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LIKE a furnace of fire blazed the
midsummer sun When to saddle we leaped at the order, Spurred on by the boom of
the deep-throated gun That told of the foe on our border.
A mist in our rear lay Antietam's
dark plain, And thoughts of its carnage came o'er us;
But smiling before us surged
fields of ripe grain, And we swore none should reap it before us.
That night, with the ensign who
rode by my side, On the camp's dreary edge I stood picket,
Our ears intent lest every
wind-rustle should hide A spy's stealthy tread in the thicket;
And there, while we watched the
first arrows of dawn Through the veil of the rising mist's quiver, He told how
the foeman had closed in upon
His home by the Tennessee River.
He spoke of a sire in his
weakness cut down, With last breath the traitor flag scorning
(And his brow at the mem'ry grew
dark with a frown That paled the red light of the morning). For days he had
followed the cowardly band, And when one lagged to forage or trifle Had seared
in his forehead the deep Minie brand, And scored a fresh notch on his rifle.
"But one of the rangers had
cheated his fate—For him he would search the world over."
Such cool-plotting passion, such
keenness of hate, Ne'er saw I in woman-scorned lover.
0 who would have thought that
beneath those dark curls Lurked vengeance as sure as death-rattle;
Or fancied those dreamy eyes,
soft as a girl's,
Could light with the fury of
battle?
To horse! pealed the bugle, while
grape-shot and shell Overhead through the forest were crashing. A cheer for the
flag! and the summer light fell On the blades from a thousand sheaths flashing,
As mad ocean waves to the storm-revel flock, So on we dashed, heedless of
dangers ; A moment our long line surged hack at the shock, Then swept through
the ranks of the Rangers. .
I looked for our ensign—ahead of
his troop, Pressing on through the conflict infernal,
His torn flag furled round him in
festoon and loop, He spurred to the side of his Colonel.
And his clear voice rang out, as
I saw his bright sword Through shako and gaudy plume shiver, With "this for the
last of the murderous horde!" And "this for the home by the river!"
At evening, returned from pursuit
of the foe, By a shell-shattered caisson we found him; And we buried him there
in the sunset glow, With the dear old flag knotted around him.
Yet how could we mourn when every
proud strain Told of foemen hurled back in disorder,
When we knew that the North
reaped her rich harvest
grain
Unharmed by a foe on her border!
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1864.
THE VICTORY.
THE earnestness with which the
loyal people of this country are sustaining the war has been in nothing more
signally shown than the sobriety with which the great news of GRANT'S victory
was received. Before he moved, every thing that was heard from the Army of the
Potomac revealed a unity, an unselfishness, a hearty faith in the cause, a grave
resolution to fight to the end, which prepared us for a campaign entirely
unprecedented. " My ground of confidence," said one who returned from the
head-quarters of GRANT a fortnight before he moved, " is in the moral as much as
in the physical condition of the army."
In an hour like this comparisons
are untimely and vain. We only know that the popular faith in the ultimate
triumph of our cause—which no disaster, however grievous, has ever been fierce
enough to shake—enables the country to contemplate its success without levity,
but with a universal and sorrowful sympathy with the thousands of brave men
whose dauntless constancy has saved human liberty, although it could not save
themselves from bitter wounds ; and with a lasting and regretful remembrance of
the dead. The desperate contest upon the Rapidan, the shock of battle through
two long summer days, shows upon both sides the qualities which will make the
regenerated nation invincible.
LEE and his rebels had every prestige in their
favor. They stood upon ground which their valor had maintained against us for
three years. They were intrenched upon the Rapidan, where they had defeated
POPE. They were near
Fredericksburg, from which
BURNSIDE had been forced to retire. They were
flanked by Chancellorsville, where they had worsted
HOOKER. They had before them Gettysburg, from
which they had retreated in good order to recuperate ; and
Antietam, from which they had been allowed to
retire. Far to their rear were the melancholy swamps of the Chickahominy, in
which a noble army had been encamped so long within an easy possibility of
victory, which had been surrendered with terrible disaster. All around them were
the famous places of their triumphs or of their secure retreats. They were
confronted with an army whose unwearied bravery they had tested, but which they
knew lacked the prestige of success. They saw new toils spreading for them, but
they confided in the past, and believed they could secure the future.
Against such men, with such
advantages; General GRANT organized his army and laid his plans. He knew the key
of the military position. The defeat of LEE was the essential blow that must be
struck, First of all, therefore,
General GRANT secured absolute unity of purpose
among his Generals. He established that moral discipline which is the source of
permanent strength in every army. He brought with him the personal inspiration
of vast and continuous success. He assembled a host. He and his officers, filled
with the profoundest conviction of the importance of victory, imparted it by all
they did and by all they were to the men. And when March and April were passed,
when the soft May sun announced steady weather, and all the elemental conditions
were ripe, he gave the word to his faithful and indomitable ally, BUTLER, and
the Union armies moved to a battle which they knew must be desperate, and which
all men believed would be decisive.
The chapter of our history which
opened on the 3d of May is not ended as these words are written. But the first
week's work is of such augury that we have the right to hope for a success which
should bring every true American to his knees in religious gratitude—a success
which will be a victory for the people of every country, and will mark an epoch
in the advance of civilization. The words of the President are echoed
instinctively by the popular heart. " While what remains undone demands our most
sincere prayers to and reliance upon Him (without whom all human effort is
vain), I recommend that all patriots, at their homes, in their places of public
worship, and wherever they may be, unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to
Almighty God."
TO A
JACKSON DEMOCRAT.
A CALM and pleasant letter from
"a Jackson
Democrat" in Indiana, gives us an occasion to
explain more fully our position in regard to the Presidency. Our correspondent
says that he is one of the four hundred thousand War Democrats who have
sustained
Mr. Lincoln heartily, because he is the
constitutional President and is trying to save the Government. But he complains
that we, with many others, evince a determination to have Mr. Lincoln nominated
at Baltimore, and that War Democrats have been rejected by Republican
Conventions as delegates because they were not in favor of him as a candidate.
Does not sound policy, he asks, require the formation of a new Union party ; and
if so, ought not the Baltimore candidate to be a War Democrat ?
Since the appeal is made to us,
we answer, frankly, that for ourselves we know no other party than the Union men
: than the men, that is to say, who, before the war, belonged to all the
parties, Democrats, Republicans, and Bell Everett men, and who are now united in
an unflinching and intelligent support of the policy of the Administration in
conducting the war. It is for that very reason that we deprecate such an
attitude as that of our correspondent. Are you a War Democrat or a Union man ?
If you are a War Democrat, what do you mean by it ? If you are a Union man, why
do you insist upon using a name which is not agreeable to other Union men who
have not been Democrats ? And what prevents the formation of a genuine Union
party, except the refusal of gentlemen like you to renounce your old party name
? The Union men who were lately Republicans do not call themselves War
Republicans, or Republican Union, or Union Republican. They say truly that they
are not Republicans, in a party sense, but that they are Union men. And they say
as plainly as men can that they will support heartily any true Union man whom
the Convention shall nominate. Why should not you do the same? Do you not see
that your insistence upon recognition as a Democrat is entirely inadmissible,
unless you recognize other Union men as Bell-Everetts, or Republicans, which is
plainly absurd?
Therefore the call to the
Baltimore Convention, although issued by a Committee appointed at Chicago by the
Republican Convention in 1860, is perfectly free from the least party allusion.
General Dix, Mr. DICKINSON, Governor BROUGH, Mr. EVERETT, General GRANT, or
General BUTLER have no more reason to complain that they are not invited,
because nothing is said of War Democrats, than Senators SUMNER, or SHERMAN, or
LANE, or Speaker COLFAX have to make the same complaint because nothing is said
in it of Republicans. General Dix, Governor BROUGH, Mr. EVERETT, and Senator
SUMNER are invited as Union men. If they stand on any other platform they will,
of course, not feel themselves summoned.
Now Union men may certainly have
decided preferences among candidates. Our correspondent prefers
General BUTLER. That General is a man whom the
whole country honors. But we, for our parts, prefer Mr. LINCOLN ; and we do so,
not because he is a Republican, for he is not. He is simply a Union man, and the
strongest opposition to him springs from those who were formerly Republicans. We
prefer him because he has proved by his administration of public affairs, that
he has the qualities, the sagacity, the fidelity, and the ability which seem to
us essential to our final success ; and he has the experience, which at this
time must count for much. We do not say that other men have not the
indispensable requirements ; but we think that we see very plainly, making every
allowance, that he has, And we put it to our
friend whether it would not be
extremely foolish in us to advocate his giving place to another man, who seems
to us less desirable, merely because that other had been formerly a " Democrat
?"
If the majority of Union men, at
any primary meeting or convention in the land, have been formerly Republicans
and are now in favor of Mr. LINCOLN'S nomination, and send delegates to secure
it, we can not see why our correspondent or any man, who is only a Unionist,
should have any other than the common feeling of disappointment when we do not
have our way. He may be very sure that the old Republican party will no more be
revived than the old Democratic party ; and if the Baltimore Convention shall
nominate a candidate of Democratic antecedents, our friend will see the Union
men who were Republicans working and voting for him just as earnestly as they
expect, and have a right to expect, their late Democratic friends will work and
vote for a candidate of Republican antecedents, should he be nominated.
Meanwhile our "determination"
that Mr. LINCOLN shall be nominated is only a very profound conviction that it
is best for the country that he should be.
THE
HUMILIATION OF ENGLAND.
THE expulsion of GARIBALDI from
England is the announcement to the world that the pleasure of LOUIS NAPOLEON is
the policy of Great Britain. It has long been the proud boast of that country
that it offered exile to the political refugees of every land. Tyrants and their
victims. CHARLES TENTH, LOUIS PHILIPPE, DON MIGUEL, ROSAS, LEDRU ROLLIN,
MAZZINI, LOUIS BLANC, METTERNICH, GALENGA - the escaped from the dungeons of
Spandau, and Spielberg, and Siberia ; the fugitives from the palaces of the
Continent, she would receive them all, and the foreign hand that would seize
them should fall paralyzed as it touched the British shore. And now comes a
hero, such as does not appear in modern history, not from a dungeon, but from
the heart of his countrymen and the confidence of his King, who is welcomed to
England by the great multitude of the people, from the poorest weaver in a
London cellar, to whom the name of GARIBALDI has a certain music of hope, to the
Prince of Wales. The people, the Government, the town, the country, conspire in
the greeting; the nation salutes him; his foot is raised for a triumphal
progress through the summer land.
Behold what a people ! was the
cry. They salute the man whom nations love and kings hate. What a country, which
is so strong that feasts GARIBALDI, and sits at council with Austria and France
! What a--, when Louis NAPOLEON says quietly, " GARIBALDI must go ;" and Louis
NAPOLEON is obeyed ! He does not prevent his coming. He does not whisper dissent
to keep him at Caprera. No, for he will have the humiliation utter and
overwhelming. He waits for the very crowning moment of the English enthusiasm
and delight in their guest, and then orders England to expel him, and England
obeys ! So grievous a humiliation has not befallen so proud a State since JAMES
SECOND'S prostitution to Louis FOURTEENTH. CARLYLE'S picture of the posture of
England during the Continental wars of the last century is not flattering, but
it shows nothing so sad as this. It is the most melancholy confirmation of
KING-LAKE'S picture of English submission to the same man in the Crimean war. It
suggests the impotence of England and the ascendency of France more than any
contemporary event.
In one of its very able articles
the London Spectator, a liberal and sagacious journal, frankly admits that " for
the present there is nothing for it but alliance as hearty as common interests
can make it between Great Britain and France." Alliance—yes ; but upon such
terms ? alliance upon condition that lips warm with welcoming a national guest
shall quiver into whispering " Please go ; he says you must not stay." What
makes it worse is, that the same article confesses that there is no diminution
of the ancient jealousy and the ancient fear. " England was and is armed against
France, and France alone." Put this sentence with the other we have just quoted,
and what a condition of things it reveals ! Surely when it is known that
GARIBALDI went not because he was ill, not because his physician said he must
go, as Lord PALMERSTON declared, who, two years ago, declared that there might
be war with this country when for a fortnight he had had Mr. SEWARD'S disclaimer
in his pocket, but because the French Emperor ordered Lord PALMERSTON to order
him away, there will either be a popular tempest which will whirl the present
ministry from power, or Great Britain deliberately accepts the post of French
lackey.
PICTURE PREACHING.
IN the Gallery of the
Metropolitan Fair there was a very striking and painful picture of "The Last Day
of the Guillotine." It represents a huge room in the Conciergerie or some other
of the prisons of Paris swarming with the victims of the terror. Of gentle and
refined aspect, most of them, dressed in the fashion of the
time made familiar to us by the
portraits of MARIE ANTOINETTE and CHARLOTTE CORDAY, the crowd sits or stands,
cowed and shuddering, while a wretch, who seems the very incarnation of the
hideous ferocity of the Revolution, has climbed a column, and, elevated above
the heads of the crowd, points leeringly at a woman whose name he calls, to join
the melancholy procession to the scaffold which is seen in the corridor passing
the grated door. The victim has half risen from her seat, clasping her hands,
but without turning her head, while her lover sits not far away, mute,
motionless, frozen with horror.
It is one of the most tragical
pictures ever painted. At the first glance it seems too great an outrage upon
human nature to perpetuate a moment so terrible. But after a little while the
real justification of the work is apparent in the utter loathing which seizes
the mind of the spirit from which such atrocities spring. A thousand fold more
fervent than the most eloquent description or denunciation the picture exposes
the true character of the great crime, and helps to explain the profound
indignation which thrilled the world at that time, and has made the very words
French Revolution synonymous with the most revolting inhumanity. The student who
in reading the English history of that period is disposed to quarrel with PITT'S
coercive domestic policy, no longer wonders as he contemplates this palpitating
scene, at the wide and willing support that policy received from the British
people. What sacrifice was not cheap, he asks, that tended to keep the English
annals unstained by such crime as this? It is a terrible picture. It represents
unalleviated human suffering. But its moral is clear, and the pain it occasions
is justified by the lesson it teaches and the influence it exerts.
This is the reply we make to the
friendly expostulations we receive upon the publication of such cuts as will be
found in this paper today. They depict the most shocking barbarities, the
bloodiest crimes. " How can I take the paper home ? How can I show such things
to my children ? Is this a family paper, if you curdle us with such horrors ?"
are the questions asked, and in a kindly spirit. But may not the children well
be taught the character of the enemy with which their fathers and brothers are
struggling, and the spirit of the barbarism which is seeking to overthrow the
Government, and ruin the country? The earlier they learn it, the stronger the
impression will be, the better and truer Americans they will become. Our paper
is and ought to be a vivid history of the time, and it can not avoid the
tragical details. And for every child who may be grieved by the spectacle of
this suffering and crime, how many a manly heart will be strengthened with a
wholesome detestation of the infamy of this rebellion and the means to which it
naturally resorts ! A hundred descriptions of the massacres of our faithful
soldiers will not strike home so deeply as a vivid picture of them. This little
sheet goes into a thousand homes, and into the camps of the army, from the ocean
to the prairies. To the quiet home circle it reveals with sad emphasis the
perils which brave men confront and endure to secure the happiness of those
homes. To the camp it brings a living witness of the constant sympathy and care
which follow the fortunes of the soldier, when they are tragical as well as
picturesque. Perhaps in some such considerations our friends who differ may find
a little justification for strengthening the public nerve as well as pleasing
the public heart.
GENERAL WADSWORTH.
OUR victory is costly. We all
knew it would be. None knew it more certainly than General WADSWORTH, and none
was more willing than he that the price should be paid. The story of his public
service is simple. He early saw the danger that threatened the country. Before
the first shot was fired, he knew that war had begun in the country between the
principles of despotism and democracy. He devoted his time, his influence, his
means, every power he had, to the sacred duty of arousing the public mind, and
standing fast for the great original principles of the Government. As the crisis
approached he went to the Peace Congress, and did willingly all that a man and
an American could honorably do. When the smoke of the opening battle cleared he
was seen in the van of the brave men who hastened to the front, wishing only to
serve his country and her cause. Personal ambition, self seeking of every kind
he put aside as naturally as every other dishonor. An aid to the young McDOWELL
at
Bull Run, General of a Division at the
Wilderness, his heart beat and his hand struck for the same object, the true
welfare of his fellow men.
In the midst of the war,
solicited to stand in another post of duty not less important than the purely
military one he held, he became a candidate for Governor of New York, upon the
simple issue of unconditional maintenance of the Government and Union. He
frankly expressed his views of public affairs in a letter full of sagacity and
earnestness. He was not elected, and remained in the field. He was not elected ;
but his memory will be precious and sacred to the people of his State and of the
country when that of many Governors will be forgotten or recalled with shame.
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