WHILE Sherman stood beneath the hottest fire, That from the lines of Vicksburg gleamed, And bomb-shells tumbled in their smoky gyre, And grape-shot hissed, and case-shot screamed; Back from the front there came, Weeping and sorely lame, The merest child, the youngest face Man ever saw in such a fearful place. Stifling his tears, he limped his chief to meet; But when he paused, and tottering stood, Around the circle of his little feet There spread a pool of bright, young blood. Shocked at his doleful case, Sherman cried, "Halt! front face! Who are you? Speak, my gallant boy!" "A drummer, sir: -- Fifty-fifth Illinois." "Are you not hit?" "That's nothing. Only send Some cartridges: our men are out; And the foe press us." "But, my little friend --" "Don't mind me! Did you hear that shout? What if our men be driven? Oh, for the love of Heaven, Send to my Colonel, General dear!" "But you?" "Oh, I shall easily find the rear." "I'll see to that," cried Sherman; and a drop, Angels might envy, dimmed his eye, As the boy, toiling towards the hill's hard top, Turned round, and with his shrill child's cry Shouted, "Oh, don't forget! We'll win the battle yet! But let our soldiers have some more, More cartridges, sir, -- calibre fifty-four!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON SIR PALMES FAIRBORNE'S TOMB, IN WESTERMINSTER ABBEY by JOHN DRYDEN AFTER AUGHRIM by ARTHUR GERALD GEOGHEGAN FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW MANHATTAN ARMING by WALT WHITMAN TO A LADY TO ANSWER DIRECTLY WITH YEA OR NAY by THOMAS WYATT IMPROMPTU LINES ON JULY FOURTH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE LAST CAESAR, 1851-1870 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 42. FAREWELL TO JULIET (4) by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |