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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Death Of President Lincoln</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">(A Romance.) </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">December 11th, 1867.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The fleecy clouds had passed away <br>Before the bright approach of day, <br>And now the morning's radiance shines <br>Upon an Army's order'd lines, <br>And light the glancing sunbeams play'd <br>On bayonet point and sabre-blade. <br>Slow rolled the ponderous mass along — <br>A hundred thousand bayonets strong, <br>And thirty thousand horses prance <br>Impatient of the slow advance, <br>While o'er those glittering groves of steel <br>The striped and coloured spangles reel <br>And Hail! Columbia! lofty notes <br>Peel from the trumpets brazen throats. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">From post to post the generals ride. <br>The army's steady march to guide, <br>And aides fly swiftly o'er the plain <br>With bloody spur and slacken'd rein; <br>And far and wide on every side <br>The hollow trembling earth replied <br>To those grim legions measured stride <br>On dark Virginia's shore — <br>And many a heart bounds high with pride <br>That soon shall beat no more. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The foe, of far inferior force, <br>Scarce sixty thousand foot and horse, <br>Stand watching with undaunted glance <br>The Federal foeman's grim advance; <br>And turn again their hopeful eyes <br>To where their own loved banner flies — <br>That flag of tesselated bars, <br>That on its checks bore seven white stars <br>Which waved on many a field before <br>But now, alas! is seen no more: <br>Its short and bright career is o'er, <br>Its light was quenched in streams of gore.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Far on the left, where rank on rank, <br>Kentucky's footmen held the flank, <br>A youthful warrior rode alone, <br>To every Southern soldier known, <br>For that long falchion by his side <br>Had turn'd the battle's doubtful tide <br>In many a dark and desperate fight <br>When right still triumphed over might. <br>His simple dress, undeck'd with lace, <br>Bore no brigade's distinctive trace — <br>'Twas Booth, who long had vow'd to stand <br>The Champion of his Fatherland; <br>Unflinching, faithful, firm and fast, <br>And strike for freedom to the last. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>He rode a horse of spotless white, <br>With ample chest, and limbs of might — <br>That fiercely strains upon the reins <br>As, slow advancing o'er the plains, <br>He marks the Union ranks of grey <br>And greets them with a furious neigh — <br>He lists the hollow thundering drum <br>Which tells him that the time is come <br>To charge these hostile columns home, <br>And flashing flakes of feathery foam <br>Fly from his chafing mouth. <br>First in the charge's wild career, <br>And in retreat the last in rear, <br>And, first or last, unknowing fear, <br>That noble beast had not his peer <br>In all the spacious South. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">At once, on centre, left and right, <br>The loud artillery woke the fight <br>With round-shot, grape and shell — <br>And loud the cry of conflict rose <br>As fiercely now the armies close <br>And vain it were to tell <br>How, charging on the cannon's mouth, <br>The fiery soldiers of the South <br>Were midway met in deadly strife, <br>Where each man fought for death or life <br>And thousands bled and fell. <br>Before the Federals charged — ere yet <br>The heavy armed battalions met <br>In conflict fierce and dire. <br>While skirmishers in scatter'd rank, <br>Extended far on front and flank, <br>Maintained a dropping fire — <br>While every ear was bent to hear <br>Their proud Commander's word. <br>To bid them charge at full career <br>With bayonet and sword. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Booth calmly watched their threatening course <br>And sternly reined his furious horse. <br>But when the opening cannon rung <br>And bugles blew and charged aloud, <br>His weapon from the scabbard sprung <br>Like lightning from the thunder-cloud — <br>And where the bayonets reddest shine <br>Along the Federals' charging line — <br>Where wounded horses wildly leap <br>Through pools of life-blood fetlock deep — <br>There his gigantic battle-horse <br>Swept onward in resistless course. <br>Round his invulnerable head <br>His reeking crescent blade, <br>Still scattering drops of crimson red, <br>In lightning circles played. <br>Through fire and smoke the war horse dash'd <br>Unharm'd by shot or shell, <br>And where that falling weapon flash'd <br>A Federal soldier fell. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But Lee, who mark'd with eagle glance <br>The Federals' last reserve advance, <br>Call'd up his veterans grim and grey, <br>The flower of Southern infantry — <br>Down where the dark palmettos wave <br>Ten thousand Carolinians brave <br>Their double column shows — <br>Each moment fringed their ranks with flame, <br>And fast the withering volleys came <br>Against their flinching foes, <br>And through the batteries of the North <br>Their fatal welcome thunder'd forth <br>In showers of iron rain. <br>Still fiercer rose their music's swell <br>And wilder pealed their battle-yell, <br>While fast and faster still they fell <br>As whistling shot and shrieking shell <br>Clove many a ghastly lane — <br>And thicker still their bullets came, <br>And closer deadlier grew their aim, <br>The Federal lines were heaped with dead <br>And fast the rising panic spread </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Along their wavering force, <br>Till passing round their left-ward flank <br>Their own reserve came rank by rank — <br>New England's hardy horse <br>Forth to the front each troop advanced, <br>Each ready sabre naked glanced, <br>And every horse's flank was lanced <br>And slacken'd every rein — <br>In charging column firm and deep, <br>At racing gallop on they sweep <br>Who seldom charge in vain. <br>That swift advancing avalanche <br>Boasts the same spirit stern and stanch <br>That tamed a haughty tyrant's pride <br>And crushed his servile train <br>On Glorious Marston's swarthy side <br>And Naseby's bloody plain — <br>The Puritan and Cavalier <br>Of other days are pitted here. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But well the rifles played their part <br>For many a steed, shot through the heart <br>Came headlong to the plain. <br>And many another kept the ranks <br>With empty stirrups smote his flanks <br>Whose rider reeling from his seat, <br>And trampled neath the horses' feet, <br>Might never mount again. <br>Till, like a sea that bursts its banks <br>They dash against the bristling ranks <br>And now through whirling clouds of dust <br>And surging wreaths of smoke <br>Is seen the bayonet's furious thrust <br>The sabre's dazzling stroke. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">With fearful slaughter backward driven <br>Their shatter'd columns rent and riven <br>The cavalry recoil — <br>A shout of triumph rose to heaven, <br>And to the Southern ranks is given <br>Brief respite from their toil. <br>Again the madden'd horses wheel, <br>Obedient to the armed heel, <br>And charging to the bugle's peal <br>They rush against the serried steel <br>With tenfold rage and force — <br>But as the wave breaks on the rock <br>That seems its futile rage to mock, </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Still stagger'd backward from the shock <br>The baffled Northern horse. <br>Five times with spirit unsubdued, <br>They charged in reckless hardihood <br>And still the foe his squares made good, <br>And still the stubborn bayonets stood <br>With more than spartan fortitude. <br>And thicker still the ground was strew'd <br>With many a quivering corse. Though firmly stood the fearless few, <br>And proudly still their banner flew <br>Full well each brave Confederate knew <br>Another charge would pierce them through <br>For hollow was the war-like show — <br>No strength was left to meet the foe, <br>Their rifles clogg'd, their bayonet bent <br>And well nigh every cartridge spent. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But Booth has marked their flagging fire <br>And his fierce frown of battle-ire <br>Is changing to a look more dire <br>Like lion turned to bay — <br>For that fell smile proves one desire, <br>To slay, and slay, and slay. <br>Woe to the foe who now presumes <br>To face his savage wrath <br>When gallant zouaves and tall dragoons <br>Lie bleeding in his path; <br>Whose cloven heads and bosoms gored <br>Bear witness of his vengeful sword. <br>Where bristling ranks unbroken frown'd <br>Like dark grey rocks with breakers crown'd. <br>What though his sword no havoc made, <br>His course was but a moment stay'd <br>For where the riven columns reel <br>In hopeless dis-array <br>That slender blade of pliant steel <br>Cleaves deep its murderous way. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Once more the charging Federals sped <br>Across the rampart of the dead <br>To where upon the self-same spot <br>Where they had fired their deadliest shot <br>The doomed Confederates calmly wait <br>The charge which is to seal their fate. <br>Why need I tell how patriots die? <br>The tale has often met our eye <br>Of those with Leonidas <br>Braved Xerxes' millions in the pass — <br>Of Ghebers that disdained to yield <br>Upon Kadessa's well fought field — <br>Of Hasting's, Saxons, brave and true, <br>Of the Old Guard at Waterloo. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Despite their valour true and tried <br>The Southern ranks were scattered wide <br>The Federals shout of victory rose, <br>While faster rain'd their sabre-blows, <br>And vain the single bayonets force <br>To check a charger's rushing course, <br>And weak the fence of rifle butt <br>Against the sabre's sweeping cut — <br>The after-carnage has begun <br>And Gettysburg is lost and won. <br>A few unbroken ranks of war <br>Still formed around the sevenfold star, <br>And there regardless of the shot <br>That played against them fast and hot <br>And, meeting with the bayonet's stroke <br>The charging squadrons whirlwind shock <br>Linked in close phalanx side by side <br>They fiercely fought and firmly died. <br>But vainly, one by one, they fell <br>Around the flag they loved so well <br>For dark with dust and torn with shot <br>And stained with many a crimson spot, <br>The haughty conquerors bear it home <br>To Washington's imperial dome. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">When Booth had seen the battle lost <br>And every hope of freedom cross'd <br>His comrades dead and wounded lie <br>Or fiercely fighting but to die <br>He turned his panting horse's rein <br>And urged him from that fatal plain; <br>Nor does that charger flinch or fail <br>Though fast behind his streaming tail, <br>The shower of bullets thick as hail <br>Upon the winter's piercing gale, <br>In whizzing tempests came — <br>But came in vain — the rider's hand <br>Still waves the broken battle-brand <br>And mocks their surest aim. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"></a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"></a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"></a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>Far different sights now meet the eye <br>Where triumph reigns supreme <br>Where captured colours hung on high <br>In shot rent fragments stream <br>And for the cannon's boom of fear <br>And rifles ringing sharp and clear <br>And soldiers dying groans. <br>Voluptuous music greets the ear <br>In soft and melting tones, <br>And for the blinding solar rays <br>Shed through the battle's sulphurous haze <br>The chastened light falls soft and clear <br>From many a sparkling chandelier <br>The dreadful civil war is past <br>America has peace at last, <br>Her fertile fields shall now no more <br>With brothers blood be stained; <br>The long and hard fought war is o'er <br>The dear-bought victory's gain'd. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The theatre is filled to-night <br>With soldiers brave and ladies bright <br>And Lincoln sat in chair of state <br>And gaily laughed and spoke elate <br>Surrounded by the wise and great <br>How could he fear the stroke of fate? <br>Or dread the final call <br>Invested with despotic power <br>By these his courtiers of the hour <br>He glanced around well pleased to shower <br>His smiles upon them all. <br>But forth the young avenger sprung <br>And loud the death shot rung <br>Throughout the lofty hall <br>A thousand eyes have seen the smoke <br>That from the pistol's muzzle broke <br>But Lincoln felt the ball. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And Booth with one triumphant cry <br>Leapt down upon the stage <br>And brandishing his weapon high <br>With thundering voice and flashing cry <br>He dared the audience rage <br>'So perish tyrants — there he lies <br>Who drenched the land with kindred gore <br>Look on him Minions, trust your eyes; <br>So perish tyrants evermore.' <br>Then wildly did the tumult swell </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And women shrieked and fainting fell <br>Who saw that desperate deed: <br>Sprung many a soldier from his seat <br>All Lincoln's friends leapt to their feet <br>But Booth had reached the open street <br>Where stood his trusty steed. <br>But moon and stars now reel and swim <br>Before his vision, faint and dim <br>And scarce his saddle could he keep <br>For not till then he knew his limb <br>Was shatter'd in his reckless leap. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The courser flew with wings of wind, <br>But oft the rider looked behind <br>It seemed as while his flight he held <br>Dark demons still pursue <br>Ten thousand fiends triumphant yell'd <br>Behind him as he flew. <br>They told him how his dreadful deed <br>Would never serve his country's need <br>But make her bondage worse; <br>And how his hated victim's name <br>Would shine upon the scroll of fame <br>When his would be a curse. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">As through the night he wildly ranged <br>Those maddening words were hurl'd <br>'The assassin's deed has never changed <br>The history of the world.' <br>And still before his aching eye <br>He saw those fatal words on high <br>Emblazon'd on the starry sky; <br>And on the darken'd earth they shone <br>Wherever he might gaze upon, <br>In characters of red — <br>That message passed o'er land and sea <br>Transmitting faith and courage free, <br>But thrilling him with dread: <br>And lofty England's wise'st peer <br>Has caught it with prophetic ear <br>And recognized its truth — <br>And Booth fled on o'er dale and hill <br>Those thundering words pursuing still <br>The mad and desperate youth. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And now till welcome death shall bring <br>Release from pain and fear <br>Shall that Sybilline sentence <br>Still on he races — onward yet — <br>His hands are clench'd his teeth are set, <br>And, faint with agonizing pain <br>He sinks upon his horse's mane <br>Till the brave beast that bore him well <br>On many a battle plain, <br>Spent with his fearful gallop fell <br>No more to rise again. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The moon hung high upon the sky <br>And ruled the silent night; <br>The midnight hour was calm and still <br>And river, forest, plain and hill <br>Were bathed in ivory light, <br>When suddenly a sombre cloud <br>Eclipsed the moon's pale face — <br>The rising tempest moan'd aloud <br>And blacker grew the inky shroud <br>That overhung the place. <br>And Booth lay sleepless on the floor <br>And sadly thought that never more <br>He might behold the Southern shore <br>Before his life would close — <br>Wrapp'd though he was in mournful thought <br>Upon the burdened night-wind brought <br>A coming sound with danger fraught <br>To him whose life was fiercely sought <br>By his relentless foes. <br>At last he started from the ground, <br>And reached his rifle with a bound; <br>Full well he knew the fatal sound <br>For, as it came more near, <br>The clattering beat of horses' feet <br>Rose plainly in his ear <br>No time for flight, though dark the night <br>For, closing round on left and right <br>The dusky figures met his sight — <br>He raised his rifle then <br>Full levelled at the leader's breast, <br>But ere his hand the trigger press'd <br>The muzzle sank again — <br>'Why should another life be shed <br>In such a fruitless strife,' he said. <br>But as he spoke six jets of flame <br>Flash'd redly forth — six bullets came; <br>Two struck the splintering wall, the rest <br>Were buried in his dauntless breast. <br>A lightning's flash shone broad and bright, <br>And, by its angry, lurid light, <br>The troopers gathering round the wall <br>Their hapless victim saw <br>His rifle drop, and backward fall <br>Upon his couch of straw. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Just then the threatening tempest woke, <br>And loud the rolling thunder broke, <br>As if the voice of Nature spoke <br>Against the cruel wrong, <br>While from the stable's roof the smoke <br>Came issuing thick and strong. <br>Too prisoned in volume pent <br>The crackling thatch at length gave vent, <br>And, fierce as bloodhounds on the scent, <br>To seize their prey the soldiers went, <br>So vainly had the hero spent <br>The efforts of his dying hour <br>To save his body from their power. <br>With maledictions deep and dire <br>They dragged him from his bed of fire <br>His suffering spirit had not pass'd, <br>Though each pulsation semed his last; <br>The scorching fire had left its trace <br>On his burnt hair and ghastly face, <br>And paler grew his livid cheek <br>The while he gathered strength to speak:— <br>'I ask no mercy at your hands — <br>I know the law my life demands — <br>But were existence yours to give <br>I would not wish one hour to live; <br>My bleeding country's race is run <br>And my avenging work is done — <br>And when my spirit strays afar <br>Where Bothwellhaugh and Brutus are <br>'Twill find, I trust, more mercy there <br>Than men shall grant my memory here. <br>But tell my mother how I died — <br>As I have lived — on Freedom's side.' </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then steel blue chains of lightning flash'd <br>And deafening thunder roar'd and crash'd <br>And rushing raindrops swept and dash'd <br>Unheeded by them all. <br>And thus the gallant patriot dies — <br>And thus he breathes his latest sighs <br>As on the bloodstained grass he lies <br>Without a friend to close his eyes <br>Or sorrow for his fall; <br>But when a trooper rais'd his foot <br>And spurned him with his arm'd boot, <br>The dying warrior changed his place <br>And drew his mantle o'er his face. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now let the howling tempest roar <br>For Booth can feel its force no more; <br>Now let the captors bend their steel <br>Against the form that cannot feel <br>Their tyranny has spent its hour <br>And Booth is far beyond their power. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"></a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"></a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"></a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>Above the spot where Lincoln lies <br>The tall funereal sculptures rise — <br>And awful is the solemn gloom <br>That lingers round his stately tomb, <br>For well the artist's efforts show <br>A grateful nation's pride and woe; <br>But nobler is the burial place <br>Where human art has left no trace <br>And simple wildflowers gently wave <br>Above the hapless hero's grave — <br>Who with devoted heart and hand <br>Still strove to save his native land, <br>And failing in his generous aim <br>Died to avenge her wrongs and shame. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=426719" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">So may his spirit rest in peace <br>Even while his country's woes increase; <br>While pale Columbia mourns her lord, <br>And poets thus his praise record.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Joseph+Furphy">Joseph Furphy</a></strong></div>