A little book of tribune verse :: :: University of Virginia Library

In August, Nineteen Fifty-two,
A hero old and gray,
Who, years before had worn the blue
In many a gory fray,
Received the homage of his land
For deeds of valor done,
For he remained of all his band,
The last surviving one.

Our children's children's children swept
From hillside and from plain,
And, crowding 'round the old man, wept
To hear him tell again
The stories he so loved to tell—
Of battles lost and won—
How armies rose and cities fell
And great exploits were done.

One arm was lost in Tennessee,
Another in Missouri,
And then a third while fighting Lee
With patriotic fury;
Another still at Corinth went—
What cares he for his arms
While his beloved land was rent
With war and war's alarms.

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One leg in old Kentucky lay—
A second leg lost he
As merrily he limped away
With Sherman to the Sea.
What were two legs for him to lose,
On fields that reeked with gore?
He laughed away his fit of blues,
And lost a dozen more.

Of Richmond and the Wilderness
The hero loved to tell—
Ten thousand battles more or less,
The counterparts of hell;
Of dying men and women's tears,
And graves no one shall know—
Traditions of the dreadful years—
The years of long ago.

Ah! though we now derisive smile,
Our children's children then
Will, wondering, hear his stories while
They bless this best of men;
And when his life at last is o'er
God grant His blessings too—
For he was one of those who wore
The dear, the glorious blue.

July 24th, 1883.