We have gathered again the red laurels of war; We have followed the traitors fast and far; But some who rose gayly this morn with the sun Lie bleeding and pale on the field they have won! But whether we fight or whether we fall By sabre-stroke or rifle-ball, The hearts of the free will remember us yet, And our country, our country will never forget!

ROSSITER W. RAYMOND.

* * * * *

KEARNY AT SEVEN PINES.[A]

[Footnote A:  Major-General Philip Kearny, killed at the battle of Chantilly, September 1, 1862.]

  So that soldierly legend is still on its journey,—­
    That story of Kearny who knew not to yield! 
  ’Twas the day when with Jameson, fierce Berry, and Birney,
    Against twenty thousand he rallied the field. 
  Where the red volleys poured, where the clamor rose highest,
    Where the dead lay in clumps through the dwarf oak and pine,
  Where the aim from the thicket was surest and nighest,—­
    No charge like Phil Kearny’s along the whole line.

  When the battle went ill, and the bravest were solemn,
    Near the dark Seven Pines, where we still held our ground,
  He rode down the length of the withering column,
    And his heart at our war-cry leapt up with a bound;
  He snuffed, like his charger, the wind of the powder,—­
    His sword waved us on and we answered the sign: 
  Loud our cheer as we rushed, but his laugh rang the louder,
    “There’s the devil’s own fun, boys, along the whole line!”

  How he strode his brown steed!  How we saw his blade brighten
    In the one hand still left,—­and the reins in his teeth! 
  He laughed like a boy when the holidays heighten. 
    But a soldier’s glance shot from his visor beneath. 
  Up came the reserves to the mellay infernal,
    Asking where to go in,—­through the clearing or pine? 
  “O, anywhere!  Forward!  ’Tis all the same, Colonel: 
    You’ll find lovely fighting along the whole line!”

  O, evil the black shroud of night at Chantilly,
    That hid him from sight of his brave men and tried! 
  Foul, foul sped the bullet that clipped the white lily,
    The flower of our knighthood, the whole army’s pride! 
  Yet we dream that he still,—­in that shadowy region
    Where the dead form their ranks at the wan drummer’s sign,—­
  Rides on, as of old, down the length of his legion,
    And the word still is Forward! along the whole line.

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.

* * * * *

THE GENERAL’S DEATH.

  The general dashed along the road
    Amid the pelting rain;
  How joyously his bold face glowed
    To hear our cheers’ refrain!

  His blue blouse flapped in wind and wet,
    His boots were splashed with mire,
  But round his lips a smile was set,
    And in his eyes a fire.