The National tribune., 1899-11-23
KEENAN'S CHARGE.
BY GEORGE p. LATHROP.
IChanreIiorsyiiln Nav 1S621

BY GEORGE p. LATHRoP.
tChancellorsville, May, 1s63.)
The sun had set;
The leaves with 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.
They've trapped us, bcysr-
Rose from our flank a voice.
With a 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
And above us the fading skies.
There's one hope STILL
Those batteries parked on the HILL
Battery, wheel" (mid the roar
pass pieces; fix prolonge to fire
Retiring. Trotr' In the panic dire
A bugle rings "Trot'-and no more.
The horses plunged,
The cannon lurched and lunged,
To join the hopeless rout.
But suddenly rode form
Calmly in front of the human storm,
With stern, commanding shout:
"Align those gunsp'
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!
"To wait is crime;
o God, for ten minutes timer
The General looked around.
There Keenan, sat, like stone,
With his three hundred horse alone
Less shaken than the ground.
major, your men?"-
"Are soldiers, General" '1Then,
Charge, Major! Do your best:
Hold the enemy back, at all cost,
Till my guns are placed 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 an instant,-clear, and cool, and still;
Then, with smile, he said: Il will.
Cavalry, charge" Not man of them
shrank.
Their sharp, full cheer, from rank on rank,
Rose joyously, with willing breath,
Rose like a greeting hail to death.
Then forward they sprang, and spurred
and clashed:
Shouted the officers, crimson-sashed:
Rode well the men, each brave as his fellow,
In their faded coats of the blue and yellow
And above in the air, with an instinct true,
Like 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
To the edge Of the wood that was ringed
with fame;
Rode in and sabered and shot-and fell
Nor came one back his wounds to tell.
In the gloom, like martyr awaiting his
fall,
While the circle-stroke of his saber, swung
Round his head like halo there, luminous
hung.
Line after line-ay, whole platoons,
Struck dead in their saddles, of brave dra.
goons
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 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 specter
call;
But they stir not again; they raise nc
cheer;
They have ceased. But their glory shall
never cease,
Nor their light be quenched in the light
of peace.
The rush Of their charge is resounding
That savedIthe army at Charlottesville.