Ball's Bluff Poem by Frederick West Lander

Aye, deem us proud, for we are more
Than proud of all our mighty dead;
Proud of the bleak and rock-bound shore,
A crowned oppressor cannot tread.

Proud of each rock, and wood, and glen;
Of every river, lake and plain;
Proud of the calm and earnest men
Who claim the right and the will to reign.

Proud of the men who gave us birth,
Who battled with the stormy wave
To sweep the red man from the earth,
And build their homes upon their grave.

Proud of the holy summer morn
They traced in blood upon its sod;
The rights of freemen yet unborn;
Proud of their language and their God.

Proud that beneath our proudest dome
And round the cottage-cradled hearth
There is a welcome and a home
For every stricken race on earth.

Proud that yon slowly sinking sun
Saw drowning lips grow white in prayer,
O'er such brief acts of duty done,
As honor gathers from despair.

Pride, it is our watchword; 'clear the boats'
'Holmes, Putnam, Bartlett, Peirson-Here'
And while this crazy wherry floats
'Let's save our wounded', cries Revere.

Old State - some souls are rudely sped -
This record for thy Twentieth Corps -
Imprisoned, wounded, dying, dead,
It only asks, 'Has Sparta more?'