John Reuben Thompson Poems

Two armies covered hill and plain,
Where Rappahannock's waters
Ran deeply crimsoned with the stain
Of battle's recent slaughters.
...

To the brave all homage render!
Weep, ye skies of June!
With a radiance pure and tender,
Shine, O saddened moon;
...

We could not pause, while yet the noontide air
Shook with the cannonade's incessant pealing,
The funeral pageant fitly to prepare-
...

Major General Scott
An order had got
To push on the column to Richmond;
For loudly went forth,
...

The warm, weary day, was departing--the smile
Of the sunset gave token the tempest had ceased;
And the lightning yet fitfully gleamed for a while
...

The combat ranged not long, but our's the day;
And through the hosts that compassed us around
Our little band rode proudly on its way,
...

As within the old mansion the holiday throng
Reassembles in beauty and grace,
And some eye looking out of the window by chance,
...

'Hats off' in the crowd. 'Present arms' in the line!
Let the standards all bow, and the sabres incline -
...

Once more to the breach for the Land of the West!
And a leader we give, of our bravest and best,
Of his State and his army the pride;
...

Who talks of coercion? who dares to deny
A resolute people the right to be free?
Let him blot out forever one star from the sky,
...