The Seven Companions
Dublin Core
Title
The Seven Companions
Creator
[Unknown]
Source
http://addison.vt.edu/record=b1775388~S1
Publisher
Blacksburg News Print
Date
March, 1884
Rights
Permission to publish images from The Gray Jacket must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Format
Text
Language
English
Type
Poem
Identifier
LD5655.V8 L4, ser.2, v.1, no.2 (March 1884), p.1
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
THE GRAY JACKET.
BLACKSBURG, VA. No. 2.
THE SEVEN COMPANIONS.
In the cruel years, when our land was scourged with battle shock and flame, Seven gallant youths from a mountain vale to JACKSON'S army came; They marched, and ate, and slept together, and around the same camp-light They told their stories and sang their songs on many a dreary night.
But one went out on the blood-red tide of fierce MANASSAS' fray,—
And two are slumbering cold and low at CHANCELLORSVILLE to-day,-
And two in the WILDERNESS keep deep sleep, where dusky pine trees wave,—And the other rests at PETERSBURG in a hero's unknown grave.
And now, that the snow is drifting fast on the frozen ground below,
My thoughts revert to the comrades brave who stood by me long ago;
I fancy their spirits—so tried and true—walk sentinel rounds to-night,
Among the pines of our Southern land, where our camp-fires once burned bright.
A kinglier band of noble souls this world shall never more see,— And oft I long, in the silent night, to commune with their spirits free,—For the weary march of life grows long, and I fain would be at rest Beneath the pines on the battle lines, with the comrades whom I loved best.
Ah, comrades so brave, so tried, so true! the Head of the Army will keep An angel picket around the fields where your ashes in silence sleep, Till God's "long roll" shall be beat, and the command divine be given For our wearied legions to fall into line for the onward march to Heaven.
BLACKSBURG, VA. No. 2.
THE SEVEN COMPANIONS.
In the cruel years, when our land was scourged with battle shock and flame, Seven gallant youths from a mountain vale to JACKSON'S army came; They marched, and ate, and slept together, and around the same camp-light They told their stories and sang their songs on many a dreary night.
But one went out on the blood-red tide of fierce MANASSAS' fray,—
And two are slumbering cold and low at CHANCELLORSVILLE to-day,-
And two in the WILDERNESS keep deep sleep, where dusky pine trees wave,—And the other rests at PETERSBURG in a hero's unknown grave.
And now, that the snow is drifting fast on the frozen ground below,
My thoughts revert to the comrades brave who stood by me long ago;
I fancy their spirits—so tried and true—walk sentinel rounds to-night,
Among the pines of our Southern land, where our camp-fires once burned bright.
A kinglier band of noble souls this world shall never more see,— And oft I long, in the silent night, to commune with their spirits free,—For the weary march of life grows long, and I fain would be at rest Beneath the pines on the battle lines, with the comrades whom I loved best.
Ah, comrades so brave, so tried, so true! the Head of the Army will keep An angel picket around the fields where your ashes in silence sleep, Till God's "long roll" shall be beat, and the command divine be given For our wearied legions to fall into line for the onward march to Heaven.