Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-07-13

The sun had set:
The leaves and dew were wet;
Down fell bloody dusk
On the woods, that second of May,
Where Stonewall's corps like beast OF prey,
Tore through, with angry tusk.
esThey've trapped us. boys ~
Rose from flank voice.
With rush of steel and smoke
On came the rebels straight,
Eager as love and wild as hate
And our line reeled and broke:
Broke and fed.
No one staid-but the dead
With curses, shrieks and cries
Horses and wagons and men
Tumbled back through the shuddering glen,
And above us the fading skies.
There's one hope, still
Those batteries parked on the hill
Battery, wheel!' (mid the roar
FPass pieces: fix proonge to fire
Retiring, Trot ~ In the panic dire
A bugle rings Trot land no more.
The horses plunged,
The cannon lurched and lunged,
To Join the hopeless rout.
But suddenly rode form
Calmly ID front Of the human storm,
With q stern commanding shout: o.
ssAlgn those gunsl"
1--WE knew it was Pleasontonis(
The cannoncers bent to obey,
And worked with will, at his word;
And the black guns moved as if they had heard.
But ali, the dread delay
To wait is time:
O God for ten minutes tme!"
The general looked around.
There keenan, sat- like stone.
With his three hundred horses alone
Less shaken than the ground.
% Major, your men ~
EsAre soldiers General "Then,
Charge, Major! Do your best;
Hold the enemy back, at al cost,
Till my guns arc placed;-else the army is lost,
You die to save the rest ~
BY the shrouded CLEAN of the western skies,
Brave Keenan, looked in PleasOnton's eyes
For ali instant-clear, and cool, and still;
Them with Il smile, he said: s. I viii"
Cavalry. charger' Not man of them shrank,
Their sharp, fun cheer from rank on rank
Rose joyously, with willing breath
Rose like greeting hail to death.
Then forward they sprang, and spurred and clashed
Shouted the officers, crimson-sash'd;
Rode well the men, each brave as his fellow,
In their faded coats of their blue and yellow;
And above in the air, with an instinct true,
Like a bird of war their pennon dew.
With clank of scabbards, and thunder OF steeds,
And blades that shine like sunlit reeds
And strong brown faces bravely pale
For fear their proud attempt shall fail,
Three hundred Pennsylvanians close
On twice ten thousand gallant foes
Line after line the troopers came
To the edge of the wood mat was ring'd with fam
Rode in and sahered and-shet-and fell;
Nor one back his wounds to tell.
And full in the midst rose keenan,, tall
Ii the gloom, like martyr awaiting his fail,
While the circle stroke OF his sabre, swung
Round his head, like halo there. luminous hung.
Line after line; ay, whole platoons,
Struck dead in their saddles. OF brave dragons
BY the maddened horses were onward borne
And into the vortex flung, trampled and torn;
As Keenan, fought with his men, side by side.
So they rode, till there was no more TO ride.
But over them, lying there, shattered and mute,
What deep echo rolls ?-'Tis a death salute
From the cannon in place; for, heroes, you braved
Your fate not in vain; the army was saved
Over them now-year following year
Over their graves the pine cones fall
And the whp-poor-will chants his specter cali;
But they stir not again; they raise no cheer:
They have ceased. But their glory shall never
cease,
Nor their light be quenched in the light of peace
The rush of theic charge is resoundiny still
That saved the army at Chancellorsville.
-Scr5baers Monthly.