The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
While dread Columbia urg'd the work of death,
The foe with palpitations pass'd the heath:
The squadron'd steeds that headlong sought the strand,
Successive fail'd and bit the gory sand—
The foot battalions, wedg'd in firm array,
Indissoluble long, pursued their way:
But nought that day great Washington withstood,
Who sway'd the battle where he rode in blood.
As when th' Almighty's messenger of wrath,
Rides in the whirlwind's desolating path,
Such flames convulsive shoots his wrathful eye,
Th' uprooted groves one broad red ruin lie;
The mountains tremble—so our hero's form
Wing'd in his crimson way the battle storm;
Such prowess shedding through his new-rais'd host,
As not the foe's long discipline could boast.
The foe with palpitations pass'd the heath:
The squadron'd steeds that headlong sought the strand,
Successive fail'd and bit the gory sand—
The foot battalions, wedg'd in firm array,
Indissoluble long, pursued their way:
But nought that day great Washington withstood,
Who sway'd the battle where he rode in blood.
As when th' Almighty's messenger of wrath,
Rides in the whirlwind's desolating path,
Such flames convulsive shoots his wrathful eye,
Th' uprooted groves one broad red ruin lie;
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Wing'd in his crimson way the battle storm;
Such prowess shedding through his new-rais'd host,
As not the foe's long discipline could boast.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |