The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-03-31

since we mustered from afar
10 join the Union army, and marched
away to war.
But few are left to greet us now OF those
We used to know,
Who fought with us on many a field, some
40 years ago.
Our comrades We're as true and brave as
as any country knew:
They stood the test Of battles shock when
bullets wildly few;
And calamity upheld the Flag through
sheets of fire and flame,
When war was heli' and Death stalked
Is. round, they buckled to the game.
We've heard the bullets piercing ping.
seen many comrades fall,
And thousands dead on battleields who
answered Duty's call.
When the rebels fercely charged us. we
struggled with our foe,
And they found it hard to break our
lines some 40 years ago.
For four long years we fought the rebs
on Virginia's sacred soil,/
And on it made our beds in mud, when
We were used to toll.
From Yorktown to the James we fought
our fierce. exulting foe.
And every mile was stained with blood
some 40 years ago.
In the deadly Chickahominy swamps,
which fatal feyers gave.
We've seen our comrades perish and fill
nameless grave
At Malvern Hill and Seven Pines, Fair
Oaks and Gaines's Mill.
Our ranks were sadly thinned by Death
yet some are living still.
Then on Manassas bloody plain the foe
again We met,
And struggled hard to win fight which
soldiers won't forget.
And next Antietam's CORY field, where
thousands fought and fell
Amid the din Of battle shock, with mus
kerry and shell.
at Fredericksburg we crossed the stream
amid storm of lead,
Formed on the bank and charged Lees
works Ger CHASTITY rows of dead.
From Marye's flights the cannons
belcied, and canister and shot
Moved down our gallant blue brigades
like grass upon that spot
Then back again to Falmouth flights our
troops were drawn to stay
Through the dreary months of Winter, and
In encampment lay
Until the Springtime opened, and the great
IuuQ began.
1t was hard upon the boys in blue. but il
was the Generals plan.
Then we started off for Charlottesville.
with Joe Hooker in command,
And CROPPED our way through forest scrub.
Virginia mud and sand.
Until the rebels struck our flank and the
guns began to roar,
And we had three days OF fighting hard,
which 1if tho o9ao1~
Lee got his fill upon that field, and was
glad enough to quit,
And drew his shattered columns back, his
soldiers to refit;
And then he started for the North Ger
Pennsylvania soil,
But at Gettysburg we caught him and
walloped him in style.
And then you all remember how, in the
Wilderness campaign,
Our gallant Grant the Tanner" tanned
Lees rebel hide again;
At Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Har-
Dor and other games
We belted down his breastworks and
crossed the River James.
From Petersburg to Appomattox was a
long and hard campaign,
But our Boys in Blue they TOUCHED it
out and struggled through the
game;
And when at last the jig was up, and the
Johnnies stacked their guns,
A cry of joy went Ger the land-"God
bless our noble Sonsy'
They've saved our land from Treason's
grasp and from the rebels aims,
And won our cause through pools Of blood
from Potomac to the James.
A Nations debt we must repay our SOL
diers whom we owe
So, boys, you'll get that pension earned
some 40 years ago.
John A. MACDONALD, Co. G. 7th N. j.,
1913 Seaton St, Toronto, Canada.