Frederick West Lander

Frederick West Lander Poems

Frederick West Lander Biography

Frederick West Lander (December 17, 1821 – March 2, 1862) was a transcontinental United States explorer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and a prolific poet. Lander was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of Edward and Eliza West Lander. He was educated at Governor Dummer Academy and Norwich Military Academy in Vermont and thereafter took up the profession of civil engineering as an army officer. The United States government employed him on transcontinental surveys to select a route for a Pacific railroad. Later he undertook a survey for the same purpose at his own expense and was the only man of the party to survive. He constructed the overland wagon route in the face of great difficulties and constant hostility of the Indians. After its completion in 1859, Lander Road became popular with wagon trains as an alternate route from Burnt Ranch in the Wyoming Territory to Fort Hall in the Oregon Territory. His expedition to survey the Lander Road in 1859 included artists Albert Bierstadt, Henry Hitchings, and Francis Seth Frost, who photographed, sketched, and painted some of the earliest images that people could see of the West. [edit] Civil War service Lander was the husband of English-born stage actress Jean Margaret Davenport, who served as a nurse during the Civil War. They were married in October 1860. Lander published a popular poem on the Battle of Ball's Bluff, as well as several other patriotic poems that drew national attention. During the early part of the Civil War, Lander served with distinction on secret missions as a volunteer aide de camp on the staff of General McClellan. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on May 17, 1861 and served on the staff of General Thomas A. Morris during the battles of Philippi and Rich Mountain and many minor skirmishes. At the conclusion of the Western Virginia campaign, General Lander was assigned to command a brigade in Charles P. Stone's Division of the Army of the Potomac. After just a short time in command of a brigade he was assigned to command the District of Harpers Ferry & Cumberland, Maryland where he was involved in a small engagement at Edward's Ferry. He was badly wounded in the leg, but recovered to lead a successful charge at Blooming Gap. He was now given the command of a division in the Army of the Potomac with the task of protecting the upper Potomac River. When Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson bombarded Hancock, Maryland, Lander refused to surrender the town, forcing the Confederates to withdraw towards, Romney, West Virginia.)

The Best Poem Of Frederick West Lander

Ball's Bluff

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?'

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