| AT anchor in Hampton Roads we lay, | |
| On board of the Cumberland, sloop-of-war; | |
| And at times from the fortress across the bay | |
| The alarum of drums swept past, | |
| Or a bugle blast | 5 |
| From the camp on the shore. | |
| |
| Then far away to the south uprose | |
| A little feather of snow-white smoke, | |
| And we knew that the iron ship of our foes | |
| Was steadily steering its course | 10 |
| To try the force | |
| Of our ribs of oak. | |
| |
| Down upon us heavily runs, | |
| Silent and sullen, the floating fort; | |
| Then comes a puff of smoke from her guns, | 15 |
| And leaps the terrible death, | |
| With fiery breath, | |
| From each open port. | |
| |
| We are not idle, but send her straight | |
| Defiance back in a full broadside! | 20 |
| As hail rebounds from a roof of slate, | |
| Rebounds our heavier hail | |
| From each iron scale | |
| Of the monster's hide. | |
| |
| "Strike your flag!" the rebel cries, | 25 |
| In his arrogant old plantation strain. | |
| "Never!" our gallant Morris replies; | |
| "It is better to sink than to yield!" | |
| And the whole air pealed | |
| With the cheers of our men. | 30 |
| |
| Then, like a kraken huge and black, | |
| She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp! | |
| Down went the Cumberland all a wrack, | |
| With a sudden shudder of death, | |
| And the cannon's breath | 35 |
| For her dying gasp. | |
| |
| Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay, | |
| Still floated our flag at the mainmast head. | |
| Lord, how beautiful was Thy day! | |
| Every waft of the air | 40 |
| Was a whisper of prayer, | |
| Or a dirge for the dead. | |
| |
| Ho! brave hearts that went down in the seas! | |
| Ye are at peace in the troubled stream; | |
| Ho! brave land! with hearts like these, | 45 |
| Thy flag, that is rent in twain, | |
| Shall be one again, | |
| And without a seam! | |
