 | War poets of the South and Confederate camp-fire songs. |  |
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!
| War poets of the South and Confederate camp-fire songs. | |