, 1876-08-11
Iilas Oh the Last Ride Of Custer.


~ horseS-"to horse!" and aloud there rang
~ King of4Arbine and sa5er ciang,
- ~, ...ssl.iit. .is.seEa sa light an free.
Tlower Of ali our chivalry,
prompt TO obey their leaders call,
onriny into their saddles, one and all;
,rd their weIl-trained charges, tail and fine,
Watching and champlng, wheel into line.
WITH not a man in all that host,
1rom he who hundred scars could boast
Totbe beartiless youth, who the bugle wound,
pnt worshIped their chief, and would glad have
found
peath in its cruelest form, or bled,
no save one hair of their chieftain's head.
Than as the bright sun shimmering shone
o,ar the rippling waves of the Yellow Stone
~ And bathcd in a sea Of gold the fount
that noble stream on the sulphur mount
Its brilliant rays were backward sent
From saber blades that cleaning lent
New lusfer to It's brilliant beam,
And TO the enraptured bard did seem
Tbat these were not mortal men, but given
FROM the embattl'd hosts who guarded heaven
In the time Of which blind Milton sung,
When satan, ambitious, away had flung
The allegiance due to his heavenly King,
And, mounting upon rebellions wing,
with half Heavens sons had back ward driven
Archangels proud, and invaded heaven.
And well might we say that this little band
Were guardian angels ofour land,
For all through the terrible fTatricide,
When the billows Of war swept far and wide,
And our erring brothers, with desperate en-
deavOr,
Attempted our Union OF States TO dissever,
And pluck from our beautiful flag the stars,
Leaving us naught but sinister bars,
This same little band, with Its leader brave,
Wereever foremost their swords to lave
In the bravest blood that their foes could pour
On the hottest fields of that bloody war;
Andnow sent against the hostile Sioux,
Who, with torch and rife, and scalp-knife too,
\ Goaded to war by their young mems ambition
H And the weak misrule OF tn Peace Commission
Have slaughtered Innocent babes at the breast
Murdered their mothers, and now infest
The Western plains, which bloOmed OF late
A garden, but now are desolate;
But the ruthless redskins backward orne,
Have been trailed to the banks OF the Little
Big Horn,
And the warning bugle sounds "Advanceip
While tn gallant steeds with impatient prance
Move slowly on, down the rocky dell,
Toward the stupendous pass Of hell:
But mark how the leaders pulses beat
As he catches the sound OF countless feet,
And within the pass, on a plateau green,
An Indian village is partly seen,
With countless lodges stretching far,
And countless redskins prepared for war:
"Hurrah ~ Hurrah 70 the chieftain said,
lAs he waved his cap DER his noble head,l
"'Tis Custer'sluck. we behold to-day
The largest camp in America;
They are ten TO our one but what care we
"of the cursed nce how many there be;
u Remember their murders, and charge them
home,
That the reptile litter in days to come
v"Will tremble when Clusters name Is heard,
Z" And pale at the sight of cleaning sword"
But scarce had these words the chieftain said,
When on right and rear, on the left and ahead
Ofhis little band, came yell on yell,
Resembling along that rocky dell,
a 30 Wild and loud that birds on high
stunned by the sound, fell, prone to die,
And forthIrom the rocks on every side
The painted demons around them ride,
And with yells of inry these warriors grim,
swarm on our troops and hem them in
While the leaden bullets among them fall
raster than rain in a Western squall
AS in front Of the sickle falls the grain
30 fell they before that awful rain;
But think not that they fell alone,
-fSA6S0 was ugAuB BIOau1
5or wherever hero's life was shed
Two Indian warriors felland bled.
although I'm that first fierce onset brief
uh half had fallen. around their chief
Inc soldiers rallied, and undismayed
Fiied heated pistol, and dripping blade
Suttlng passage as they go
lhrough the living mass of the yelling foe,
But human courage and skill could naught
10 with the odds against them brought,
And one by one their lives were rift
Ihlthe gallant Custer alone was left;
VALIANT Custer, whose golden hair
ereamed in The wind, as his saber bare
mat already had struck five Indians dead,
neeking with blood swung above his headl-
oaiiant Custer his race has run;
Ohe last long look at the waning sun,
men nnen rushed on spear and sinks to rest
WIN his saber sheathed In an Indians breast.
reaee to the souls of the honored dead
Suster, and all his band;
Face to their souls they were bravely sped;
WIN lace to the foe they fought and bled,
ana died with their swords in hand
Port Townsend. August 5, 1876.