Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1872-07-06
Ghe Ormon 4epu blira II.
DALLAS, SATURDAY, JULY 6.
Our Army ofthe Dead

oy tue euES OF tne AtIAHtlei WHeIc TUG waves VI
Freedom roar,
And the breezes of the ocean chant requiem
TO the shore,
On the Nations eastern hill-tops, where its cor
ner stone was laid
On the mountains of New England, whore our
fathers toiled and prayed,
Mid old Keystone's rugged riches, which the
miners hand await,
Mid the never ceasing commerce of the busy
Empire State,
With the country love and honor on each brave
devoted head,
Is band of noble heroes-is our Army of the
Dead.
On the lake-encircled homestead of the thriv-
ing Wolverine,
On the beautious Western prairies, with their
carpeting of green,
By the sweeping Mississippi, long our country's
pride and boast,
On the rugged Rocky Rountains, and tha wierd
Pacific coast,
In the listless sunny Southland, with its bios
SONS and its vines,
On the bracing Northern hill-tops, and amid
their murmurii pines,
Over all our happy eountry-over all our Nation
spread,
Is band of noble heroes-is oar Army of the
Dead.
Not with musket, and with saber, and with glad
heart beating fast;
Not with cannon that had Numbered till the
bloody war was past
Not the voices that are shouting with the vim
of victory's note +;
Not with armor gaily ghttering, and with flags
that proudly float;
Not with air OF martial vigor, not with steady,
soldier tramp,
Come they grandly marching to us - for the
boys are all in camp.
With forgetfuluess upon teach within his
earthly bed,
Waiting tor his marching orders-s our Army
of the Dead.
Fast asleep the boys are lying, in their low and
narrow tents,
And no batte-cry can wake them, aud no orders
call them hence;
And the yearniIg OF the mother, and the an
guish of the wife,
Cannot with their magic presence call the sol
dior back to life
And the brothers manly sorrow, and the fathers
,nournfnl pride,
Cam It give back to his country him who for
his country died;
Tley who for the trembling Nation in its hour
of trial bled.
Lie in these its years of triumph, with our Army
of the Dead
But upon the growing future, and the strange
eventful past,
Our young martyrs now IN siumbcr have
mighty influence cast,
But for them and for their eOurage--but for
them and for their pain -
The great band that holds our Union would
fOr'er be rent in twain
And the tyrant mock the darkness of the pats
riots hopeless night,
While the brightest star of freedom sank forev-
ermore from sight.
And the greatness of our heroes shall in future
days be read,
And historians tell the praises of our Army of
the Dead.
History's pen shall tell the story and its grand
est words employ,
To recount the Spartan courage of the dying
soldier boy;
How NJ mothers tears fell DER him-how no
fathers step nigh,
When the darkness fell upon him, and he knew
that he must die
How he sought to meet it bravely, how he strove
to hush his moan,
When the King of Shadows called him, and he
met him there alone.
How he eyed the Ghost Of Darkness with
bOyish fear and dread.
And then went to sign the muster Of our Army
of the Dead
History's pen shall tell the story, how the pris-
oners unrcsjgued
land lay and pined;
How he dreamed of hounteous tables, spread by
mother or by wife,
And then awoke to face the hunger that was
.gnawing at his life;
How the angels looked and piticd, and swung
wide the prison door,
And the starving battle convict left his cell for
evermore;
By the hands of fallen comrades-by-thes smiles
of angels led
He went forth to join the legions of the Army
of the Dead,
But If they who now are silent in the slumber
Of the brave,
Could be made to stand before us in the gar
ments of the grave,
And if life were promised to them, if it only
might be so,
That the Nation should but perish, they would
proudly answer, "No!
Let us lay beneath the covering united land
can give,
And while we shall lie in silence let the grand
old Nation live
Let Columbia live and conquer Let US suffer
Death instead !"
And tits sneh as this that gather, in our Army
of the Dead!
When the years of Earth are over, and the
cares of Earth done,
When the reign of Time is ended and Eternity
begun,
When the thunders of Omniscience on our wa
kened senses roll,
And the the sky above shall wither, and be
gathered like scroll,
When among the lofty mountains, and across
the mighty sea,
The celestial bugler Gabriel shall ring out the
reyeillee,
Then will march, with brightest laurels, and
with proud victorious tread.
To their station up in heaven, our Grand Army
CT the Dead!
VIII ~, Carleton