The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-01-04

'orated this sup
'elf sacrifice:
KEENAN's cHkN
The sun had set;
The leaves with dew were wet
Down fell bloody dusk
" here Stonwal's corps, like beast of prey
Tore through with angry tusk.
They'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.
Not one stayed but the dead
With curses shrieks, and cries,
Horses. wagons, and men,
Tumbled back through the shuddering glen,
And above us the fading skies.
There's some hope, STILL
Those batteries parked on the hill
BATTERY, wheel" enid the roar),
Pass pieces; fix prolonge to fire
Retiring. Trotn In the panic dire
A bugle rings 'Tro!'' -and no more
The horses plunged,
The cannon lurched and lunged,
To join the hopeless rout,
But suddenly rose form
Calmly in front of the human storm.
With Stern, commanding shout;
"Algn those guns''
I'VE knew it was Pleasanton's)
The cannoneers bent to obey.
And worked with a will at his word,
And, the black guns moved as if they had
heard.
But ah, the dread delay.
ITO wait is crime;
o God, for ten minutes timen'
The general looked around
There Keenan, sat, like a stone,
With his three hundred horse alone,
Less shaken than the ground.
Major. your men?"
Are soldiers, general" Then,
Charge, major! DO your best;
Hold the enemy back at all cost,
Till my guns are placed; else the army is
You die to save the rest"
By the shrouded CLEAN of the western skies
Brave Keenan, looked into Pleasantons Dyes
For an instant clear, and cool, and still;
Then, with smile, he said II will"
Cavalry, charged" Not man of them
Their sharp. full cheer, from rank on rank,
Rose joyously, with a willing BREATH
Rose like 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 scabbard, and thunder of
steeds,
And blades that shine like sunlit reeds,
And strong brown faces bravey 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 flame;
Rode in, and sabred and shot and fell;
Nor came one back his wounds to tell.
And full in the midst rose Keenan,, tall,
In the gloom like a martyr awaiting his fall,
While the circle-stroke of his sabre, swung
Round his head, like a halo there, luminous
hung.
Line after line, ay, whole platoons,
Struck dead in their saddles, of brave dra-
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.
And over Them lying there shattered and
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 savedl
Over them now,-year following year,
Over their graves the pine cones fall,
And the whippoorwill chants his spectre call;
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 their charge is resounding still
That saved the army at Charlottesville.
George Parsons Lathrop.