Poems of American History by Burton Egbert Stevenson

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Title: Poems of American History

Author: Various

Editor: Burton Egbert Stevenson

Release Date: November 27, 2014 [EBook #47476]

Language: English

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POEMS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

AMERICA

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side

Let freedom ring.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills

Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees

Sweet freedom's song;

Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break,—

The sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,

To Thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,

Great God, our King.

Samuel Francis Smith.

POEMS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

COLLECTED AND EDITED

BY

BURTON EGBERT STEVENSON

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO

The Riverside Press Cambridge

COPYRIGHT, 1908 AND 1922, BY BURTON EGBERT STEVENSON

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Riverside Press

CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All rights on poems in this volume are reserved by the holders of the copyright. The publishers and others named in the
following list are the proprietors, either in their own right or as agents for the authors, of the poems of which the
authorship and titles are given, and of which the ownership is thus specifically noted and is hereby acknowledged.
Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., New York.—William Cullen Bryant: "The Green Mountain Boys," "Seventy-Six," "Song
of Marion's Men," "Oh Mother of a Mighty Race," "Our Country's Call," "Abraham Lincoln," "Centennial Hymn."
Messrs. Richard D. Badger & Co., Boston.—Edwin Arlington Robinson: "The Klondike."
The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.—Charles Edward Russell: "The Fleet at Santiago," from "Such Stuff as
Dreams."
The Century Company, New York.—Richard Watson Gilder: "At the President's Grave," "Charleston," "The White
City," "The Comfort of the Trees"; Robert Underwood Johnson: "Dewey at Manila"; Silas Weir Mitchell: "Herndon,"
"How the Cumberland went down," "Kearsarge," "Lincoln," "The Song of the Flags." From the Century Magazine.—
William Tuckey Meredith: "Farragut"; Helen F. More: "What's in a Name"; Will Henry Thompson: "The High Tide at
Gettysburg."
The Robert Clarke Company, Cincinnati.—William Davis Gallagher: "The Mothers of the West"; William Haines Lytle:
"The Siege of Chapultepec," "The Volunteers."
Messrs. Henry T. Coates & Co., Philadelphia.—Ethel Lynn Beers: "The Picket-Guard"; Charles Fenno Hoffman: "Rio
Bravo," "Monterey."
Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.—Ernest McGaffey: "Little Big Horn," "Geronimo"; William Henry Venable:
"John Filson," "Johnny Appleseed," "The Founders of Ohio," "El Emplazado," "Battle-Cry," "National Song."
The R. R. Donnelly & Sons Company, Chicago.—Francis Brooks: "Down the Little Big Horn."
Messrs. Dana Estes & Co., Boston.—Hezekiah Butterworth: "The Thanksgiving for America," "The Legend of
Waukulla," "The Fountain of Youth," "Verazzano," "Ortiz," "Five Kernels of Corn," "The Thanksgiving in Boston
Harbor," "Roger Williams," "Whitman's Ride for Oregon," "The Death of Jefferson," "Garfield's Ride at Chickamauga,"
"The Church of the Revolution."
Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls, New York.—Richard Realf: "The Defence of Lawrence."
Messrs. Harper & Brothers, New York.—Wallace Bruce: "Parson Allen's Ride"; Will Carleton: "The Prize of the
Margaretta," "Across the Delaware," "The Little Black-Eyed Rebel," "Cuba to Columbia," "The Victory-Wreck";
William Dean Howells: "The Battle in the Clouds"; Herman Melville: "Malvern Hill," "The Victor of Antietam," "The
Cumberland," "Running the Batteries," "A Dirge for McPherson," "Sheridan at Cedar Creek," "The Fall of Richmond,"
"The Surrender at Appomattox," "At the Cannon's Mouth." From Harper's Magazine and Harper's Weekly.—Guy
Wetmore Carryl: "When the Great Gray Ships come in"; Joseph B. Gilder: "The Parting of the Ways"; Thomas A.
Janvier: "Santiago"; Thomas Dunn English: "Arnold at Stillwater," "The Charge by the Ford," "The Fall of Maubila,"
"The Battle of the Cowpens," "The Battle of New Orleans"; John Eliot Bowen: "The Man who rode to Conemaugh."
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.—Thomas Bailey Aldrich: "Fredericksburg," "By the Potomac," "The Bells at
Midnight," "An Ode on the Unveiling of the Shaw Memorial," "Unguarded Gates"; Phœbe Cary: "Ready," "Peace"; John
White Chadwick: "Mugford's Victory," "Full Cycle"; Mrs. Florence Earle Coates: "Columbus," "Buffalo," "By the
Conemaugh"; Christopher Pearse Cranch: "After the Centennial"; Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Concord Hymn," "Boston
Hymn"; Annie Fields: "Cedar Mountain"; Louise Imogen Guiney: "John Brown"; Francis Bret Harte: "Caldwell of
Springfield," "The Reveille," "John Burns of Gettysburg," "A Second Review of the Grand Army," "An Arctic Vision,"
"Chicago"; John Hay: "Miles Keogh's Horse"; Oliver Wendell Holmes: "A Ballad of the Boston Tea-Party,"
"Lexington," "Grandmother's Story of Bunker-Hill Battle," "Old Ironsides," "Daniel Webster," "Brother Jonathan's
Lament for Sister Caroline," "Sherman's in Savannah," "After the Fire," "Welcome to the Nations," "On the Death of
President Garfield," "Additional Verses to Hail Columbia"; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe: "Our Country," "Battle-Hymn of the
Republic," "Robert E. Lee," "Pardon," "Parricide," "J. A. G."; William Dean Howells: "The Battle in the Clouds"; Lucy
Larcom: "Mistress Hale of Beverly," "The Nineteenth of April," "The Sinking of the Merrimack"; Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow: "The Skeleton in Armor," "Sir Humphrey Gilbert," "The War-Token," "The Expedition to Wessagusset,"
"Prologue," "The Proclamation," "Prologue," "The Trial," "The Battle of Lovell's Pond," "A Ballad of the French Fleet,"
"The Embarkation," "Paul Revere's Ride," "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem," "The Wreck of the Hesperus,"
"Victor Galbraith," "The Cumberland," "The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face," "President Garfield," "The Republic"; James
Russell Lowell: "Flawless his Heart," "The New-Come Chief," "Mr. Hosea Biglow speaks," "What Mr. Robinson
thinks," "Jonathan to John," "The Washers of the Shroud," "Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration"; William

Vaughn Moody: "On a Soldier fallen in the Philippines," "An Ode in Time of Hesitation"; Nora Perry: "Running the
Blockade"; Edna Dean Proctor: "Columbus Dying," "The Captive's Hymn," "The Lost War-Sloop," "Sa-cá-ga-we-a,"
"John Brown," "The Brooklyn Bridge"; Margaret Junkin Preston: "The Mystery of Cro-a-tàn," "The Last Meeting of
Pocahontas and the Great Captain," "The First Proclamation of Miles Standish," "The First Thanksgiving Day," "Dirge
for Ashby," "Under the Shade of the Trees," "Virginia Capta," "Acceptation"; John Godfrey Saxe: "How Cyrus laid the
Cable"; Edward Rowland Sill: "The Dead President"; Harriet Prescott Spofford: "How we became a Nation," "Can't";
Edmund Clarence Stedman: "Peter Stuyvesant's New Year's Call," "Salem," "Aaron Burr's Wooing," "How Old Brown
took Harper's Ferry," "Sumter," "Wanted—A Man," "Kearny at Seven Pines," "Treason's Last Device," "Gettysburg,"
"Abraham Lincoln," "Israel Freyer's Bid for Gold," "Custer," "Liberty Enlightening the World," "Cuba," "Hymn of the
West"; Bayard Taylor: "Through Baltimore," "Lincoln at Gettysburg," "The National Ode"; Joseph Russell Taylor:
"Breath on the Oat"; Edith M. Thomas: "A Christopher of the Shenandoah," "To Spain—A Last Word"; Maurice
Thompson: "The Ballad of Chickamauga"; J. T. Trowbridge: "Columbus at the Convent"; Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward:
"Conemaugh"; Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney: "Peace"; John G. Whittier: "The Norsemen," "Norembega," "John Underhill,"
"Cassandra Southwick," "The King's Missive," "St. John," "Pentucket," "Lexington," "The Vow of Washington,"
"Skipper Ireson's Ride," "Texas," "The Angels of Buena Vista," "The Crisis," "To William Lloyd Garrison," "Ichabod,"
"The Kansas Emigrants," "Burial of Barber," "Le Marais du Cygne," "Brown of Ossawatomie," "Barbara Frietchie,"
"The Battle Autumn of 1862," "At Port Royal," "To John C. Frémont," "Astræa at the Capitol," "The Proclamation,"
"Laus Deo," "To the Thirty-Ninth Congress," "The Cable Hymn," "Chicago," "Centennial Hymn," "On the Big Horn,"
"The Bartholdi Statue"; Forceythe Willson: "Boy Brittan"; Constance Fenimore Woolson: "Kentucky Belle." From the
Atlantic Monthly.—George Houghton: "The Legend of Walbach Tower"; Henry Newbolt: "Craven"; Thomas William
Parsons: "Dirge."
Mr. P. J. Kenedy, New York.—Abram J. Ryan: "The Conquered Banner."
The Ladies' Home Journal, Philadelphia.—Virginia Woodward Cloud: "The Ballad of Sweet P."
The J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.—George Henry Boker: "Upon the Hill before Centreville," "Dirge for a
Soldier," "Zagonyi," "On Board the Cumberland," "The Cruise of the Monitor," "The Ballad of New Orleans," "The
Varuna," "Hooker's Across," "Before Vicksburg," "The Black Regiment," "The Battle of Lookout Mountain"; William
C. Elam: "The Mecklenburg Declaration"; Robert Loveman: "Hobson and his Men"; Marion Manville: "The Surrender
of New Orleans," "Lee's Parole"; Henry Peterson: "The Death of Lyon"; Thomas Buchanan Read: "The Rising," "Valley
Forge," "Blennerhassett's Island," "The Attack," "Sheridan's Ride," "The Eagle and Vulture"; Francis Orrery Ticknor:
"The Virginians of the Valley," "A Battle Ballad," "Our Left," "Little Giffen."
The Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company, Boston.—Richard Burton: "The Old Santa Fé Trail"; Paul Hamilton Hayne:
"Macdonald's Raid," "Beyond the Potomac," "Vicksburg," "The Battle of Charleston Harbor," "Charleston," "The
Stricken South to the North," "South Carolina to the States of the North," "Yorktown Centennial Lyric"; William
Hamilton Hayne: "The Charge at Santiago."
The McClure Company, New York.—Edwin Markham: "Lincoln."
Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.—Kate Brownlee Sherwood: "Albert Sidney Johnston," "Thomas at
Chickamauga."
The Macmillan Company, New York.—Hamlin Garland: "Logan at Peach Tree Creek"; George Edward Woodberry:
"Our First Century," "Essex Regiment March," "The Islands of the Sea," "O Land Beloved."
The Mershon Company, New York.—John Boyle O'Reilly: "Crispus Attucks," "At Fredericksburg," "Chicago,"
"Boston," "Midnight—September 19, 1881," "The Ride of Collins Graves," "Mayflower."
The Oliver Ditson Company, New York.—Kate Brownlee Sherwood: "Molly Pitcher."
Out West, Los Angeles.—Sharlot M. Hall: "Arizona."
Messrs. L. C. Page & Co., Boston.—Charles G. D. Roberts: "Brooklyn Bridge," "In Apia Bay," "A Ballad of Manila
Bay."
Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.—Louis James Block: "The Final Struggle"; Guy Wetmore Carryl: "When the
Great Gray Ships come in."
Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.—William Ernest Henley: "Romance"; George Parsons Lathrop:
"Keenan's Charge"; Sidney Lanier: "The Story of Vinland," "The Triumph," "Lexington," "Land of the Wilful Gospel,"
"The Dying Words of Stonewall Jackson," "The Centennial Meditation of Columbia"; Thomas Nelson Page: "The
Dragon of the Seas"; James Jeffrey Roche: "Panama"; Richard Henry Stoddard: "Abraham Lincoln," "Men of the North
and West," "The Little Drummer."
Messrs. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston.—Richard Hovey: "The Word of the Lord from Havana," "The Battle of
Manila"; Walt Whitman: "Ethiopia Saluting the Colors," "O Captain! My Captain!" "The Sobbing of the Bells."
Messrs. Herbert S. Stone & Co., Chicago.—John Williamson Palmer: "The Fight at San Jacinto."
The Whitaker & Ray Company, San Francisco.—Joaquin Miller: "Columbus," "The Defence of the Alamo," "Alaska,"
"Rejoice," "Cuba Libre," "San Francisco," "Resurge San Francisco." The Youth's Companion, Boston.—Mary A. P.
Stansbury: "The Surprise at Ticonderoga"; Thomas Tracy Bouvé: "The Shannon and the Chesapeake."

In addition to the above, the compiler begs to acknowledge express permission from the following authors for the use of
such of their poems as appear in this volume:
Joel Benton, Louis James Block, Virginia Fraser Boyle, Robert Bridges, Wallace Bruce, Richard Burton, S. H. M.
Byers, Will Carleton, Madison Cawein, Robert W. Chambers, John Vance Cheney, Joseph I. C. Clarke, Virginia
Woodward Cloud, Florence Earle Coates, Kinahan Cornwallis, F. Marion Crawford, Mrs. Ernest Crosby (for Ernest
Crosby), Caroline Duer, Barrett Eastman, Francis Miles Finch, Hamlin Garland, Joseph D. Gilder, Richard Watson
Gilder, Arthur Guiterman, Sharlot M. Hall, Edward Everett Hale, William Hamilton Hayne (for himself and Paul
Hamilton Hayne), Caroline Hazard, Rupert Hughes, Minna Irving, Thomas A. Janvier, Tudor Jenks, John Howard
Jewett, Robert Underwood Johnson, Walter Learned, Robert Loveman, Charles F. Lummis, Ernest McGaffey, Edwin
Markham, John James Meehan, Lloyd Mifflin, William Vaughn Moody, Thomas Nelson Page, Mrs. John W. Palmer
(for John Williamson Palmer), John James Piatt, Wallace Rice, Laura E. Richards, Edwin Arlington Robinson, James
Jeffrey Roche, John Jerome Rooney, Alfred D. Runyon, Charles Edward Russell, Clinton Scollard, Mrs. Katherine
Brownlee Sherwood, Lewis Worthington Smith, Joseph Russell Taylor, Richard H. Titherington, William Henry
Venable, Robert Burns Wilson.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE FOR NEW EDITION

The Editor is indebted to the following authors and publishers for permission to use the poems mentioned, all rights in
which are reserved:
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews: "A Call to Arms."
Robert Bridges: "To the United States of America."
Dana Burnet: "Marching Song."
Amelia Josephine Burr: "Pershing at the Tomb of Lafayette."
Witter Bynner (by Anne L. Wellington): "Republic to Republic."
Eleanor Rogers Cox: "The Return."
George H. Doran Company: "The White Ships and the Red," from Main Street, and Other Poems, by Joyce Kilmer,
copyright 1917.
John Chipman Farrar: "Brest Left Behind," from Contemporary Verse.
Richard Butler Glaenzer: "A Ballad of Redhead's Day."
Daniel Henderson: "The Road to France."
Houghton Mifflin Company: "Victory Bells," from Wilderness Songs, by Grace Hazard Conkling.
Robert Underwood Johnson: "To the Returning Brave."
Aline Kilmer (for Joyce Kilmer): "The White Ships and the Red," "Rouge Bouquet."
Richard Le Gallienne: "After the War."
Vachel Lindsay: "Abraham Lincoln walks at Midnight."
J. Corson Miller: "Epicedium."
Randall Parrish: "Your Lad and My Lad."
Clinton Scollard: "The First Three," "The Unreturning."
Charles Scribner's Sons: "A Call to Arms," by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews; "Ode in Memory of the American
Volunteers Fallen for France," by Alan Seeger; "Mare Liberum," by Henry van Dyke.
Marion Couthouy Smith: "The Star," "King of the Belgians."
Henry van Dyke: "Mare Liberum."
Willard Wattles: "The Family of Nations."
George Edward Woodberry: "Sonnets written in the Fall of 1914."

TO

E. B. S.

HELPMATE

One who underrates the significance of our literature, prose or verse, as both the expression and stimulant of national
feeling, as of import in the past and to the future of America, and therefore of the world, is deficient in that critical insight
which can judge even of its own day unwarped by personal taste or deference to public impression. He shuts his eyes
to the fact that at times, notably throughout the years resulting in the Civil War, this literature has been a
"force."—Edmund Clarence Stedman.

INTRODUCTION

The poetry relating to American history falls naturally into two classes: that written, so to speak, from the inside, on the
spot, and that written from the outside, long afterwards. Of the first class, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the most
famous example, as well as perhaps the best. Even at this distant day, reading it with a knowledge of the circumstances
which produced it, it has a power of touching the heart and gripping the imagination which goes far toward proving the
genuineness of its art. Of the second class, "Paul Revere's Ride" is probably the most widely known, though Mr.
Longfellow's own "Ballad of the French Fleet" is a better poem.
It is evident that, in compiling an anthology such as this, different standards must be used in judging these two classes.
The first, aside from any quality as poetry which it may have, is of value because of its historical or political interest,
because it is an expression and an interpretation of the hour which gave it birth. With it, poetic merit is not the first
consideration, which is, perhaps, as well. Yet, however slight their merit as poetry may be, many of the early ballads
possess an admirable energy, directness, and aptness of phrase, and there is about them a childlike simplicity impossible
of reproduction in this sophisticated age—as where Stephen Tilden, in his epitaph on Braddock, requests the great
commanders who have preceded that unfortunate soldier to the grave to

"Edge close and give him room."

With the retrospective ballad, on the other hand, poetic merit is a sine qua non. It has little value historically, however
accurate its facts. It differs from the contemporary ballad in the same way that the "New Canterbury Tales" differ from
Froissart; or as the "Idylls of the King" differ from "Le Morte Arthur." It is less authentic, less convincing, less vital. It
may have atmosphere, but there is no infallible way of telling whether the atmosphere is right. Unless it is something
more, then, than mere metrical history, the modern ballad has little claim to consideration.
These are the two principles which the present compiler has had constantly in mind. Yet the second principle has been
violated more than once, since, in a collection such as this, one must cut one's coat according to the cloth; or, rather,
one must make sure that one is decently covered, though the covering may here and there be somewhat inferior in
quality. So it has been necessary, in order to keep the thread of history unbroken, to admit some strands anything but
silken; and if the choice has sometimes been of ills, rather than of goods, the compiler can only hope that he chose
wisely.
The most difficult and trying portion of his task has been, not to get his material together, but to compress it into
reasonable limits. Especially in the colonial period was the temptation great to include more early American verse. Peter
Folger's "A Looking-Glass for the Times," Benjamin Tompson's "New England's Crisis," Michael Wigglesworth's
"God's Controversy with New England," the "Sot-Weed Factor," and many others, which it is recalling an old sorrow
to name here, were excluded only after long and bitter debate. No doubt other exclusions will be noticed by nearly
every reader of the volume—and it may interest him to know that the material gathered together would have made four
such books as this.
The thread of narrative upon which the poems have been strung together has been made as slight as possible, just
strong enough to carry the reader understandingly from one poem to the next. The notes, too, have been limited to the
explanation of such allusions as are not likely to be found in the ordinary works of reference, with here and there an
account of the circumstances which caused the lines to be written, or an indication of source, where the source is
unusual. Every available source has been drawn upon—the works of all the better known and many of the minor
American and English poets, anthologies, newspaper collections, magazines, collections of Americana and especially of
broadsides—in a word, American and English poetry generally.
In this connection, the compiler wishes to make grateful acknowledgment of the assistance he has received on every
hand, especially from Mr. Herbert Putnam and Miss Margaret McGuffey, of the Library of Congress; Mr. N. D. C.
Hodges, librarian of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Public Library; Mr. C. B. Galbreath, librarian of the Ohio State Library; Mr.
Charles F. Lummis, librarian of the Los Angeles, California, Public Library; Dr. Edward Everett Hale, Mr. William
Henry Venable, Mr. Isaac R. Pennypacker, Mr. Arthur Guiterman, and Mr. Wallace Rice. He might add that it is a
matter of deep personal gratification to him that in no instance has any author refused to permit the use of his work in
this collection. On the contrary, many of them have been most helpful in suggestions.
A special effort has been made to secure accuracy of text,—no light task, especially with the early ballads. Where the
text varied, as was often the case, that has been followed which seemed to have the greater authority, except that
obvious misprints have been corrected. In this, the compiler has had the coöperation of The Riverside Press, and has
had frequent occasion to admire the care and knowledge of the corrector and his assistants.
Chillicothe, Ohio, July 23, 1908.

[xi]

[xii]

B. E. S.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

THE COLONIAL PERIOD

America, Arthur Cleveland Coxe
2

CHAPTER I

The Discovery of America

The Story of Vinland, Sidney Lanier
3

The Norsemen, John Greenleaf Whittier
4

The Skeleton in Armor, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
6

Prophecy, Luigi Pulci
7

The Inspiration, James Montgomery
8

Columbus, Lydia Huntley Sigourney
9

Columbus to Ferdinand, Philip Freneau
9

Columbus at the Convent, John T. Trowbridge
10

The Final Struggle, Louis James Block
11

Steer, Bold Mariner, On, Friedrich von Schiller
12

The Triumph, Sidney Lanier
12

Columbus, Joaquin Miller
14

The Thanksgiving for America, Hezekiah Butterworth
15

Columbus in Chains, Philip Freneau
17

Columbus Dying, Edna Dean Proctor
18

Columbus, Edward Everett Hale
18

Columbus and the Mayflower, Lord Houghton
18

CHAPTER II

In the Wake of Columbus

The First Voyage of John Cabot, Unknown
19

The Legend of Waukulla, Hezekiah Butterworth
19

The Fountain of Youth, Hezekiah Butterworth
21

Ponce de Leon, Edith M. Thomas
22

Balboa, Nora Perry
23

With Cortez in Mexico, W. W. Campbell
24

The Lust of Gold, James Montgomery
24

Verazzano, Hezekiah Butterworth
25

Ortiz, Hezekiah Butterworth
26

The Fall of Maubila, Thomas Dunn English
27

Quivíra, Arthur Guiterman
31

Norembega, John Greenleaf Whittier
32

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
34

The First American Sailors, Wallace Rice
34

CHAPTER III

The Settlement of Virginia

The Mystery of Cro-a-tàn, Margaret Junkin Preston
36

John Smith's Approach to Jamestown, James Barron Hope
38

Pocahontas, William Makepeace Thackeray
38

Pocahontas, George Pope Morris
39

Bermudas, Andrew Marvell
39

Newes from Virginia, Richard Rich
40

To the Virginian Voyage, Michael Drayton
42

The Marriage of Pocahontas, Mrs. M. M. Webster
43

The Last Meeting of Pocahontas and the Great Captain, Margaret Junkin Preston
43

[xiii]

[xiv]

The Burning of Jamestown, Thomas Dunn English
44

Bacon's Epitaph, Unknown
45

Ode to Jamestown, James Kirke Paulding
46

The Downfall of Piracy, Benjamin Franklin
48

From Potomac to Merrimac, Edward Everett Hale
49

CHAPTER IV

The Dutch at New Amsterdam

Henry Hudson's Quest, Burton Egbert Stevenson
50

The Death of Colman, Thomas Frost
50

Adrian Block's Song, Edward Everett Hale
51

The Praise of New Netherland, Jacob Steendam
52

The Complaint of New Amsterdam, Jacob Steendam
53

Peter Stuyvesant's New Year's Call, Edmund Clarence Stedman
54

CHAPTER V

The Settlement of New England

The Word of God to Leyden came, Jeremiah Eames Rankin
56

Song of the Pilgrims, Thomas Cogswell Upham
57

Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, Felicia Hemans
57

The First Proclamation of Miles Standish, Margaret Junkin Preston
58

The Mayflower, Erastus Wolcott Ellsworth
59

The Peace Message, Burton Egbert Stevenson
60

The First Thanksgiving Day, Margaret Junkin Preston
60

The War-Token, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
61

Five Kernels of Corn, Hezekiah Butterworth
62

The Expedition to Wessagusset, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
63

New England's Annoyances, Unknown
65

The Pilgrim Fathers, William Wordsworth
66

The Pilgrim Fathers, John Pierpont
66

The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor, Hezekiah Butterworth
67

The First Thanksgiving, Clinton Scollard
68

New England's Growth, William Bradford
69

The Assault on the Fortress, Timothy Dwight
70

Death Song, Alonzo Lewis
70

Our Country, Julia Ward Howe
71

CHAPTER VI

Religious Persecutions in New England

Prologue, from "John Endicott," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
71

Roger Williams, Hezekiah Butterworth
72

God makes a Path, Roger Williams
72

Canonicus and Roger Williams, Unknown
73

Anne Hutchinson's Exile, Edward Everett Hale
73

John Underhill, John Greenleaf Whittier
74

The Proclamation, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
76

Cassandra Southwick, John Greenleaf Whittier
77

The King's Missive, John Greenleaf Whittier
80

CHAPTER VII

King Philip's War and the Witchcraft Delusion

The Lamentable Ballad of the Bloody Brook, Edward Everett Hale
82

The Great Swamp Fight, Caroline Hazard
83

On a Fortification at Boston begun by Women, Benjamin Tompson
85

The Sudbury Fight, Wallace Rice
85

King Philip's Last Stand, Clinton Scollard
88

Prologue, from "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
88

Salem, Edmund Clarence Stedman
89

[xv]

The Death of Goody Nurse, Rose Terry Cooke
90

A Salem Witch, Ednah Proctor Clarke
91

The Trial, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
92

Giles Corey, Unknown
96

Mistress Hale of Beverly, Lucy Larcom
97

CHAPTER VIII

The Struggle for the Continent

St. John, John Greenleaf Whittier
99

The Battle of La Prairie, William Douw Schuyler-Lighthall
101

The Sack of Deerfield, Thomas Dunn English
102

Pentucket, John Greenleaf Whittier
105

Lovewell's Fight, Unknown
106

Lovewell's Fight, Unknown
108

The Battle of Lovell's Pond, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
109

Louisburg, Unknown
110

A Ballad of the French Fleet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
110

The British Lyon roused, Stephen Tilden
111

The Song of Braddock's Men, Unknown
112

Braddock's Fate, Stephen Tilden
112

Ned Braddock, John Williamson Palmer
114

Ode to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Unknown
114

The Embarkation, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
115

On the Defeat at Ticonderoga or Carilong, Unknown
117

On the Late Successful Expedition against Louisbourg, Francis Hopkinson
118

Fort Duquesne, Florus B. Plimpton
119

Hot stuff, Edward Botwood
121

How Stands the Glass around, James Wolfe
121

Brave Wolfe, Unknown
122

The Death of Wolfe, Unknown
123

The Captive's Hymn, Edna Dean Proctor
123

A Prophecy, Arthur Lee
125

PART II

THE REVOLUTION

Flawless his Heart, James Russell Lowell
128

CHAPTER I

The Coming of Discontent

The Virginia Song, Unknown
129

The World turned Upside Down, Unknown
130

A Song, Unknown
130

The Liberty Pole, Unknown
131

The British Grenadier, Unknown
132

Crispus Attucks, John Boyle O'Reilly
132

Unhappy Boston, Paul Revere
134

Alamance, Seymour W. Whiting
135

A New Song called the Gaspee, Unknown
135

A Ballad of the Boston Tea-Party, Oliver Wendell Holmes
136

A New Song, Unknown
137

How we became a Nation, Harriet Prescott Spofford
138

A Proclamation, Unknown
138

The Blasted Herb, Mesech Weare
139

Epigram, Unknown
140

The Daughter's Rebellion, Francis Hopkinson
140

On the Snake depicted at the Head of Some American Newspapers, Unknown
140

[xvi]

Free America, Joseph Warren
140

Liberty Tree, Thomas Paine
141

The Mother Country, Benjamin Franklin
142

Pennsylvania Song, Unknown
142

Maryland Resolves, Unknown
142

Massachusetts Song of Liberty, Mercy Warren
143

Epigram, Unknown
144

To the Boston Women, Unknown
144

Prophecy, Gulian Verplanck
144

CHAPTER II

The Bursting of the Storm

Paul Revere's Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
144

What's in a Name, Helen F. More
146

Lexington, Sidney Lanier
146

Lexington, Oliver Wendell Holmes
147

New England's Chevy Chase, Edward Everett Hale
148

The King's Own Regulars, Unknown
150

Morgan Stanwood, Hiram Rich
151

The Minute-Men of Northboro, Wallace Rice
152

Lexington, John Greenleaf Whittier
153

The Rising, Thomas Buchanan Read
154

The Prize of the Margaretta, Will Carleton
155

The Mecklenburg Declaration, William C. Elam
156

A Song, Unknown
157

CHAPTER III

The Colonists take the Offensive

The Green Mountain Boys, William Cullen Bryant
157

The Surprise at Ticonderoga, Mary A. P. Stansbury
157

The Yankee's Return from Camp, Edward Bangs
159

Tom Gage's Proclamation, Unknown
160

The Eve of Bunker Hill, Clinton Scollard
161

Warren's Address to the American Soldiers, John Pierpont
161

The Ballad of Bunker Hill, Edward Everett Hale
162

Bunker Hill, George H. Calvert
162

Grandmother's Story of Bunker-Hill Battle, Oliver Wendell Holmes
163

The Death of Warren, Epes Sargent
166

The Battle of Bunker Hill, Unknown
167

The New-Come Chief, James Russell Lowell
168

The Trip to Cambridge, Unknown
169

War and Washington, Jonathan Mitchell Sewall
170

The Bombardment of Bristol, Unknown
171

Montgomery at Quebec, Clinton Scollard
171

A Song, Unknown
172

A Poem containing Some Remarks on the Present War, Unknown
173

Mugford's Victory, John White Chadwick
174

Off from Boston, Unknown
176

CHAPTER IV
Independence

Emancipation from British Dependence, Philip Freneau
176

Rodney's Ride, Unknown
177

American Independence, Francis Hopkinson
178

The Fourth of July, John Pierpont
179

Independence Day, Royall Tyler
179

[xvii]

On Independence, Jonathan Mitchell Sewall
179

The American Patriot's Prayer, Unknown
180

Columbia, Timothy Dwight
180

CHAPTER V

The First Campaign

The Boasting of Sir Peter Parker, Clinton Scollard
181

A New War Song by Sir Peter Parker, Unknown
182

The Maryland Battalion, John Williamson Palmer
183

Haarlem Heights, Arthur Guiterman
183

Nathan Hale, Unknown
185

Nathan Hale, Francis Miles Finch
186

The Ballad of Sweet P, Virginia Woodward Cloud
186

Across the Delaware, Will Carleton
188

The Battle of Trenton, Unknown
188

Trenton and Princeton, Unknown
188

Assunpink and Princeton, Thomas Dunn English
189

Seventy-Six, William Cullen Bryant
191

Betsy's Battle Flag, Minna Irving
191

The American Flag, Joseph Rodman Drake
192

CHAPTER VI

"The Fate of Sir Jack Brag"

The Rifleman's Song at Bennington, Unknown
193

The Marching Song of Stark's Men, Edward Everett Hale
193

Parson Allen's Ride, Wallace Bruce
194

The Battle of Bennington, Thomas P. Rodman
195

Bennington, W. H. Babcock
196

The Battle of Oriskany, Charles D. Helmer
198

Saint Leger, Clinton Scollard
199

The Progress of Sir Jack Brag, Unknown
200

Arnold at Stillwater, Thomas Dunn English
200

The Fate of John Burgoyne, Unknown
202

Saratoga's Song, Unknown
202

CHAPTER VII
The Second Stage

Lord North's Recantation, Unknown
204

A New Ballad, Unknown
205

General Howe's Letter, Unknown
205

Carmen Bellicosum, Guy Humphreys McMaster
206

Valley Forge, Thomas Buchanan Read
207

British Valor displayed; or, The Battle of the Kegs, Francis Hopkinson
208

The Little Black-Eyed Rebel, Will Carleton
209

The Battle of Monmouth, Unknown
210

The Battle of Monmouth, Thomas Dunn English
211

Molly Pitcher, Kate Brownlee Sherwood
213

Molly Pitcher, Laura E. Richards
213

Yankee Doodle's Expedition to Rhode Island, Unknown
214

Running the Blockade, Nora Perry
215

Betty Zane, Thomas Dunn English
216

The Wyoming Massacre, Uriah Terry
217

CHAPTER VIII

The War on the Water

The Cruise of the Fair American, Unknown
219

On the Death of Captain Nicholas Biddle, Philip Freneau
220

The Yankee Privateer, Arthur Hale
221

[xviii]

Paul Jones, Unknown
222

The Yankee Man-of-War, Unknown
223

Paul Jones—A New Song, Unknown
224

Paul Jones, Unknown
224

The Bonhomme Richard and Serapis, Philip Freneau
225

Barney's Invitation, Philip Freneau
226

Song on Captain Barney's Victory, Philip Freneau
227

The South Carolina, Unknown
228

CHAPTER IX

New York and the "Neutral Ground"

Sir Henry Clinton's Invitation to the Refugees, Philip Freneau
229

The Storm of Stony Point, Arthur Guiterman
230

Wayne at Stony Point, Clinton Scollard
230

Aaron Burr's Wooing, Edmund Clarence Stedman
231

The Modern Jonas, Unknown
232

Caldwell of Springfield, Bret Harte
232

The Cow-Chace, John André
233

Brave Paulding and the Spy, Unknown
237

Arnold the Vile Traitor, Unknown
238

Epigram, Unknown
238

André's Request to Washington, Nathaniel Parker Willis
238

André, Charlotte Fiske Bates
239

Sergeant Champe, Unknown
239

A New Song, Joseph Stansbury
240

The Lords of the Main, Joseph Stansbury
241

The Royal Adventurer, Philip Freneau
241

The Descent on Middlesex, Peter St. John
242

CHAPTER X

The War in the South

Hymns of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
245

About Savannah, Unknown
245

A Song about Charleston, Unknown
246

The Swamp Fox, William Gilmore Simms
247

Song of Marion's Men, William Cullen Bryant
248

Macdonald's Raid, Paul Hamilton Hayne
248

Sumter's Band, J. W. Simmons
250

The Battle of King's Mountain, Unknown
251

The Battle of the Cowpens, Thomas Dunn English
252

The Battle of Eutaw, William Gilmore Simms
254

Eutaw Springs, Philip Freneau
255

The Dance, Unknown
256

Cornwallis's Surrender, Unknown
256

The Surrender of Cornwallis, Unknown
257

News From Yorktown, Lewis Worthington Smith
257

An Ancient Prophecy, Philip Freneau
258

CHAPTER XI

Peace

On Sir Henry Clinton's Recall, Unknown
259

On the Departure of the British from Charleston, Philip Freneau
260

On the British King's Speech, Philip Freneau
261

England and America in 1782, Alfred Tennyson
262

On Disbanding the Army, David Humphreys
262

Evacuation of New York by the British, Unknown
262

[xix]

Occasioned by General Washington's Arrival in Philadelphia, on his Way to his Residence in Virginia, Philip
Freneau
263

The American Soldier's Hymn, Unknown
264

Thanksgiving Hymn, Unknown
264

Land of the Wilful Gospel, Sidney Lanier
265

PART III

THE PERIOD OF GROWTH

"Oh Mother of a Mighty Race," William Cullen Bryant
268

CHAPTER I

The New Nation

A Radical Song of 1786, St. John Honeywood
269

The Federal Convention, Unknown
269

To the Federal Convention, Timothy Dwight
270

The New Roof, Francis Hopkinson
270

Convention Song, Unknown
271

The Federal Constitution, William Milns
272

The First American Congress, Joel Barlow
273

Washington, James Jeffrey Roche
274

The Vow of Washington, John Greenleaf Whittier
274

On the Death of Benjamin Franklin, Philip Freneau
275

George Washington, John Hall Ingham
275

Washington, Lord Byron
276

Adams and Liberty, Robert Treat Paine
276

Hail Columbia, Joseph Hopkinson
277

Ye Sons of Columbia, Thomas Green Fessenden
278

Truxton's Victory, Unknown
279

The Constellation and the Insurgente, Unknown
280

Washington's Monument, Unknown
280

How we burned the Philadelphia, Barrett Eastman
281

Reuben James, James Jeffrey Roche
282

Skipper Ireson's Ride, John Greenleaf Whittier
283

A Plea for Flood Ireson, Charles Timothy Brooks
284

CHAPTER II

The Second War with England

The Times, Unknown
285

Reparation or War, Unknown
286

Terrapin War, Unknown
286

Farewell, Peace, Unknown
287

Come, ye Lads, who wish to shine, Unknown
287

Hull's Surrender, Unknown
287

The Constitution and the Guerrière, Unknown
288

Halifax Station, Unknown
289

On the Capture of the Guerrière, Philip Freneau
290

Firstfruits in 1812, Wallace Rice
291

The Battle of Queenstown, William Banker, Jr.
292

The Wasp's Frolic, Unknown
293

The United States and Macedonian, Unknown
293

The United States and Macedonian, Unknown
294

Jack Creamer, James Jeffrey Roche
295

Yankee Thunders, Unknown
296

The General Armstrong, Unknown
296

Capture of Little York, Unknown
298

The Death of General Pike, Laughton Osborn
299

Old Fort Meigs, Unknown
300

[xx]

The Shannon and the Chesapeake, Thomas Tracy Bouvé
300

Chesapeake and Shannon, Unknown
301

Defeat and Victory, Wallace Rice
302

Enterprise and Boxer, Unknown
302

Perry's Victory, Unknown
303

The Battle of Erie, Unknown
303

Perry's Victory—A Song, Unknown
305

The Fall of Tecumseh, Unknown
305

The Legend of Walbach Tower, George Houghton
306

The Battle of Valparaiso, Unknown
307

The Battle of Bridgewater, Unknown
308

The Hero of Bridgewater, Charles L. S. Jones
309

The Battle of Stonington, Philip Freneau
309

The Ocean-Fight, Unknown
310

The Lost War-Sloop, Edna Dean Proctor
311

On the British Invasion, Philip Freneau
312

The Battle of Lake Champlain, Philip Freneau
312

The Battle of Plattsburg Bay, Clinton Scollard
313

The Battle of Plattsburg, Unknown
314

The Battle of Baltimore, Unknown
315

Fort McHenry, Unknown
316

The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key
317

Ye Parliament of England, Unknown
318

The Bower of Peace, Robert Southey
318

Reid at Fayal, John Williamson Palmer
319

The Fight of the Armstrong Privateer, James Jeffrey Roche
319

The Armstrong at Fayal, Wallace Rice
321

Fort Bowyer, Charles L. S. Jones
323

The Battle of New Orleans, Thomas Dunn English
323

Jackson at New Orleans, Wallace Rice
325

To the Defenders of New Orleans, Joseph Rodman Drake
326

The Hunters of Kentucky, Unknown
326

The Constitution's Last Fight, James Jeffrey Roche
327

Sea and Land Victories, Unknown
328

Ode to Peace, Unknown
329

CHAPTER III

The West

The Settler, Alfred B. Street
329

The Mothers of the West, William Davis Gallagher
330

On the Emigration to America, Philip Freneau
331

John Filson, William Henry Venable
331

Sainclaire's Defeat, Unknown
332

Johnny Appleseed, William Henry Venable
334

The Founders of Ohio, William Henry Venable
335

Blennerhassett's Island, Thomas Buchanan Read
335

The Battle of Muskingum, William Harrison Safford
337

To Aaron Burr, under Trial for High Treason, Sarah Wentworth Morton
338

The Battle of Tippecanoe, Unknown
339

The Tomb of the Brave, Joseph Hutton
339

Sa-cá-ga-we-a, Edna Dean Proctor
340

On the Discoveries of Captain Lewis, Joel Barlow
341

Whitman's Ride for Oregon, Hezekiah Butterworth
342

Discovery of San Francisco Bay, Richard Edward White
343

John Charles Frémont, Charles F. Lummis
345

[xxi]

"The Days of 'Forty-Nine," Unknown
345

The Old Santa Fé Trail, Richard Burton
346

California, Lydia Huntley Sigourney
346

CHAPTER IV

Through Five Administrations

Theodosia Burr, John Williamson Palmer
346

On the Death of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, John G. C. Brainard
347

On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake, Fitz-Greene Halleck
348

On Laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, John Pierpont
348

La Fayette, Dolly Madison
349

The Death of Jefferson, Hezekiah Butterworth
349

Old Ironsides, Oliver Wendell Holmes
351

Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson
351

The Wreck of the Hesperus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
351

Old Tippecanoe, Unknown
353

The Death of Harrison, Nathaniel Parker Willis
353

CHAPTER V

The War with Mexico

The Valor of Ben Milam, Clinton Scollard
354

Ben Milam, William H. Wharton
355

The Men of the Alamo, James Jeffrey Roche
355

The Defence of the Alamo, Joaquin Miller
357

The Fight at San Jacinto, John Williamson Palmer
357

Song of Texas, William Henry Cuyler Hosmer
358

Texas, John Greenleaf Whittier
358

Mr. Hosea Biglow speaks, James Russell Lowell
360

The Guns in the Grass, Thomas Frost
361

Rio Bravo—A Mexican Lament, Charles Fenno Hoffman
362

To Arms, Park Benjamin
363

Monterey, Charles Fenno Hoffman
363

Victor Galbraith, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
364

Buena Vista, Albert Pike
364

The Angels of Buena Vista, John Greenleaf Whittier
366

The Bivouac of the Dead, Theodore O'Hara
368

What Mr. Robinson thinks, James Russell Lowell
369

Battle of the King's Mill, Thomas Dunn English
370

The Siege of Chapultepec, William Haines Lytle
371

Illumination for Victories in Mexico, Grace Greenwood
371

The Crisis, John Greenleaf Whittier
372

The Volunteers, William Haines Lytle
374

CHAPTER VI

Fourteen Years of Peace

The Ship Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Francis Lieber
374

The War Ship of Peace, Samuel Lover
375

On the Defeat of Henry Clay, William Wilberforce Lord
376

On the Death of M. D'Ossoli and his Wife, Margaret Fuller, Walter Savage Landor
376

The Last Appendix to "Yankee Doodle," Unknown
376

Daniel Webster, Oliver Wendell Holmes
377

The Flag, James Jeffrey Roche
378

Kane, Fitz-James O'Brien
379

Herndon, S. Weir Mitchell
380

Blood is Thicker than Water, Wallace Rice
380

Baron Renfrew's Ball, Charles Graham Halpine
382

[xxii]