Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1885-07-11
KEENAN'S CHARGE.
charlottesville, May, 1868.

KEENAN'S CHARGE.
Charlottesville, May, 1868.
The sun had set;
The leaves with dew were wet:
Down fell a bloody dusk
On the woods, that second of May,
Where Stonewalls corps, like beast of
prey,
They've trapped us, boys!''
Rose from our 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, wagons and men
Tumbled back through the shuddering
And above us the fading Skies
There's one hope still
Those batteries parked on the hill!
Battery, WHEEL" rmid the roar)
'Pass pieces; fix prolonge to fire
Retiring. TrOtn' In the panic dire
A bugle rings "rrot"-and no more.
= The horses plunged,
Inc cannon lurChed and lunged,
10 join the hopeless rout.
But suddenly rode form
Calmly in front of the human storm,
With a stern commanding shout:
"Align those guns!'
1--WE knew it was Pleasonton's
The cannoneers bent to obey,
And worked with will at his word;
And the black guns moved as if they had
heard.
But ah, the dread delay!
$40 wait is crime;
Oh God, for ten minutes timo!'
The general looked around
There Keenan, sat, like q stone,
With his three hundred horse alone
Less shaken than the ground.
"Major, your men?"-
care soldiers, General" s'Then,
Charge, Major Do your best;
Hold the enemy back, at all cost,
Till my guns are placed ELISE the army
is lost. ~
You die to save the restn'
By the shrouded CLEAN of the western
skies, .. .....z. ...'. .gsss
Brave keenan, looked in Pleasanton's
eyes
For an instant-clear, and cool, and
Then, with a smile he said, II will.''
HCavalry, charged" Not a man of them
shrank.
Their sharp, full cheer, from rank on
rank,
Rose joyously, with willing breath
Rose like greeting hail to death.
Then forward they sprang, and spurred
and clashed; - ---,-s.-.-
Shouted the officers crimson sash'd;
Rode we'll the men, each brave as his
fellow,
In their faded coats of blue and yellow;
And above in the air, with an instinct
true, 49,. a- .....
Like a bird of war their pennon flew.
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
10 the edge Of the wood that was ringd
with flame;
Rode in and sabered and shetland fell;
Nor came one back his wounds to tell.
And full in the midst rose Keenan,, tall
In the gloom, like martyr awaiting his
fall,
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 were 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 whip-poor-will chants his spectre
call;
But they stir not again; they raise no
cheer;
They have ceased. But there glory shall
never cease,
Nor their light be quenched in the light
of peace.
The rush of their charge is resounding
still
That saved the army at Charlottesville.
Geo. Parsons LathrOp