Brave Wilkinson commanding, A major of brigade, The shatter'd force to rally, A final effort made. He led it up our ramparts, Small glory did he gain Our captives some, while others fled, The stormers had retreated, The bloody work was o'er; The feet of the invaders Were seen to leave our shore. We rested on our rifles And talk'd about the fight, When came a sudden murmur Like fire from left to right; We turned and saw our chieftain, And then, good friend of mine, You should have heard the cheering That rang along the line. 452078 A For well our men remembered How little when they came, Had they but native courage, And trust in Jackson's name; How through the day he labored, How kept the vigils still, Till discipline controlled us, A stronger power than will; And how he hurled us at them Within the evening hour, That red night in December, And made us feel our power. In answer to our shouting Fire lit his eye of gray; Erect, but thin and pallid, He passed upon his bay. Weak from the baffled fever, And shrunken in each limb, The swamps of Alabama Had done their work on him. But spite of that and lasting, THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH. May 29, 1819. THE AMERICAN FLAG. The penultimate quatrain [enclosed in brackets] ended the poem as Drake wrote it, but Fitz Greene Halleck suggested the final four lines, and Drake accepted his friend's quatrain in place of his own. THEN Freedom, from her mountain height, W Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there! Majestic monarch of the cloud! To hear the tempest-tramping loud, When stride the warriors of the storm, Flag of the braye! thy folds shall fly, Catch war and vengeance from the glance! |