Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1855-12-19
SONGS IN THE VAR CAMPS,

ID
An eye witness of camp-life writing from
Sevastopol, says that the singing of old songs,
catches, glees, choruses forms principal fea-
ture in the amusements of the camp. Du-
ring the long evenings of the past summer,
our men used to sit in some old redoubt or
abandoned trench, and there the song and
toasts went round. q. took note, one eye-
ming, to an encore verse to the "British
Grenadiers," which was received with Won
derful enthusiasm by large company of red
chats who were watching the internal fire OF
the Redan upon our advanced trenches. 1t
was getting dark, but the Redan dropped
shells every few seconds into our works, pro-
ducing the effect Of the most brilliant fire
works. Unfortunately when the morning
dawned, terrible list of killed and woun-
ded proved the accuracy of Russian Artillery
practice. The verses were as follows:
"And soon song of victory shall cheer the hearts
And triumph float on every breeze borne from Sc
bastopol;
Where Frenchmen brave and black Zouaves, the
men who know no fears,
Have side by side like brothers fought like British
Grenadiers tlaU
The Great Redan shall thunder find, and we will
find the cheers
With row-de-dow and arow-dc-dow for the Brit
tish Grenadiers !"
But of all songs the favorite song at Camp
is "Annie Laurie" Words and music COM
bine to make it popular; for every soldier
has sweetheart, and almost every soldier
possesses the organ of tune. | heard the
song sung on the evening of the seventh
of Sept under circumstances SO peculiar, that
| can never forget them. Codrington had
visited us on parade in the afternoon, and ad-
dressed the men. We were told that on the
next day the assault was to be made on the
Great Redan; "and," said the General "the
Commander in Chief feels assured that the
Light Division-never known to fail, will
again do its duty" About o'clock in the
evening, l walked towards the Victoria Re-
doubt to gaze for the last time on the terri
bic batteries of Sebastopol. Hundreds of
soldiers were sitting on the other side of the
hill looking down on the doomed city. A
song was proposed silence obtained, and a
corporal started "Annie Laurie" He had a
tenor voice tolerably good, and sang with ex-
preston; but the chorus was taken up by the
audience in much lower key, and hundreds
of voices in the most exact time and harmo-
ny sang together
sand for bonnie Annie Laurie 3o'
I'd lay me down and die" no
l never heard any chorus in an oratorio
rendered with greater solemnity. The heart
of each singer was evidently far away over
II
ballad; for, at such time, on the eve of a
great battle, soldier thinks only of his love
and his God. The song was scarcely finish
ed when the bugle sounded to quarters, and
the company dispersed-never to meet again.
Ere the next sunset, the singer of the song,
and scores of those who joined in the chorus
were lying stiff and stark in the ditch of the
Redan, having "laid down and died" at the
command of sterner mistress than any of
woman kind. And there they still lie; and
the ditch that used to be so deep, is now
level with the embrasures. Alas how many
hearts are breaking for them at home. How
many eyes "dark blue" as Annie Laurie's
have scanned the horrid list recording the
names of the dead, finding what they most
dreaded to see! How many loving women
whose happiness is forever buried in the
grave which holds the mangled remains of
the idol they treasured, have fallen on their
knees and asked God to take pity on them
and let them die too"
.