5 
 
 SBSSii 
 
 DO 
 
 r n-i k 
 
 DEATH OK JACKSON, 
 
 H. M. THOJIPSO.N 
 
 
 l 
 
 • 
 
 
 AUGUSTS 
 
 ON Alii 91' stka;m I 
 
 — 
 
 
 fSG^'" - 
 
 
THE DEATH OF JACKSON. 
 
 ' ! 
 H M : in >MP ' ! 
 
 Oh! for the tuneful lyre of him who 
 
 The fallen fortunes of oui baplei I 
 
 Who with the winged Seraph could a 
 
 To Zion's lofty star-bespangled dome. 
 
 And there with pen inspired, record foi to 
 
 The councils of Jehovah and the £ 
 
 Such tribute would I pay to Jackson's nami 
 
 As would befit the ardent, lofty theme. 
 
 T'was Spring time, and on Rappahannock 
 
 Opposing legions with their glittering arm 
 
 Had met to swell the angry tide that flows 
 
 To Lethe's banks from fair Columbia's strand 
 
 Along the Northern shore extended thousand 
 
 Decked in war's panoply and gay attire. 
 
 Befitting liv'ry of a tyrants train. 
 
 Stood like leashed hounds round Freedom*: cOVerl 
 
 No martial ardor there, no battle light 
 
 Shone in the faces of that brutal throng 
 
 But sad and sullen was the hireling mien. 
 
 And mauy a check was blanched with craven feai 
 
 Oft and again they'd quailed before the shock 
 
 ()\ Southern patriots fighting for their soil. 
 
 Once more the palsied slaves were urged to 
 
 H-r-VH&k 
 
/ 
 
 treara, which Freedom's champions guarded ; 
 iy crew from many a shamble./ 
 
 Lured by instinctive 'jifefcandi hopes ol' spoil. 
 
 Column on column puss, the rivers bank. 
 \iul on the spanning pontoon roll along 
 
 The black mouthed engines of revolting war. 
 
 Caisson on caisson bears its sulphurous load 
 
 While high above the rattling din is heard 
 
 The neigh of maddened steed, the driver's shout. 
 
 The wild and reckless imprecation of 
 
 The heaven-doomed, heaven defying race. 
 
 But hark! didst hear that sound of muttered thunder? 
 Tvvas but the echo of our coursers' tramp 
 Upon the frail and sounding bridge,' says one. 
 ( )r at the most, the clouds look angry, and 
 The passing storm will soon retire abashed 
 Before the deafening roar of Northern wrath. 
 All, vain young man !' an aged soldier said, 
 { lad'st thou with me beheld this gloomy stream 
 A few short months ago, dyed with the blood 
 Of friend and brother struggling in its tide. 
 [lad'st thou beheld that mighty held of carnage. 
 Around fair Kichmond's oft beleaguered walls. 
 Too well thou'dst know the import: of that soufl'd, 
 Whose dull refrain mayhap ere evening full. 
 Will ring thy death knell in still louder tones.' 
 Nearer and nearer still rages the strife ; 
 Now on the right the rifle lends its din 
 To the loud camion's guttural chorus ; 
 Wave upou wave of banded warriors, 
 Dimly. as yet through war's grand canopy, 
 Surmount the summit of yon distant knoll. 
 Where every engine of destructive force 
 
3 
 
 Pours forth :i torrent ol defiant "wrath. 
 ]fow gaunt mid grim these gallant mi 
 Xo gaudy trappings mark the musketeer, 
 Who in the court of kings on marble stalfo 
 
 If is measured stalely course of pride. 
 
 And to the passing- maid or matron gravi 
 
 peers irTsolently his amorous consequent 
 
 Way-worn and haggard, stained with battli 
 
 The gallant garb 6f grey besoilcd and old 
 
 Still marks the cause the wearer tovi 
 
 Through many rt rent the piercing night wind 
 
 Chilly and damp invade- the soldier's limb'- 
 
 Ah! who can tell how many briny tear 
 
 Plowed from the eyes of far off loved on 
 
 As the busy needle plied its task oi lote 
 
 And fair hands labored on the soldier's garb 
 
 Homely it, is, lmt ne'er a belted knight 
 
 Wore on his coat of mail a pledge moo ,; 
 
 In scarf or gauntlet of some courtly dame 
 
 These ;ire yo«r soldier.'. Ye Confederate Powei i ! 
 
 Whose martial fame lias dirrtm'd the Bourbon Hi v 
 
 Mounted on high above the far tamed I 
 
 Which imperial Franec carried aloft 
 
 O'er conquered nations humbled in tin 
 
 Ta 'en from the Kov ni ftnglafld's pride and e 
 
 The dewy fresllliess Of ils pa t renown, 
 
 And taught, the world when 'iod defend 
 
 Me arms the feeble with- a giant's might 
 
 Hie struggle's past the bristlin; 
 
 Xow down the slope the broken routi d 
 
 In hideous ruin rushes Iowa id H 
 
 While tearing through hi I 
 
 The anffry missiles cui ?av 
 
 d\d.iiCL9. 
 
Cheer upon cheer now rends the vaulted air, 
 And ' Stonewall conies !' is heard along the line. 
 And ' Stonewall conies !' is borne upon the breeze ; 
 While from the gory field midst death and pain, 
 The wounded soldier lifts Ins pallid brow 
 And, to the joyful strain, responsive cries, 
 k Our Stonewall comes!' and yields his latest breath 
 Xow sinks the warrior on the hard won field, 
 And midst the dire companionship of death, 
 Where friend and foe in mangled heaps are blent, 
 He woos the soft and balm^ hand of sleep ; 
 While round the bivouac the nightly guards 
 In many a circle count their hair-breadth 'scapes ; 
 Or scan the morrow with prophetic eye. 
 Far to the front the watchful chief repairs, 
 Where the flushed brow of battle still denotes 
 The sullen vengeance of the baffled foe. 
 Pensive and slow the patriot warrior rides 
 Amid the lire of still contending lines ; 
 Where from his covert peeps the stealthy scout. 
 Or watchful picket scans the skulking foe. 
 To-morrow's sun will see again renewed 
 The horrid harrowing carnival of death. 
 Sadly he views the wide ensanguined field 
 While deep emotion rends his manly breast, 
 And thus he breathes to Heaven this secret prayer 
 
 • God of Sabbaoth ! let this warfare end. 
 
 ' The sword again into the ploughshare turn, 
 
 ' And let the Prince of Peace once more dethrone 
 
 ' Usurping Moloch, rampant in the land. 
 
 • How long, oh Lord ! shall war's imperious law 
 ' Forbid th' observance of thy holy day. 
 
 ' And impious fury, rapine and revenge 
 
£9 and ilio s 
 
 1 Choke human progress and the spread of grace. 
 ■Oli! once again delight thy servant's car 
 
 • With the sweet music of the Sabbath bell. 
 •Most awful thought ! to-morrow's dawning raj 
 
 • Which saw the Son from Death and Nell an 
 
 • With Sin in captive chains triumphant led, 
 
 ■ Shall see his creatures, ransomed with his blood 
 
 • Deface the image which the Father gave. 
 
 • Father of mercies ! spare the chastening rod 
 
 • For him who died, for him who pleads above 
 Thus the christian soldier, and the face 
 
 Of inward joy and love devinc now wear: 
 The sharp quick papg of nature's agony ; 
 Unto his nearest aid, he faintly says, 
 
 • My friend, I'm wounded, help me to dismount 
 Slowly they bear their well loved fallen chic! 
 From his last Held of never dying fame 
 
 All :ut is vain. The dying hero bow 
 
 With meek submission to his Maker's will-- 
 
 Breathes forlh a prayer and heaves his lale-1 -i-Th 
 
 Mow ripe in glory! yet how green in years ! 
 
 The rich, luxuriant fruit our country bore ; 
 
 Time's envious hand, alas ! has plucked too -. ,i. 
 
 And garnered in the storehouse o| our grief. 
 
 Ah ! hoard ye the wail throughout yon bannered lipat 
 
 So late triumphant o'er their country's foe 
 
 Xo pcean sounds with spirit-stirring note 
 
 IV) nerve the warrior for the deadly bay. 
 
 Hut sad and solemn Ix.tt- the muillcd drum 
 
 Tin' gjOQfUY legions fi)e, with downeasl eye 
 
 Before the marble form in>w cold in death, 
 
 Whose clarion voice, amidst the shod; ot wai 
 
 Swelled Southern hearts to deeds ot high reuowu. 
 
6 
 
 And, with the force of the magician's spell. 
 Congealed with terror cv'ry Northern foe. 
 •Is .taekson dead?' the Southern mother said, 
 And to her heart more closely clasped her child ; 
 
 • Is Jackson gone? Oh God ! it cannot be 
 
 • Our country's stay thus numbered with the dead 
 In many a household through the Sunny South 
 
 Is heard the bitter sob— the cry of grief. 
 
 The earnest sn^lication for support 
 
 From Him who gives, from ITim who take?' away 
 
 The costly mausoleum may ascend 
 
 With stately pomp in many lettered praise, * • 
 
 The monumental brass, th' impassive marble 
 
 And the plastic mold, may each in turn 
 
 Its silent tribute pay to him that's gone. 
 
 These too, with servile adulation, have 
 
 A tyrant's praises blazoned to the world, 
 
 And oft have lent their meretricious aid 
 
 To snatch the fawning, pliant courtier's name 
 
 From dark oblivion's unrelenting hand. 
 
 The title of Time may backward roll its waves 
 
 Defacing every foot-print of our race, 
 
 Until the refluent billow is received 
 
 In that dark gulf — primeval chaos. 
 
 From whose vasty depths creative power 
 
 Brought forth a world of teeming, living things; 
 
 But while a leaf of human record stands, 
 
 And virtue claims the tribute of a tear. 
 
 Amidst the wreck of Empires and of States, 
 
 Great Jackson's fame shall still unceasing glow. 
 
 In bright refulgence, to its noon-tide blaze. 
 
 Let every mother in our sunny land. 
 
 Before the entrance of the household porch, 
 
7 
 
 With careful hand, the gloomy cldar plant 
 And when in after years; with curious eye. 
 The now unconscious bate shall wondering look 
 ETpou its dark umbrageous foliage, 
 And ask the grey-haired sire with lisping tongue 
 Why, like grim sentinel, it sadly tfandg 
 As if to guard the entrance to his home. 
 Tell him it wears the livery of the day 
 Its tender roots were planted in the soil. 
 It marks the year of mighty Jackson's fall. 
 Who backward drove the surging tide of wai 
 And from the ruthless hand ol vandal foe 
 Rescued the home that guards his tender yeai 
 Teach him the virtues ol that -.vat. good man. 
 His &eIf-devotton to his country's cau 
 And from the lesson inspiration draw 
 O'f Virtue. Honor, Piety and Truth 
 
 Shiloh Academy, 
 
 Barnwell District, So Ca 
 
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