 | War poets of the South and Confederate camp-fire songs. |  |
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HENRY L. FLASH.
Was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1835. Educated at the
Western Military Institute, in Kentucky, and subsequently
settled in Mobile, Ala. Served in the Confederate Army, and
during the closing year of the war became editor of the Macon,
Ga., Daily Confederacy. After the war he resided in New
Orleans and in Galveston, and is now living in Los Angeles, Cal.
A volume of his miscellaneous poems was published in 1860.
ZOLLICOFFER.
First in the fight, and first in the arms
Of the white-winged angels of glory,
With the heart of the South at the feet of God,
And his wounds to tell the story.
Of the white-winged angels of glory,
With the heart of the South at the feet of God,
And his wounds to tell the story.
And the blood that flowed from his hero-heart
On the spot where he nobly perished,
Was drunk by the earth as a sacrament
In the holy cause he cherished.
On the spot where he nobly perished,
Was drunk by the earth as a sacrament
In the holy cause he cherished.
In Heaven a home with the brave and blessed,
And, for his soul's sustaining,
The apocalyptic eyes of Christ—
And nothing on earth remaining,
And, for his soul's sustaining,
The apocalyptic eyes of Christ—
And nothing on earth remaining,
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But a handful of dust in the land of his choice,
A name in song and story,
And Fame to shout with her brazen voice:
"Died on the field of glory!"
A name in song and story,
And Fame to shout with her brazen voice:
"Died on the field of glory!"
JACKSON.
Not 'midst the lightnings of the stormy fight,
Nor in a rush upon the vandal foe,
Did kingly death, with his resistless might,
Lay the great leader low.
Nor in a rush upon the vandal foe,
Did kingly death, with his resistless might,
Lay the great leader low.
His warrior soul its earthly shackles broke,
In the full sunshine of a peaceful town;
When all the storm was hushed, the trusty oak
That propped our cause went down.
In the full sunshine of a peaceful town;
When all the storm was hushed, the trusty oak
That propped our cause went down.
Though his alone the blood that flecks the ground,
Recalling all his grand heroic deeds,
Freedom herself is writhing with the wound,
And all the country bleeds.
Recalling all his grand heroic deeds,
Freedom herself is writhing with the wound,
And all the country bleeds.
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He entered not the nation's promised land,
At the red belching of the cannon's mouth,
But broke the house of bondage with his hand—
The Moses of the South!
At the red belching of the cannon's mouth,
But broke the house of bondage with his hand—
The Moses of the South!
O gracious God! not gainless in the loss,
A glorious sunbeam gilds the sternest frown;
And while his country staggers with the cross,
He rises with the crown!
A glorious sunbeam gilds the sternest frown;
And while his country staggers with the cross,
He rises with the crown!
POLK.
A flash from the edge of a hostile trench,
A puff of smoke, a roar,
Whose echo shall roar from Kennesaw hills,
To the farthermost Christian shore,
Proclaim to the world that the warrior-priest
Will battle for right no more;
A puff of smoke, a roar,
Whose echo shall roar from Kennesaw hills,
To the farthermost Christian shore,
Proclaim to the world that the warrior-priest
Will battle for right no more;
And that for a cause which is sanctified
By the blood of martyrs unknown—
A cause for which they gave their lives,
By the blood of martyrs unknown—
A cause for which they gave their lives,
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And for which he gave his own—
He kneels, a weak ambassador,
At the foot of the Father's throne;
He kneels, a weak ambassador,
At the foot of the Father's throne;
And up to the courts of another world,
That angels alone have trod,
He lives away from the din and strife
Of this blood-besprinkled sod—
Crowned with the amarinthine wreath
That is worn by the blest of God.
That angels alone have trod,
He lives away from the din and strife
Of this blood-besprinkled sod—
Crowned with the amarinthine wreath
That is worn by the blest of God.
| War poets of the South and Confederate camp-fire songs. | |