinson, heretofore a zealous Whig, and a delegate to
the recent Springfield convention, had gone over to the Democratic
or, as it was then styled, the "Loco" camp. The editor of the "Boston
Palladium" wrote to him to learn the truth, and Robinson replied in
an open letter avowing his intention to vote for Cushing.
Page 369. _Gineral C._ General Caleb Cushing.
Page 384. BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. This, perhaps the loftiest
strain of American patriotism, was inspired by a visit which Mrs.
Howe paid to Washington in December, 1861. She heard the troops
singing "John Brown's Body," and, at the suggestion of James Freeman
Clarke, determined to write some worthy words to go with that air.
The words were written almost at once, and were taken back to Boston
by Mrs. Howe. She gave them to James T. Fields, editor of the
"Atlantic Monthly," and they were published in the issue of that
magazine for February, 1862, being given the entire first page. Mr.
Fields furnished the title. Strangely enough, the poem attracted
little attention, until a copy of a newspaper containing it was
smuggled into Libby Prison. Chaplain Charles C. McCabe read it there,
and presently the whole prison was singing it. After his release,
Chaplain McCabe continued to call attention to the song, and its
merits were soon widely recognized. President Roosevelt has suggested
that it deserves to be the national anthem.
Page 386. _Mr. Foote._ Henry S. Foote was Senator from Mississippi
from 1847 to 1852. He was a member of the Confederate Congress.
Page 386. _Mangum._ W. P. Mangum (1792-1861) was Senator from North
Carolina from 1831 to 1837, and again from 1841 to 1847.
Page 387. _Cass._ Lewis Cass (1782-1866) was Senator from Michigan
from 1845 to 1848, and candidate for the presidency on the Democratic
ticket in 1848. After his defeat by Taylor he was, in 1849, returned
to the Senate to fill out his unexpired term. He was Buchanan's
Secretary of State until the famous message of December, 1860, when
he resigned.
Page 387. _Davis._ Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate
States, was a Senator from Mississippi from 1847 to 1850.
Page 387. _Hannegan._ Edward A. Hannegan was Senator from Indiana
from 1843 to 1849.
Page 387. _Jarnagin._ Spencer Jarnagin represented the state of
Tennessee in the Senate from 1841 to 1847.
Page 387. _Atherton._ Charles G. Atherton (1804-53) was Senator from
New Hampshire from 1843 to 1849.
Page 387. _Colquitt._ W. T. Colquitt (1799-1855) was Senator from
Georgia from 1843 to 1849.
Page 387. _Johnson._ Reverdy Johnson was Senator from Maryland,
1845-49.
Page 387. _Westcott._ James D. Westcott, Senator from Florida,
1845-49.
Page 387. _Lewis._ Dixon H. Lewis, Senator from Alabama, 1844-48.
Page 388. ICHABOD. This poem was the outcome of the surprise and
grief and forecast of evil consequences which I felt on reading
the seventh of March speech of Daniel Webster in support, of the
"compromise," and the Fugitive Slave Law.... But death softens all
resentments, and the consciousness of a common inheritance of frailty
and weakness modifies the severity of judgment. Years after, in "The
Lost Occasion," I gave utterance to an almost universal regret that
the great statesman did not live to see the flag which he loved
trampled under the feet of Slavery, and, in view of this desecration,
make his last days glorious in defence of "Liberty and Union, one and
inseparable."--Author's note.
Page 391. _Beyond the river banks._ The Wakarusa.
Page 391. _Keitt._ Laurence Massillon Keitt, Congressman from South
Carolina, 1852-60. Killed at the battle of Cold Harbor, 1862.
Page 391. _The anti-Lecomptonite phalanx._ Lecompton was the capital
of the territory of Kansas, and a pro-slavery constitution was framed
there at a constitutional convention which lasted from September 5 to
November 7, 1857. It was rejected by the people of Kansas early in
the following year.
Page 394. _Captain Stephens._ Aaron Dwight Stephens. He was a captain
only in the sense that he was to be given that position in the negro
army which Brown expected to organize.
Page 395. _With his eighteen other crazy men._ There were either
twenty-two or twenty-three men in the party.
Page 395. _So they hurried off to Richmond for the Government
Marines._ The marines arrived by train from Washington. Strangely
enough, they were under command of Colonel Robert E. Lee and
Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart.
Page 395. _Fired their bullets in his clay._ The bodies of some of
the dead were atrociously maltreated.
Page 395. _How they hastened on the trial._ The trial began October
26 and ended November 2. The proceedings, though swift, were not
unseemly nor unduly summary, considering the excitement of the
Virginians and their fear that a rescue would be attempted from the
North.
Page 403. GOD SAVE OUR PRESIDENT. These verses were written in 1857,
and the music for them was composed a year later by George Felix
Benkert. It was played by the Marine Band at the first inauguration
of Lincoln, immediately after the inaugural address.
Page 411. DIXIE. Dan Emmett, the once-famous negro minstrel, was
the author of the original "Dixie," which was written in 1859. It
is said he got the air from an old plantation melody. It was soon
appropriated by the South and became the most popular of all the
Southern war songs. The words used, however, were not Emmett's,
which were mere doggerel, but General Albert Pike's, as given in the
text. Since the war, "Dixie" has grown as popular in the North as in
the South. Many verses have been set to the air, but none of them,
besides Emmett's and Pike's, has gained any popularity.
Page 411. A CRY TO ARMS. The unusual poetic merit of the Southern
poems at the opening of the war is worth remarking. This, as the war
progressed, gave place in large part to mere hysteria, while the
poetic quality of Northern verse, poor enough at first, grew steadily
better. This may perhaps be explained by the fact that the South was
the more in earnest when the war began, while the earnestness of the
North deepened as it went on.
Page 415. MY MARYLAND. This poem, which divided with "Dixie"
popularity among the Southern troops, was written by Mr. Randall
immediately upon hearing of the outbreak at Baltimore. The form of
the poem was suggested by Mangan's "Karamanian Exile":--
I see thee ever in my dreams,
Karaman!
Thy hundred hills, thy thousand streams,
Karaman, O Karaman!
It was wedded to the old college air "Lauriger Horatius," by Miss
Hattie Cary, of Baltimore.
In affecting contrast to the reception given the Sixth Massachusetts
in 1861 was that given it in 1898, when it passed through Baltimore
on its way to Cuba. The historic regiment was met at the station by
the mayor; school children drawn up along the line of march pelted
the soldiers with flowers; each soldier was given a little box
containing cake, fruit, and a love-letter; and a great motto was
strung across the streets reading, "Let the welcome of '98 efface the
memory of '61."
Page 424. _To General J. E. Johnston._ General Johnston, who had
been stationed at Winchester with the Army of the Shenandoah,
marched rapidly to Beauregard's aid, when the latter was attacked at
Manassas, and upon his arrival left Beauregard, whom he ranked, in
tactical command of the field, and assumed responsibility and general
charge of the battle.
Page 435. WANTED--A MAN. This poem is said to have so impressed
President Lincoln that he read it to his Cabinet.
Page 444. BARBARA FRIETCHIE. This poem was written in strict
conformity to the account of the incident as I had it from
respectable and trustworthy sources. It has since been the subject
of a good deal of conflicting testimony, and the story was probably
incorrect in some of its details. It is admitted by all that Barbara
Frietchie was no myth, but a worthy and highly esteemed gentlewoman,
intensely loyal and a hater of the Slavery Rebellion, holding her
Union flag sacred and keeping it with her Bible; that when the
Confederates halted before her house, and entered her dooryard, she
denounced them in vigorous language, shook her cane in their faces,
and drove them out; and when General Burnside's troops followed close
upon Jackson's, she waved her flag and cheered them. It is stated
that May Quantrell, a brave and loyal lady in another part of the
city, did wave her flag in sight of the Confederates. It is possible
that there has been a blending of the two incidents.--Author's note.
Page 449. _'Tis Meagher and his fellows._ Brigadier-General Thomas
F. Meagher commanded the second brigade of the first division of the
right grand division. It was called the "Irish Brigade," and Meagher
himself had organized it. After Chancellorsville, it was so decimated
that it was incorporated with other regiments.
Page 449. _The wild day is closed._ Burnside's attempt to carry the
heights behind Fredericksburg by storm was perhaps the most insane
of the war. In spite of McClellan's lack of promptness, thoroughness,
and vigor, and a sort of incapacity of doing anything until an ideal
completeness of preparation was reached, he was in many ways the
best commander the Army of the Potomac ever had. Pope, Burnside, and
Hooker were admittedly his inferiors.
Page 458. THE EAGLE OF CORINTH. The finest thing I ever saw was a
live American eagle, carried by the Eighth Wisconsin, in the place
of a flag. It would fly off over the enemy during the hottest of the
fight, then would return and seat himself upon his pole, clap his
pinions, shake his head, and start again. Many and hearty were the
cheers that arose from our lines as the old fellow would sail around,
first to the right, then to the left, and always return to his post,
regardless of the storm of leaden hail that was around him.--Letter
from an Illinois Volunteer.
At the close of the war, the eagle was presented to Governor Lewis,
of Wisconsin, and provided with a suite of rooms in the State House
Park at Madison.
Page 461. READY. The incident described in this poem occurred
probably during the first week of April, 1863. Rodman's Point
is a strip of land projecting into the Pimlico River just below
Washington, North Carolina.
Page 462. _Kady Brownell._ On April 25, 1861, the New York "Herald,"
in referring to the passage of the second detachment of Rhode Island
troops through New York city, said: "The volunteers bring along with
them two very prepossessing young women, named Martha Francis and
Katey Brownell, both of Providence, who propose to act as 'daughters
of the regiment,' after the French plan."
Page 467. THE CRUISE OF THE MONITOR. The contract for the
construction of the Monitor was given to John Ericsson, of New York,
on October 4, 1861. It was to be an iron-plated raft, 172 feet over
all, 41-1/2 feet beam, and 11-1/8 feet depth of hold, carrying a
revolving iron turret containing two 11-inch Dahlgren guns. The
ironclad was launched January 30, 1862, an extraordinary feat in
naval construction, and was handed over to the government February
19, its cost being $275,000. At eleven o'clock on the morning of
March 6, the queer craft started for Hampton Roads, to meet the
Merrimac, word of whose completion had reached the United States
government. That the vessel did not founder on the voyage was little
less than a miracle, but at nine o'clock on the evening of March
8, the Monitor reached Fort Monroe, her progress up the bay being
lighted by the burning frigate Congress.
Page 468. _Bold Worden._ The Monitor was commanded by Lieutenant
John Lorimer Worden, while the Merrimac was in charge of Lieutenant
Catesby Jones, his superior. Captain Franklin Buchanan, having been
wounded by a rifle bullet the day before. Worden was injured during
the action by a shell exploding against the sight-hole of the pilot
house, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Samuel Dana Greene.
Page 468. THE RIVER FIGHT. The fleet which Farragut took upon this
desperate venture consisted of nine gunboats and eight sloops of war.
The defences of New Orleans were of the most formidable kind, the
river being guarded by Forts Jackson and St. Philip, mounting 116
guns, and by a strong fleet of gunboats and ironclads, under command
of Commodore J. K. Mitchell. The river was also barred by a great
raft thrown across it under the guns of the forts, and a large number
of long flatboats, filled with pine knots, were held in readiness
by the Confederates to be fired and sent down the swift current
into the midst of the Union fleet. In spite of all this, after the
terrific fight was over, it was found that the Union loss was only
thirty-seven killed and one hundred and forty-seven wounded. The
Confederate loss was never accurately determined.
Admiral Farragut was so impressed with Brownell's poem that he sought
out the author and a warm friendship followed. When Mobile was
captured, Brownell was a guest of the Admiral on board his flagship,
the Hartford, and the result was another spirited poem, "The Bay
Fight," which appears elsewhere in this collection.
Page 471. _Our fair Church pennant waves._ The church pennant is made
of white bunting on which is sewn a cross of blue.
Page 478. _Beside me gloomed the prison-cell._ The reference is to
Dr. Reuben Crandall, of Washington, who, in 1834, was arrested and
confined in the old city prison until his health was destroyed, his
offence having been in lending to a brother physician a copy of
Whittier's pamphlet, "Justice and Expediency."
Page 483. STONEWALL JACKSON'S WAY. "These verses," according to
William Gilmore Simms, "were found, stained with blood, in the
breast of a dead soldier of the old Stonewall Brigade, after one of
Jackson's battles in the Shenandoah Valley." Though widely copied,
their authorship remained unknown for nearly a quarter of a century.
Page 493. _John Burns._ John Burns was seventy years of age in 1863.
He had been among the first to volunteer for the War of 1812, and was
present at the battles of Plattsburg, Queenstown, and Lundy's Lane.
He served through the war with Mexico, and volunteered promptly for
the Civil War, was rejected because of his age, served for a time
as a teamster, but was finally sent home to Gettysburg, where his
townsmen made him constable to keep him busy and contented. When,
in June, 1863, the Confederates occupied the town, Burns had to be
locked up for asserting his civil authority in opposition to that of
the Confederate provost guard. As soon as the Confederates left the
town, Burns busied himself arresting Confederate stragglers. When the
preliminary skirmishing at Gettysburg began, Burns borrowed a rifle
and ammunition from a wounded Union soldier, went to the front,
and offered his services as volunteer. The colonel of the Seventh
Wisconsin loaned him a long-range rifle, which he used with deadly
effect all day, but he was badly wounded when the Union troops were
forced back, was captured by the Confederates, and narrowly escaped
being hanged as an un-uniformed combatant. He lived in his little
home on the battlefield until 1872, and was visited by thousands and
thousands of pilgrims to the scene of the great struggle.
Page 500. THE BATTLE-CRY OF FREEDOM. The popularity of the songs
sung by the armies of both North and South seems to have been in
direct ratio to their maudlin sentimentality. Most popular of all
was the song known as "When this Cruel War is Over." It was heard
in every camp, north and south, many times a day, the Southern
soldiers inserting "gray" for "blue" in the sixth line of the first
stanza with a cheerful disregard of the rhyme. It was sung in public
gatherings, in the home--in fact, it is doubtful if any other song
was ever upon so many American tongues. This wide appeal gives it, in
a way, a historic interest, which warrants its inclusion here.
WHEN THIS CRUEL WAR IS OVER
Dearest love, do you remember
When we last did meet,
How you told me that you loved me,
Kneeling at my feet?
Oh, how proud you stood before me,
In your suit of blue,
When you vowed to me and country
Ever to be true.
_Chorus_--Weeping, sad and lonely,
Hopes and fears how vain;
Yet praying when this cruel war is over,
Praying that we meet again.
When the summer breeze is sighing
Mournfully along,
Or when autumn leaves are falling,
Sadly breathes the song.
Oft in dreams I see thee lying
On the battle plain,
Lonely, wounded, even dying,
Calling, but in vain.
If, amid the din of battle,
Nobly you should fall,
Far away from those who love you,
None to hear you call,
Who would whisper words of comfort?
Who would soothe your pain?
Ah, the many cruel fancies
Ever in my brain!
But our country called you, darling,
Angels cheer your way!
When our nation's sons are fighting,
We can only pray.
Nobly strike for God and country,
Let all nations see
How we love the starry banner,
Emblem of the free.
CHARLES CARROLL SAWYER.
Page 506. _Out on a crag walked something._ The flag was unfurled
from Pulpit Rock, on the extreme point of the mountain overlooking
Chattanooga. It was from that "pulpit" that Jefferson Davis, three
days before, had addressed his troops, assuring them that all was
well with the Confederacy.
Page 506. THE BATTLE IN THE CLOUDS. "The day had been one of dense
mists and rains, and much of General Hooker's battle was fought above
the clouds, on the top of Lookout Mountain."--General Meigs's Report.
Page 508. _And the one white Fang underneath._ Robert Gould Shaw was
only twenty-five years of age when he was killed at the head of his
regiment at Fort Wagner. He had enlisted as a private at the outbreak
of the war, and soon rose to a captaincy. He was appointed colonel
of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, the first regiment of colored
troops from a free state, April 17, 1863, and went to his death with
them three months later. See also "Ode on the Unveiling of the Shaw
Memorial," page 603, and "An Ode in Time of Hesitation," page 646.
Page 510. LOGAN AT PEACH TREE CREEK. Mr. Garland is mistaken in
stating that McPherson was killed at the battle of Peachtree Creek,
which was fought on July 20, 1864. He was killed two days later, at
what is known as the battle of Atlanta. While hastening to join his
troops, who had just been attacked by the Confederates, he ran full
into the enemy's skirmish line and was shot while trying to escape.
Sherman at once ordered General John A. Logan to assume command of
the Army of the Tennessee, and it was largely due to General Logan's
skill and determination that the Union army was saved from serious
disaster in the desperate battle which followed.
Page 512. SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA. General Sherman, in his
Memoirs, says that on the afternoon of February 17, 1865, while
overhauling his pockets, according to his custom, to read more
carefully the various notes and memoranda received during the day, he
found a paper which had been given him by a Union prisoner who had
escaped from Columbia. It proved to be "Sherman's March to the Sea,"
composed by Adjutant S. H. M. Byers, of the Fifth Iowa Infantry,
while a prisoner at Columbia. General Sherman was so impressed by the
verses that he immediately sent for their author and attached him to
his staff.
Page 513. MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. General Sherman makes no
reference in his Memoirs to these verses and would have been glad to
replace them with Adjutant Byers's song. They were, however, widely
popular and, indeed, still hold an honored place at every reunion of
Civil War veterans.
Page 517. _O noble son of noble sire._ Ulric Dahlgren was the son
of John Adolph Dahlgren, perhaps the greatest chief of ordnance the
Navy Department has ever had. Ulric was only twenty-two years of age
at the time of his death. He had lost a leg at Gettysburg the year
before, but had returned to active service upon his recovery although
compelled to walk on crutches. He had planned the expedition in
which he lost his life.
Page 519. _When Stuart to the grave we bore._ The loss of Stuart was
one of the most serious the Confederacy had sustained since the death
of Stonewall Jackson. He was, in many respects, the most brilliant
cavalry leader developed on either side during the war, though it was
alleged that his unauthorized absence from the field of Gettysburg
contributed greatly to the defeat of Lee's army.
Page 522. THE YEAR OF JUBILEE. A remarkable evidence of the
elasticity of spirit shown by the losers in the great struggle is the
fact that this song, which one would suppose would be particularly
offensive to them, became even more popular in the South than in the
North.
Page 524. THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX. Lee's army, at the time of the
surrender, consisted of about twenty-eight thousand men, nearly half
of whom were without arms. His army had had little to eat for several
days except parched corn, and was upon the verge of starvation.
Immediately after the surrender, Grant sent twenty-five thousand
rations into the Confederate lines.
Page 524. LEE'S PAROLE. Grant's behavior was marked throughout with
the greatest delicacy. He did not ask Lee's sword, promptly stopped
salutes which were started after the surrender, did not require the
Confederates to march out and stack arms, and did not enter their
lines. The terms of surrender were so liberal that many partisans at
the North took violent exception to them.
Page 525. _The Cherbourg cliffs were all alive._ A great throng had
gathered to witness the fight, which had been advertised as a sort of
gala event, excursions even being run from Paris. The sympathies of
the crowd were all with the Alabama.
Page 525. _When, lo! roared a broadside._ The firing of the Kearsarge
was a magnificent exhibition of gunnery. She fired 173 missiles,
nearly all of which took effect. The Alabama fired 370, of which only
28 struck. The Kearsarge's 11-inch shells were aimed a little below
the water line, with such deadly effect that the Alabama sank in a
little more than an hour after going into action.
Page 526. KEARSARGE. On Sunday morning, June 19, 1864, the noise of
the cannons during the fight between the Kearsarge and the Alabama
was heard in English churches near the Channel.--Author's note.
Page 527. _Though unequal in strength._ The Kearsarge had a
displacement of 1031 tons, carried a crew of 163, and mounted seven
guns, throwing 366 pounds. The Alabama was of 1016 tons displacement,
carried a crew of 149 and eight guns, throwing 328 pounds. The ships
were remarkably well matched.
Page 527. _Shall shine in tradition the valor of Semmes._ A bitter
controversy followed the fight as to whether the Alabama actually
surrendered. The preponderance of evidence shows that her colors
were hauled down and a white flag displayed a few minutes before
she sank. The British steam yacht Deerhound picked up forty-two
men, including Semmes and fourteen officers, and made off with
them to Southampton. The British Government afterwards refused to
surrender these men. It is consoling to reflect that England's aid
to Confederate privateers cost her, in the end, over fifteen million
dollars.
Page 527. CRAVEN. Craven has been called the Sidney of the American
navy. His pilot's name was John Collins, and as the Tecumseh was
going down, he and Craven met at the foot of the ladder leading to
the top of the turret. Craven stepped back, saying, "After you,
Pilot." As the pilot reached the top round of the ladder, the vessel
seemed "to drop from under him," and no one followed. A buoy marks
the spot.
Page 528. _Sidney._ Sir Philip Sidney, who is said to have refused
a cup of water while lying mortally wounded on the battlefield of
Zutphen, in order to give it to a wounded soldier.
Page 528. _Nelson._ Admiral Horatio Nelson. The reference is to the
Battle of the Nile, where Nelson was severely wounded.
Page 528. _Lucas._ A young English captain, who was imprisoned by
Hyder Ali in 1780. To relieve a wounded comrade, Captain Baird, he
assumed two sets of chains.
Page 528. _Outram._ Sir James Outram, who, in admiration for the
brilliant deeds of his subordinate, General Havelock, conceded him
the glory of relieving Lucknow, in 1857, waiving his own rank and
tendering his services as a volunteer.
Page 530. THE BAY FIGHT. Farragut took only a short vacation after
his triumphant "River Fight," and began at once to prepare for
another desperate encounter. The defences of Mobile were among the
strongest in the South. Three forts, mounting seventy-one guns,
guarded the channel, which was further defended by a double row of
torpedoes, one hundred and eighty in number. Besides this, there was
in the bay itself a Confederate fleet of four vessels, one of which
was the great ram Tennessee.
Farragut's fleet was the most formidable collection of war vessels
that had ever been assembled under command of one man. It surpassed
in power for destruction the combined English, French, and Spanish
fleets at Trafalgar. Yet, in spite of the desperate nature of the
struggle which followed, the loss was less than in many a skirmish
on land, that in the Union fleet being 52 killed and 170 wounded,
besides 93 drowned in the Tecumseh, while the Confederate loss was
only 12 killed and 20 wounded.
Page 535. "ALBEMARLE" CUSHING. Lieutenant Cushing was only
twenty-one years of age at the time he sunk the Albemarle, one
of the most brilliant and gallant exploits of the war. The deed
was rendered extremely difficult by the fact that the Albemarle
had been surrounded by a cordon of timber, and Cushing actually
drove his launch at full speed over this in order to reach the
Albemarle's side. He received the thanks of Congress and was made
lieutenant-commander as a reward for his heroism.
Page 539. PARDON. John Wilkes Booth was a son of Junius Brutus Booth
and was twenty-six years old at the time of the assassination. His
success as an actor had never been notable. There is some dispute
as to whether he was hit by the bullet which Boston Corbett fired
at him, or whether he shot himself. At any rate, he was brought out
of the barn in which he had been cornered with a bullet in the base
of his brain, and with his body paralyzed. He died the following
morning. Eight accomplices were arrested, tried by a military
commission, and found guilty. Four, one a woman, were hanged, and the
others, with one exception, sentenced to hard labor for life.
Page 542. _Treason is not dead._ The charge and specification on
which the conspirators were arraigned declared that they were
"incited and encouraged" to the crime by Jefferson Davis, and a
reward of one hundred thousand dollars was offered for his arrest.
There was at no time any trustworthy evidence implicating Davis.
Page 559. _Pillow's ghastly stain._ Fort Pillow, situated on the
Mississippi River about forty miles above Memphis, was captured,
April 12, 1864, by a large Confederate force under General N. B.
Forrest. The garrison consisted of 295 white and 262 colored troops,
of whom 221 were killed and 130 wounded. Most of the killed and
wounded were negroes, many of whom were shot down after the fort had
been captured. There is no evidence, however, that the massacre, if
it can be called such, was premeditated, and General Forrest seems to
have stopped it as promptly as he could.
Page 559. "MR. JOHNSON'S POLICY OF RECONSTRUCTION." The "policy"
consisted of two papers, one a proclamation of amnesty granting a
pardon for treason to all, with some exceptions, who should take
an oath to support the Constitution and the Union and to obey all
laws and proclamations which had been made with reference to the
emancipation of the slaves; the second an executive order intrusting
the state governments to the people who had taken this oath. That
the plan did not succeed was due in no small part to the folly of
the newly constituted legislatures in immediately proceeding to pass
various restrictive laws aimed at the negro, the effect of which
would be to deprive him, in large part, of his newly acquired freedom.
Page 560. _Crippled and halting from his birth._ Stevens had a club
foot, and was compelled to use a cane in walking.
Page 563. THE BLUE AND THE GRAY. The poem grew out of an item which
appeared in the New York "Tribune," in 1867: "The women of Columbus,
Mississippi, animated by nobler sentiments than many of their
sisters, have shown themselves impartial in their offerings made to
the memory of the dead. They strewed flowers alike on the graves of
the Confederate and of the National soldiers." The poem, prefaced
by this item, was first published in the "Atlantic Monthly" for
September, 1867, and at once attracted wide attention.
Page 565. HOW CYRUS LAID THE CABLE. Mr. Field had been working at
this project since 1854. In 1858 he had succeeded in laying a cable
across the ocean, and it was in operation from August 17 to September
4, when the signals became unintelligible and finally ceased
altogether. The story of his perseverance and final success is an
inspiring one.
Page 565. _O lonely bay of Trinity._ The American end of the cable
was landed at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.
Page 568. _Small need to open the Washington main._ Gould had
persuaded President Grant that a rise in gold while the crops were
moving would advantage the country, and early in September the
treasury department was instructed to sell only gold sufficient
to buy bonds for the sinking fund. Gould saw that the "Washington
main" could not be kept closed indefinitely, however, and unloaded
secretly, leaving his partner, "Jim" Fisk, to look out for himself.
Fisk's broker, Speyers, continued to run up the price of gold, until
his bid reached 163-1/2, when the market broke, the price falling
almost instantly to 133. Fisk saved himself by coolly repudiating his
contracts.
Page 580. DOWN THE LITTLE BIG HORN. Custer, who was thirty-seven
years old at the time of his death, had served with great distinction
through the Civil War. He was bitterly censured for accepting battle
upon the Little Big Horn, and accused of disobedience of orders, but
no basis for this accusation was ever clearly shown.
Page 580. _Just from the canyon emerging._ Custer and the five
companies with him advanced without hesitation into the jaws of
death, for they were outnumbered twelve to one. They dismounted and
planted themselves on two little hills a short distance apart. The
Indians stampeded their horses, waited till their ammunition was
exhausted, and then overwhelmed them.
Page 580. _Sitting Bull._ Sitting Bull, who commanded the Indians,
was a Sioux chief and was born about 1837. He was killed during the
Sioux outbreak of December, 1890.
Page 583. _In ambush the Sitting Bull._ There was no ambush. The
battle was fought in the open, from high ground. Custer's surprise
lay not in finding the Indians before him, but in finding them so
fatally numerous.
Page 584. _The brave heart._ Two days after the battle, a detachment
of cavalry discovered the bodies of Custer and his five companies.
Custer alone had not been mutilated. He had been shot in the left
temple, and lay as though peacefully sleeping.
Page 593. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE. The bridge had been begun January 3,
1870, and was not wholly completed at the time of its opening in
1883. Its cost was about twenty million dollars.
Page 615. _Bocagrande._ The main channel into Manila Bay south of
Corregidor Island. It means, literally, "large mouth."
Page 616. _Montojo._ Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarou, commander of
the Spanish naval forces in the Philippines.
Page 616. _Gridley._ Charles Vernon Gridley (1845-1898), captain of
Admiral Dewey's flagship, the Olympia.
Page 626. EIGHT VOLUNTEERS. Besides Hobson, the volunteers were
Osborn Deignan, a coxswain of the Merrimac; George F. Phillips,
a machinist of the Merrimac; John Kelly, a water-tender of the
Merrimac; George Charette, a gunner's mate of the New York; Daniel
Montagu, a seaman of the Brooklyn; J. C. Murphy, a coxswain of the
Iowa; and Randolph Clausen, a coxswain of the New York.
Page 628. _Once more the Flower of Essex._ See "The Lamentable Ballad
of the Bloody Brook," page 82.
Page 631. WHEELER AT SANTIAGO. "Fighting Joe" Wheeler was one of the
most active and successful cavalry leaders of the Confederacy. The
death of General J. E. B. Stuart, in 1864, made him senior cavalry
general of the Confederate armies. He served in Congress after the
war, and volunteered for active service on the outbreak of the war
with Spain. He was given command of a cavalry brigade, and his
presence before Santiago was of inestimable value.
Page 633. _Near Nimanima's greening hill._ The cove, six and a half
miles from the entrance to Santiago harbor, where the Infanta Maria
Teresa was beached. Juan Gonzales is seven miles and Aserradero
fifteen miles from Santiago.
Page 633. _The Cape o' the Cross._ Cape Cruz, at the southwestern
extremity of Cuba.
Page 641. _Who on the third most famous of our Fourths._ July
4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence adopted. July 4, 1863,
announcement of the victory at Gettysburg. July 4, 1898, announcement
of the victory at Santiago.
Page 645. AGUINALDO. Emilio Aguinaldo was born in 1870, of Chinese
and Tagalog parentage. He received a good education, became
interested in military affairs, and was one of the leaders of the
outbreak against Spanish authority in 1896. At the beginning of the
Spanish-American war, Admiral Dewey sent for Aguinaldo, who arrived
at Cavité a few days after the destruction of the Spanish fleet.
He at once began the organization of the Filipino troops, and soon
afterwards proclaimed himself dictator of the so-called Filipino
Republic. He stoutly resisted the American occupation which followed
the peace, but was captured in 1901, and finally took the oath of
allegiance to the United States.
Page 645. _Strike at his mother and his child._ Aguinaldo's family
was captured by the United States troops and held prisoners until his
submission.
Page 645. _When they read the sneering comments._ The fact that no
prisoners were taken at the fight at Dajo, and that many women and
children were among the killed, caused much bitter comment. The poem
gives the army's side of the controversy.
Page 646. _Before the living bronze Saint-Gaudens made._ See "Bury
Them," page 508, and "An Ode on the Unveiling of the Shaw Memorial,"
page 603.
Page 650. _The assassin's shot._ The assassin was a young Pole named
Leon Czolgosz, who proclaimed himself an anarchist. He was tried
speedily, sentenced to electrocution, and executed October 28.
Page 651. "_Silent upon a peak in Darien._" From Keats's sonnet, "On
First Looking into Chapman's Homer."
INDEX OF AUTHORS
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey [1836-1907]:
Fredericksburg, 449;
By the Potomac, 449;
The Bells at Midnight, 588;
An Ode on the Unveiling of the Shaw Memorial, 603;
Unguarded Gates, 659.
Alexander, S. J.:
To San Francisco, 657.
Alston, Joseph Blynth:
"Stack Arms," 545.
André, John [1751-1780]:
The Cow-Chace, 233.
Andrews, Charlton:
Our Modest Doughboys, 671.
Andrews, Mary Raymond Shipman:
A Call to Arms, 668.
Arnold, Edwin [1832-1904]:
Darien, 651.
Austin, Alfred [1835-1913]:
Britannia to Columbia, 654.
Babcock, William Henry [1849- ]:
Bennington, 196.
Bailey, Lansing C.:
Eight Volunteers, 626.
Ballard, C. R.:
The Pacific Railway, 579.
Bangs, Edward [fl. 1775]:
The Yankee's Return from Camp, 159.
Banker, William, Jr.:
The Battle of Queenstown, 292.
Barlow, Joel [1754-1812]:
The First American Congress, 273;
On the Discoveries of Captain Lewis, 341.
Bates, Charlotte Fiske. See Rogé.
Beers, Mrs. Ethelinda [1827-1879]:
The Picket-Guard, 433.
Bell, Maurice:
The Alabama, 527.
Bell, Walker Meriwether:
Jefferson Davis, 545.
Benjamin, Park [1809-1864]:
To Arms, 363.
Benton, Joel [1832- ]:
Grover Cleveland, 658.
Block, Louis James [1851- ]: The Final Struggle, 11.
Boker, George Henry [1823-1890]:
Upon the Hill before Centreville, 420;
Dirge for a Soldier, 442;
The Crossing at Fredericksburg, 446;
Zagonyi, 453;
On Board the Cumberland, 464;
The Cruise of the Monitor, 467;
The Ballad of New Orleans, 472;
The Varuna, 474;
Hooker's Across, 483;
Before Vicksburg, 499;
The Black Regiment, 500;
The Battle of Lookout Mountain, 505.
Botwood, Edward [c 1730-1759]:
Hot Stuff, 121.
Bouvé, Thomas Tracy [1875- ]:
The Shannon and the Chesapeake, 300.
Bowen, John Eliot [1858-1890]:
The Man who rode to Conemaugh, 599.
Boyle, Mrs. Virginia Fraser:
Tennessee, 603.
Bradford, William [c 1590-1657]:
New England's Growth, 69.
Brainard, John Gardiner Calkins [1796-1828]:
On the Death of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, 347.
Bridges, Robert [1844- ]:
To the United States of America, 666.
Bridges, Robert [1858- ]:
A Toast to Our Native Land, 649.
Brooks, Charles Timothy [1813-1883]:
A Plea for Flood Ireson, 284.
Brooks, Francis [1867-1898]:
Down the Little Big Horn, 580.
Brown, Irene Fowler:
The Rear Guard, 562.
Brownell, Henry Howard [1820-1872]:
The Battle of Charlestown, 395;
The Old Cove, 401;
Sumter, 408;
The Eagle of Corinth, 458;
The River Fight, 468;
Bury Them, 508;
The Bay Fight, 530.
Bruce, Wallace [1844- ]:
Parson Allen's Ride, 194.
Bruns, John Dickson:
The Foe at the Gates, 516.
Bryant, William Cullen [1794-1878]:
The Green Mountain Boys, 157;
Seventy-Six, 191;
Song of Marion's Men, 248;
"Oh Mother of a Mighty Race," 268;
Our Country's Call, 410;
Abraham Lincoln, 540;
Centennial Hymn, 574.
Burnet, Dana [1888- ]:
Marching Song, 671.
Burr, Amelia Josephine [1878- ]:
Pershing at the Tomb of Lafayette, 667.
Burroughs, Alethea S.:
Savannah, 514.
Burton, Richard [1859- ]:
The Old Santa Fé Trail, 346.
Butterworth, Hezekiah [1837-1905]:
The Thanksgiving for America, 15;
The Legend of Waukulla, 19;
The Fountain of Youth, 21;
Verazzano, 25;
Ortiz, 26;
Five Kernels of Corn, 62;
The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor, 67;
Roger Williams, 72;
Whitman's Ride for Oregon, 342;
The Death of Jefferson, 349;
Garfield's Ride at Chickamauga, 503;
The Church of the Revolution, 570.
Byers, Samuel Hawkins Marshall [1838- ]:
With Corse at Allatoona, 511;
Sherman's March to the Sea, 512.
Bynner, Witter [1881- ]:
Republic to Republic, 666.
Byron, George Gordon Noel [1788-1824]:
Washington, 276.
Calvert, George Henry [1803-1889]:
Bunker Hill, 162.
Campbell, William W. [1806-1881]:
With Cortez in Mexico, 24.
Carleton, William [1845-1912]:
The Prize of the Margaretta, 155;
Across the Delaware, 188;
The Little Black-Eyed Rebel, 209;
Cuba to Columbia, 608;
The Victory-Wreck, 627.
Carryl, Guy Wetmore [1873-1904]:
When the Great Gray Ships come in, 640.
Cary, Phoebe [1824-1871]:
Ready, 461;
Peace, 548;
Thaddeus Stevens, 560.
Cawein, Madison [1865-1914]:
Mosby at Hamilton, 482;
Ku-Klux, 562;
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," 620.
Chadwick, John White [1840-1904]:
Mugford's Victory, 174;
Full Cycle, 640.
Chambers, Robert William [1865- ]:
The "Grey Horse Troop," 585.
Cheney, John Vance [1848-1922]:
San Francisco, 657.
Clarke, Ednah Proctor. See Hayes.
Clarke, Joseph Ignatius Constantine [1846- ]:
The Fighting Race, 611.
Cloud, Virginia Woodward [187 - ]:
The Ballad of Sweet P, 186.
Coates, Mrs. Florence Earle [1850- ]:
By the Conemaugh, 599;
Buffalo, 649.
Conkling, Grace Hazard [1878- ]:
Victory Bells, 673.
Cooke, Edmund Vance [1866- ]:
"Off Manilly," 618.
Cooke, Mrs. Rose Terry [1827-1892]:
The Death of Goody Nurse, 90.
Cornwall, H. S.:
Jefferson D., 401.
Cornwallis, Kinahan [1835- ]:
The Battle of Murfreesboro, 459.
Cox, Eleanor Rogers [ - ]:
The Return, 676.
Coxe, Arthur Cleveland [1818-1896]:
America, 2.
Cranch, Christopher Pearse [1813-1892]:
After the Centennial, 578.
Crawford, Francis Marion [1854-1909]:
New National Hymn, 596.
Crosby, Ernest Howard [1856-1906]:
"Rebels," 643.
Cullen, Cornelius C.:
Battle of Somerset, 454.
Dandridge, Mrs. Danske [1864- ]:
On the Eve of War, 612.
De Kay, Charles [1848- ]:
The Draft Riot, 496.
Dobson, Austin [1840-1921]:
"When there is Peace," 678.
Dorr, Henry R.:
Comrades, 629.
Drake, Joseph Rodman [1795-1820]:
The American Flag, 192;
To the Defenders of New Orleans, 326.
Drayton, Michael [1563-1631]:
To the Virginian Voyage, 42.
Duer, Caroline King [1865- ]:
An International Episode, 598.
Duganne, Augustine Joseph Hickey [1823-1884]:
Bethel, 417.
Dwight, Timothy [1752-1817]:
The Assault on the Fortress, 70;
Columbia, 180;
To the Federal Convention, 270.
Eastman, Barrett [1869- ]:
How we burned the Philadelphia, 281.
Eastman, Sophie E.:
A Spool of Thread, 402.
Elam, William C.:
The Mecklenburg Declaration, 156.
Ellsworth, Erastus Wolcott [1822- ]:
The Mayflower, 59.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo [1803-1882]:
Concord Hymn, 351;
Boston Hymn, 478.
English, Thomas Dunn [1819-1902]:
The Fall of Maubila, 27;
The Burning of Jamestown, 44;
The Sack of Deerfield, 102;
Assunpink and Princeton, 188;
Arnold at Stillwater, 200;
The Battle of Monmouth, 211;
Betty Zane, 216;
The Battle of the Cowpens, 252;
The Battle of New Orleans, 323;
Battle of the King's Mill, 370;
The Charge by the Ford, 438.
Farrar, John Chipman [ - ]:
Brest Left Behind, 674.
Fessenden, Thomas Green [1771-1837]:
Ye Sons of Columbia, 278.
Fields, Mrs. Annie Adams [1834- ]:
Cedar Mountain, 441.
Finch, Francis Miles [1827-1907]:
Nathan Hale, 186;
The Blue and the Gray, 563.
Flash, Henry Lynden [1835- ]:
Zollicoffer, 454;
Stonewall Jackson, 486;
The Gallant Fifty-One, 606.
Foster, Jeanne Robert:
The "William P. Frye," 662.
Franklin, Benjamin [1706-1790]:
The Downfall of Piracy, 48;
The Mother Country, 142.
Freneau, Philip [1752-1832]:
Columbus to Ferdinand, 9;
Columbus in Chains, 17;
Emancipation from British Dependence, 176;
On the Death of Captain Nicholas Biddle, 220;
The Bonhomme Richard and Serapis, 225;
Barney's Invitation, 226;
Song on Captain Barney's Victory, 227;
Sir Henry Clinton's Invitation to the Refugees, 229;
The Royal Adventurer, 241;
Eutaw Springs, 255;
An Ancient Prophecy, 258;
On the Departure of the British from Charleston, 260;
On the British King's Speech, 261;
Occasioned by General Washington's Arrival in Philadelphia, on his
Way to his Residence in Virginia, 263;
On the Death of Benjamin Franklin, 275;
On the Capture of the Guerrière, 290;
The Battle of Stonington, 309;
On the British Invasion, 312;
The Battle of Lake Champlain, 312;
On the Emigration to America, 331.
Frost, Thomas:
The Death of Colman, 50;
The Guns in the Grass, 361.
Gallagher, William Davis [1808-1894]:
The Mothers of the West, 330.
Garland, Hamlin [1860- ]:
Logan at Peach Tree Creek, 510.
Gibbons, James Sloan [1810-1892]:
Three Hundred Thousand More, 440.
Gilder, Joseph B. [1858- ]:
The Parting of the Ways, 609.
Gilder, Richard Watson [1844-1909]:
At the President's Grave, 590;
Charleston, 594;
"The White City," 602;
The Comfort of the Trees, 650.
Gilmore, Patrick Sarsfield [1829-1892]:
When Johnny comes marching Home, 549.
Glaenzer, Richard Butler [ - ]:
A Ballad of Redhead's Day, 672.
Gordon, James Lindsay:
Wheeler at Santiago, 631.
Greenwood, Grace. See Lippincott, Mrs. Sara Jane.
Guiney, Louise Imogen [1861-1920]:
John Brown, 397.
Guiterman, Arthur:
Quivíra, 31;
Haarlem Heights, 183;
The Storming of Stony Point, 230;
The Call to the Colors, 627;
The Rush of the Oregon, 637.
Hale, Arthur:
The Yankee Privateer, 221;
Manila Bay, 618.
Hale, Edward Everett [1822-1909]:
Columbus, 18;
From Potomac to Merrimac, 49;
Adrian Block's Song, 51;
Anne Hutchinson's Exile, 73;
The Lamentable Ballad of the Bloody Brook, 82;
New England's Chevy Chase, 148;
The Ballad of Bunker Hill, 162;
The Marching Song of Stark's Men, 193;
Put it Through, 509.
Hall, Charles Sprague:
Glory Hallelujah, 397.
Hall, Sharlot M.:
Arizona, 655.
Halleck, Fitz-Greene [1790-1867]:
On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake, 348.
Halpine, Charles Graham [1820-1868]:
Baron Renfrew's Ball, 382;
Lecompton's Black Brigade, 398;
The Song of Sherman's Army, 513;
"Mr. Johnson's Policy of Reconstruction," 559.
Harte, Francis Bret [1839-1902]:
Caldwell of Springfield, 232;
The Reveille, 442;
John Burns of Gettysburg, 493;
A Second Review of the Grand Army, 548;
An Arctic Vision, 566;
Chicago, 569.
Hay, John [1838-1905]:
Miles Keogh's Horse, 584.
Hayes, Ednah Proctor Clarke [187 - ]:
A Salem Witch, 91.
Hayne, Paul Hamilton [1830-1886]:
Macdonald's Raid, 248;
Beyond the Potomac, 443;
Butler's Proclamation, 476;
Vicksburg, 499;
The Battle of Charleston Harbor, 507;
Charleston, 515;
South Carolina to the States of the North, 561;
The Stricken South to the North, 564;
Yorktown Centennial Lyric, 592.
Hayne, William Hamilton [1856- ]:
The Charge at Santiago, 630.
Hazard, Caroline [1856- ]:
The Great Swamp Fight, 83.
Helmer, Charles D.:
The Battle of Oriskany, 198.
Hemans, Mrs. Felicia Dorothea [1793-1835]:
Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, 57.
Henderson, Daniel [1880- ]:
The Road to France, 667.
Henley, William Ernest [1849-1903]:
Romance, 516.
Hoffman, Charles Fenno [1806-1884]:
Rio Bravo, 362;
Monterey, 363.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell [1809-1894]:
A Ballad of the Boston Tea-Party, 136;
Lexington, 147;
Grandmother's Story of Bunker-Hill Battle, 163;
Old Ironsides, 351;
Daniel Webster, 377;
Brother Jonathan's Lament for Sister Caroline, 400;
Sherman's in Savannah, 514;
After the Fire, 571;
Welcome to the Nations, 574;
On the Death of President Garfield, 590;
Additional Verses to Hail Columbia, 596.
Honeywood, Saint John [1763-1798]:
A Radical Song of 1786, 269.
Hope, James Barron [1827-1887]:
John Smith's Approach to Jamestown, 38.
Hopkinson, Francis [1737-1791]:
On the Late Successful Expedition against Louisbourg, 118;
The Daughter's Rebellion, 140;
American Independence, 178;
British Valor displayed; or, The Battle of the Kegs, 208;
The New Roof, 270.
Hopkinson, Joseph [1770-1842]:
Hail Columbia, 277.
Hosmer, William Henry Cuyler [1814-1877]:
Song of Texas, 358.
Houghton, George [1850-1891]:
The Legend of Walbach Tower, 306.
Houghton, Lord. See Milnes, Richard Monckton.
Hovey, Richard [1864-1900]:
The Word of the Lord from Havana, 610;
The Battle of Manila, 619.
Howe, Mrs. Julia Ward [1819-1910]:
Our Country, 71;
Battle-Hymn of the Republic, 384;
Robert E. Lee, 524;
Pardon, 539;
Parricide, 542;
J. A. G., 589.
Howells, William Dean [1837-1920]:
The Battle in the Clouds, 506.
Hughes, Rupert [1872- ]:
The Martyrs of the Maine, 612.
Humphreys, David [1752-1818]:
On Disbanding the Army, 262.
Hutton, Joseph [1787-1828]:
The Tomb of the Brave, 339.
Ingham, John Hall [1860- ]:
George Washington, 275.
Irving, Minna [1872- ]:
Betsey's Battle Flag, 191.
Janvier, Francis de Haes [1817-1885]:
God save Our President, 403.
Janvier, Thomas Allibone [1849-1913]:
Santiago, 633.
Jenks, Tudor [1857-1922]:
The Spirit of the Maine, 621.
Jewett, John H. [1843- ]:
Those Rebel Flags, 654.
Johnson, Hilda:
Ballade of Expansion, 642.
Johnson, Robert Underwood [1853- ]:
Dewey at Manila, 615;
To the Returning Brave, 675.
Jones, Amanda Theodosia [1835- ]:
Panama, 652.
Jones, Charles L. S.:
The Hero of Bridgewater, 309;
Fort Bowyer, 323.
Ketchum, Mrs. Annie Chambers [1824-1904]:
The Bonnie Blue Flag, 413.
Key, Francis Scott [1780-1843]:
The Star-Spangled Banner, 317.
Kilmer, Joyce [1886-1918]:
The White Ships and the Red, 663;
Rouge Bouquet, 670.
Landor, Walter Savage [1775-1864]:
On the Death of M. D'Ossoli and his Wife, Margaret Fuller, 376.
Lanier, Sidney [1842-1881]:
The Story of Vinland, 3;
The Triumph, 12;
Lexington, 146;
Land of the Wilful Gospel, 265;
The Dying Words of Stonewall Jackson, 486;
The Centennial Meditation of Columbia, 573.
Larcom, Lucy [1824-1893]:
Mistress Hale of Beverly, 97;
The Nineteenth of April, 414;
The Sinking of the Merrimack, 468.
Lathrop, George Parsons [1851-1898]:
Marthy Virginia's Hand, 445;
Keenan's Charge, 484.
Learned, Walter [1847-1915]:
The Last Reservation, 586.
Lee, Arthur [1740-1792]:
A Prophecy, 125.
Le Gallienne, Richard [1866- ]:
After the War, 678.
Leland, Charles Godfrey [1824-1903]:
Out and Fight, 409.
Lewis, Alonzo [1794-1861]:
Death Song, 70.
Lieber, Francis [1800-1872]:
The Ship Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 374.
Lighthall, William Douw Schuyler [1857- ]:
The Battle of La Prairie, 101.
Lindsay, Vachel [1879- ]:
Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, 661.
Lippincott, Mrs. Sara Jane [1823-1904]:
Illumination for Victories in Mexico, 371.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth [1807-1882]:
The Skeleton in Armor, 6;
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 34;
The War-Token, 61;
The Expedition to Wessagusset, 63;
Prologue from "John Endicott," 71;
The Proclamation, 76;
Prologue from "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," 88;
The Trial, 92;
The Battle of Lovell's Pond, 109;
A Ballad of the French Fleet, 110;
The Embarkation, 115;
Paul Revere's Ride, 144;
Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem, 245;
The Wreck of the Hesperus, 351;
Victor Galbraith, 364;
The Cumberland, 464;
The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face, 583;
President Garfield, 591;
The Republic, 660.
Lord, William Wilberforce [1819-1907]:
On the Defeat of Henry Clay, 376.
Loveman, Robert [1864- ]:
Hobson and his Men, 627.
Lover, Samuel [1797-1868]:
The War Ship of Peace, 375.
Lowell, James Russell [1819-1891]:
Flawless his Heart, 128;
The New-Come Chief, 168;
Mr. Hosea Biglow speaks, 360;
What Mr. Robinson thinks, 369;
The Debate in the Sennit, 386;
Jonathan to John, 430;
The Washers of the Shroud, 450;
Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration, 550.
Lucas, Daniel Bedinger [1836- ]:
In the Land where we were Dreaming, 546.
Lummis, Charles Fletcher [1859- ]:
John Charles Frémont, 345.
Lushington, Franklin:
No More Words, 410.
Lytle, William Haines [1826-1863]:
The Siege of Chapultepec, 371;
The Volunteers, 374.
McGaffey, Ernest [1861- ]:
Little Big Horn, 581;
Geronimo, 586.
McMaster, Guy Humphreys [1829-1887]:
Carmen Bellicosum, 206.
Madison, Mrs. Dorothy Payne [1772-1849]:
Lafayette, 349.
Mansfield, Richard [1857-1907]:
The Eagle's Song, 558.
Manville, Marion. See Pope, Mrs.
Markham, Edwin [1852- ]:
Lincoln, 399.
Marvell, Andrew [1620-1678]:
Bermudas, 39.
Meehan, John James:
The Race of the Oregon, 624.
Melville, Herman [1819-1891]:
Malvern Hill, 439;
The Victor of Antietam, 445;
The Cumberland, 466;
Running the Batteries, 498;
A Dirge for McPherson, 511;
Sheridan at Cedar Creek, 521;
The Fall of Richmond, 523;
The Surrender at Appomattox, 524;
At the Cannon's Mouth, 537.
Meredith, William Tuckey [1839- ]:
Farragut, 528.
Mifflin, Lloyd [1846- ]:
The Battle-Field, 492;
Half-Mast, 611.
Miller, Cincinnatus Heine (Joaquin) [1841-1913]:
Columbus, 14;
The Defence of the Alamo, 357;
Alaska, 567;
Rejoice, 587;
Cuba Libre, 609;
San Francisco, 657;
Resurge San Francisco, 658.
Miller, J. Corson [1883- ]:
Epicedium, 673.
Milnes, Richard Monckton, Baron Houghton [1809-1885]:
Columbus and the Mayflower, 18.
Milns, William:
The Federal Constitution, 272.
Mitchell, Silas Weir [1829-1914]:
Herndon, 380;
How the Cumberland went down, 466;
Kearsarge, 526;
Lincoln, 537;
The Song of the Flags, 655.
Montgomery, James [1771-1854]:
The Inspiration, 8;
The Lust of Gold, 24.
Moody, William Vaughn [1869-1910]:
On a Soldier fallen in the Philippines, 643;
An Ode in Time of Hesitation, 646.
More, Helen F.:
What's in a Name, 146.
Morris, George Pope [1802-1864]:
Pocahontas, 39.
Morton, David [1886- ]:
The Dead, 674;
Beyond Wars, 678.
Morton, Mrs. Sarah Wentworth [1759-1846]:
To Aaron Burr, 338.
Newbolt, Henry John [1862- ]:
Craven, 527.
O'Brien, Fitz-James [1828-1862]:
Kane, 379.
O'Hara, Theodore [1820-1867]:
The Bivouac of the Dead, 368.
O'Reilly, John Boyle [1844-1890]:
Crispus Attucks, 132;
At Fredericksburg, 447;
Chicago, 569;
Boston, 570;
The Ride of Collins Graves, 571;
Midnight--September 19, 1881, 589;
Mayflower, 594.
Osborn, Laughton [1809-1878]:
The Death of General Pike, 299.
Osgood, Kate Putnam [1841- ]:
Driving Home the Cows, 550.
Page, Thomas Nelson [1853-1922]:
The Dragon of the Seas, 621.
Paine, Robert Treat [1773-1811]:
Adams and Liberty, 276.
Paine, Thomas [1737-1809]:
Liberty Tree, 141.
Palmer, John Williamson [1825-1906]:
Ned Braddock, 114;
The Maryland Battalion, 183;
Reid at Fayal, 319;
Theodosia Burr, 346;
The Fight at San Jacinto, 357;
Stonewall Jackson's Way, 483.
Parrish, Randall [1858- ]:
Your Lad, and My Lad, 668.
Parsons, Thomas William [1819-1892]:
Dirge, 419.
Paul, Dorothy:
The Captive Ships at Manila, 666.
Paulding, James Kirke [1779-1860]:
Ode to Jamestown, 46.
Percival, James Gates [1795-1856]:
Apostrophe to the Island of Cuba, 606.
Perry, Nora [1832-1896]:
Balboa, 23; Running the Blockade, 215.
Peterson, Henry [1818-1891]:
The Death of Lyon, 453.
Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. See Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.
Piatt, John James [1835-1914]:
The Dear President, 539.
Pierpont, James:
"We Conquer or Die," 412.
Pierpont, John [1785-1866]:
The Pilgrim Fathers, 66;
Warren's Address, 161;
The Fourth of July, 179;
On Laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 348;
The Kidnapping of Sims, 388.
Pike, Albert [1809-1891]:
Buena Vista, 364;
Dixie, 411.
Plimpton, Florus B. [1830- ]:
Fort Duquesne, 119.
Pope, Mrs. Marion Manville [1859- ]:
The Surrender of New Orleans, 475;
Lee's Parole, 524.
Porter, Ina M.:
Mumford, 476.
Preston, Mrs. Margaret Junkin [1820-1897]:
The Mystery of Cro-a-tán, 36;
The Last Meeting of Pocahontas and the Great Captain, 43;
The First
Proclamation of Miles Standish, 58;
The First Thanksgiving Day, 60;
Dirge for Ashby, 439;
Under the Shade of the Trees, 486;
Virginia Capta, 523;
Acceptation, 547.
Proctor, Edna Dean [1838-1923]:
Columbus Dying, 18;
The Captive's Hymn, 123;
The Lost War Sloop, 311;
Sa-cá-ga-we-a, 340;
John Brown, 397;
The Brooklyn Bridge, 593.
Pulci, Luigi [1431-1487]:
Prophecy, 7.
Randall, James Ryder [1839-1908]:
My Maryland, 415;
John Pelham, 482.
Rankin, Jeremiah Eames [1828-1904]:
The Word of God to Leyden came, 56;
Fairest of Freedom's Daughters, 594.
Rawnsley, Hardwick Drummond [1850- ]:
A Ballad of the Conemaugh Flood, 600.
Read, Thomas Buchanan [1822-1872]:
The Rising, 154;
Valley Forge, 207;
Blennerhassett's Island, 335;
The Attack, 463;
Sheridan's Ride, 521;
The Eagle and Vulture, 525.
Realf, Richard [1834-1878]:
The Defence of Lawrence, 390.
Revere, Paul [1735-1818]:
Unhappy Boston, 134.
Rice, Harvey [1800-1891]:
Cuba, 608.
Rice, Wallace de Groot Cecil [1859- ]:
The First American Sailors, 34;
The Sudbury Fight, 85;
The Minute-Men of Northboro', 152;
Firstfruits in 1812, 291;
Defeat and Victory, 302;
The Armstrong at Fayal, 321;
Jackson at New Orleans, 325;
Blood is Thicker than Water, 380;
Dewey and his Men, 617;
Battle Song of the Oregon, 624;
Wheeler's Brigade at Santiago, 629;
Spain's Last Armada, 632;
The Destroyer of Destroyers, 635;
The Brooklyn at Santiago, 636.
Rich, Hiram [1832-1905]:
Morgan Stanwood, 151.
Rich, Richard [fl. 1610]:
Newes from Virginia, 40.
Richards, Mrs. Laura Elizabeth [1850- ]:
Molly Pitcher, 213.
Risley, Richard Voorhees [1874-1904]:
Dewey in Manila Bay, 620.
Roberts, Charles George Douglas [1860- ]:
Brooklyn Bridge, 593;
In Apia Bay, 597;
A Ballad of Manila Bay, 618.
Robinson, Edwin Arlington [1869- ]:
The Klondike, 604.
Roche, James Jeffrey [1847-1908]:
Washington, 274;
Reuben James, 282;
Jack Creamer, 295;
The Fight of the Armstrong Privateer, 319;
The Constitution's Last Fight, 327;
The Men of the Alamo, 355;
The Flag, 378;
Gettysburg, 492;
"Albemarle" Cushing, 535;
The Kearsarge, 602;
The Gospel of Peace, 607;
Panama, 651.
Rodman, Thomas P.:
The Battle of Bennington, 195.
Rogé, Mrs. Charlotte Fiske Bates [1838- ]:
André, 239.
Rooney, John Jerome [1866- ]:
The Men behind the Guns, 637;
McIlrath of Malate, 639.
Root, George Frederick [1820-1895]:
The Battle-Cry of Freedom, 500.
Runyon, Alfred Damon:
A Song of Panama, 652.
Russell, Charles Edward [1860- ]:
The Fleet at Santiago, 634.
Ryan, Abram Joseph [1839-1888]:
The Conquered Banner, 547.
Safford, William Harrison [1821-1903]:
The Battle of Muskingum, 337.
St. John, Peter:
The Descent on Middlesex, 242.
Sargent, Epes [1813-1880]:
The Death of Warren, 166.
Sawyer, Charles Carroll [1833- ]:
When this Cruel War is Over, 677.
Saxe, John Godfrey [1816-1887]:
How Cyrus laid the Cable, 565.
Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von [1759-1805]:
Steer, Bold Mariner, On, 12.
Scollard, Clinton [1860- ]:
The First Thanksgiving, 68;
King Philip's Last Stand, 88;
The Eve of Bunker Hill, 161;
Montgomery at Quebec, 171;
The Boasting of Sir Peter Parker, 181;
Saint Leger, 199;
Wayne at Stony Point, 230;
The Battle of Plattsburg Bay, 313;
The Valor of Ben Milam, 354;
The Daughter of the Regiment, 462;
Riding with Kilpatrick, 488;
The Men of the Maine, 609;
The Men of the Merrimac, 626;
Deeds of Valor at Santiago, 630;
Private Blair of the Regulars, 631;
The Ballad of Paco Town, 644;
The Deed of Lieutenant Miles, 644;
Ad Patriam, 660;
The First Three, 669;
The Unreturning, 674.
Seeger, Alan [1888-1916]:
Ode in Memory of the American Volunteers fallen for France, 664.
Sewall, Jonathan Mitchell [1748-1808]:
War and Washington, 170;
On Independence, 179.
Shadwell, Bertrand:
Cervera, 638;
Aguinaldo, 645.
Shanly, Charles Dawson [1811-1875]:
Civil War, 432.
Sherwood, Mrs. Katherine Margaret Brownlee [1841- ]:
Molly Pitcher, 213;
Albert Sidney Johnston, 456;
Thomas at Chickamauga, 502;
Ulric Dahlgren, 517.
Siegrist, Mary:
The League of Nations, 677.
Sigourney, Mrs. Lydia Huntley [1791-1865]:
Columbus, 9;
California, 346;
Indian Names, 587.
Sill, Edward Rowland [1841-1887]:
The Dead President, 538.
Simmons, James Wright:
Sumter's Band, 250.
Simms, William Gilmore [1806-1870]:
The Swamp Fox, 247;
The Battle of Eutaw, 254.
Smith, Dexter:
Our National Banner, 578.
Smith, Lewis Worthington [1866- ]:
News from Yorktown, 257.
Smith, Marion Couthouy:
The Star, 674;
King of the Belgians, 676.
Smith, Samuel Francis [1808-1895]:
America, ii.
Southey, Robert [1774-1843]:
The Bower of Peace, 318.
Spofford, Mrs. Harriet Prescott [1835-1921]:
How we became a Nation, 138;
Can't, 519.
Stansbury, Joseph [1750-1809]:
A New Song, 240;
The Lords of the Main, 241.
Stansbury, Mary Anna Phinney:
The Surprise at Ticonderoga, 157.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence [1833-1908]:
Peter Stuyvesant's New Year's Call, 54;
Salem, 89;
Aaron Burr's Wooing, 231;
How Old Brown took Harper's Ferry, 393;
Sumter, 404;
Wanted--A Man, 435;
Kearny at Seven Pines, 437;
Treason's Last Device, 480;
Gettysburg, 489;
Abraham Lincoln, 538;
Israel Freyer's Bid for Gold, 567;
Custer, 583;
Liberty Enlightening the World, 595;
Cuba, 607;
Hymn of the West, 653.
Steendam, Jacob [c 1640-c 1690]:
The Praise of New Netherland, 52;
The Complaint of New Amsterdam, 53.
Stevenson, Burton Egbert [1872- ]:
Henry Hudson's Quest, 50;
The Peace Message, 60.
Stevenson, James:
The Gallant Fighting "Joe," 436.
Stoddard, Richard Henry [1825-1903]:
Men of the North and West, 409;
Colonel Ellsworth, 416;
The Little Drummer, 451;
Twilight on Sumter, 509;
Abraham Lincoln, 540.
Street, Alfred Billings [1811-1882]:
The Settler, 329.
Swett, Herbert B.:
The Gathering, 629.
Taylor, Bayard [1825-1878]:
Through Baltimore, 414;
Lincoln at Gettysburg, 497;
The National Ode, 575.
Taylor, Joseph Russell [1868- ]:
Breath on the Oat, 641.
Taylor, Tom [1817-1880]:
Abraham Lincoln, 543.
Tennyson, Alfred [1809-1892]:
England and America in 1782, 262.
Terry, Uriah:
The Wyoming Massacre, 217.
Thackeray, William Makepeace [1811-1863]:
Pocahontas, 38.
Thomas, Edith Matilda [1854- ]:
Ponce de Leon, 22;
A Christopher of the Shenandoah, 520;
To Spain--A Last Word, 612.
Thompson, James Maurice [1844-1901]:
The Ballad of Chickamauga, 501.
Thompson, John Randolph [1823-1873]:
On to Richmond, 426;
The Burial of Latané, 437;
Lee to the Rear, 518;
Obsequies of Stuart, 519.
Thompson, Will Henry [1848- ]:
The High Tide at Gettysburg, 491.
Ticknor, Francis Orrery [1822-1874]:
The Virginians of the Valley, 417;
A Battle Ballad, 424;
"Our Left," 441;
Albert Sidney Johnston, 457;
Little Giffen, 460.
Tilden, Stephen [1686-1766]:
The British Lyon roused, 111;
Braddock's Fate, 112.
Tilton, Theodore [1835-1907]:
The Great Bell Roland, 408.
Timrod, Henry [1829-1867]:
A Cry to Arms, 411;
Charleston, 507;
Carolina, 515.
Titherington, Richard Handfield [1861- ]:
Faithful unto Death, 650.
Tompson, Benjamin [1753-1814]:
On a Fortification at Boston begun by Women, 85.
Trowbridge, John Townsend [1827-1916]:
Columbus at the Convent, 10.
Tylee, Edward Sydney:
Outward Bound, 650.
Tyler, Royall [1757-1826]:
Independence Day, 179.
Upham, Thomas Cogswell [1799-1872]:
Song of the Pilgrims, 57.
Van Dyke, Henry [1852- ]:
Mare Liberum, 664.
Venable, William Henry [1836-1918]:
John Filson, 331;
Johnny Appleseed, 334;
The Founders of Ohio, 335;
El Emplazado, 613;
Battle Cry, 614;
National Song, 659.
Verplanck, Gulian Crommelin [1786-1870]:
Prophecy, 144.
Walker, E. M.:
To America, on Her First Sons Fallen in the Great War, 670.
Ward, Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps [1844-1911]:
A Message, 440;
Conemaugh, 601.
Warfield, Mrs. Catherine Anne [1816-1877]:
Manassas, 423;
Beauregard, 457.
Warren, Joseph [1741-1775]:
Free America, 140.
Warren, Mrs. Mercy [1728-1814]:
Massachusetts--Song of Liberty, 143.
Wattles, Willard [ - ]:
The Family of Nations, 677.
Weare, Mesech [1713-1786]:
The Blasted Herb, 139.
Webster, Mrs. M. M.:
The Marriage of Pocahontas, 43.
Wharton, William H.:
Ben Milam, 355.
White, Richard Edward [1843- ]:
The Discovery of San Francisco Bay, 343.
Whiting, Seymour W.:
Alamance, 135.
Whitman, Walt [1819-1892]:
Ethiopia Saluting the Colors, 514;
O Captain! My Captain, 537.
Whitney, Mrs. Adeline Dutton Train [1824-1903]:
Peace, 547.
Whittaker, Frederick [1838- ]:
Custer's Last Charge, 582.
Whittier, John Greenleaf [1807-1892]:
The Norsemen, 4;
Norembega, 32;
John Underhill, 74;
Cassandra Southwick, 77;
The King's Missive, 80;
St. John, 99;
Pentucket, 105;
Lexington, 153;
The Vow of Washington, 274;
Skipper Ireson's Ride, 283;
Texas, 358;
The Angels of Buena Vista, 366;
The Crisis, 372;
To William Lloyd Garrison, 385;
Clerical Oppressors, 385;
Ichabod, 388;
The Kansas Emigrants, 389;
Burial of Barber, 389;
Le Marais du Cygne, 392;
Brown of Ossawatomie, 396;
Barbara Frietchie, 444;
The Battle Autumn of 1862, 460;
At Port Royal, 461;
To John C. Frémont, 477;
Astræa at the Capitol, 478;
The Proclamation, 480;
Laus Deo, 481;
To the Thirty-Ninth Congress, 559;
The Cable Hymn, 565;
Chicago, 568;
Centennial Hymn, 573;
On the Big Horn, 585;
The Bartholdi Statue, 595.
Williams, Roger [1604?-1683]:
God makes a Path, 72.
Willis, Nathaniel Parker [1806-1867]:
André's Request to Washington, 238;
The Death of Harrison, 353.
Willson, [Byron] Forceythe [1837-1867]:
Boy Brittan, 455.
Wilson, Robert Burns [1850- ]:
Battle Song, 613;
"Cut the Cables," 622.
Wolfe, James [1726-1759]:
How stands the Glass around, 121.
Wood, Alfred D.:
The Fight at Dajo, 645.
Woodberry, George Edward [1855- ]:
Our First Century, 572;
Essex Regiment March, 628;
The Islands of the Sea, 641;
O Land Beloved, 660;
Sonnets written in the Fall of 1914, 661.
Woolson, Constance Fenimore [1840-1894]:
Kentucky Belle, 494.
Wordsworth, William [1770-1850]:
The Pilgrim Fathers, 66.
Work, Henry Clay [1832-1884]:
Marching through Georgia, 513;
The Year of Jubilee, 522.
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
A blush as of roses, 392.
A boy drove into the city, his wagon loaded down, 209.
A cheer and salute for the Admiral, and here's to the Captain bold,
637.
A cliff-locked port and a bluff sea wall, 319.
A cloud possessed the hollow field, 491.
A cycle was closed and rounded, 196.
A flash of light across the night, 517.
A fleet with flags arrayed, 110.
A gallant foeman in the fight, 524.
A grand attempt some Amazonian Dames, 85.
A granite cliff on either shore, 593.
A handful came to Seicheprey, 672.
A hundred thousand Northmen, 419.
A midnight cry appalls the gloom, 334.
A moonless night--a friendly one, 498.
A pillar of fire by night, 513.
A score of years had come and gone, 74.
A song unto Liberty's brave Buccaneer, 222.
A story of Ponce de Leon, 21.
A summer Sunday morning, 424.
A transient city, marvellously fair, 649.
A voice went over the waters, 608.
A Yankee ship and a Yankee crew, 327.
Abraham Lincoln, the Dear President, 539.
Across the Stony Mountains, o'er the desert's drouth and sand, 372.
After the eyes that looked, the lips that spake, 497.
After the war--I hear men ask--what then, 678.
Again Columbia's stripes, unfurl'd, 302.
Again the summer-fevered skies, 503.
Ah, you mistake me, comrades, to think that my heart is steel, 200.
All alone on the hillside, 585.
All day long the guns at the forts, 475.
All day the great guns barked and roared, 213.
All hail! Unfurl the Stripes and Stars, 403.
All night upon the guarded hill, 390.
"All quiet along the Potomac," they say, 433.
All summer long the people knelt, 590.
Aloft upon an old basaltic crag, 379.
Along a river-side, I know not where, 450.
America! dear brother land, 614.
America, my own, 659.
America! thou fractious nation, 138.
An American frigate from Baltimore came, 224.
"An empire to be lost or won," 342.
An eye with the piercing eagle's fire, 560.
"And now," said the Governor, gazing abroad on the piled-up store, 60.
And they have thrust our shattered dead away in foreign graves, 612.
Are these the honors they reserve for me, 17.
"Are you ready, O Virginia," 627.
Arms reversed and banners craped, 511.
Arnold! the name as heretofore, 238.
As billows upon billows roll, 524.
As hang two mighty thunderclouds, 361.
As men who fight for home and child and wife, 198.
As near beauteous Boston lying, 137.
As to kidnap the Congress has long been my aim, 205.
As vonce I valked by a dismal svamp, 401.
At anchor in Hampton Roads we lay, 464.
At Eutaw Springs the valiant died, 255.
At length 'tis done, the glorious conflict's done, 118.
At the door of his hut sat Massasoit, 60.
Avast, honest Jack! now, before you get mellow, 303.
Awake! arise, ye men of might, 363.
Awake! awake! my gallant friends, 339.
Awake, ye nations, slumbering supine, 661.