Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-07-24

Came moving o'er the wave,
As gloomy as passing hearse,
As silent as the grave
Her ports were closed; from stem TO stern
No sign of life appeared.
We wondered, questioned, strained eur eyes,
Joked-everything but feared
She reached our range. Our broadside rang,
Our heavy pivots roared;
And shot and shell, q fire Of hell
Against her sides We poured.
Gods mereyl from her sloping roof
The iron tempest glanced,
As hail bounds from cottage thatch;
And round her leaped and danced;
Or when against her dusky hull j..
We struck fair, fall blow.
The mighty, selid iron globes.
We're crumbled up Ike snow.
On, on, with fast increasing speed
The silent monster came;
Though all eur starboard battery
Was one long line Of fame
She needed not, no gun she fired,
Straight on her bow she bore;
Through irving plank and crashing frame
Her furious way she tore.
Alas! our beautiful keen bow,
That in the fereest blast @
So gently folded back the seas,
They hardly felt we passed.
Alas alas! my Cumberland,
That ne'er knew grief before,
To be so gored, to feel so deep,
The tusk Of that sea-boarl
Once more she backward drew apaee,
Once more our side she rent;
Then, in the wantonness of hate,
Her broadside through US sent.
The dead and dying round us lay,
But our foemen lay abesm;
Her opened port holes maddened us;
We fired with shout and scream.
We felt our vessel sinking fast,
We knew our time was brief,
'fThe pumps. the pumpsn But they who
pumped
And fought not, wept with grief.
"Oh! keep US but an hour aAoat;
OH give us only time
To be the instruments of Heaven
Against the traitors crime"
From captain down to powder-boy
n hand was IDLE then;
Two soldiers, but by chance aboard,
Fought on like sailor men.
And when a guns crew lost hand,
Some bold marine stepped out,
And ierked his braided lacked of,
And hauled the gun aboat.
Our forward magazine was drowned;
And up from the sick bay
Crawled out wounded, red with blood,
And round us gasping lay.
Yes, cheering, calling us by name,
Struggling with failing breath,
To keep their shIpmates at the post
Where glory strove with death.
With decks ahoat, and powder gone,
The last broadside we gave
From the guns heated iron lips
Burst out beneath the wave.
No sponges, hammers and handspikes-
As men-of-war's men should
We placed within their proper racks,
And at our quarters stood.
cup to the spar deck! save yourselvesr'
Cried Selfridge. "Up my men,
God grant that some of us may live
TOfght yon ship sgainv'
We turned-we did not like to go;
Yet staying seemed but vain,
Knee-deep in water; So we left;
Some swore, some groaned with pain.
We reached the deck. There Randall stood;
GAnother turn, men--so~
Calmly he aimed his pivot gun;
snow, Tenny, let her co."
It did our sore hearts good to hear
The song our pivot sang,
As rushing on from wave to wave
The whirring bomb-sheli sprang.
Brave Randall leaped upon the gun,
And waved his cap in sport;
"Well doneI well aimed! saw that shell
Go through an open port"
1t was our last, our deadliest shot,
The deck was overhown;
The poor ship staggered, lurched to port,
And gave living groan.
Down, down, as headlong through the waves
Our gallant vessel rushed,
a thousand gurgling wetery sound
Around my senses gushed.
Then remember little more,
One look to heaven give,
Where, like an angels wing, / saw
Our spotless ensign wave.
tried to cheer. / cannot say
Whether swan or sank;
A blue mist closed around my eyes,
And everything was blank.
When i awoke, soldier lad,
All dripping from the sea.
With two great tears upon his cheeks,
Was bending over me.
/ tried to speak. He understood
The wish could not speak,
He turned me. There, thank GodI the Gag
Still huttered at the peakl
And there while thread shall hang d thread,
Olet that ensign fly!
The poblest constellation set
Against our Northern sky.
A sign that we who live may claim
The peerage Of the brave;
A monument that needs no scroll,
For those beneath che wave,
GEORGE H. BOXER.
Gg Surely that man may be envi-
ed who can eat pork chops for supper
and sleep all night wit hout a grunt.