Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LECOMPTON'S BLACK BRIGADE, by CHARLES GRAHAM HALPINE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LECOMPTON'S BLACK BRIGADE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Single-handed, and surrounded by lecompton's
Last Line: Through all the coming years.
Alternate Author Name(s): O'reilly, Miles
Subject(s): Democratic Party (u.s.); Douglas, Stephen A. (1813-1861); Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Political Conventions; Slavery; Antislavery Movement - United States; Serfs


A SONG OF THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION

SINGLE-HANDED, and surrounded by Lecompton's black brigade,
With the treasury of a nation drained to pay for hireling aid;
All the weapons of corruption -- the bribe, the threat, the lie --
All the forces of his rivals leagued to make this one man die,
Yet smilingly he met them, his heart and forehead bare,
And they quailed beneath the lightnings of his blue eye's
sudden glare;
For all behind him thronging the mighty people came,
With looks of fiery eagerness and words of leaping flame --
"A Douglas and a Douglas!"
Hark to the people's cry,
Shaking the earth beneath their feet,
And thundering through the sky.

Crooked and weak, but envious as the witches of Macbeth,
Came old and gray Buchanan a-hungering for his death;
And full of mortal strategy, with green and rheumy eyes,
John Slidell -- he of Houmas -- each poisoned arrow tries.
With cold and stony visage, lo! Breckinridge is there,
While old Joe Lane keeps flourishing his rusty sword in air;
But still the "Little Giant" holds unmoved his fearless way,
While the great waves of the people behind him rock and sway --
"A Douglas and a Douglas!
No hand but his can guide,
In such a strait, our ship of state
Across the stormy tide."

A poisonous reptile, many-scaled and with most subtle fang,
Crawled forward Caleb Cushing, while behind his rattles rang;
And, mounted on a charger of hot and glossy black,
The Alabamian Yancey dashes in with fell attack:
Lo! Bayard is aroused, and quits his favorite cards and dice,
While Jeff Davis plots with Bigler full many a foul device;
But, smiling still, against them all their One Foe holds his own,
While louder still and louder, the cry behind has grown --
"A Douglas and a Douglas,
Who every base trick spurns;
The people's will is sovereign still,
And that to Douglas turns."

Half horse, half alligator, here from Mississippi's banks
The blatant Barry caracoles and spurs along the ranks;
From Arkansaw comes Burrows, with his "toothpick" in its sheath,
While that jaundiced Georgian, Jackson, shows his grim and ugly teeth;
And Barksdale barks his bitterest bark, and curls his stunted tail,
And snarls like forty thousand curs beneath a storm of hail;
But smiling now -- almost a laugh -- the Douglas marches on,
While many million voices rise in chorus like to one --
"A Douglas and a Douglas!"
Louder the war-song grows:
"God speed the man who fights so well
Against a thousand foes."

Long and fierce was the encounter beneath the burning sky,
Fierce were the threatening gestures -- the words rang
shrill and high;
In a struggle most protracted, after seven and fifty shocks,
Like those old gigantic combats in which Titans fought with rocks
(And with "rocks," but of a different kind, no doubt Buchanan fought),
This first pitched battle of the war unto its end was brought;
And smiling still, with stainless plume and eye as clear as day,
The "Little Giant" held his own through all that murderous fray:
"A Douglas and a Douglas!"
Still louder grows the roar
Which swells and floats from myriad throats
Like waves on some wild shore.

Oh! a cheer for Colonel Flournoy, who to help our chief did press,
May memory perish if his name we cease to love and bless!
And a cheer for all the good and true who faced the music's note,
Who seized old Hydra in his den, and shook him by the throat.
Though our country stand forever, from her record ne'er will fade
The glory of that combat with Lecompton's black brigade;
And when June comes with her roses, at Baltimore we'll crown
The "Little Giant," who has met and struck corruption down.
So a Douglas and a Douglas!
While hearts have smiles and tears,
Your name will glow, your praise shall flow,
Through all the coming years.





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