One noonday, at my window in the town, I saw a sight -- saddest that eyes can see -- Young soldiers marching lustily Unto the wars, With fifes, and flags in [mottoed]1 pageantry; While all the porches, walks, and doors Were rich with ladies cheering royally. They moved like [Juny]2 morning on the wave, Their hearts were fresh as clover in its prime (It was the breezy summer time), Life throbbed so strong, How should they dream that Death in a rosy clime Would come to thin their shining throng? Youth feels immortal, like the gods sublime. Weeks passed; and at my window, leaving bed, By night I mused, of easeful sleep bereft, On those brave boys (Ah War! thy theft); Some marching feet Found pause at last by cliffs Potomac cleft; Wakeful I mused, while in the street Far footfalls died away till none were left.
Songs of this War
Song Cycle by Joseph Eidson
1. Ball's Bluff  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), "Ball's Bluff", subtitle: "A reverie", written 1861, appears in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Hermann Melville, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1866, pages 28-29.
1 Liebermann: "mouthed"2 Eidson, Liebermann: "June"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Donelson  [sung text checked 1 time]
The damaged gun boats can't wage fight For days; so says the Commodore. Thus no diversion can be had. Under a sunless sky of lead Our grim-faced boys in blackened plight Gaze toward the ground they held before, And then on Grant. He marks their mood, And hails it, and will turn the same to good. Spite all that they have undergone, Their desperate hearts are set upon This winter fort, this stubborn fort, This castle of the last resort, This Donelson.
Authorship:
- by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), no title, appears in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, in Donelson, excerpt headed "Story of Saturday afternoon / Vicissitudes of the war"
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Confirmed with Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Hermann Melville, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1866, page 47.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Shiloh  [sung text checked 1 time]
Subtitle: A requiem
Skimming lightly, wheeling still, The swallows fly low Over the fields in [clouded]1 days, The forest-field of Shiloh -- Over the field where April rain Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain Through the pause of night That followed the Sunday fight Around the church of Shiloh -- The church, so lone, the log-built one, That echoed to many a parting groan And natural prayer Of dying foemen mingled there -- Foemen at morn, but friends at eve -- Fame or country least their care: (What like a bullet can undeceive!) But now they lie low, While over them the swallows skim, And all is hushed at Shiloh.
Authorship:
- by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), "Shiloh: A Requiem", appears in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, first published 1866
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View original text (without footnotes)Note: April 6th-7th, 1862, Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee: General Ulysses S. Grant, leading Union forces (Armies of the Tennessee and of the Ohio), defeated the Confederate Army of the Mississippi under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard. Almost 24,000 soldiers died in the battle.
1 Weisgall (?) : "cloudy" (needs to be confirmed)Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. The Fall of Richmond  [sung text checked 1 time]
What mean these peals from every tower, And crowds like seas that sway? The cannon reply; they speak the heart Of the People impassioned, and say -- A city in flags for a city in flames, Richmond goes Babylon's way -- Sing and pray. O weary years and woeful wars, And armies in the grave; But hearts unquelled at last deter The helmed dilated Lucifer -- Honor to Grant the brave, Whose three stars now like Orion's rise When wreck is on the wave -- Bless his glaive. Well that the faith we firmly kept, And never our aim forswore For the Terrors that trooped from each recess When fainting we fought in the Wilderness, And Hell made loud hurrah; But God is in Heaven, and Grant in the Town, And Right through might is Law -- God's way adore.
Authorship:
- by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), "The Fall of Richmond", subtitle: "The tidings received in the Northern Metropolis (April, 1865.)"
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Confirmed with Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Herman Melville, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1866, pages 135-136.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. Aurora Borealis  [sung text checked 1 time]
What power disbands the Northern Lights After their steely play? The lonely watcher feels an awe Of Nature's sway, As when appearing, He marked their flashed uprearing In the cold gloom -- Retreatings and advancings, (Like dallyings of doom), Transitions and enhancings, And bloody ray. The phantom-host has faded quite, Splendor and Terror gone -- Portent or promise -- and gives way To pale, meek Dawn; The coming, going, Alike in wonder showing -- Alike the God, Decreeing and commanding The million blades that glowed, The muster and disbanding -- Midnight and Morn.
Authorship:
- by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), "Aurora Borealis", subtitle: "Commemorative of the Dissolution of armies at the Peace (May, 1865)"
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Confirmed with Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Herman Melville, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1866, pages 148-149.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. The Mound by the Lake  [sung text checked 1 time]
The grass shall never forget this grave. When homeward footing it in the sun After the weary ride by rail, The stripling soldiers passed her door, Wounded perchance, or wan and pale, She left her household work undone -- Duly the wayside table spread, With evergreens shaded to regale Each travel-spent and grateful one. So warm her heart -- childless -- unwed, Who like a mother comforted.
Authorship:
- by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), "The Mound by the Lake"
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Confirmed with Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Herman Melville, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1866, page 171.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]