The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-03-01
$50 when the dead was buried

| IL W a. q SlSAl W SC NAo
That dreary winter day,
As we broke up our encampment.
And stretched for miles away,
"The files that came and vanished:
The banners on the wind:
The gallant van of Lighthouse:
The rifles close behind;
"Then Poor's brigade, and Glovers:
The heavy guns of Knox:
The train of baggage-wagons,
And the teamsters in their frocks;
climbing the whitened hill-tops,
And swarming on the plain:
And Washington on horseback,
l.. With Harry Lee and Wayne.
ave crossed wasted country,
With farm house here and there;
No smoke -wreaths from the chimneys
Went curling up the air.
NO face at door, or window,
Looked out as we passed by;
But through the battered sashes
We saw the blank of sky.
ave pushed ahead till nightfall
Closed round our struggling lines,
Then halted in the shelter.
Ola ragged belt of pines.
1--WE lighted fires of brushwood,
And'stacked our muskets round;
The teamsters lent us fodder,
And we spread it on the ground.
"Twas bitter, bitter, Abner,
On the frozen ground to lie,
No pillow but knapsack,
No blanket but the sky!
I'VE took the road at daybreak,
In the binding snow and wind;
The wounded went in wagons,
We left the dead behind.
'The fifers screamed their loudest,
But the winds alone were heard;
The drums in snow were muffled,
And no man spake a word.
ave marched in gloomy silence
A sort of grim despair,
That nerved the weak to suffer,
And fired the strong to dare.
"You might have tracked us, Abner,
By the trail of blood we shed;
We bled at every footstep-
The snow for miles was red"
"Oh, Gran'ther," Abner whispered,
But Gran'ther did not speak;
For the tears of eighty winters
Were trickling down his cheek,
The tender child was troubled,
He knew not what to say;
So he clambered up and kissed him,
And wiped the tears away.
"On the seventeenth of December
(The day was still and bright)
We crossed the swollen Schuylkill,
With Valley. Forge in sight.
1--WE saw the smoke of the forges,
We heard the anvils ring;
You should have seen us, Abner,
And heard us shout and sing
"We pitched our tents by the river
In a row along the street,
Built fires, and cooked our dinners,
And dressed our bleeding feet.
"Some sat apart with their muskets,
Rubbing the rusty stains;
The teamsters stood by their horses,
And combed the snow from the
names.
zone chopped stack of brushwood;
Another blew a brand;
l fell asleep at dinner,
With my ration in my hand!
"Thc next day was Thanksgiving,
And the valley bells we're rung:
The farmers drove to meeting,
And goodly psalm was sung.
"The drummers beat the roll call,
We gathered in the air;
The chaplain preached a sermon,
And made touching prayer.
Next morning we were stirring,
As the cocks began to crow,
With our shovels on our shoulders
TO clear away the snow.
"You know what snow is, Abner;
You've seen the farmers near
Clearing path to their barn yards
But we had miles to clear,
at was dreary prospect,
For the winds were sharp and cold,
And we were nearly naked,
And some, alas, were old
"The General planned our village,
The streets were east and west.
We dug the snow in trenches,
A dozen men abreast.
"By night the white embankments
Were piled above our heads.
The roads were black with soldiers,
And blocked with carts and sleds;
with OK carts of provisions.
With sleds of wood and hay,
And officers on horseback
That slowly cleared the way.
"And in the windy forest,
Whose moan was like the seas,
We heard the stroke of axes,
And the crash of falling trees:
THE lowing of the oxen,
That hauled the timber down;
The noise of saws and hammers,
And the forges in the town.
Our huts were built by Christmas
Rough logs slab the door;
The cracks with clay were plastered;
The frozen ground the floor.
@All through the happy valley
The Christmas cheer was spread;
The farmers ate their turkeys,
And we our mouldy bread
"Well, there we were all winter,
Ten thousand men, or more.
Ah how can remember,
Or speak of what we bore,
"The stupor that benumbed us;