The National tribune., 1902-03-27

! The sun had set;
| The leaves with dew were wet;
| Down fell bloody dusk
/ On the woods that second Of May
| Where Stonewalls Corps, like a beast %
i prey,
Tore through, with angry tusk.
They've trapped US, boysT'-
Rose from our flank voice.
With q rush of steel and smoke
/ On came the rebels straight,
| Eager as love and wild as hate,
And our line reesed and broke
Broke and fed.
| No one stayed-but the dead,
| With curses, shrieks, and cries,
| Horses and wagons and men
| Tumbled back through the shudderins glen.
And above us the fading skies.
| There's one hope still
Those batteries parked on the hill
i battery, wheel!' {mid the roaD
| Pass pieces; nx proionse TO ire
| Retiring. Trot"'-and no more.
The horses plunged,
! The cannon lurched and lunsed,
/ To join the hopeless rout.
| But suddenly rode form
! Calmly in front of the human storm,
! With 4 stern, commanding shout:
/ ''A.gn those guns
/ I'VE knew 1t was PleasOnton's)
The cannoneers bent TO obey
| And worked with will, at his word;
And the black guns moved as IL they had
heard;
| But, ah, the dread delay!
'"To wait is crime:
! o, God. for ten minutes time!'
| The General looked around
There Keenan, sat- like q stone,
| With his three hundred horse alone
| Less shaken thar the ground.
! Major. your men?"-
| Are soldiers, General Then,
| Charge. MaiOri Do YOUR best:
! Hold the enemy back, at all ccst,
/ Till my guns are pIsced-else the army is
lost;
You die 10 save the rest!"
By the shrouded CLEAN of the western SKIES
Brave Keenan, looked in PIeasOntOn's eyes
For an instant-clear, and cool, and still;
Then, with Il smile, he SAID: Il will
Cavalry, charge" Not a man Of them
Shrank;
Their sharp, full cheer, from rank on rank,
Rose jOyOusly, with Il willing breath,
Rose like greeting hail to death.
Then forward they sprang, and spurred and
claShed;
Shouted the officers. crimson n-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,
For fear their proud attempt shall fall,
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 shor-and 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 circe-stroke of his saber, swung
Round his head like halo there. luminous
hung;
Line. after line, aye, 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 death-saluts
From the cannon in place; for heroeD. yoa
Your fate uAIe not in vain, the army was savsdl
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 no cheer;
They have ceased. But their glory shall
never cease,
Nor their light be auenched In the light Of
peace;
The rush Of their charge is resounding still
That saved the army at Chaneelorsyile:
~Scribner's Monthly,