On Reading President Lincoln's Letter

To Horace Greeley, of date Aug. 22, 1862 "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it," etc.

Perish the power that, bowed to dust,
Still wields a tyrant's rod
That dares not even then be just,
And leave the rest with God.

Hanford Lennox Gordon

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Hanford Lennox Gordon

The Old Flag

Hanford Lennox Gordon, Simple Poetry

The Legend

Hanford Lennox Gordon, Simple Poetry

Twenty Years Ago

Hanford Lennox Gordon, Simple Poetry

Chickadee

Hanford Lennox Gordon, Simple Poetry

English

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The Frenzy in the Wake.

[14]
Sherman's advance through the Carolinas.
(February, 1865.)


So strong to suffer, shall we be
Weak to contend, and break
The sinews of the Oppressor's knee
That grinds upon the neck?
O, the garments rolled in blood
Scorch in cities wrapped in flame,
And the African - the imp!
He gibbers, imputing shame.

Shall Time, avenging every woe,
To us that joy allot
Which Israel thrilled when Sisera's brow
Showed gaunt and showed the clot?
Curse on their foreheads, cheeks, and eyes -
The Northern faces - true
To the flag we hate, the flag whose stars
Like planets strike us through.

From frozen Maine they come,
Far Minnesota too;
They come to a sun whose rays disown -
May it wither them as the dew!
The ghosts o...

Herman Melville

Death Of President Lincoln.

In the Capitol is mourning,
    Mourning and woe this day,
For a nation's heart is throbbing--
    A great man has passed away

It was yester'even only
    Rejoicing wild and high,
Waving flags and shouting people
    Proclaimed a victory

For our God had led our armies,
    In the cause of truth and right,
It was, therefore, the brave Southren
    Had bowed to Northern might.

Then flashed o'er the land the tidings,
    The flush of joy to quell,
Fallen is the people's hero,
    As William the Silent fell.

The stealthy step of the panther,
    The tiger's cruel eye;
A flash--and the wail of a nation
    Rang in that terrified cry.

Shame falls on the daring Southren,
    Woe on the Southren land,
The sta...

Nora Pembroke

Lee in the Capitol.

[24]
(April, 1866.)


Hard pressed by numbers in his strait,
Rebellion's soldier-chief no more contends -
Feels that the hour is come of Fate,
Lays down one sword, and widened warfare ends.
The captain who fierce armies led
Becomes a quiet seminary's head -
Poor as his privates, earns his bread.
In studious cares and aims engrossed,
Strives to forget Stuart and Stonewall dead -
Comrades and cause, station and riches lost,
And all the ills that flock when fortune's fled.
No word he breathes of vain lament,
Mute to reproach, nor hears applause -
His doom accepts, perforce content,
And acquiesces in asserted laws;
Secluded now would pass his life,
And leave to time the sequel of the strife.
But missives from the Senators ran;
Not tha...

Herman Melville

Lofty Actors Withdraw.

        As one by one the lofty actors of the age
        Withdraw from changing play on history's page,
        The act of war and peace of old and new contending
        For it is long 'ere there's harmonious blending.

        And many a noble actor brave and bold
        Hath perished in the fight between the new and old,
        The victor and the vanquished Lincoln and Lee,
        The former he four million slaves set free.

        The latter General fought with bravery and science,
        The first he on the Lord placed strong reliance,
        And in the justice of his cause he bade the North
        As grand emancipators they should issue forth.

        And o'er great North the conquering name of Grant
        His mighty deeds of valour they 'ere ...

James McIntyre

The Old Flag

Have ye heard of Fort Donelson's desperate fight,
Where the giant Northwest bared his arm for the right,
Where thousands so bravely went down in the slaughter,
And the blood of the West ran as freely as water;
Where the Rebel Flag fell and our banner arose
O'er an army of captured and suppliant foes?
Lo torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder,
The Old Flag is waving there prouder and prouder.

Heard ye of Shiloh, where fierce Beauregard
O'erwhelmed us with numbers and pressed us so hard,
Till our veteran supporters came up to our aid
And the tide of defeat and disaster was staid
Where like grain-sheaves the slaughtered were piled on the plain
And the brave rebel Johnston went down with the slain?
Lo torn by the shot and begrimed by the powder,
The Old Flag...

Hanford Lennox Gordon

To William H. Seward

Statesman, I thank thee! and, if yet dissent
Mingles, reluctant, with my large content,
I cannot censure what was nobly meant.
But, while constrained to hold even Union less
Than Liberty and Truth and Righteousness,
I thank thee in the sweet and holy name
Of peace, for wise calm words that put to shame
Passion and party. Courage may be shown
Not in defiance of the wrong alone;
He may be bravest who, unweaponed, bears
The olive branch, and, strong in justice, spares
The rash wrong-doer, giving widest scope
To Christian charity and generous hope.
If, without damage to the sacred cause
Of Freedom and the safeguard of its laws
If, without yielding that for which alone
We prize the Union, thou canst save it now
From a baptism of blood, upon thy brow
A wre...

John Greenleaf Whittier