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I
THE SUN had set; | |
| The leaves with dew were wet: | |
| Down fell a bloody dusk | |
| On the woods, that second of May, | |
| Where Stonewall’s corps, like a beast of prey, | 5 |
| Tore through, with angry tusk. | |
| |
| “They’ve trapped us, boys!” | |
| Rose from our flank a voice. | |
| With a rush of steel and smoke | |
| On came the rebels straight, | 10 |
| Eager as love and wild as hate; | |
| And our line reeled and broke: | |
| |
| Broke and fled. | |
| No one stayed—but the dead! | |
| With curses, shrieks, and cries, | 15 |
| Horses and wagons and men | |
| Tumbled back through the shuddering glen, | |
| And above us the fading skies. | |
| |
| There ’s one hope still,— | |
| Those batteries parked on the hill! | 20 |
| “Battery, wheel!” (mid the roar) | |
| “Pass pieces; fix prolonge to fire | |
| Retiring. Trot!” In the panic dire | |
| A bugle rings “Trot!”—and no more. | |
| |
| The horses plunged, | 25 |
| The cannon lurched and lunged, | |
| To join the hopeless rout. | |
| But suddenly rode a form | |
| Calmly in front of the human storm, | |
| With a stern, commanding shout: | 30 |
| |
| “Align those guns!” | |
| (We knew it was Pleasonton’s.) | |
| The cannoneers bent to obey, | |
| And worked with a will at his word: | |
| And the black guns moved as if they had heard. | 35 |
| But ah the dread delay! | |
| |
| “To wait is crime; | |
| O God, for ten minutes’ time!” | |
| The General looked around. | |
| There Keenan sat, like a stone, | 40 |
| With his three hundred horse alone, | |
| Less shaken than the ground. | |
| |
| “Major, your men?” | |
| “Are soldiers, General.” “Then | |
| Charge, Major! Do your best: | 45 |
| Hold the enemy back, at all cost, | |
| Till my guns are placed,—else the army is lost. | |
| You die to save the rest!” | |
| |
II
BY the shrouded gleam of the western skies, | |
| Brave Keenan looked into Pleasonton’s eyes | 50 |
| For an instant,—clear, and cool, and still; | |
| Then, with a smile, he said: “I will.” | |
| |
| “Cavalry, charge!” Not a man of them shrank. | |
| Their sharp, full cheer, from rank on rank, | |
| Rose joyously, with a willing breath,— | 55 |
| Rose like a greeting hail to death. | |
| Then forward they sprang, and spurred and clashed; | |
| |
| Shouted the officers, crimson-sashed; | |
| Rode well the men, each brave as his fellow, | |
| In their faded coats of the blue and yellow; | 60 |
| And above in the air, with an instinct true, | |
| Like a bird of war their pennon flew. | |
| |
| With clank of scabbards and thunder of steeds, | |
| And blades that shine like sunlit reeds, | |
| And strong brown faces bravely pale | 65 |
| For fear their proud attempt shall fail, | |
| Three hundred Pennsylvanians close | |
| On twice ten thousand gallant foes. | |
| |
| Line after line the troopers came | |
| To the edge of the wood that was ringed with flame; | 70 |
| Rode in and sabred and shot—and fell; | |
| Nor came one back his wounds to tell. | |
| And full in the midst rose Keenan, tall | |
| In the gloom, like a martyr awaiting his fall, | |
| |
| While the circle-stroke of his sabre, swung | 75 |
| ’Round his head, like a halo there, luminous hung. | |
| Line after line—ay, whole platoons, | |
| Struck dead in their saddles—of brave dragoons | |
| By the maddened horses were onward borne | |
| And into the vortex flung, trampled and torn; | 80 |
| As Keenan fought with his men, side by side. | |
| |
| So they rode, till there were no more to ride. | |
| But over them, lying there, shattered and mute, | |
| What deep echo rolls?—’T is a death-salute | |
| From the cannon in place; for, heroes, you braved | 85 |
| Your fate not in vain: the army was saved! | |
| |
| Over them now—year following year— | |
| Over their graves the pine-cones fall, | |
| And the whippoorwill chants his spectre-call; | |
| But they stir not again; they raise no cheer: | 90 |
| They have ceased. But their glory shall never cease, | |
| Nor their light be quenched in the light of peace. | |
| The rush of their charge is resounding still | |
| That saved the army at Chancellorsville. | |
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