Andersonville, vol 3 | Page 8

the motifs for the majority of the poetry of free and strong
races, were wholly absent from their lyrics. Religion, hunger and toil
were their main inspiration. They sang of the pleasures of idling in the
genial sunshine; the delights of abundance of food; the eternal
happiness that awaited them in the heavenly future, where the
slave-driver ceased from troubling and the weary were at rest; where
Time rolled around in endless cycles of days spent in basking, harp in
hand, and silken clad, in golden streets, under the soft effulgence of
cloudless skies, glowing with warmth and kindness emanating from the
Creator himself. Had their masters condescended to borrow the music
of the slaves, they would have found none whose sentiments were
suitable for the ode of a people undergoing the pangs of what was
hoped to be the birth of a new nation.
The three songs most popular at the South, and generally regarded as
distinctively Southern, were "The Bonnie Blue Flag," "Maryland, My
Maryland," and "Stonewall Jackson Crossing into Maryland." The first
of these was the greatest favorite by long odds. Women sang, men
whistled, and the so-called musicians played it wherever we went.
While in the field before capture, it was the commonest of experiences

to have Rebel women sing it at us tauntingly from the house that we
passed or near which we stopped. If ever near enough a Rebel camp,
we were sure to hear its wailing crescendo rising upon the air from the
lips or instruments of some one more quartered there. At Richmond it
rang upon us constantly from some source or another, and the same was
true wherever else we went in the so-called Confederacy.
All familiar with Scotch songs will readily recognize the name and air
as an old friend, and one of the fierce Jacobite melodies that for a long
time disturbed the tranquility of the Brunswick family on the English
throne. The new words supplied by the Rebels are the merest doggerel,
and fit the music as poorly as the unchanged name of the song fitted to
its new use. The flag of the Rebellion was not a bonnie blue one; but
had quite as much red and white as azure. It did not have a single star,
but thirteen.
Near in popularity was "Maryland, My Maryland." The versification of
this was of a much higher Order, being fairly respectable. The air is old,
and a familiar one to all college students, and belongs to one of the
most common of German household songs:
O, Tannenbaum! O, Tannenbaum, wie tru sind deine Blatter! Da
gruenst nicht nur zur Sommerseit, Nein, auch in Winter, when es
Schneit, etc.
which Longfellow has finely translated,
O, hemlock tree! O, hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches! Green
not alone in Summer time, But in the Winter's float and rime. O,
hemlock tree O, hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches. etc.
The Rebel version ran:
MARYLAND.
The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland! His touch is at thy temple
door, Maryland! Avenge the patriotic gore That flecked the streets of
Baltimore, And be the battle queen of yore, Maryland! My Maryland!
Hark to the wand'ring son's appeal, Maryland! My mother State, to thee
I kneel, Maryland! For life and death, for woe and weal, Thy peerless
chivalry reveal, And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, Maryland! My
Maryland!
Thou wilt not cower in the duet, Maryland! Thy beaming sword shall
never rust Maryland! Remember Carroll's sacred trust, Remember
Howard's warlike thrust-- And all thy slumberers with the just,

Maryland! My Maryland!
Come! 'tis the red dawn of the day, Maryland! Come! with thy
panoplied array, Maryland! With Ringgold's spirit for the fray, With
Watson's blood at Monterey, With fearless Lowe and dashing May,
Maryland! My Maryland!
Comet for thy shield is bright and strong, Maryland! Come! for thy
dalliance does thee wrong, Maryland! Come! to thins own heroic
throng, That stalks with Liberty along, And give a new Key to thy song,
Maryland! My Maryland!
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain, Maryland! Virginia should not
call in vain, Maryland! She meets her sisters on the plain-- 'Sic semper'
'tis the proud refrain, That baffles millions back amain, Maryland!
Arise, in majesty again, Maryland! My Maryland!
I see the blush upon thy cheek, Maryland! But thou wast ever bravely
meek, Maryland! But lo! there surges forth a shriek From hill to hill,
from creek to creek-- Potomac calls to Chesapeake, Maryland! My
Maryland!
Thou wilt not yield the vandal toll. Maryland! Thou wilt not crook to
his control, Maryland! Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the blade,
the shot, the bowl, Than crucifixion of the soul, Maryland! My
Maryland!
I hear the distant Thunder hem, Maryland! The Old Line's bugle, fife,
and