The National tribune., 1884-08-28
Not One. Buf Thousands.

To THE EDITOR: l accidentally met with a
copy of your paper dated Aug. Il, 1884, and |
was much pleased and enlightened by its con-
tents. ! noticed short article on the third
page entitled another Veteran Gone!" written
by Comrade C. A. Hobbs of Delaware, Wis,
containing some very appropriate and touching
lines concerning the falling of our comrades.
want to thank Comrade Hobbs for that grand
and pathetic effort of his pen. 1t stirs the
fountains of patriotic pathos to greater depths,
for me, than anything emanating from the same
source has done for a long time; and instantly
my fingers began to itch to pen sympathetic
response to that article and with your per-
mission. Mr. Editor. will give the comrades a
poem, also, that was written at Vicksburg dur
ing those days of carnage; for l, too, was there,
through that terrible siege.
OUR FALLEN
oh, Spirit of Freedoml where now are our broth
Who cheered us to valor, when thou led'st us on?
Alas! they've enlisted meath death naughty ban
ners,
And our bravest and best in the fray have gone
down.
The trumpet's loud calling shall rouse them, ah,
neveri
The surging of flegioDs, theacannon's deep roar,
The wild shout Of triumph the groans of the fallen,
Nor the Haunting of banners shall nerve them no
more.
We miss them at roll-calI by full thousands nun1-
bring,
But more Yet we miss them while facing the foe
On an hundred red fields do our brothers lie slum-
bring.
Where bllows of war wildly tossed to and fro.
In scores of encounters they taught us lesson
OF courage and patience which none should e'er
seorn;
Their names and their glory time never can lessen
While thy starry flag greets the glorious morn.
Wen weave them ehaplet of oak and of laurel;
And whisper their names round our smoid'ring
campfire,
And vow to avenge them on each red tomorrow
And e'er strive to emulate their lofty ire.
Now Mr.. Editor, no pretense is made that
these verses contain any poetic merit, but they
serve to show how we felt in those days con-
cerning the countless thousands of brave men
who fell under the shadows of the black ban
ners of Death, and even as they fell then
bravely with their faces to the foe, SO they fall
now by thousands, bravely struggling against
the countless chronic ills induced by those
hours of privations tolls, and exposures. But
as the deadly guns of the enemy swept them
Off by thousands, so now are they falling by
thousands before the masked and terrible bat
teries of disease and privation which lie brist-
ling along the barricaded nights of time. But
who shall weep and who shall care when the
last lone veterans grave is sodded over? None
unless we shall teach them by our noble and
patriotic constancy.
Let US hope there may be few at least of the
citizens of the coming generations who will
honor US and our memories sufficiently to hold
up the noble work we left them as the fttest
model of patriotism in all the history of man
kind. There are many other good things by
other comrades upon which l should love tc
comment, but / must forbear l cannot
close, however, without stating that shall be
happy to communicate with any member of my
old regiment, the 35th Iowa, and especially O
Co. A. And if the editor or any comrade read
ing these lines can tell anything about Col
VIM. B. Keeler, whether alive or not, and hi:
directed to me stating the fact. ! am trying tt
get pension; have been waiting four years
invalid ever since 1864, when / had the small
pox at Vicksburg.-JAsPER JAY STONE, Co. A
35th Iowa.