Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Chickamauga River
By Hezekiah Butterworth (1839–1905)A
The music of the sheaves;
Again the crickets chirp and sing
Among the golden leaves.
Twelve times the springs have oped the rills,
Twelve amber autumns sighed,
Since hung the war-cloud o’er the hills,
The year that Charlie died.
And croon the bird and bee,
And flutes the ring-dove’s love-call low,
Along the Tennessee;
But one dear voice, one cherished tone,
Returns to me—ah, never!
For Charlie fills a grave unknown,
By Chickamauga River.
And fall the vernal rains;
But we may lay no garlands fair
Above his loved remains.
A white stone marks an empty grave
Our household graves beside,
And his dear name to it we gave
The year that Charlie died.
The swallow left the eaves;
We heard the hollow bugles blow,
When fell the harvest sheaves.
And swift the mustering squadrons passed,
We thought of Charlie ever,—
And swift the blue brigades were massed
By Chickamauga River.
The wreaths of smoke ascend;
And, all the Sabbath day, in awe,
We watched the war cloud blend
With fall’s cerulean sky, and dim
The wooded mountain side,—
Oh, how our hearts then beat for him,
The year that Charlie died!
The wavering echelon!
How down the sky in flame and smoke
Low sunk the copper sun;
The still night came, and who were saved
And who were called to sever,
We could not tell; our banner waved
By Chickamauga River.
But never at our door
The fair-haired boy we used to meet
Came back to greet us more.
But memory seems to hear the fall
Of steps at eventide,
And all the changing years recall
The year that Charlie died.
’T is blessed to have cherished;
And they shall ever stainless be
Who ’ve nobly fought and perished.
He nobly died, and he can know
No dark dishonor ever,
But green the grass for him shall grow
By Chickamauga River.
In autumn’s amber light;
Again I see in shimmering haze
The valleys long and bright.
Old Lookout Mountain towers afar
As when, in lordly pride,
It plumed its head with flags of war
The year that Charlie died.
The fruited fields of fall,
And Chattanooga sleeps in peace
Beneath her mountain wall.
O Country, free from sea to sea,
With union blest forever,
Not vainly heroes died for thee
By Chickamauga River!