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POETICAL PEN-PICTURES

OF

THE WAR:

SELECTED FROM OUR UNION POETS.

By J HENRY HAYWARD.

Published for the purpose of founding a BUILDING FUND for the
"Union Home and School," established for the Education
and Maintenance of our VOLUNTEERS' CHILDREN

who may be left unprovided for. Organ-

ized May, 1861. Chartered by Act

of Legislature, April, 1862.

And Christ said "Whosoever shall give unto
these Little Ones, shall in no wise lose
his reward."-Matt. x. 42.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY THE EDITOR.

13 PARK Row.

1863.

ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1863,

By J. HENRY

HAYWARD,

IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.

T. R. DAWLEY,

ELECTROTYPER AND PRINTER

13 PARK ROW, N. Y.

Editor's Preface.

In presenting this collection of Poems to the American Public it is not the intention of the Editor to claim for them the highest literary excellence, or offer them as the finished productions of the highest standard of poetical ability of the country, as a glance at the signatures affixed to each will at once show; for although we have selected as much as possible from our best writers, we have not confined ourself exclusively to that class, from the fact, that had we done so, our field would have been very limited, our collection very incomplete, and many productions of decided merit, would, in consequence, have been excluded; therefore, we do not offer them as the Ne Plus Ultra of literary excellence, but simply as a series of PenPictures of the War, such as have from time to time welled up from the great heart of the Nation, when deeply moved by some great national, or individual event; and, as such, we think we here offer all that could be desired even by the most fastidious.

Every Nation, civilized and savage, have their war-songs, waṛhymns, war-anthems, and war-ballads,-and why not America? Even in the face of the assertion, made by the learned Editor of the "National Hymns," to the effect, that there was not a Poet in the land, who possessed sufficient ability to give one to the people, -an assertion which is refuted every hour of the day by the untutored voice of childhood along our streets, the bass of the mechanic in the workshop, as well as cultivated vocal strains, which proceed from the perfumed parlors of the higher circles of society! The great mistake of our contemporary, laid in the fact, that he was looking for a grand National Epic, one calculated to suit the refined ear, and exalted taste of the critic, instead of some sublime metrical harmony which would sweep like an angel's fingers over the sensitive spirit-string of the human heart, and produce those sympathetic strains which linger on the ear-which dwell in the memory and reverberate through the land, until at length a whole nation takes up the theme, and hymn it before the Nation's Altar! It is just such metrical harmonies as this that we have sought for, and

found, and here present to the reader-we care not for the criticfeeling satisfied that the great voice of the people will, in the future, render a verdict in our favor.

In making this collection, it is but proper here to state, that we have gathered together no less than four thousand poems, all posessed of more or less merit, yet, as a matter of course, unfit for our purpose, which was to secure a series of Pen Pictures, descriptive, -not of the most important events of the War, for that would be simply metrical history,-but of those events which have relation to the individual, that each and every particular poem might come home to some heart, and there find its abiding place through all time; in so doing, one fact, above all others, has occurred to us as most singular, it is this:-that as most of England's war-ballads are of a Naval, just to the same extent are those of America of a Military character, exclusively, as not more than ten or twelve Naval poems have been written during the entire war, which fact, when taken in connection with the very large share which our Navy has taken in the struggle, is, to say the least, remarkable, and can only be accounted for by the fact, that our war is internecine, instead of international; and yet, this of itself is hardly sufficient to satisfy us upon this mooted point, of which we here make passing mention, to account for the almost entire absence of all naval poems in this collection.

In regard to the design of the work, it was at first the intention of the Editor, to make it an exact chronological history of all the principal events of the war, by affixing the date, and locale of each event to some particular poem, which might be found best adapted to each and all; but this purpose had soon to be set aside as entirely impracticable from the fact, that those events soon became so numerous that our space would not permit a record of even onehalf which had occurred, so we have simply confined the work to those only of the greatest importance.

With these few necessary introductory remarks, we will without further hesitation submit the work to the reader, trusting that it will meet all reasonable expectations, and serve, eventually, to lighten the sufferings of those little ones, who are left homeless and destitute in our midst, by the sad casualities of this great National struggle

NEW YORK, October 7th, 1863.

ΤΟ

THE ORPHAN CHILDREN

OF

OUR HEROIC VOLUNTEERS

WHO HAVE FALLEN

IN THE DEFENCE OF THE UNION,

This Work,

AND THE AID WHICH MAY BE SECURED THEREBY,

IS HUMBLY DEDICATED.

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