[This virile cry for a fit leader for the Army of the Potomac was inspired by an editorial article of Henry J. Raymond in the New York Times. It was written in 1862, when the popular feeling of chagrin and humiliation over McClellan's failure and Pope's disaster at Manassas was most intense. Mr. Lincoln was so strongly impressed by the poem that he read it to his Cabinet.-EDITOR.]

ACK from the trebly crimsoned field

BACK from the drebly crunder-tost,

Full of the wrath that will not yield,
Full of revenge for battles lost!
Hark to their echo, as it crost

The Capital, making faces wan:
"End this murderous holocaust;
Abraham Lincoln, give us a MAN!

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anted-A Man

89

"Give us a man of God's own mould,
Born to marshal his fellow-men;
One whose fame is not bought and sold
At the stroke of a politician's pen ;,
Give us the man of thousands ten,
Fit to do as well as to plan;
Give us a rallying-cry, and then,

Abraham Lincoln, give us a MAN!

"No leader to shirk the boasting foe,

And to march and countermarch our brave,
Till they fall like ghosts in the marshes low,
And swamp-grass covers each nameless grave;
Nor another, whose fatal banners wave
Aye in disaster's shameful van ;

Nor another, to bluster, and lie, and rave,—
Abraham Lincoln, give us a MAN!

"Hearts are mourning in the North,
While the sister rivers seek the main,
Red with our life-blood flowing forth—
Who shall gather it up again ?
Though we march to the battle-plain
Firmly as when the strife began,
Shall all our offering be in vain ?—
Abraham Lincoln, give us a MAN!

"Is there never one in all the land,

One on whose might the Cause may lean?

Are all the common ones so grand,
And all the titled ones so mean?
What if your failure may have been

In trying to make good bread from bran, From worthless metal a weapon keen ?— Abraham Lincoln, find us a MAN!

66 Oh, we will follow him to the death,
Where the foeman's fiercest columns are!
Oh, we will use our latest breath,
Cheering for every sacred star!
His to marshal us high and far;
Ours to battle, as patriots can

When a hero leads the Holy War !—

Abraham Lincoln, give us a MAN!"

"WELL, Uncle Sam," says Jefferson D.,

Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam,

"You 'll have to join my Confed'racy," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam.

"Lero, lero, that don't appear O, that don't appear," Says old Uncle Sam,

Lero, lero, fillibustero, that don't appear,"

Says old Uncle Sam.

"So, Uncle Sam, just lay down your arms," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam,

66 Then

you shall hear my reas'nable terms," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam.

"Lero, lero, I'd like to hear O, I'd like to hear,"

Says old Uncle Sam,

"Lero, lero, fillibustero, I 'd like to hear,"

Says old Uncle Sam.

"First, you must own I 've beat you in fight," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam,

"Then, that I always have been in the right," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam.

'Lero, lero, rather severe O, rather severe," Says old Uncle Sam,

"Lero, lero, fillibustero, rather severe," Says old Uncle Sam.

"Then you must pay my national debts," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam,

"No questions asked about my assets," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam.

"Lero, lero, that 's very dear O, that 's very dear," Says old Uncle Sam,

"Lero, lero, fillibustero, that 's very dear,"

Says old Uncle Sam.

66

Also, some few I. O. U.'s and bets,"

Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam,

"Mine and Bob Toombs's and Slidell's and Rhett's," Lillibulero, old Uncle Sam.

"Lero, lero, that leaves me zero, that leaves me zero,"

Says old Uncle Sam,

"Lero, lero, fillibustero, that leaves me zero,"

Says old Uncle Sam.