Part 12
The battle of Chickamauga (Tennessee) was fought on the 19th and 20th of September, 1863. General George Henry Thomas, “the rock of Chickamauga,” who saved the day for the Federal forces, and made the Confederate victory a barren one, was a Virginian by birth (1816). He served in Florida and Mexico. It was he who was in command at Mission Ridge, and who overthrew the last Confederate army in the southwest. He was also in the Atlanta campaign. It has been said of him that he was the beau-ideal of a soldier and a gentleman. Among Federal generals he ranks after Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. He was in command of the military division of the Pacific when he died at San Francisco, March 28, 1870. The sobriquet “Pap” was spontaneously given Thomas by the soldiers of his command on account of the fatherly interest he took in them.
=l. 5.= =Hooker= (Joseph, 1814-1879), a distinguished Union general, who was nicknamed “Fighting Joe” by the soldiers for his courage under fire. He participated in some of the most important battles of the Rebellion, and was at one time in command of the Army of the Potomac.
=l. 33.= =Bragg= (Braxton, 1817-1876), a well-known rebel general who was in command of the Confederate forces at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga.
=l. 42.= =Steedman= (James Barrett, 1818-1883), a Pennsylvanian who was public printer at Washington during Buchanan’s administration. He was in command of the first division of the reserve corps of the Army of the Cumberland at Chickamauga, and reënforced Thomas at the most critical moment in the battle.
38. THE SMALLEST OF THE DRUMS. By James Buckham.
James Buckham, a well-known contributor to the periodicals of the day, was born in Burlington, Vermont, November 25, 1858.
The author states that this poem was suggested by a newspaper paragraph.
=Stanza 3.= =Sherman= (William Tecumseh), the eighteenth general-in-chief of the United States army, famous for his “march to the sea,” was born in Lancaster, Ohio, February 8, 1820. He was Grant’s most efficient assistant at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga. He visited Europe in 1872, and was everywhere received with distinguished honor. In 1874 he retired from the command of the army to make room for Sheridan. He died in New York City, February 14, 1891. See “Sherman, an Horatian Ode,” by Louise Imogen Guiney (“A Roadside Harp”), and “General Sherman,” by H. C. Bunner (Complete Poems).
=Stanza 4.= =Chickamauga.= See “Thomas at Chickamauga.”
39. LITTLE GIFFEN. By Francis Orrery Ticknor.
Francis Orrery Ticknor, a physician, and the author of several lyrics of the Civil War very popular in the South, was a native of Georgia, and died near Columbus, in that State, in 1874. A posthumous volume of his poems was issued in 1879, with an introduction by Paul H. Hayne.
The hero of this poem was Isaac Giffen, a native of the mountainous region of East Tennessee. He had been terribly wounded at Murfreesboro, and was taken by Dr. Ticknor and his wife into their own home. He fell in one of the battles before Atlanta.
=Stanza 5.= “Johnson pressed at the front, they say.” Probably General Joseph Eggleston Johnston, is meant.
40. ULRIC DAHLGREN. By Kate Brownlee Sherwood.
Kate Brownlee Sherwood. See note on “Thomas at Chickamauga.”
Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, the son of Admiral Dahlgren, distinguished himself while serving upon the staffs of General Hooker, General Sigel, and General Meade, lost a leg at Gettysburg, and while on crutches led an expedition to free the Union prisoners in Libby prison at Richmond, during which he was ambushed and slain, on the night of March 2, 1864. He was twenty-two years of age.
41. FARRAGUT. By William Tuckey Meredith.
William Tuckey Meredith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1839. He served with Farragut at the battle of Mobile Bay, and was afterward the admiral’s secretary. He subsequently became a banker in New York City.
The battle of Mobile Bay was fought August 5, 1864. See “Craven,” below.
=Farragut.= See note on “The River Fight.”
=Stanza 2.= =Morgan=, a Confederate fort.
42. LEE TO THE REAR. By John Randolph Thompson.
John Randolph Thompson, journalist and poet, was born in Richmond, Virginia, October 23, 1823. He abandoned the law to devote himself to literature, and for a dozen years successfully edited the _Southern Literary Messenger_. After the Civil War he was for a time literary editor of the New York _Evening Post_. He died in New York City, April 30, 1873.
The incident described in the poem is authentic. For LEE, See “Barbara Frietchie.”
=Stanza 1.= THE WILDERNESS is a region a few miles south of the Rapidan river, in Virginia, memorable for the dreadful battle fought there between the Federal army under Grant and the Confederate forces under Lee on the 5th and 6th of May, 1864.
=Mendelssohn=, the famous German composer, 1809-1847.
=Stanza 4.= =Grant= (Ulysses Simpson, 1822-1885), the eighteenth president of the United States, and the most distinguished Federal general in the War of the Rebellion. Grant’s most celebrated battles were Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and the conflicts in the Wilderness and before Richmond, which culminated in the surrender of Lee. See “Grant,” by H. C. Bunner (Complete Poems); “On the Death of an Invincible Soldier,” by E. C. Stedman (“Poems Now First Collected”); and “Great Captain, Glorious in Our Wars,” by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (Complete Poems).
43. CRAVEN. By Henry Newbolt.
Henry Newbolt, an English lawyer and poet, was born in Bilston, England, June 6, 1862. His best work is to be found in the volume entitled “Admirals All.”
=Craven= (Tunis Augustus Macdonough), the “Sidney of the American navy,” was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in January, 1813. He entered the navy at sixteen, and was a commander at the opening of the Civil War. As captain of the monitor _Tecumseh_, which had been given the post of honor, and was leading the fleet, he met his death in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864.
=Stanza 8.= =Sidney= (Sir Philip, poet, soldier, and statesman. 1554-1586.) The reference is to the well-known story of Sidney’s refusing a cup of water, when lying mortally wounded on the battle-field of Zutphen, in order to give it to a wounded soldier.
=Nelson.= See “Fight of the _Armstrong_ Privateer.” The reference here is to the battle of the Nile, where Nelson was severely wounded.
=Lucas=, a young English captain, who was captured and imprisoned by an Indian despot (Hyder Ali,) during the campaign of 1780. To relieve Captain Baird, a severely wounded comrade, he assumed two sets of chains, so that the wounded man might be left free.
=Outram.= (Sir James, 1803-1863.) The reference is to his action at Cawnpore, in 1857, when, though superior in command, in admiration for the brilliant deeds of General Havelock, he conceded to that soldier the glory of relieving Lucknow, waiving his own rank, and tendering his services as a volunteer.
44. GRACIE OF ALABAMA. By Francis Orrery Ticknor.
Francis Orrery Ticknor. See “Little Giffen.”
Petersburg, the scene of this incident, a city which witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the Civil War, is situated upon the southern bank of the Appomattox River, about twenty miles south of Richmond.
The Gracie of the poem (Archibald,) was a Confederate brigadier-general who served with distinction at Knoxville and Chickamauga.
=Stanza 3.= LEE. See “Barbara Frietchie.”
45. THE BALLAD OF A LITTLE FUN. By Maurice Thompson.
Maurice Thompson. See note on “An Incident of War.”
=Stanza 5.= Salliquoy. A tributary of the Coosawattee. (See below.)
=Stanza 6.= Coosawattee. A stream that rises in Gilmer county, northern Georgia, and flows southwesterly through Gordon county, where it unites with the Canasauga to form the Oostanaula.
This poem relates an adventure that befell a Confederate scouting party near Hogan’s Ford, on the Coosawattee, while out upon a reconnoitering expedition late in 1864, or early in 1865.
46. SHERIDAN’S RIDE. By Thomas Buchanan Read.
Thomas Buchanan Read, poet and artist, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1822. After a roving youth, he settled in Philadelphia, in which town and various Italian cities most of his life was spent. He died in New York City, May 11, 1872. The lyrics “Drifting” and “The Closing Scene “ show Read at his best as a poet.
Sheridan (Philip, generally known to army men as “Little Phil,” 1831-1888), was the most distinguished Federal cavalry leader in the Civil War. Serving in the early part of the war with the Army of the Cumberland, during the latter portion of the conflict he was with the Army of the Potomac, and rendered Grant important aid in crushing Lee. His own version of his famous ride (October 19, 1864,) may be read in his memoirs. It has been said of Sheridan that he was never defeated, but often plucked victory from the jaws of defeat.
=Line 2.= =Winchester.= The capital of Frederick county, Virginia, and the key to the Shenandoah valley.
47. DOWN THE LITTLE BIG HORN. By Francis Brooks.
Francis Brooks, a Chicago poet, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, March 7, 1867, and died near Geneva, Wisconsin, April 12, 1898. A memorial edition of his poems, edited by Wallace Rice, was issued in the autumn of 1898.
Custer (George Armstrong) was born in New Rumley, Ohio, December 5, 1839. He entered the army directly after his graduation from West Point in June, 1861, and participated in all but one of the battles of the Army of the Potomac, attaining the rank of major-general at twenty-five. He had eleven horses shot under him in battle. After the Civil War he served in several Indian campaigns. His last fight, on the banks of the Little Big Horn river in Montana, took place June 26, 1876. See “Custer,” by Edmund Clarence Stedman (Complete Poems).
=Stanza 2.= =Sitting Bull=, who commanded the Indians in the Custer fight, was a Sioux chief, born about 1837. He was killed while resisting arrest in the Sioux outbreak of December, 1890.
=Stanza 3.= =Rain-in-the-Face=, a Sioux chief, who had been imprisoned for murdering a sutler and veterinary surgeon, but had subsequently escaped. See Longfellow’s poem, “The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face.”
=Stanza 7.= =Comanche.= See “Miles Keogh’s Horse,” by John Hay (Poems).
48. THE BOND OF BLOOD. By Will Henry Thompson.
Will Henry Thompson. See note on “High Tide at Gettysburg.”
=Stanza 3.= =Lee.= See “Barbara Frietchie.”
=Stanza 6.= =Hancock= (Winfield Scott, 1824-1886), a distinguished Union general, and the Democratic candidate for President in 1880. He was conspicuous for his gallantry at Gettysburg, where he was wounded. The reference in this stanza is probably to the battle of Spottsylvania, where he captured and held a salient of field-works on the Confederate center, afterward known as “the bloody angle.”
=Stanza 9.= =Hill=, either A. P. or D. H., both noted Confederate generals.
=Gordon= (George Washington), a brilliant Confederate leader, well known after the war as a lawyer and public speaker.
=Stanza 12.= =Sherman.= See “The Smallest of the Drums.”
=Stanza 16.= =Wilderness.= See “Lee to the Rear.”
49. A BALLAD OF MANILA BAY. By Charles George Douglas Roberts.
Charles George Douglas Roberts, poet and novelist, was born near Frederickton, New Brunswick, January 10, 1860. He was at one time Professor of English Literature in King’s College, Windsor, Nova Scotia. Of recent years he has resided in the United States and devoted himself entirely to writing. He is commonly spoken of as the leader of the Canadian School of poets.
George Dewey, who by his victory over the Spanish in Manila Bay has come to be looked upon as the greatest naval commander of modern times, was born in Montpelier, Vermont, December 26, 1837. He was with Farragut at the opening of the Mississippi (see “The River Fight”), and took part in the severe engagements at Fort Fisher. He became a commodore in 1896, and in recognition of his Manila victory (May 1, 1898), and his subsequent services, he was promoted, first to the rank of rear-admiral, and later to that of admiral.
=Stanza 1.= =Corregidor=, an island at the entrance to Manila Bay.
=Stanza 4.= =El Fraile= (the Friar), an outcrop of rock, tunnelled to serve as a battery, lying in the main channel almost due south of the westerly tip of Corregidor.
=Stanza 7.= =Kalibuyo= and =Salinas=, towns in the province of Cavité, on the southern shore of Manila Bay.
=Stanza 8.= =Cavité=, a former Spanish fortress and naval station situated upon a point of land seven miles south of Manila.
=Stanza 10.= =Bakor Bay=, the bay formed by the projection upon which Cavité is situated.
=Stanza 14.= =Drake= (Sir Francis, 1540-1596), the greatest of the Elizabethan seaman, whose strategy and skill and audacious courage were largely instrumental in destroying the Spanish Armada.
=Farragut.= See “The River Fight.”
=Blake= (Robert, 1599-1657), called, next to Nelson, the greatest of the English admirals, and noted for his victories over the Dutch and Spanish.
=Stanza 16.= =Nelson.= See “The Fight of the _Armstrong_ Privateer.”
50. DEWEY AT MANILA. By Robert Underwood Johnson.
Robert Underwood Johnson, associate-editor of the _Century Magazine_, was born in Washington, D. C., January 12, 1853. As secretary of the Authors’ and Publishers’ Copyright Leagues, Mr. Johnson rendered valuable services to the cause of international copyright.
Dewey. See note on “A Ballad of Manila Bay,” by Charles George Douglas Roberts.
=Stanza 1.= =Bocagrande= (large mouth), the main channel into Manila Bay south of Corregidor Island. The northerly channel is called Bocachica (small mouth).
=Corregidor.= See “A Ballad of Manila Bay.”
=Stanza 6.= =Cavité.= See “A Ballad of Manila Bay.”
=Stanza 7.= =Montojo= (Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron), the commander of the Spanish naval forces in the Philippines.
=Stanza 8.= =Farragut.= See “The River Fight.”
=Stanza 12.= =Gridley= (Charles Vernon, 1845-1898), the captain of Admiral Dewey’s flagship, the _Olympia_.
51. THE MEN OF THE “MERRIMAC.” By Clinton Scollard.
Clinton Scollard. See note on “Montgomery at Quebec.”
The _Merrimac_ was sunk on the morning of June 3, 1898, in order to block the narrow channel into Santiago Bay where the Spanish fleet was at anchor. The men who engaged in the perilous venture were:
Lieutenant Richard Pearson Hobson, naval constructor (born in Greensboro, Alabama, August 17, 1870; graduated from Annapolis at the head of his class in 1889; studied in France, and at the opening of the Spanish war was conducting the post-graduate course in construction at the Naval Academy at Annapolis).
Osborn Deignan, a coxswain of the _Merrimac_.
George F. Phillips, a machinist of the _Merrimac_.
John Kelly, a water-tender of the _Merrimac_.
George Charette, a gunner’s mate of the _New York_.
Daniel Montagu, a seaman of the _Brooklyn_.
J. C. Murphy, a coxswain of the _Iowa_.
Randolph Clausen, a coxswain of the _New York_.
=Stanza 6.= =Morro=, the ancient Spanish fortress commanding Santiago Bay.
=Socapa= and =Estrella=, batteries at the entrance to the bay.
52. THE CHARGE AT SANTIAGO. By William Hamilton Hayne.
William Hamilton Hayne, son of Paul Hamilton Hayne (see “The Battle of Charleston Harbor”), was born in Charleston, South Carolina, March 11, 1856. He has the true lyrical instinct, and is the author of many quatrains and much finished “nature” verse.
Mr. Hayne’s poem commemorates the valor of the American troops in their charge on San Juan Hill, near Santiago de Cuba, July 1, 1898.
53. SPAIN’S LAST ARMADA. By Wallace Rice.
Wallace Rice. See note on “Blood is Thicker than Water.”
“Spain’s Last Armada” celebrates the great naval victory of July 3, 1898.
=Stanza 3.= =El Morro and Socapa.= See note on “The Men of the _Merrimac_.”
=Stanza 11.= =Nimanima=, the cove, six and a half miles from the entrance to Santiago harbor, where the _Infanta Maria Teresa_ was beached.
=Stanza 12.= =Juan Gonzales=, about seven miles from the port of Santiago.
=Stanza 13.= =Aserradero=, fifteen miles from Santiago.
=Stanza 16.= =The Cape o’ the Cross=, Cape Cruz, at the southwestern extremity of Cuba.
=Tarquino=, the mouth of the Rio Tarquino, where the ill-fated _Virginius_ expedition landed.
54. BALLAD OF PACO TOWN. By Clinton Scollard.
Clinton Scollard. See note on “Montgomery at Quebec.”
The incident described in this ballad occurred during the battle of Santa Ana, fought on the 5th of February, 1899, and resulting in the total rout of General Ricarti’s division of the Filipino army. The signal-man who performed the daring deed was Lieutenant Charles E. Kilbourne, Jr.
Paco is a small town south, and slightly east, of Manila.
In Time of Peace.
55. PEACE HATH HER VICTORIES. By Wallace Rice.
Wallace Rice. See note on “Blood is Thicker than Water.”
“This thrilling international episode earned the thanks and rewards of the American Congress, Captain Hughes, of the Liverpool steamer _Lord Gough_, obtaining a gold medal, and all his gallant men being remembered.”--W. R.
The incident took place in December, 1889.
56. IN THE TUNNEL. By Bret Harte.
Bret Harte. See note on “John Burns of Gettysburg.”
57. BALLAD OF CALNAN’S CHRISTMAS. By Helen Gray Cone.
Helen Gray Cone. See note on “Greencastle Jenny.”
James F. Calnan, driver for Engine Company No. 34, in New York City, gave up his life on Christmas Day, 1897.
58. HOW HE SAVED ST. MICHAEL’S. By Mary Anna Phinney Stansbury.
Mary Anna Phinney Stansbury. See note on “The Surprise of Ticonderoga.”
The story, as related in the poem, is in the main true. The church, however, was St. Philip’s (Charleston, South Carolina), an earlier edifice that stood upon the same site as St. Michael’s. The slave, moreover, received his freedom, not from the city authorities, but from the vestrymen of the church. The fire occurred in the year 1796.
59. THE RIDE OF COLLIN GRAVES. By John Boyle O’Reilly.
John Boyle O’Reilly was born in Dowth Castle, County Meath, Ireland, June 28, 1844. Entering the British army at the age of eighteen, he was detected in a Fenian plot, and sentenced to twenty years penal servitude in Australia. He escaped in an open boat, was picked up by an American whaler, and brought to this country. Settling in Boston, his ability won for him speedy recognition, and he was made editor of the _Pilot_, a position which he held at the time of his death, which occurred on the 10th of August, 1890. His most notable contribution to poetry was his “Songs of the Southern Seas.”
The disaster at Williamsburg, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, took place on the 16th of May, 1874. The Mill River dam, which burst, covered one hundred and twenty-four acres to the average depth of twenty-four feet. Nearly two hundred lives were lost in the villages of Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville and Leeds.
=l. 73.= =Curtius= (Mettus, or Mettius), a young Roman who sacrificed his life for his country’s welfare, B.C. 362. A chasm had opened in the forum, and the soothsayers declared that it could only be filled by casting into it that which was most precious in Rome. Curtius appeared on horseback, clad in full armor, and leaped into the abyss, crying as he did so, “Rome has no greater riches than courage and arms!” According to tradition, the chasm at once closed over him.
60. JIM BLUDSO. By John Hay.
John Hay, our present (1900) Secretary of State, and recently United States Ambassador to Great Britain, was born in Salem, Indiana, October 8, 1838. He has long been connected with the diplomatic service. During the Civil War he was a private secretary to President Lincoln, and in conjunction with John G. Nicolay is the author of the most complete biography of Lincoln published.
Jim Bludso was Oliver Fairchild, the engineer of the steamer _Fashion_. Mr. Hay is unable to fix the date of the disaster to the _Fashion_.
61. GEORGE NIDIVER. Anonymous.
62. A MAN’S NAME. By Richard Realf.
Richard Realf. See note on “The Defense of Lawrence.”
David Simmons, railroad engineer, was killed in the disaster near New Hamburgh, New York, on the Hudson River, February 6, 1871.
63. THE MAN WHO RODE TO CONEMAUGH. By John Eliot Bowen.
John Eliot Bowen, a journalist and the translator of Carmen Sylva’s “Songs of Toil,” who was for a number of years connected with _The Independent_, was born in Brooklyn, New York, June 8, 1858, and died in the same city, January 3, 1890.
The bursting of the dam upon the south fork of the Conemaugh River took place on the afternoon of May 31, 1889. It is stated that sixteen million tons of water were precipitated down the Conemaugh valley upon Johnston, Conemaugh, and various smaller towns. A conservative estimate of the loss of life gives it as three thousand, though some reports place it as high as five thousand.
The name of the hero who rode in front of the flood, giving the alarm, was Daniel Peyton, or Periton. The following poem, by an anonymous hand, pays tribute to the rider’s bravery and self-sacrifice.
DANIEL PERITON
(May 31, 1889.)
Now that the land lies stricken By a deluge dire and dread, And the bravest spirits sicken At thought of the doomed and dead, Let a chord of praise be smitten For the hero-hearted one, And a requiem song be written For Daniel Periton!
Go not to your olden story For one with a deathless name!-- With never a dream of glory, With never a heed of fame, He dashed through the fated city And called to the folk to fly; O God of infinite pity, Would all might have heard his cry!
Too late, too late the warning! For the wave that bore despair Rushed down with a ruthless scorning Of mortal strength and prayer. It smote in its mad derision, It gulfed with its choking breath, And set on a people’s vision The blinding seal of death.
And what of him who had striven To save in that awful hour When the stoutest walls were riven By the flood’s remorseless power? Dead by the bridge they found him,-- Him and his gallant steed; But ever will shine around him The light of his noble deed!
A germ of divine creating Abides in the human race, And a man is always waiting To spring to the hero’s place. And so let the lyre be smitten In praise of the fearless one, And a requiem song be written For Daniel Periton!
64. JOHNNY BARTHOLOMEW. By Thomas Dunn English.
Thomas Dunn English. See note on “Arnold at Stillwater.”
Though this poem has a newspaper paragraph for its basis, the author states that he has every reason to believe that the story is a true one.
65. HIS NAME. By Margaret Junkin Preston.
Margaret Junkin Preston. See note on “The Hero of the Gun.”
An incident of the great Boston fire, November 9, 1872.
66. OLD BRADDOCK. By John Vance Cheney.
John Vance Cheney, poet and essayist, was born in Groveland, New York, December 29, 1848. He at one time practised law in New York City. He has been in charge of the San Francisco Public Library, and is now head librarian at the Newberry Library, in Chicago.
This poem has no foundation in fact.
67. IN APIA BAY. By Charles George Douglas Roberts.
Charles George Douglas Roberts. See “A Ballad of Manila Bay.”
The destructive hurricane at Apia (island of Upolu, Samoa), occurred on the 15th of March, 1889. Three German and three American warships were either driven ashore, or crushed upon the coral reefs, and nearly one hundred and fifty lives were lost. The British ship which breasted the terrific force of the storm, and succeeded in escaping from the harbor, was the corvette _Calliope_. The American flag-ship was the _Trenton_ (see poem), carrying the flag of Rear-Admiral Kimberley.
Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
Lighty, gaily=> Lightly, gaily {pg 90}
brigadier from Massachussetts=> brigadier from Massachusetts {pg 207}
John Burns, of Gettyburg=> John Burns, of Gettysburg {pg 218}
Confederate brigadier-genrral=> Confederate brigadier-general {pg 219}