Our Dead Heroes

By Morton Bryan Wharton, DD (A Private in General Lee’s Army)

The angels above us hover,

And the breezes a requiem sing,

As we meet this day to cover,

Our dead with the flowers of spring.

They were brave, they were true, devoted,

They died for the country’s laws,

And Montgomery will e’er be noted

As the cradle of their cause.

The waves of the Alabama

Will no longer be seen to roll

Ere the men of that mighty drama

Shall fade from memory’s scroll.

The names of Lee and Davis

Shall gild the wings of time,

Their armies and their navies,

Be praised for deeds sublime!

Since then long years have vanished,

Their forms have gone to dust

Their flags have all been banished

Their swords have gone to rust.

But their souls are up in glory.

And now like angels gleam

Last night their mystic story,

Came to me in a dream.