The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1872-07-11

Dawn of a beautiful morning in May
Broke through the wilderness cool and
gray,
While, perched in the tallest tree tops,
the birds
Were carroIling Mendelsohn's "Songs
without words
Far from the haunts of men remote,
The brook brawled on with liquid note,
And nature, all tranquil and lovely,
wore
The smile of spring, az in Eden Of yore.
Little by little, as daylight increased
And deepened the rOseafe flush in the
east
Little by little did morning reveal
Two long glittering lines Of steel;
Where two hundred thousand bayonets
gleam,
Tipped with the light of the earliest
And the faces are sullen and grim to
see,
In the hostile armies Of Grant and Lee
All Of q sudden, ere rose the sun,
Pealed on the silence the opening gun
a little white puff of smoke there came,
And anon the valley was wrcathed in
flame.
Down on the left of the rebel lines,
Where a breastwOrk stands in a c0pse
of pines,
Before tho rebels their ranks can form,
The Yankees have carried the place by
storm.
Stars and Stripes DER the saiicut wave,
Where many hero has found a grave,
And the gallant Confederates strive in
vain
The ground they have drenched with
their blood to regain.
YetIoudeF the thunder Of battle roared-
Yet a deadlier rain on their coludtus
poured
Slaughter, Internal rode with Despair,
Furies twain through the smoky air.
Not far offin the saddle there sat
4 gray-beaTded man with a black
Not moved much by the fire was he,
Calm and resolute Robert Lee.
Quick and watchfuI, he kept his eye
On two bold rebel brigades close by
Reserves, that were standing (and dy-
ing) at ease,
Where the tempest Of death tOppled over
the trees.
For still with their loud, deep, bulldog
bay,
The Yankee bait ries bIazed away,
And with every murderous second that
sped
A dozen brave fellows, alas! fell dead.
The grand old gray bearded rodo to the
space
Where Death and HIS victims stood face
And silently waeed his old slouched
hat
a world Of meaning there was in that!
"FoIlow me! Steady! Wen save the
day."
This was what he seemed to say;
And to the light of his glorious eyes
The bold brigades thus made reply:
Gwen 60 forward, but yon must 60
back
And they moved not an inch in the per-
ilous track;
''Go to the rear, and Wen send them to
h
Then the sound Of the battle was lost in
their yell.
Turning his bride, Robert Lee
Rode TO the rear. Like the waves Of
the sea.
Bursting the dykes in their overflow,
Madly his veterans dashed on the foe.
And backward in terror that foe was
driven,
Their banners rent and their columns
riven,
Wherever the tide Of battle rolled,
Over the Wiideruess, wood and void
Sunset. out OF a crimson sky,
Streame1 DER a field ola ruddier dye
And the brook ran on with a purple
stain,
From the blood Of ten thousand focmcn
slain.
Seasons have passed since that day and
Again Ger its pebble the brook runs
clear,
Where the dead Of thar terrible conflict
rest.
flushed is the roll Of the rebel drum,
The sabres are sheathed, aud the cannon
are dumb,
And Fate, with pitiless hand. has furled
The flag that once challenged the gaze
of the world.
But the fame OF the wilderness hgbt
And down into history grandly rides.
Calm aud unmoved, as n the battle he
sat,
The gray-hearded man in the black
sloU~h hat.