War Poetry of the South | Page 8

keep the freedom his sire hath won.
To suffer no proud transgressor to spoil?One right of our homes, or one foot of our soil,?One privilege pluck from our keeping, or dare?Usurp one blessing 'tis fit that we share!
Art ready for this, dear brother, who still?Keep'st Washington's bones upon Vernon's hill??Art ready for this, dear brother, whose ear,?Should ever the voices of Mecklenberg hear?
Thou art ready, I know, brother nearest my heart,?Son of Eutaw and Ashley, to do thy part;?The sword and the rifle are bright in thy hands,?And waits but the word for the flashing of brands!
And thou, by Savannah's broad valleys,--and thou?Where the Black Warrior murmurs in echoes the vow;?And thou, youngest son of our sires, who roves?Where Apala-chicola[1] glides through her groves.
Nor shall Tennessee pause, when like voice from the steep,?The great South shall summon her sons from their sleep;?Nor Kentucky be slow, when our trumpet shall call,?To tear down the rifle that hangs on her wall!
Oh, sound, to awaken the dead from their graves,?The will that would thrust us from place for our slaves,?That, by fraud which lacks courage, and plea that lacks truth, Would rob us of right without reason or ruth.
Dost thou hearken, brave Creole, as fearless as strong,?Nor rouse thee to combat the infamous wrong??Ye hear it, I know, in the depth of your souls,?Valiant race, through whose valley the great river rolls.
At last ye are wakened, all rising at length,?In the passion of pride, in the fulness of strength;?And now let the struggle begin which shall see,?If the son, like the sire, is fit to be free.
We are sworn to the State, from our fathers that came,?To welcome the ruin, but never the shame;?To yield not a foot of our soil, nor a right,?While the soul and the sword are still fit for the fight.
Then, brothers, your hands and your hearts, while we draw?The bright sword of right, on the charter of law;--?Here the record was writ by our fathers, and here,?To keep, with the sword, that old record, we swear.
Let those who defile and deface it, be sure,?No longer their wrong or their fraud we endure;?We will scatter in scorn every link of the chain,?With which they would fetter our free souls in vain.
How goodly and bright were its links at the first!?How loathly and foul, in their usage accurst!?We had worn it in pride while it honor'd the brave,?But we rend it, when only grown fit for the slave.
[1] The reader will place the accent on the ante-penultimate, which affords not only the most musical, but the correct pronunciation.
The Oath of Freedom.
By James Barron Hope.
_"Liberty is always won where there exists the unconquerable will to be free."_
Born free, thus we resolve to live:?By Heaven we will be free!?By all the stars which burn on high--?By the green earth--the mighty sea--?By God's unshaken majesty,?We will be free or die!?Then let the drums all roll!?Let all the trumpets blow!?Mind, heart, and soul,?We spurn control?Attempted by a foe!
Born free, thus we resolve to live:?By Heaven we will be free!?And, vainly now the Northmen try?To beat us down--in arms we stand?To strike for this our native land!?We will be free or die!?Then let the drums all roll! etc., etc.
Born free, we thus resolve to live:?By Heaven we will be free!?Our wives and children look on high,?Pray God to smile upon the right!?And bid us in the deadly fight?As freemen live or die!?Then let the drums all roll! etc., etc.
Born free, thus we resolve to live:?By Heaven we will be free!?And ere we cease this battle-cry,?Be all our blood, our kindred's spilt,?On bayonet or sabre hilt!?We will be free or die!?Then let the drums all roll! etc., etc.
Born free, thus we resolve to live:?By Heaven we will be free!?Defiant let the banners fly,?Shake out their glories to the air,?And, kneeling, brothers, let us swear?We will be free or die!?Then let the drums all roll! etc., etc.
Born free, thus we resolve to live:?By Heaven we will be free!?And to this oath the dead reply--?Our valiant fathers' sacred ghosts--?These with us, and the God of hosts,?We will be free or die!?Then let the drums all roll! etc., etc.
The Battle-Cry of the South.
By James R. Randall.
Arm yourselves and be valiant men, and see that ye be in readiness against the morning, that ye may fight with these nations that are assembled against us, to destroy us and our sanctuary. For it is better for us to die in battle than to behold the calamities of our people and our sanctuary.--Maccabees I.
Brothers! the thunder-cloud is black,?And the wail of the South wings forth;?Will ye cringe to the hot tornado's rack,?And the vampires of the North??Strike! ye can win a martyr's goal,?Strike! with a ruthless hand--?Strike! with the vengeance of the soul,?For your bright, beleaguered land!?To arms! to arms! for the South