Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.

The Hero of Erie

AT Columbia’s loud call my dear William consented,

And to my fond arms bade a tender adieu,

In hopes to return with the laurels of glory,

And reap all the fruits of affection so true;

While Fortune, who laughs at the purpose of mortals,

Had said that I ne’er should behold him again;

In the cold, silent grave, my sweet William, neglected,

Lies far from his love, among heaps of the slain.

When bravely he fell, in the front of the battle,

Contending with Britons by Erie’s dark wave,

O! had I been there to expire with my lover,

Nor lived thus a victim to wo for the brave.

Yet cease, my poor, widowed heart, from thy sorrow,

A few years, at most, shall thy William restore;

In the pure land of heroes with transport I’ll join him,

Where war and where death shall divide us no more.