Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1862-10-07
Enr The EaUairr
TW IWr II7FT@'e'
BURIAL OF siE JOHN MOORE.

R(CooHko ~ VA oSAsA
burial ofsome of the officers and soldi"ra In the
Southern army have brought 10 my mind
those wonderfully stirring liues, composed by
Rs7. Charles Wolfe, in 1917. on ':tho burial
of Sir John Moore. think your readers
will be pleased to see them reproduced ut
the present time, and. IN connection, the toi-
loving nutice, taken from 'Chalubefs' Cyclic
rnEdia of English l.iteraiure," Of The author
And the poeu
Rev. Charles Wolfe may ne said to have
earned Il literary Immortality BY one short
poem, and that copied, with considerable
clio. ga eS5, FROM Il prose account Of the Incl
dent which it relates. Realizing in the 'Edin-
burg Annual Register n description Of the
death and iuterrnent Of Sir John Moore, on
the battlefield of Corunna, this amia"le
young poet turned it Into verse with such
taste, patho,, and even sublimity, that lis
YEN has obtaiuui al iInperishable place IN
our liteI ature."
Tile passage in the "EIgister' is as fol-
inws ..Sir John Moore had often said that
if he Tss killed in battle, he wiabed t. be
buried where he le!!. The body was removed
at midnlgh! TO the Citadel Of Corunna. a grave
waa dug for him on the rsmparts. there by
body uf the 9Th Regiment. No coffin could
be procured, and the officers Of his stat
wrap; J the body, DIRE ised a. it was, in 4 mil
i,ary CLOAK unt blanEes. The intermeut wal
has.enei. for about eight in the morning fone
firing was heard, and the officers feared that
Il \ serious attack were made, they would be
ordered away, and not suffered to pay him
their last duty. The officers Of his family
bore fin to the grave; the funeral service
was read hy the Chaplain, aud the corpse va:
covered with earth"
How often, within the last tem months
have sucb toG2hiug scenes a. this been W.T.
messed Cd "the dark and blond ground" OF
Virginia En-.
Not Fl drum WIS heard, not a funeral note,
AZ bis corpse to the rampant we hurried
Not n soldier discharged his farewell shot,
Ger the grave where our hero We buried
We buried him iarkly 81 lead u! night,
Tho sods 9th our bayonets turning. r..
By the struggling mponbeam's misty light.
And the lantern dimly burning.
III.
VI useless :oiin enclosed hia hrcnst,
Not in sheet or im ahrouh we wound HIN
Bat liz lay like q " arrior aking his resi-,
With his martial cloak around HIM.
g.
Frw AMI short were the prayers "e said,
And we sprA- not u word of BORROW,
Bat We sissdfastiy gazei OF the lace that
wns dead,
And We bitterly thought of the morrow
We thought, as we followed fis nsrrow bed,
And smoothed down his lonely pillow,
That the foe and tho stranger would tread
Ger his head.
And We far away CT tiit t:ilfT'
Lightly they'll tult y! the Spirit that's
g0ue,
And DER his cold ashes upraid him
But little he'll re.:k, il they let hun sleep
IN the grave where a Driton has laid him.
nut half Of onr heavy task was done.
When the clock struck The boCr for rarir-
ing;
And we heard the distant and random CUR
That the fos wss ~sullenly firing
VIII.
Slowly and sadly we laid him down.
from the teld uf lis fame fresh and
CORY
We carved not a line. and We raised not
stone,
Bu. we left him alone With his glory