CONCORD HYMN
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world,
The foe long since in silence slept,
Alike the Conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone,
That memory may their deed redeem,
When like our sires our sons are gone.
Spirit! who made those freemen dare
To die, or leave their children free,
Bid time and nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and Thee.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, 1837
THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON
AUGUST 16, 1777
I see that August ,morning now before me as
I tell
The story of the stirring scenes which I remember
well---
The battle-day of Bennington, and what thereon
befell---
Yes! we were in the stubble where the hands
had gone at dawn,
When riding swiftly down the road, his dappled
gray upon,
Whose flanks were marked with blood and foam,
I saw my brother, John.
His face was bight, his eyes alight, his bearing
proud and high---
"Ho! wither do you speed so fast? Why do you
hurry by,
While friends are eager for the news, John
Manchester? said I.
"To fight!" he cried; "who stays at home upon
this August day,
Now Stark has come to Bennington, to lead
us in the fray,
Where we may smite these Hessian wolves who
babes and women slay?
Let baser men remain at toil, as such have
done before,
Let women spin and children play before the
farm-house door;
But till these knaves are driven hence, I
till the ground no more.
Come you, and join me in the strife hat Lexington
began;
And as the foe comes down to us, and dares
us man to man,
Let you and I acquit ourselves as stout Vermonters
can."
The words he uttered on our heart fell fast
in fiery rain;
The blood in wilder current coursed through
artery and vein;
An impulse there to do and dare went swiftly
through each brain.
Our sight and hearing keener grew before his
voice's tone---
We saw the cottage roof aflame, the corn-crib
overthrown;
We heard the widow's woeful wail, the famished
orphan's moan.
We thrilled from heart to finger-tip; the
very air grew red;
And casting by the tools of toil, off to the
house we sped,
To wipe the chambers of our guns, and mould
the deadly lead.
My mother met me at the door---"James, stay
at home!" said she;
"If you, my youngest born, should fall, what
would become of me?
And then, a boy in such a fight of little
use can be---"
With that she raised her hand to brush away
an oozing tear,
And added---"It was but in June you reached
your sixteenth year;
So, while your brother is away, remain to
guard us here.
These Hessians whom the King has sent, a hireling
war to wage.
On children as on bearded men, are ruthless
in their rage;
Then go not hence to fall in fight, child
of your mother's age."
"Fear not for me," I answered her; "the Hessians
I defy;
In years a boy, I know, but then a man in
heart am I;
My country needs me in the fight---I can not
moe than die.
I come of Abner Manchester, who never knew
a fear;
And though as much as any one I hold my mother
dear,
I may not on this day of days remain a laggard
here.
To herd with the women while the fight for
freedom is unwon,
While he has sight to mark the foe and strength
to bear a gun,
Suits not a stout Green Mountain Boy, nor
yet my father's son."
"If you will leave me here alone, so be it!"
she replied;
"But take your firelock from the hooks---it
was your father's pride---
He bore it well against the French, nine years
before he died---"
As thus she spoke my mother's voice grew tremulous
in tone---
"And when you use it, lest your foe in lingering
anguish moan,
Sight at a point two fingers' length beneath
the collar-bone.
Now, go! my heart, as thus we part, thrills
with a mother's pain;
To save you from a single pang, its latest
drop I'd drain;
But---show the courage of your sire, or come
not here again!"
We started, six of us in all; we made to camp
our way,
And found the forces drawn in line, at two
o'clock that day,
In front of where on Walloomscoick, intrenched
the foeman lay,
Bold Stark rode slowly down the ranks, with
proud, uncovered head---
So quiet we that on the turf we heard his
horse's tread---
And at the centre drew his rein, and these
the words he said---
"Boys! yonder are the red-coat troops, and,
mark me very one,
We win this fight for truth and right, before
the day be done,
Or Molly Stark's a widow at the setting of
the sun!"
Loud rang the cheering in reply, but through
the ranks there ran
A murmur, for they felt it long until the
fight began,
Although they knew the tardiness was from
a well-formed plan.
For in their hurried council there our leaders
planned the fight,
That Herrick with three hundred men should
march upon their right,
And Nichols on the left with more spared from
our scanty might,
To join their forces in the rear, and here
assault begin,
While we upon their front advanced at signal
of the din;
And then let loose who dealt their blows with
fiercest vigor win.
Our forces stood without a stir, in silence
grim and dark,
While like a statue on his steed so motionless
sat Stark,
When suddenly, with finger raised, the General
whispered---"Hark!"
WE stood silent as the grave, and as we bent
to hear,
Above the silence far away there came a lusty
cheer;
Some shots were fired---we knew our friends
had joined upon their rear---
"Now, hearts so warm move like the storm!"
said Stark, and led the way;
"Green Mountain Boys, acquit yourselves like
mettled men to-day!
Take careful aim, and waste no lead! the wolves
are brought to bay!"
Then came the crash of musketry, loud pealing
on my ear;
I heard a whizzing sound go past---down fell
a comrade near---
There was a throbbing in my breast that seemed
almost like fear---
A shock, to see a stout young man, in all
his youth and pride,
One who had left the day before a fond and
blooming bride,
Thus done to death, the scarlet blood slow
trickling from his side;
And doubly strange that fearful sight to one
who ne-er before,
Amid the shouting of the hosts, and the cannon's
deadly roar,
Had seen a fellow-mortal lie thus lifeless
in his gore.
But rage supplanted this at once---my heart
grew strong again;
Uprose grim wrath and bitter hate, and bitterer
disdain.
I longed to add a leaden drop unto that whizzing
rain---
The tenderness of youth I found forevermore
had gone.
My cheek was leaned upon my gun, the sight
was finely drawn
Upon a gold-laced officer who cheered the
Hessians on;
And, trembling in my eagerness to strike for
home a blow,
I sent the lead, as mother said, two finger-lengths
below
The ridge that marked the collar-bone, and
laughed when fell the foe.
There comes a pause within the fight---we see
some horsemen group,
And on the breast-work ridge take line, a
dark and threatening troop---
Compact they form, with sabres drawn, upon
our force to swoop.
Oh, now we smile a grimly smile, and wrath
our bosom stirs;
We newly load and careful prime our firelocks
for the curs---
For well we know their uniform, those Brunswicker
chasseurs!
They come at last whose doom was past, long,
weary months before---
They come to meet the death that we to deal
upon them swore,
When first the bearded robbers came for plunder
to our shore.
They come, the mercenary dog, assassins of
the crown;
Right gracefully and gallantly they set their
horses brown,
Then rowel-deep they drive their spurs, and
thunder madly down.
But as the ground is shaking round before
their horses' tread,
A sheet of fire their sabres lights, high
waving overhead,
And of the hundred men who charge full forty-eight
lie dead.
Those who survive in vain they strive; they
may not fight nor run---
We pass them quickly to the rear, our captives
every one.
And so we serve the Brunswicker that day at
Bennington.
Then where their remnant lay at bay, our angry
torrent rolled---
As when a dam gives way and leaves the waters
uncontrolled---
Sweeping to break the square of steel in centre
of their hold.
No peal of trump nor tap of drum our eager
footsteps timed;
With firelocks clubbed or knife in hand, our
faces powder-grimed,
Fatigue unfelt and fear unknown, the ridge
of earth we climbed;
Down from its crest we fearless plunged amid
the smoke clouds dun,
But struck no blow upon the foe---resistance
there was none---
Down fell their arms, uprose the white, and
Bennington was won.
Then greeted we surviving friends, and mourned
for those who fell,
And, leaning on our firelocks, heard the tales
that soldiers tell
How comrades whom they little knew had done
their duty well,
And how amid the hosts in fight no coward
had been found;
Then gazed upon the foemen slain that lay
in heaps around,
And said in bitter hate and scorn they well
became the ground---
So evermore by sea and shore might those invaders
be,
Who came with chains for limbs of men who
by their birth were free---
A pang shot sharply through my brain---my
brother! where was he?
I sought and found him with the blood slow
oozing from his brain;
His feet were pointed to the ridge, his back
was to the plain,
And round him in a curving row a dozen Hessians
slain.
How well his sword had mown was shown in gazing
at the heap---
Strown like a swathe of grass before some
lusty mower's sweep---
Of those whose souls had fled their forms
through bloody wounds and deep.
I placed his corse upon his horse, and gently
homeward led
The wearied steed that ne-er before was ridden
by the dead;
And we buried the corse in the meadow with
a white stone at its head.
THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, AUGUST 1860
FAMOUS
AMERICANS THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH
THOMAS
DUNN ENGLISH
THE BATTLE OF THE COWPENS
JANUARY 18, 1781
To the Cowpens riding proudly, boasting loudly,
rebels scorning,
Tarleton hurried, hot and eager for the fight;
From the Cowpens, sore-confounded, on that
January morning,
Tarleton hurried somewhat faster, fain to
save himself by flight.
In the morn he scorned us rarely, but he fairly
found his error,
When his force was made our ready blows to
feel;
When his horsemen and his footmen fled in
wild and pallid terror
At leaping of our bullets and the sweeping
of our steel.
All the day before we fled them, and we led
them to pursue us,
Then at night on Thicketty Mountain made our
camp;
There we lay upon our rifles, slumber quickly
coming to us,
Spite the crackling of our-fires, and our
sentries' heavy tramp.
Morning on the mountain border ranged in order
found our forces,
Ere our scouts announced the coming of the
foe;
While the hoar-frost lying near us, and the
distant water-courses,
Gleamed like silver in the sunlight, seemed
like silver in their glow.
Morgan ranged us there to meet them, and to
greet them with such favor
That they scarce would care to follow us again;
In the rear, the Continentals---none were
readier nor braver;
In the van, with ready rifles, steady, stern.
our mountain men.
Washington, our trooper peerless, gay and fearless,
with his forces
Waiting panther-like upon the foe to fall,
Formed upon the slope behind us, where, on
raw-boned country horses,
Sat the sudden-summoned levies brought from
Georgia by M'Call.
Soon we heard a distant drumming, nearer coming,
slow advancing---
It was then upon the very nick of time---
Soon upon the road from Spartanburg we saw
their bayonets glancing,
And the morning sunlight playing on their
scarlet line.
In the distance seen so dimly, they looked
grimly---coming nearer
There was naught about them fearful after
all,
Until some one near me spoke in voice than
falling water clearer---
"Tarleton's quarter is the sword-blade---Tarleton's
mercy is the ball."
Then the memory came unto me, heavy, gloomy,
of my brother
Who was slain while asking quarter at their
hand;
Of that morning when was driven forth my sister
and my mother
From our cabin in the valley by the spoilers
of the land.
I remembered of my brother slain, my mother
spurned and beaten,
Of my sister in her beauty brought to shame;
Of the wretches' jeers and laughter, as from
mud-sill up to rafter,
Of the stripped and plundered cabin leapt
the fierce, consuming flame.
But that memory had no power there in that
hour there to depress me---
No! it stirred within my spirit fiercer ire;
And I gripped my sword-hilt firmer, and my
arm and heart grew stronger;
And I longed to meet the wronger on the sea
of steel and fire.
On they came, our might disdaining, when the
raining bullets leaden
Pattered fast from scattered rifles on each
wing;
Here and there went down a foeman, and the
ground began to redden;
And they drew them back a moment, like the
tiger ere his spring.
Then said Morgan, "Ball and powder kill much
prouder men than George's---
On your rifles and a careful aim rely;
They were trained in many battles---we in
work-shops, fields, and forges;
But we have our homes to fight for, and we
do not fear to die."
Though our leader's words we cheered not, yet
we feared not---we awaited,
Strong of heart, the threatened onset, and
it came:
Up the sloping hill-side swiftly rushed the
foe so fiercely hated;
On they came with gleaming bayonet, mid the
cannons' smoke and flame.
At their head rode Tarleton proudly---ringing
loudly o'er the yelling
Of his men we heard his voice's brazen tone---
With his dark eyes flashing fiercely, and
his sombre features telling
In their look he pride that filled him as
the champion of the throne.
On they pressed, when sudden flashing, ringing,
crashing, came the firing
Of our forward line upon their close-set ranks;
Then at coming of their steel, which moved
with steadiness untiring,
Fled our mountaineers, re-forming in good
order on our flanks.
Then the combat's ranging anger, din, and clangor,
round and o'er us
Filled the forest, stirred the air and shook
the ground;
Charged with thunder-tramp the horsemen, while
their sabres shone before us,
Gleaming lightly, streaming brightly through
the smoky cloud around.
Through the pines and oaks resounding, madly
bounding from the mountain,
Leapt the rattle of the battle and the roar;
Fierce the hand-to-hand engaging, and the
human freshet raging
Of the surging current urging past a dark
and bloody shore.
Soon the course of fight was altered; soon
they faltered at the leaden
Storm that smote them; and we saw their centre
swerve;
Tarleton's eye flashed fierce in anger; tarleton's
face began to redden;
Tarleton gave the closing order---"Bring to
action the reserve!"
Up the slope his legion thundered, full three
hundred; fiercely spurring,
Cheering lustily, they fell upon our flanks;
And their worn and wearied comrades, at the
sound so spirit-stirring,
Felt a thrill of hope and courage pass along
their shattered ranks.
By the wind the smoke-cloud lifted lightly
drifted to the nor'ward,
And displayed in all their pride the scarlet
foe;
We beheld them, with a steady tramp and fearless
moving forward,
With their banners proudly waving, and their
bayonets leveled low.
Morgan gave his order clearly---"Fall back
nearly to the border
Of the hill, and let the enemy come nigher!"
Oh! they thought we had retreated, and they
charged in fierce disorder,
When out rang the voice of Howard---"To the
right about face! Fire!"
Then upon our very wheeling came the pealing
of our volley,
And our balls made red a pathway down the
hill;
Broke the foe and shrank and cowered; rang
again the voice of Howard---
"Give the hireling dogs the bayonet!"---and
we did it with a will.
In the meanwhile one red-coated troop, unnoted,
riding faster
Than their comrades on our rear in fury bore;
But the light-horse led by washington soon
brought it to disaster,
For they shattered it and scattered it, and
smote it fast and sore.
Like a herd of startled cattle from the battlefield
we drove them;
In disorder down the Mill-gap road they fled;
Tarleton led them in the racing, fast he fled
before our chasing,
And he stopped not for the dying, and he staid
not for the dead.
Down the Mill-gap road they scurried and they
hurried with such fleetness---
We had never seen such running in our lives!
Ran they swifter than if seeking homes to
taste domestic sweetness,
Having many years been parted from their children
and their wives.
Ah! for some, no wife to meet them, child to
greet them, friend to shield them!
To their home o'er ocean never sailing back;
After them the red avengers, bitter hate for
death had sealed them,
Yelped the dark and red-eyed sleuth-hound
unrelenting on their track.
In their midst I saw one trooper, and around
his waist I noted
Tied a simple silken scarf of blue and white;
When my vision grasped it clearly to my hatred
I devoted
Him, from all the hireling wretches who were
mingled in the fight.
For that token in the summer had been from
our cabin taken
By the robber-bands of wrongers of my kin;
"Twas my sister's---for the moment things
around me were forsaken---
I was blind to fleeing foremen, I was deaf
to battle's din.
Olden comrades round me lying dead or dying
were un heeded---
Vain to me they looked for succor in their
need;
O'er the corses of the soldiers, through the
gory pools I speeded,
Driving rowel-deep my spurs within my madly-bounding
steed.
As I came he turned, and staring at my glaring
eyes he shivered;
Pallid fear went quickly o'er his features
grim;
As he grasped his sword in terror, every nerve
within him quivered---
For his guilty spirit told him why I solely
sought for him.
Though the stroke I dealt he parried, onward
carried, down I bore him---
Horse and rider---down together the twain:
"Quarter!"---He! that scarf had doomed him!
stood a son and brother o'r him---
Down through plume and brass and leather went
my sabre to the brain---
Never music like that crashing through the
skull-bone to the brain.
THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, JANUARY 1861
FAMOUS
AMERICANS THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH
THOMAS
DUNN ENGLISH
