Richmond and Sharpsburgh thundered by, That gave him to the angel host, We mourn for him, who died for us, While up the Valley of the Lord Brothers! the midnight of the cause And guards the camp to-night! Jackson. Nor 'mid the lightning of the stormy fight, His warrior soul its earthly shackles broke Though his alone the blood that flecks the ground, He entered not the Nation's Promised Land, O gracious God! not gainless is the loss: To the Exchanged Prisoners. THE anchors are weighed, and the gates of your prison Fall wide, as your ship gives her prow to the foam, And a few hurried hours shall return you exulting, Where the flag you have fought for floats over your home. God send that not long may its folds be uplifted O'er fields dark and sad with the trail of the fight God give it the triumph He always hath given, But if peace may not yet wreath your homes with her olive, And new victims are still round the altar to bleed, God shield you amid the red bolts of the battle! God give you stout hearts for high thought and brave deed! No need we should bid you go strike for your freedom You have stricken, like men, for its blessings. before, And your homes and your loved ones, your wrongs and your manhood, Will nerve you to fight the good fight o'er and o'er ! But will you not think, as you wave your glad ban ners, How the flag of old Maryland, trodden in shame, Lies sullied and torn in the dust of her highwaysAnd will you not strike a fresh blow in her name? Her mothers have sent their first-born to be with you, Wherever with blood there are fields to be wonHer daughters have wept for you, clad you and nursed you Their vows and their hopes and their smiles are your own. Let her cause be your cause, and whenever the war-cry Bids you rush to the field, oh! remember her too— And when freedom and peace shall be blended in glory, Oh! count it your shame if she be not with you. And if in the hour when pride, honor, and duty, Shall stir every throb in the hearts of brave men, The wrongs of the helpless can quicken such pulses, Let the captives at Warren give flame to them then. |